Al-Qaeda in Africa (merged thread)

[Chowing]

I have wrestled with where to jump back into this discussion. This whole discussion around "cause" is complex, regional, and, so far, without a solution, yet it remains one of the current, major issues to be solved on the planet. Kaplan's chaos and anarchy either reign or are on the horizon in many parts of the world. Terrorists are right in the middle of it.

I do know from experience here in the states, that many of our home grown terrorists came from families with money and they were highly educated, from the Weather Underground, SLA, and others. There is always the "redneck" factor that is more based on racial hatred then against the seats of power. However, none of these home grown terrorist gained much, if any, popular support.

Terrorists gain popular support where poverty exists. They promise aid or a better way of life to the poor and blame the mess on the seats of power. The poor are looking for hope and grab onto it. These terrorists are very persuasive. There arguments make more sense in the face of poverty. When the terrorists have popular or regional support they can stay hidden longer, get the supplies they need and recruit many many more people into their ranks.

Poverty may well be associated with insurgency and the domestic use of terror tactics by insurgents... but that's hardly something that the US or the West need to be concerned with.

I guess this is where my global citizenship comes in. Where people suffer, I should be concerned and do what I can to be part of the solution. The other side of the story, a reality, is that the US will be impacted soon or later by the unrest that terrorists are a part of.

At the end of the day the solution to insurgency - and thus domestic terrorism - in Nigeria is drastic reforms in the Nigerian government. In the absence of such reform, western attempts to alleviate poverty will only worsen the problem by allowing the government to avoid confronting the need for change.

We can help alleviate poverty by not being concerned only about our interests. That view of the world has only heightened and in some cases caused the poverty in some regions of the world. Africa has some of the largest deposits of natural resources, we in the West gobble them up and pay scant attention to the poor in the very regions that give us the natural resources. That all sound harsh, but it is part of the reality. Right now, there are westerners and Chinese as well buying up large tracts of land and water to aid the West and China, not those who have the land and are in poverty.

Granted, the traditional and most often used standard practices for alleviating poverty have not worked. Most of it has gone on with little or no dialog with local people.

The US and the west need to worry about terrorism directed at the US and the west, and that doesn't seem reliably connected to poverty. Moot point in any event, as the US and the West can't really do much about poverty in Africa. That's a function of African governance and it needs to be addressed by Africans.

Agreed. That does not mean that outside help is useless. There are ways of empowering people, without leading the movement.