Global Terrorism and Egypt

Ben Smith

Global Terrorism and Egypt

The rise of Global Terrorism during the last century has had profound effects on how people perceive globalization. From the historical stories we hear growing up, it seems that human civilizations have mostly considered the knowledge of and interaction with the rest of the world to be opportunistic. A society that had intimate knowledge of a foreign, or exotic society, typically gained new goods and trading opportunities, new ways to develop skills and potentially new lands to conquer and/or exploit.

            If relations were to sour between nations however, the societal risks were much different than in modern times, and seemingly more severe. From one nation to act out violently against another, the violence would typically be forced to be organized, clear fights for territory that was easily described, and determined, by the use of a map (Cutter et al, xvii).

Terrorism, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the use of violence in the pursuit of political gains”, however, has been able to mitigate the geographical restrictions on such violence. As a result, international relations and foreign policy decisions are not protected by isolation, and can lead to disastrous consequences with the heart of the state. If a country, or nation, wanted to destroy the capitol building of a rival group, they would have to march an army, often deep into enemy territory. The march would be dangerous and slow. Now though, it only takes one person to buy a plane ticket, build a homemade explosive and drive it into the capitol building.

Competing ideas can easily lead to violence and typically are the reasons behind most conflicts. As globalization increases, access to competing ideas increase. The members of international politics must be more careful and deliberate with their actions, for a wrong action, or even a misplaced word, could can encourage a devastating terrorist attack.  This ever present possibly encourages fear in societies, primarily of outsiders which in turn encourages ethnocentrism. Terrorism is such a powerful tool that even the threat of a potential possibility of terrorism has been considered as a justification for war (the U.S.’s pre-emptive invasion of Iraq).

Egypt has a prominent history in the development of modern terrorism and the radical Islamic Jihad movement. The ideological foundation for these Islamic terrorist organizations originated in the life and literature of an Egyptian named Sayyid Qutb. Born in 1906, Qutb was an extremely religious and educated man. He found great importance in the international issues of his time, and was continuously shaped by those events throughout his life. Qutb viewed the world in two hemispheres, material/western, and Islamic/eastern. Interestingly enough though, he was on a boat traveling to do graduate work in the U.S. when the six-nation Arab armies, including Egypt, were destroyed by Israel in 1948.

Qutb’s experiences in the U.S. were unpleasant, and he deeply despised the racism, materialism and sexualism that he considered to define U.S culture (Wright, 24). From this point forward he saw the westernization of the Arab world to be a significant threat. He returned to Egypt inspired, and began writing the literature that would shape into the Jihadist movement and eventually make him the movement’s first martyr.

Though Qutb did not found the Muslim Brotherhood, the prominent pro-Islamic state organization that developed in Egypt, he arguable the most important member the organization ever had. Originally formed as a political organization, as opposed to a terrorist organization, the Brotherhood worked with the development of Abdel Nasser’s government. Qutb was a primary consultant to Nasser, but was essentially used as a pawn since Nasser had every intention in maintaining the strict secularism that existed during British control. Once Qutb and the Brotherhood realized that they were betrayed, they created a plot to assassinate Nasser, but the plot was foiled and Qutb was jailed and tortured for several years. During that time he wrote Milestones which argues that the Islamic world is under attack from western society, and must act violently to combat this threat that will otherwise lead to the destruction of Islam. This book is by far the most influential text ever written in terms to Islamic terrorism, and changed many interpretations of the Quran, most significantly defining the radical Islamic perspective of Jihad that is used today to justify the incredibly violent actions of terrorist organizations. Qutib was executed in 1966, and is often considered the First Martyr of the Jihadist movement.  Without the conflict between the secularist and non-secularist in Egypt, terrorism would not be what it is today.

The Muslim Bortherhood still exist, and controlled the government after the 2011 revolution for over a year before being overthrown and has since been violently suppressed. As Egypt continues to settle into its new self, terrorism continues to exist. November of 2014 saw a new wave in attacks, but overall, terrorism is not nearly as extreme as it could be and is in other countries that lack an established and strong government.

                                         Works Cited/References

Cutter, Susan L., Douglas Richardson, and Thomas J. Wilbanks. The Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.

Wright, Lawrence. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Knopf, 2006. Print.