Time asks, Can Jihadis Be Rehabilitated?, and I’d take that one step farther — can the “terrorists” locked up at Guantanamo become productive members of society? So I was thinking about other terrorists and what’s become of them… Take the much-mentioned members of the Weathermen in the US, who caused riots, bombed and burned buildings — Bill Ayers is a respected professor and civic activist, Jeff Jones is a reporter and consultant, and Bernardine Dohrn is a law professor. Looking at the more violent members — who are still in prison — Kathy Boudin for example has become a public health expert, Judith Alice Clark formed an AIDS counseling program, and so did David Gilbert.
Looking here in Canada at members of the FLQ, who did a decade of bombing and robbery in Quebec, and kidnapped the British Trade Commissioner and killed the Vice Premier of Quebec… Take the four members of the Chenier Cell who spearheaded these acts — Paul Rose has been a candidate for the NDPQ and is a trade unionist who still works in the Quebec sovereignty movement, Jacques Rose owns a contracting business, Francis Simard is a writer. Or the Squamish Five who bombed a factory that made cruise missile components — Ann Hansen is a writer, Brent Taylor earned a degree from Queens University while in prison, and Gerry Hannah is a musician. Michelle Duclos who was arrested in a plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty has since become a Canadian government official serving as a representative to Algeria.
Anyway, I think people become “terrorists” because they have an overwhelming sense of ethics that brings them to commit extreme acts to help achieve a worldview that they feel is just. Help them mature and understand that there are less violent ways to achieve ethical change in the world, and they will often become agents of positive change in the world. A terrorist is just a person who’s chosen a poor method to try and make the world a better place. As much as I think religion is idiotic (none of the examples I’ve been able to find were religiously motivated, and that may make a big difference in rehab), I am aware that there are plenty of “good” people who are religious… So I don’t see why an Islamic terrorist can’t find a good way to work toward a better world for all of us, given the right therapy.
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Interesting read:
https://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf
I’m no expert, maybe there are some terrorists incarcernated in Guantanamo Bay, but from my take on things, the former US government kidnapped some suspects and tortured them for 8 years without following the law or humanity.
Therefor some poor people, whose human rights have been taken away from them are now returning to the shattered rests of their former lives. The injustice of what happened to them must drive them crazy. When someone decides to be a terrorist, that person must have thought about possible consequences. The question “Was it worth it?” and working on personal growth is possible in jail.
Being basically abducted from the street by a government and being treated like an animal for years is a whole different world.
If that would have happened to me, I would take flight lessons.
Interesting view. I want to look into this more. Very cool
I wonder what the average age for these sorts of “terrorists” is. It does seem that taking these more extreme actions is something done in the late 20s or early 30s.
On a related note, I’ve lately been wondering what becomes of individuals who are armed as children (as under the Khmer Rouge or in Uganda). Perhaps many of them never make it out of childhood…
I’m with Missj.
The biggest difference between the folks described and those in gitmo is years of torture.
That’s gotta skew things more than a bit.
It is kind of neat to know though that political “terrorism” can lead one to a very productive career. You don’t get those kind of odds from business school :)
I’ve heard more than once that Dostoevsky was planning a sequel to the Brother’s Karamazov in which Alyosha has become a terrorist.
Sort of the inverse process, in a way. Too bad he didn’t live to see (more of) the inside of a debtors prison and write another classic, eh?
LOTN, for info on child soldiers read the book A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, who survived the civil war of Sierra Leone. The movie Lord of War (based on true events) also features child soldiers
Doing nothing in the face of extreme oppression and violence is a form of violence in and of itself.
….or something like that.
I go to UIC in Chicago where Bill Ayers is a professor. Would love to take him, but so does everyone else!
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