The Roots of Terrorism: Poverty

In my last blog, I argued that U.S. military occupation of foreign countries can hurt our relations with the citizens of those countries and ultimately lead to terrorism. In this blog I would like to discuss another major cause of terrorism: Poverty.

One man who understands terrorism and what leads to a great deal is Mohamed Ali (the human rights advocate not to be confused with the legendary boxer). In his Ted Talk: the link between terrorism and unemployment, Ali brings this link to light by telling us the story of a young boy from a small village. The text of this story is provided below.

Mohamed Ali giving his Ted Talk in  September of 2013

"I would like to talk to you about a story about a small town kid. I don't know his name, but I do know his story. He lives in a small village in southern Somalia. His village is near Mogadishu. Drought drives the small village into poverty and to the brink of starvation. With nothing left for him there, he leaves for the big city, in this case, Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. When he arrives, there are no opportunities, no jobs, no way forward. He ends up living in a tent city on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Maybe a year passes, nothing. One day, he's approached by a gentleman who offers to take him to lunch, then to dinner, to breakfast. He meets this dynamic group of people, and they give him a break. He's given a bit of money to buy himself some new clothes, money to send back home to his family. He is introduced to this young woman. He eventually gets married. He starts this new life. He has a purpose in life. One beautiful day in Mogadishu, under an azure blue sky, a car bomb goes off. That small town kid with the big city dreams was the suicide bomber, and that dynamic group of people were al Shabaab, a terrorist organization linked to al Qaeda."

When people have no education, no opportunities, no income, no future, they become perfect targets for terrorist organizations to recruit. If that boy had been able to find some work he wouldn’t have been living on the streets and thus, wouldn’t have been recruited by terrorists in the first place. It is much less likely that a person with a full time job and steady, substantial income would throw that away than a person with no income and no direction in life. Terrorists know this, and chose who they try and recruit accordingly.

The story of this boy is not all that different from the story of our own impoverished urban youth. After all, gangs operate in a very similar way. They prey on young kids who are the most deprived. They give them a source of income and a sense of belonging. Eventually though, just like the story of the young kid from Somalia, they are the ones who have to pay the price; Ending up in prison or worse due to factors that are largely out of their control. The link between poverty and crime is an old and obvious one and terrorism is really just another type of crime: a horrific crime, but a crime nonetheless.

If poverty and terrorism go hand in hand, then why not try to work with countries in which terrorism is prevelant to provide foreign aid and work to stimulate job growth? Why has our country not tried dealing with terrorism in that way? Additionally, how has our nation dealt with terrorism? The next blog in this series will address some of these questions in more depth.