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New York, 11:11 AM
Thu Nov 12
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08/15/09
One of the three was a woman, named Mairead Farrell. ([en.wikipedia.org]).
Her story and reasons for joining an illegal, paramilitary, terrorist organisation - the IRA, are quite different to the story told above.
Farrell was determined to be 'active', not a 'passive' participant of what women usually did where she grew up in Belfast in the 70s and 80s.
In the Wikipedia biog (linked above), it mentions that she was persuaded to join the IRA by another member.
I've have seen documentary footage filmed of her where she states that she was not impressed by what women did when a bombing, attack or violent event happened in Belfast (as they regularly did) and she wanted to get out of that 'passivity' and be more directly involved.
I'm not in any way approving or lauding Farrell's or any terrorist's ethos. But given her environment and where she grew up her ideas are interesting from a studies and research point of view.
Some commentators here mentioned that they are studying this phenomenon. Therefore, they may be interested in finding out more about this type of female history and other women who took an active part in terrorist activity and their reasons for doing so.
These actions are something I can only condemn and could never exonerate.
Someone else that may be of interest to those studying women getting involved in 'terrorist' type politics, especially in Northern Ireland is - Bernadette Devlin McAliskey- [en.wikipedia.org]
She was elected as a Member of Parliament UK when she was 19.
There are too few women involved in politics in general never mind those involved in politics in a war zone.
I’m interested in this woman lately - Shahla Atta.
However, there is little info about her on the web but she’s the only female candidate I’ve read about to date in the presidential elections in Afghanistan.
For more info on the award winning documentary 'Death On The Rock' - [www.museum.tv]
08/15/09
08/15/09
What remains largely undiscussed is the effect of repression. Looking at every conflict that attracts suicide attackers, both male and female, there is repression: Israel/Palestine, Chechnya (in which almost half of suicide attacks are done by women), Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan. Repression tends to contain a people and their ideas. When the conflict involves a people seeking autonomy and they are militarily outmatched by the de facto government, suicide bombing is a low cost and high fatality way of striking. Not to mention that when women are involved, the media is all over it which gets the terrorist group the desired attention to their cause.
The women involved range significantly. They are poor, middle class, wealthy. They are at least high school educated, some even holding post graduate degrees. Some have lost family, but some self recruited out of firm nationalist beliefs. In Chechnya, the families of the bombers are not remunerated for their kin's death, even though Wahhabi groups are generally responsible for attacks. Moreover the families are generally ostracized for their connection to the Wahhabi group.
My point is, while women killing does mean something else, analyzing gender and religion does little to understand the underlying reason of how she got there.
Specifically, @deeemer you ought to try sources other than Israeli ones. Or you might want to get away from the "Muslim rage" idea of Bernard Lewis. I agree, there is a lot of discontent in the Muslim world but it is a response, not an aggression. The Lewis/Huntington concepts are not good explanations which lead us astray from understanding what the correct course of action is.
We should also ask ourselves if Islam is the problem, then why has only one women suicide bombed in Kashmir. Or why no suicide bombers were involved in the Bosnian conflict.
Religion and gender are quibbles. Repression is the problem.
08/15/09
I guess I understand why the organizations recruit and make use of suicide bombers - as you say, low cost, high-impact, heavy media coverage - but I do think it's interesting to see what makes one person - man or woman - volunteer for death and not another.
08/14/09
Just because she has a uterus doesn't have to change, or cause us to examine, her motivation, does it?
08/14/09
08/14/09
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08/14/09
finally, jews HAVE been allowed to live in iraq. there are a tiny number of them-16 people who identify as jews in baghdad. but they have been there. jews and americans are lumped in to this one horrible "zionist/american" monolithic entity because of a perception that an american hand is present in all of israel's decisions, and a number of anti-semitic beliefs about jewish influence on american politics.
08/14/09
08/14/09
Watch some tv from Lebanon, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, etc. Imagine if your local pastor/rabbi/minister/whatever got up and stated every week that America is out to get you, Jews are going to destroy you, and the only way to get out is to kill them first. And then the government pays the families of suicide bombers for good work. And then you get a hero's funeral. THAT is what leads to suicide bombers. Violence is encouraged and rewarded.
08/14/09
Sorry, religion isn't always to blame. Ideology does it.
Also, I'm not aware of a single government that pays for "good work" aside from Saddam's propaganda.
08/14/09
Rhetoric definitely plays a role, but I think we really underestimate how wronged some terrorists feel. I don't think there is a direct line between poor municipal services and suicide bombings, but when people feel like they are screwed, that they have nothing to look forward to and that the ruling powers at home or abroad are destroying their communities it isn't just rhetoric that is driving them.
I think it is a mistake to put all the blame on the militant leaders and ignore the daily life issues that help fuel terrorism. We often get so caught up in the Muslim part of Muslim terrorism that we miss the issues that are common to all terrorist movements (IRA, Basque, etc).
08/14/09
My heart breaks for this woman and what she's been through.
08/14/09
08/14/09
[www.israelnationalnews.com]
Palestinian suicide bombers get compensated.
08/14/09
Israel is in an incredibly difficult situation but many of their policies have actively though unintentionally fueled terrorism because too few politicians actually thought "If I were a Palestinian, would this action make me hate Israel?"
08/14/09
I think that the single act that fueled the most terrorism for Israel was simply Israel's birthdate in 1948. Done. Arab countries went ballistic, tried to war it out of existence, and when that failed, are continually trying to chip at it until it buckles. Israel has better human rights policies, more job opportunities, and better health care for its citizens than most surrounding countries, and yet it is villified the most. I think Israel is tired of trying to appease anyone, because no one is ever appeased until it ceases to exist.
08/14/09
I think what you're saying is exactly the problem. Too many people reduce the issue to Jews versus Muslims. Yes, anti-semitism plays a role, but there are dozens of historical problems and discriminatory procedures that fuel individual terrorism.
To go back to the Northern Ireland analogy- the IRA didn't win, Northern Ireland is still divided. But the root causes of terrorism (ex. unequal voting and housing rights) had to be solved to end the violence.
Letting the family of a suicide bomber keep their home isn't appeasement, it is basic human rights. The PLO and Hamas are incredibly screwed up, hateful organizations but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of what Israel does is simply wrong.
08/14/09
08/14/09
I hope and pray that a person who would cherish the above sentiment IS, indeed, "fundamentally different than the rest of humanity".
08/14/09
Its really easy to draw a line on the map and say "These are the bad people, they're different than us, they're hateful and murderous and don't feel compassion the way we do." But it isn't really true. Most people are just trying to go about their lives the best they can, even when it involves supporting terrorism.
08/14/09
08/15/09
08/15/09
08/14/09
"Was there a difference, I wondered, between killing American soldiers and killing American civilians, like reconstruction workers? No, she said: "I am willing to explode them, even civilians, because they are invaders and blasphemers and Jewish. I will explode them first because they are Jewish and because they feel free to take our lands.""
This woman is from Iraq. I'm quite certain she's never met a Jew - no Jews have been allowed to live there for decades. And yet she spouts this idea that it's the Jews that are somehow a present and real threat - that they're out to steal her and her lands. It's this insane rhetoric that reminds me most of Hitler and the Nazi ideas. "Never again" is happening once more, and it's frightening to watch and do nothing.
08/14/09
I'm sure she's never met a Jew, but the distance between Iraq and Israel is smaller than the distance between New York City and Chicago. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict isn't that distant for her.
08/14/09
08/15/09
John Mearsheimer, one of the foremost proponents of offensive realism in international relations has even come out against America's Israel lobby. He claims that in its unequivocal support for Israel, the United States is doing itself damage on the international scene. It no longer benefits America to never question Israeli actions. He has no particular agenda, but from a strict cost-benefit political analysis, he's right, it does damage the United States' legitimacy.
02/04/09
[www.towleroad.com]
02/04/09
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02/04/09
Yes. Your sentence sent a chill right through me. And she did this repeatedly.
02/04/09
It's really not surprising that these women aren't necessarily ideologically motivated because several studies have shown that the men aren't really driven by ideology either. I'm off to dig the studies.
02/04/09
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02/04/09
On that score I never understood terrorism's politicisation of suicide, especially if, like in this case, there is force or duress involved in the person's decision to martyr. I'm really interested to know if women suicide bombers are also promised 72 virgins (seriously)? And frankly, even growing up Muslim, I had never heard of the 72 concubines thing until around 9/11, leading me to think that Al Qaeda and the like have grokked some of the finer nuances of a very very small and unique aspect of Islamic culture and religion for their own purposes. Martyrdom is doing something not TO get something for the self, but for a larger purpose.
02/04/09
Although I have a very hard time empathizing with or understanding the concept of martyrdom, I can certainly agree that the bastardization of Islam for political-terrorist ends is horrendous.
02/04/09
02/04/09
I have no time for suicide either (speaking as someone who was suicidally depressed this cuts very true for me). There's nothing special about blowing yourself up (I can understand the symbolism of having no other choice, not even a choice to use weapons that won't harm yourself, but still), and blowing yourself up JUST to have SEX WITH VIRGINS FOR FUCK'S SAKE. I mean, really. And frankly, terrorists like al Qaeda bastardise almost everything about Islam; its mutated into something completely insane. The whole virgin thing is obviously symbolic of the large scale misoygny in the culture and makes me furious with rage.
02/04/09
02/04/09
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to building my Happy Place Bunker.
02/04/09
Fuck.
02/04/09
02/04/09