DATE=4/12/2000
TYPE=ENGLISH PROGRAMS FEATURE
TITLE=GLOBAL RISE OF TERRORISM 
NUMBER=7-33605
BYLINE=ZLATICA HOKE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=SWANEY
TELEPHONE=619-0935
CONTENT=
_
INTRO:	The police in Uganda are still searching for 
mass graves of the followers of a religious 
cult who were killed (in March) last month.  
In 1998, a series of bombs exploded in the 
American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  In 
1995, poisonous gas released in the Tokyo 
subway harmed several thousand passengers.  
These are just some of the acts of violence 
that have shocked the world in recent years.  
Zlatica Hoke discussed what causes individuals 
and groups to commit such terrorist acts with 
two American scholars. 
TEXT:	Mark Juergensmeyer [pron: JER-ghens-my-er], 
director of global and international studies 
at the University of California - Santa 
Barbara, has written a book titled "Terror in 
the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious 
Violence."  In his opinion, all terrorism is 
motivated by fundamentalist religious 
ideologies.  He says terrorist attacks are 
committed by people who are confused by global 
changes and perceive the world as becoming too 
secular.  Professor Juergensmeyer notes that 
there has been an increase of such attacks in 
the 1990-s. 
TAPE CUT ONE - JUERGENSMEYER   :32
	"In a post cold-war era -- where there isn't 
the same sense of certainty about the way in 
which the world is organized -- and the rise 
of geopolitics and of a global economic 
system, that although in some way unites 
everybody, it also disrupts traditional 
societies and gives a sense of uncertainty to 
people who feel that they are not a part of 
the new world or are not really certain what 
the new world is going to become.  And in some 
way, they feel paranoid about the control of 
the new world." 
TEXT:		Professor Juergensmeyer says the United 
States, having become the leader of the 
secular western world, is often the target of 
terrorist groups from more traditional 
societies.  But he adds bomb attacks on 
abortion clinics and other public places in 
the United States indicate that many Americans 
also feel uncomfortable with the new world 
order and its powerful leaders.  Professor 
Juergensmeyer says it is because they fear 
losing their individual liberties and 
traditions. 
	The California professor says during the cold 
war the world was divided into the communist 
East and non-communist West, with the Third 
World balancing in between.  He says when this 
division ended, a new one began.  On one side 
are societies connected -- albeit 
superficially -- by technology, media and 
rapid communication.  And on the other side 
are traditional communities who feel 
threatened by this emerging global society in 
which they see no role for themselves.  
Professor Juergensmeyer also says religious 
nationalism has replaced communism as the new 
enemy of the secular West.  In his opinion, 
most people who commit violent acts -- such as 
bombing government buildings, abortion 
clinics, or sports arenas -- see the world as 
being at war, a "cosmic war," as he calls it.  
Those who engage in it employ religious images 
of the divine struggle against evil, and place 
them in the service of worldly political 
battles.  And while they may not expect to 
win, they want to draw attention to their 
ideology. 
TAPE CUT TWO - JUERGENSMEYER  :30
	"I define terrorism in my book as performance 
violence.  That is, acts of violence that are 
performed in a public sphere in order to 
awaken or shock us, mobilize us in some way - 
quite different from the kind of terrorism 
that we used to associate with left-wing 
Marxist movements that were much more 
strategic -- politically.  They had a goal. 
But bombing the World Trade Center (in New 
York), for example, or the Oklahoma City 
federal building, or putting nerve gas in the 
Tokyo (Japan) subways -- these are not acts 
with specific goals." 
TEXT:	Here in Washington, Mitchell Hammer, professor 
of international relations at American 
University, agrees that groups that commit 
violent acts do it mostly to gain public 
attention.  But he distinguishes terrorist 
groups with a political agenda from religious 
cults.  Professor Hammer says both may be 
fanatical about a cause or ideology, but 
members of political groups are usually free 
to leave the group.  Religious cults always 
function in a strictly controlled environment. 
TAPE CUT THREE - HAMMER  :20
	"The people who are members of a cult have 
their behavior prescribed, where there are 
rewards and punishments that are given for 
even the smallest acts of either obedience or 
deviance.  There is often a charismatic leader 
that controls how people live with one 
another."
TEXT:	Mitchell Hammer cites the recent case of mass 
murder in Uganda as a typical example of cult 
violence.
TAPE CUT FOUR - HAMMER  :27
 	"The religious leader(s) that formed that cult 
seduced people -- through deception -- into 
joining, clearly engaged in coercion that 
disoriented people and then a conversion 
process involved a kind of a snapping that 
takes place when one whole set of worldviews 
is replaced by another and then a very strong 
maintenance process."
TEXT:	Mitchell Hammer says in order to curb the rise 
of terrorist attacks, countries must improve 
their monitoring of political and religious 
groups.  He says this can be done through 
educating communities to recognize groups with 
violent agendas and to warn the authorities 
about them.  Mitchell Hammer and Mark 
Juergensmeyer agree that increasing security 
measures alone will not curb terrorism. 
Professor Juergensmeyer also thinks that the 
new digital and secular society must be more 
understanding of the other side.  He says 
groups with religious and traditional views 
should be respected and encouraged to speak in 
public forums.  In his opinion, they will be 
less violent if they do not feel threatened. 





12-Apr-2000 16:06 PM EDT (12-Apr-2000 2006 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.