Editorial: The Terrorism Threat

Terrorism aims to kill innocents with the purpose to intimidate, depriving people of their sense of security, be it in a Paris café, a Mali resort, an airport in Brussels, or a simple county office in San Bernardino.

The attacks in Belgium are a new reminder of the vulnerability of open societies in the current fight against Islamic extremists groups. The merciless will and fanaticism of the suicide bombers is a new factor that makes them even more difficult to prevent.

Europe, for both geographic and demographic reasons, is one of the main frontlines in the war created by the Islamic State (ISIS) in its goal to propagate a brutal caliphate worldwide. But the threat is global, be it organized and carefully planned by groups, or by “lone wolfs”, those isolated people who take action by themselves – which does not make them less deadly.

If the purpose is to cause panic and terror, the response must be controlled. What’s unacceptable are reactions such as that of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who’s calling for banning Muslims from entering the U.S., survey those communities that have taken root in our country, and torture suspects. If fear of terrorists leads a society to change its values, terrorism is scoring a win.

Prevention through collaboration between intelligence services has proven to be the most effective way to fight terrorism. The problem is that the authorities can disrupt many attacks, but it only takes one that succeeds to shake up the world. The Brussels attacks are putting police forces on high alert from New York to Los Angeles. Their job is to protect, which does not necessarily mean that there is an imminent threat.

This is the reality in this time and age, and, without ignoring it or surrender to it, we must learn to live with a new danger. But we must not exaggerate or let neither the individual nor society be dominated by fear of what might happen. An exacerbated fear and the destruction of the pillars of a free society in the name of security are self-defeating. To combat terrorism we need individual strength to show that we are not afraid, but also institutional strength, to protect everyone with intelligence, cooperation and without discrimination.