11 de setiembre/ 11 de marzo

The September 11 attacks on the United States had nothing to do with "imperialism," "colonialism," globalization, poverty and social problems in the Arab or developing world, American 'unilateralism' or the Palestinian issue. The attacks were a spillover from an internal/endemic struggle on the future of the Moslem - particularly Arab Moslem- world which started after WW I and has not yet ended. Until about twenty years ago only Arab and some Moslem nations were exposed to Islamic radicalism- today , the whole world. In the three years since the attacks on New York and Washington, there has emerged an anti-democratic , Soviet-style, "three anti" (anti-Western, anti-American, anti-"Zionist") ideological alliance between the normally incompatible madrassa and the Western university campus. Military, security, political, economic measures are not sufficient to deal with the post-9/11 challenge. For the future, the key is education- planned Education for Democracy. Where it exists, democracy is taken for granted and its value becomes obvious only when absent. Therefore, Western societies must revamp their education systems to reinforce the commitment of the young generation to democracy and its indispensability in dealing successfully with the cultural and political challenge of what Christopher Hitchens has called "Islamic fascism."The teaching of history and elimination of political correctness are major tools in this educational effort. Since democracy should not be imposed , the non-democratic world must be urged to eliminate hate indoctrination from its educational system as a possible preliminary step for the possible advent of democracy over time.