Tunisia attack shows cancer of terrorism is complex and needs long-term remedies

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/27/tunisia-cancer-of-terrorism

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“Terrorism is not part of us” is the slogan of the anti-terrorism campaign launched by the Tunisian government a few months ago in response to growing acts of violence in the country. The campaign’s main message highlights tolerance and peaceful cohabitation as the foundation of Tunisian society.

Barely months after the attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis that left 24 dead, bodies on the beach in Port El Kantaoui, one of the most popular resorts in Tunisia, realised the worst nightmares of Tunisians. Following the Bardo attack, hotels increased security measures and a state of heightened alertness seemed to prevail, while the government appeared to spare no effort in reassuring Tunisians and worried potential visitors who had started to cancel their holiday reservations. The “I Will Come to Tunisia this Summer” internet campaign, begun by a number of sympathisers across the world after the attack, seemed to offer hope to Tunisians and to restore confidence among travellers.

Islamic State laid claim to the Sousse attack, calling the victims “subjects of the crusader coalition”. According to eyewitnesses, the terrorist handpicked his victims, singling out and firing at foreigners with a Kalashnikov, and Tunisians are convinced that a high death toll among tourists is a tactic to destabilise the economy.

Port El Kantaoui was considered among the least vulnerable areas. The travel advice on the UK government website instructed British nationals to avoid visiting areas in the south and those within 30 kilometres of the Algerian border. “Most British tourists stay in the coastal resorts and most visits are trouble free,” it said.

The advice echoes the main belief in Tunisia that the farther the area is from the Algerian and Libyan borders, the safer it is, and the more visitors can enjoy their European-like lifestyle undisturbed.

But the attack seems to question all our traditional assumptions about terrorism. Before satellite channels and before the internet became part of Tunisian homes, what Tunisians knew about terrorism was very limited and based on very brief news updates. Only those who lived in the regions close to the Algerian border could receive Algerian TV using a traditional aerial and see the shocking pictures of decapitated heads and fragmented bodies that characterised the dark decade in Algeria. Somehow Algeria was our alter ego from a parallel universe, so close to us but whose fate was so unlike ours.

“How do you feel in a country that is threatened by terrorism?” is a question Tunisians hear too often today. The rise of fundamentalism in Tunisia, largely explained by rampant rates of poverty, is casting doubt on theories about why an increasing number of people from various educational and social backgrounds are signing up for radical movements. The belief that the attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France were coordinated suggests we are facing a complex threat that requires expensive and long-term remedies.

Media debates have focused on the infiltration of Wahhabi ideology, and the role of suspicious sources of funding and border issues in increasing radicalisation. However pertinent some of these explanations may be, this line of thought ignores other aspects of the problem, mainly how terrorists acquire training and ideology in a very short time and without the need to leave the country. With the way digital technology has transformed dissemination of information and culture, it is no longer practical to claim that certain behaviours or events are external, simply because they originated in other parts of the world.

The post-al-Qaida terrorism takes up the shape of its host and consumes it inside out. Maybe a cancerous growth is a more suitable metaphor than a bacterial attack. It is no longer an entirely external problem, and face-to-face confrontation will not suffice.

Imen Yacoubi is a Tunisian writer and commentator