Week 5 - Terrorism/War

Give me something meaty, be controversial, get people talking...

Hi everybody !

This week, I'm so happy to talk about this topic ! There are so much things to say about Terrorism and War !
I think that French people have been more and more sensitive to it since that islamic terrorist acts are more numerous than before in our democratic country. The media have an important role on the way that people perceived these events and we need to be careful with circulated information because the quantity has an impact on the quality.

But in my opinion, the most important issue is the sacrifice of human rights worldwide. For example, Telegram application is blamed because some terrorists communicate by this way in order to not be followed by intelligence agents. But the application has more than 100 million users worldwide. Among them, some French politicians, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Emmanuel Macron and Christian Estrosi. But Daech don't need to use Telegram for communicating, Facebook and Twitter are sufficient althought it's less securized.

In France, with the state emergency, some demonstrations are forbidden...I stay skeptical about this government measure because I think it's in its favor. Even with the state of emergency, there is not enough means to counter any terrorist attack on the territory. Think about Nice.

Moreover, the relationship between French government and Saudi Arabia is strengthened and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was awarded the Legion of Honor ... Total inconsistency with the speech of François Hollande after the Charlie Hebdo attacks about freedom of expression etc. Yes, Saudi Arabia is the country with the most freedom of expression, thinking at the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who has been jailed and flogged for insulting Islam and criticizing the Saudi regime on his blog.

More recently, the controversy about the wearing of Burkini on French beaches flabbergasted me! Local councilors have seen fit to attack a minority because according to them it was a sign of radicalization in this context of terrorism. Grotesque ! They need to discuss the right thing, including the facts that lead young people to be radicalized in France, and not a type of clothing. Would they asked to underwater divers to remove their combination because it covers too much their bodies on the beach ? Seriously...

Huge topic but very interesting !

Happy pedagogical break!

Hi everyone,
This topic relates to the war and terrorism. So I will talk about the war against terrorism. 

War is characterized by an armed conflict between two or more States. The Islamic State has authority over the population of a territory controlled. Making it a legitimate war ennemi. So the France is at war now. This war is taking place in the Middle East and mainly in Syria, where leads the coalition air strikes on the territory controlled by Daech. It doesn't take place on our soil even if we have suffered attacks there. 

It's important to ask why is Daech took action in France. To understand this, we must go back to the attacks in september 2001 in the United States. These were committed by Al Qaeda in response to the barbarism of American imperialism in the Middle East. With its allies, including France, the United States invaded Iraq in 1991. 

There is a correlation between imperialism led by France in Afghanistan in particular and the recent events that we have been. We can call this phenomenon "clash of barbarisms". The barbarism of the imperial powers entail the barbarity of fanatical responses. We have already seen the French case during the war in Algeria. The violence of French colonialism led to a violent response from the Liberation Front. But these imperialist actions don't explain everything. In France, the socio-economic crisis and the rise of manifestations of islamophobia have created a favorable environment for the recruitment of youngs victims of this society by the Islamic State.

Hi everyone,

For this week’s subject I will be talking about the Korean War. Since the liberation of Korea (the country used to be occupied by Japan), there was a division between north and south. The north of Korea was liberated by Russia and the south was liberated by America. This was during the cold war of course. Each side had his own government and each side claimed to be the legitimate government of the country.

The war started in 1950 when North Korea invaded south (with the help of the Soviet Union and china). The south was backed by the UN (the force consisted mainly of American soldiers), which makes this just another United States vs. Soviet Union conflict.

In 1953 an armistice was signed, but there was never a peace treaty so the two countries are technically still at war. Up until today there is still a lot of tension between both of the regions.

I agree that liberating a country is a good thing, but I dislike that America and Russia meddle with other countries for their own propaganda. This is not the first or last time that this has happened, look at the situation in Syria for example. It’s the people of these countries that suffer the consequences because of what seems like a game of chess between two superpowers.

Viktor Beekman

Hello my friends !!!!!!

For this subject, I want to speak about the terrorism in Africa and more precisely in Nigeria.
Nigeria is the most populous country and the richest country of Africa. But, since 2002, the country is victim of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. This extemist group is based in notheastern of Nigeria. The aim of this islamist movement is the abolition of the secular system of government and establishe the sharia law in Nigeria. According the Nigerian President, the Boko Haram attacks have left at least 12 000 people dead and 8000 people crippled.

This group kidnap many young girls and use certain of them as kamikaze in their attacks.

I want also to say that these groups as ISIS, Boko Haram are defined as "Islamist terrorist groups" but their actions don't have connections with Islam religion.

Yeliz ANIL

ANIL Yeliz wrote:Hello my friends !!!!!!

For this subject, I want to speak about the terrorism in Africa and more precisely in Nigeria.
Nigeria is the most populous country and the richest country of Africa. But, since 2002, the country is victim of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. This extemist group is based in notheastern of Nigeria. The aim of this islamist movement is the abolition of the secular system of government and establishe the sharia law in Nigeria. According the Nigerian President, the Boko Haram attacks have left at least 12 000 people dead and 8000 people crippled.

This group kidnap many young girls and use certain of them as kamikaze in their attacks.

I want also to say that these groups as ISIS, Boko Haram are defined as "Islamist terrorist groups" but their actions don't have connections with Islam religion.

Yeliz ANIL

Isn't sharia law an extremist form of Islam? These groups may not be representative of Islam but I think it's wrong to say they have no connection with Islam. Or are you saying that they are muslims but that they have misinterpreted the Koran and what they are doing is not inline with Islam.

Admin wrote:

ANIL Yeliz wrote:Hello my friends !!!!!!

For this subject, I want to speak about the terrorism in Africa and more precisely in Nigeria.
Nigeria is the most populous country and the richest country of Africa. But, since 2002, the country is victim of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. This extemist group is based in notheastern of Nigeria. The aim of this islamist movement is the abolition of the secular system of government and establishe the sharia law in Nigeria. According the Nigerian President, the Boko Haram attacks have left at least 12 000 people dead and 8000 people crippled.

This group kidnap many young girls and use certain of them as kamikaze in their attacks.

I want also to say that these groups as ISIS, Boko Haram are defined as "Islamist terrorist groups" but their actions don't have connections with Islam religion.

Yeliz ANIL

Isn't sharia law an extremist form of Islam? These groups may not be representative of Islam but I think it's wrong to say they have no connection with Islam. Or are you saying that they are muslims but that they have misinterpreted the Koran and what they are doing is not inline with Islam.

Scuse, I misspoke, I want to say that these groups make an bad interpretation of Islam and Koran.

ANIL Yeliz wrote:

Admin wrote:

ANIL Yeliz wrote:Hello my friends !!!!!!

For this subject, I want to speak about the terrorism in Africa and more precisely in Nigeria.
Nigeria is the most populous country and the richest country of Africa. But, since 2002, the country is victim of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. This extemist group is based in notheastern of Nigeria. The aim of this islamist movement is the abolition of the secular system of government and establishe the sharia law in Nigeria. According the Nigerian President, the Boko Haram attacks have left at least 12 000 people dead and 8000 people crippled.

This group kidnap many young girls and use certain of them as kamikaze in their attacks.

I want also to say that these groups as ISIS, Boko Haram are defined as "Islamist terrorist groups" but their actions don't have connections with Islam religion.

Yeliz ANIL

Isn't sharia law an extremist form of Islam? These groups may not be representative of Islam but I think it's wrong to say they have no connection with Islam. Or are you saying that they are muslims but that they have misinterpreted the Koran and what they are doing is not inline with Islam.

Scuse, I misspoke, I want to say that these groups make an bad interpretation of Islam and Koran.

That's what I thought you meant - and I agree.

Hi, guys. In Poland, we talk a lot about wars. It's because of our history and the overall conviction that war is not necessary a bad thing, it's rather glorious to fight and take part in wars. It's considered positive to be a soldier and protector, we commemorate uprisings and learn over and over about our victories and failuries, and war enemies at school. People get tatooes and clothes with the national symbol - the eagle, so as to show how ready to fight for their country they are, in case Russia or Germany, or a bunch of very dangerous homosexuals are out to threat the nation. Guess what, in my opinion, war is nothing to be proud of, war is the worst thing that can happen. Glorifying it and encouraging people to have positive ideas about it makes me sick. Normal people want to lead their simple lives, go to work, eat tasty lunch, play with their kids, ride their bike, repeat. They don't want to hold strong views about patriotism and they don't care as much about who rules the world. However, people in power have funny ideals and want to use other faceless individuals to make their grand ideals work. War only brings pain and suffery. People should be left alone and not taught at school that to fight for their country is the best thing they could do. When we're at it, I don't think seperate countries should actually exist. For many, this leads to impure and insane beliefs that one nation is better than other. Nations and countries are obviously different one from another but we need to remember that they are comprised of individuals who just want to have their peace. IMO, war is never a good solution. Make love not war.

LAURINE BRUN wrote: The media have an important role on the way that people perceived these events and we need to be careful with circulated information because the quantity has an impact on the quality.

Hi everyone !

Fist of all, I really like the subject but I hope we won't come back to class hating all each other... It's a pretty controversial subject !
I started by quoting Laurine because I really think she is right saying we must always questioning information we received ! QUALITY first

Ok so... I am going to give my PERSONAL (it's not a universal point of view, don't smash me) opinion of terrorism in France.

I know I just said quality first but my post begin with something I saw on TF1 *shame on me*...
So, right after Charlie Hebdo attack I saw an interview of a woman Dounia Bouzar, I don't really know her or what she really does, but the fact is its arguments seems really valuable to me at the moment. She created an association "Centre de prévention contre les dérives sectaires liées à l’islam", it's a prevention association against radicalization. She is Muslim, she loves her religion, and I think (I am not sure I didn't read the Koran) she well interpret it.. Anyway that's not my point. The thing is for me in France the all problem is that we are on the wrong side of the issue. We are trying to identify terrorist and stop them, yes they are already some terrorist so of course we have to stop them, but I think there is a really lack of prevention. Why we don't try more to stop terrorism to appear, I don't think that terrorism is inevitable. Yes radicalization pass through media now, through internet and all of that... But if people feel good, integrated, I don't think they can be catch by the argument of terrorism.

I have obviously an naive point of view but for me it's all about integration. I think we made Muslims don't feel completely French, lot of people treat them like foreigners and that's the real problem. They are so many people who cannot identify with the notion of being french... And I totally understand them... How can you feel you are part of this nation when they are some stupid people who launch some unnecessary debate on Burkini.
For me the real problem is to work on that, the re establish the definition of being french... For me (but obviously not for everybody) we have a multi cultural and a multi religious country and that's wonderful, that's a strength... We should mixed up everything and don't separate them. For me it's really not a question of Islam (seems to be a fair religion, I am not religious so I don't know, but the few Muslims I now seems to be balanced like the few catholic I know).

In few year if we don't change maybe we will be front of Hinduism terrorism because France has forbid Bollywood movies !

That's was me talking to myself with my naive opinion of humanity  
See ya !

You make some interesting points , as always, Pauline.

For this topic, I decided to talk about stereotypes in connection with current events and terrorism..

Ya, almost every day I hear horrors of the type "Arabic is all biiiiiiip" (I let you imagine the insults...) most people didn't understand and have no cultural or moral intelligence. Trying to explain it is a waste. Sad reality. To me, these people (terrorist) are radical but more, religion is in their head. I think of terrorism is there in all kinds of religion, or at least of radicalism. It's complicated to position and to speak on this subject but for me the only difference between radicalism (whether Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, all religions) are the radicals think and terrorism is the action.

To return to what Laurine or Pauline said before I think the information allows one hand to extend terrorism, increasing it but at the same time accentuate stereotypes in place in France or in other countries on religion that is Islam and practice it. We should use the information as a strength. I think that in France and in other countries a lot of people lack critical thinking and general knowledge, contributing to hear insults, helping to fuel discrimination, etc. Basically: course of History and religion during the most broadcast programs without notice, just explanations and realities.

Everyone has the right to his own opinion (I agree with that) but still I never managed to understand where could come racism and malice and stereotype, etc. Which one is to judge a person on its origins, religions, practices, its color? Nobody has the power to do that, (in theory..)

people are far more small-minded than we believe.

Hello guys,

ISIS communication is mainly focused on internet. There's three key roles on that: inform their supporters of what is going on, also to recrute new members to be part of the organization and promote terror worldwide via footage as they did in 2012 when they executed James Foley.

What is happening today in syria and irak is very complex, i've read something really interesting about it in "le monde diplomatique", here's the link: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2015/12/CONESA/54363

Luis Ferreira wrote:Hello guys,

In my opinion we should better control what happens on internet. One of the biggest inventions by men is today one of among problems in terrorism eradication.  With the Internet and other technologies, they've changed our everyday lives, but they've also changed recruitment, radicalization and the front lines of conflict today. Today, conflict is essentially borderless. If there are bounds to conflict today, they're bound by digital, not physical geography.

ISIS communication is mainly focused on internet. There's three key roles on that: inform their supporters of what is going on, also to recrute new members to be part of the organization and promote terror worldwide via footage as they did in 2012 when they executed James Foley.

What is happening today in syria and irak is very complex, i've read something really interesting about it in "le monde diplomatique", here's the link: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2015/12/CONESA/54363

I understand what you're saying but I hope we NEVER control what happens on the internet.

Of course john, i wouldn't like too and that's another debate.. But i think there's a need of commitment from states and social networks on fighting propaganda. They CAN do it and they should do it, avoiding people to be expose to illusion and war horror

Luis Ferreira wrote:Of course john, i wouldn't like too and that's another debate.. But i think there's a need of commitment from states and social networks on fighting propaganda. They CAN do it and they should do it, avoiding people to be expose to illusion and war horror

A propaganda fight. I agree, that appears in all the traditional wars so I think you're right that it will appear on the net too. The western authorities may not admit it but I'm sure they are already waging one, perhaps not successfully yet though. The question is when does truth become propaganda become indoctrination?

Hello everyone,

Possibly I will repeat some of the ideas that were already suggested. Unfortunately power seems to be way too attractive for some individuals. And what is the easiest way to have power over people and to make them follow you no matter how crazy your ideas might be? This is easily done by ensuring that they have little or no education whatsoever and by making them believe in a cause that would fulfill their lives. This is the second most common reason why some people choose to join ISIS: most of them are status seekers (they do it for the money), then come the identity seekers and the third biggest group is revenge seekers (they consider themselves as being repressed by the West).

The lack of a sense of belonging, purpose and meaning in one’s life apparently provokes a desire to do something big with your life. And there comes ISIS’s propaganda which promises to give oneself a sense of importance. As it was already mentioned, integration and most importantly education (a proper one, not misinterpretation of the Koran) is the way to try to eradicate radicalization. However, I am a bit pessimistic about the future since the gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger everywhere, which means that the poor will get even poorer, which in turn will definitely not lead to better education.

Hi everybody,

This week we must speak about war and terrorism. I will just speak about war and I have chosen the war between the FARC and the Colombian state. This civil war has just ended after 50 years of confrontation. This conflict began with the murder of the Colombian president: Jorge Eliecer Gaitan who was a popular figure. He was, indeed, in favor of the poor farmers and was looking for more equity between the rich land owners and the poor farmers. After the president’s death, the army took the power and the FARC was born. The FARC was an organization of communist rebels. For almost 40 years the Colombian government fought again the FARC with the help of the USA.
But I speak about this war because it was ended last month. Indeed, a peace agreement has been signed by the actual president Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the FARC Rodrigo Londono. This peace stands for the economic development of the country and the major part of the population are for this agreement.
I think the peace is a good thing for the country and his inhabitants but I ask me how they could live together considering of 50 years of civil war and hatred and violent confrontation. I am curious to see how this different culture can live together in peace.

Hugs and Kisses
Celia Butel

Hello everybody !

As we have seen, terrorism is more present and becomes the first security problem for states, in Occident but also in the worldwide. Attacks take many shapes : bombing ; suicide bomber ; trapped cars … The goal is to spread terror. Terrorist act mainly ideas religious.
For some time, France suffered terrorist attacks, claimed by Daech.
This week, three heavily armed suicide bombers entered in the police academy in Pakistan during the night of Monday to Tuesday. They sowed terror coming back in a sleeping quarters and they began to fire shots all sides. 60 peoples have shooter. Yet, the building was very secure.
Vigipirate reinforced and many measures are taken to prevent more massacres. France also tries to limit recruitment of young people by terrorists. But despite all these measures, I think we can not avoid terrorism. I think that attacks are too publicized. Terrorists want to cause a furore and scared people. They want us to talk them, that we know that they are capable anything.
Moreover, I don’t think that increasing the number of police on the very effective public places. Indeed this is a big budget for the state and polices can’t control everyone.

Hello economists,

For this debate, I decided to talk about a graphic nobel. I bought this work a few weeks ago because I heard about it in TV news. The title is "Mon Bataclan" ; the deeply moving narrative of a survivor.

The History :

Fred Dewilde is a member of November 13th attacks survivor. He was in the Bataclan when his life changed dramatically. After the relief, the author must to start afresh.

The graphic designer tells, in black and white, the terrible evening. The survivor relates the two hours to play dead between corpses. Shots and pool of blood constitute the apocalyptic scene of its trauma. Without forgetting the terrorists represented in the form of skeletons.

Nevertheless, Fred Dewilde will survive thanks to a girl by his side. The 2 protagonists built up themselves an isolation bubble, " to extract of the horror. " A bubble which bursts upon the arrival of the policemen which release them.

How to live after such a trauma? I advise you this work, strongly.

Hi everybody ! For this topic, I would like speak about the role of media.

In the rich countries, these last years there have been many terrorism attack. But, in the other country too ! Media and many people speak mainly of the terrorism attack in the rich country. For the terrorism attack in Paris or Nice, the whole world was indignant. In several country, many people manifested to support the family and French people. But, when there are a terrorism attack in North Africa for exemple, medias speak about one day. Usually, in the poor country, when the organisation terrorist live, there is more death, everyday. These populations live with terrorism everyday. To fight against, it should destroy this organisation. But, everybody must act, because, I think, this organisation is powerful because it's rich. Who gives him money ? I think, it's the rich people by its consumption. Organisation terrorism have many oil well, and USA, French, Europeans buy this oil.

Hi everyone!
I will not write that war is awful because it’s obviously evident. For me, respect is the most important thing we should do between us. Now, I don’t see a lot of respect between communities and religions…
Often I heard insults, like Carine explained, over some communities. I actually heard that kind of things on Medias, so I still hope this is not a majority who think like that.
And the worst is the people who criticize immigrants, Muslim or anyone who’s different, probably don’t know any of them. I don’t think we can avoid a war and terrorism in rejecting people.
When I see interviews on TV of that kind of person (and not just them), I feel like I’m living on another planet.
I don’t what to say more than that because a lot is already said.
So, I would like to conclude with a quote I heard in my childhood:
“Don’t do something to someone if you don’t like someone doing the same to you”.

Hi !
Today, I want speak about a taboo subject. The zionist terrorism in Palestine and the censorphip to defend Palestinian people. Between 1990 and 2010, 1 483 Israelians are dead and 7 398 Palestinians are dead.
Of course, I am not advocating the murder. But I note that the murders committed by the Palestinians are much more emphasized as they are much less frequent
Unfortunately for friends of Israel, Manuel Valls or the USA, it is the Palestinians who are bitten their land for 70 years soon. This country suffer since severals decades.
The Israel practices a colonization that is passed to a conflict, sionnistes kill women or children without pity. When I went to the US, I read on a wall: "Pray For Israel”. I was sad. This country grant 38 billion military aid to Israel. It’s very rubbish !

Israel is a horrible state. He put pressure on differents states or differents organisms. Explications with example:

- In France, in 2014, Palestine support demonstrations were banned in France. Here, Where is the famous French « freedom of expression » ?
- The Football’s Organism, the UEFA, forbidden the Celtic Glasgow’s support to have Palestinian Flags in Stadium
- The Palestinian Flag is forbbiden in the show « Eurovision »
- Recently, the French politician Jean Frederic Poisson denounce the pressure of Zionist’s lobby in Hillary Clinton. He had to apologize for not being excluded from his primary.

In France, when you support the cause of Palestinian, when you are « anti-zionist », you are describe like a « Anti-Semite ». I’m for the peace and I find it’s shameful that in a country like France one can not denounce things without being convicted.

Free Palestine.

Lucas De Conti

hi everyone!
For this subject I do not have a lot to say except that terrorism is a barbaric act that makes thousands of victims and also that is not beneficial to anyone. Those who perform the procedure practiced a few times in the name of the muslim religion it must always find something that push to act. There is still no solution to stop this and I think it's a shame.