Yassine Santissi writes: "Time to mourn the individuals affected by the recent human tragedy is over.
Time to assess what has occured since the recent human tragedy has come. To
overcome this human tragedy, this is a necessary task.



Over the past week, we have witnessed a plethora of alleged terrorist experts
in some conglomerate media promoting the most profit-maximizing policy. Yet,
these self-proclaimed experts rarely provided a definition of terrorism or the
set of assumptions upon which their conclusions were based. Terrorism can be
defined as the use of images as weapons. As highlighted by the relatively low
level of sophistication of other weapons used by the hijackers, other weapons
are only of marginal importance. The theater of operations requires mental,
not physical, force. Neither thousands of soldiers nor billions of dollars
are necessary to address terrorism.



After the recent human tragedy, confusion turned into frustration.
Frustration turned into anger. And anger turned into hate. As reflected by
their breadth and depth, acts of bigotry were not committed by individuals who
were deranged. As implied by their Friday show, some conglomerate media
recognized their share of responsibility. In a bottom-line profit-maximizing
approach, some conglomerate media provided crude images rather than critical
analysis. In an irresponsible way, images of ecstatic women wearing the hijab
were broadcast. Understandably, the anger of individuals turned into hate
towards the Muslim community.



Images affect reality. Reality affects images. But images are not identical
to reality. If this distinction is not considered, then adverse effects are
likely to occur, as the acts against Muslim individuals highlighted. But the
attempt of some conglomerate media to control damages by mobilizing their
sales representatives blurs distinctions between images and reality. Will
Smith evokes images of the West taming the wild and America killing aliens.
Sylvester Stallone conjures up images of an entity simultaneously assuming the
responsibilities of judge, jury, and executioner. Instead of letting ordinary
individuals who committed and were affected by these acts express themselves
so that a common understanding of reality may be furthered, the customer
service representatives hogged the spotlight to deflect as much criticism as
possible away from their conglomerate media companies. If limited to written
and verbal abuse, the individuals who committed acts expressing anger should
not face the full wrath of the law, as some have advocated. Victims of these
acts should discourage judicial institutions from directing their efforts
towards individuals. Rather, efforts should be directed towards the constant
sources of widespread irrationality.



Conglomerate media must be stopped from the unrestrained promotion of their
corporate interests. Instead of giving space to individuals from the public
at large to express their emotions and address their emotional problems during
such an emotional period, some conglomerate newspapers have dedicated most of
the media space to several private corporations which try to exploit emotions.
With the broadcast of images of common Muslim rituals and the limited
emotional channels, confused and frustrated individuals turned legitimate
grievances into illegitimate acts.



To address terrorism, a distinction must be made between acts and motivations.
Since the answer relies on considering the motivations, a question asking
whether a terrorist act is justified is inadequately framed. To address the
act, justice and due process must be applied to the individuals or groups of
individuals who committed these acts. In terms of the long term, this
highlights the need to ratify and perhaps reinforce the International Criminal
Court. To address the motivations, images have an important role to play.
Indeed, as highlighted by the inter-faith prayer on Sunday, distinctions
between acts and motivations were provided. After recognizing the harmful
impact the largely unregulated conglomerate media had with regard to acts
against Muslims, images to weaken the motivations for such acts were provided.
If distinctions between acts and motivations were made and images provided to
American individuals, then a similar approach should be used to address
international terrorism. Terrorism must not be defined as a problem by
alleged world leaders, but as a solution for individuals and groups of
individuals with many problems. As part of an overall strategy to address
terrorism, those problems must be addressed.



As a tactic, rallying states and groups of states for retribution against
another state can have detrimental consequences. Not making distinctions
between the states and individuals gives credence to reprehensible claims,
such as America deserves this tragedy, which also do not make distinctions.
To claim freedom from fear in an epic way begs the question why individuals
inside Afghanistan are not entitled to this freedom. By restricting freedom
of movement, the fears of these individuals were only further exacerbated.
Other policies based on double standards increase frustration and lead to
anger.



As occured in the past, terrorists hijacked planes. As occured in the past,
the conglomerate media hijacked debates. Repeatedly, phrases like war against
terrorism have been promoted. In contrast, relatively little attention was
given to advocates of peace. Moreover, claims of ridding the world of evil
are portrayed in a grandiose fashion. If terrorism is bad, the obvious
implication is that war is good. Neither war nor terrorism are good. At
most, war as well as terrorism are necessary evils. In the case of war, it is
sanctioned by states. In the case of terrorism, it is sanctioned by
individuals.



Similarly, the globalization debate was hijacked. Most of the conglomerate
media have consistently portrayed the protests as anti-globalization. Indeed,
globalization has connotations of multi-culturalism and global harmony. These
conglomerate media fasten those connotations for themselves, their
advertisers, and interlocked directors. Not only are protests negatively
classified, but the debate is disabled, thereby increasing the level of
frustration of individuals which ultimately leads to violence.



To all those whose first allegiance is to humanity, not any particular
nationality
To all those who believe that there is only one civilization ˆ the human
cilivization



This is an appeal to address the motivations of terrorism by promoting, with
renewed vigor, social justice for individuals throughout the world --
regardless of nationality or religion. Wherever you are, protest and take
your cameras with you. Do not let the conglomerate media capture you with
their cameras. Share your images. For the short term, protests serve a
crucial role to address terrorism.



This is an invitation to participate and help organize the first
pro-globalization summit with its own organized media in Marrakesh, North
Africa, at the end of the year. The objectives of the summit are to develop
an understanding of economic colonization, provide a diverse forum for
non-commercial art, and allow organizations which promote social justice to
meet each other and efficiently increase their financial resources. The hope
is that confusion and frustration will be given outlets to prevent them from
turning into something else.



This is a signal. We are not with you. We are not with the terrorists. We
choose genuine freedom over narrow conceptions of financial freedom. We
choose social justice for all humans in our civilization over disguised
national retribution. We choose the forces of peace over sanctioned
belligerence.



Currently, we have relatively minimal financial resources. We have relatively
minimal media resources. However, we have inspiration. We have
determination. Through cooperation, not cooptation; through human
civilization, not any particular nation; over time, we will prevail."