Newsletter No. 73
September 6, 2005

 

THE DIFFUSION OF TERRORISM: JAPAN NEEDS TO BE PREPARED

The following opinion article appeared recently in the Asahi Shinbun. It is a Japanese opinion about the "war on terrorism" that does NOT come out of the area studies community.

Now that "terrorism" has become such a major public issue globally, it means that scholars and commentators of diverse backgrounds have joined the public debate on this topic. Although there are relatively few Islamic area studies scholars in Japanese universities, almost every university now has a "security specialist (anzen hosho)" or two.

An entire literature on "terrorism" and "anti-terrorism" is growing—both in English and Japanese—that treats the phenomenon as being disconnected to the historical and political issues that have given rise to the current crisis. By de-historicizing and de-politicizing terrorism, it thus becomes possible to treat "anti-terrorism" as a sort of clinical science or a species of criminology. This kind of view easily slides into the acceptance of rightwing policies. Note here how Mr. Furukawa's emergent views on terrorism and Japan were born through his participation in a meeting with "Western anti-terrorism experts."

The Diffusion of Terrorism: Japan Needs to be Prepared for the Prospect of "Attack"
By Katsuhisa Furukawa
Researcher at the Social Technology Study and Development Center

Terrorism has changed, and the wave of a "new terrorism age" is approaching. Japan is not a country that has nothing to do with it. Last month, I participated in a meeting of Western anti-terrorism experts and felt strongly the following things.

The global terrorist organization "Al-Qaida" is now different systematically from what was the case on September 11, 2001 -- the day of the terrorist attack in the US. We can also say that the control system led by Usama bin Ladin doesn't have an important role any more. As a result, it has changed into an ideologically tied body like a "franchise" which consists of many small groups. Now it is evolving into "worldwide jihad acts."

The American government doesn't think that Al-Qaida now has the power to carry out such a massive attack as the 9/11 terrorism. On the other hand, they take seriously the increasing cases where independent radical groups willingly pledge allegiance to Usama bin Ladin. Since those groups launch terrorism in their own countries, they don't have to care about borders. Tracking them is more difficult than tracking terrorists who have foreign nationality.

What European anti-terrorism investigators have been concerned about is that the main targets of Islamic radicals' attacks have shifted to Iraq or Europe due to the reinforcement of anti-terrorism measures in the US. The bombing in the UK reminded us that Europe was both a factory and target of radical Islamic terrorism. It is a rising of "Islamic radicals who have European nationality" whose information is unknown to even intelligence services of developed nations.

What's more, the number of Islamic radicals in North Africa and Southeast Asia is increasing, which encourages more terrorist acts. We can say that the realm of radicals is expanding both geographically and racially.

Therefore, I guess paying attention to Iraq situations is now very sensible. Iraqi terrorist groups make Europe a stronghold of soldiers and supplies and the place where Iraqi terrorists exchange their information.

The next concern is that there is a chance that terrorists who fought against American and British armies in cities will move outside of Iraq when the Iraqi order is stabilized in the future. Ironically, it will be possible that the stability of Iraq may increase the risk of terrorism in developed countries.

An Islamic terrorist attack in Japan is thought to be less likely compared to that in Western countries. However, Japan should be prepared to be targeted by terrorists since Japan was listed as one of their targets in last year's statement of Al-Qaida. In fact, there are even more potential objective targets in Japan than in Britain, like the Shinkansen, skyscrapers, and so on. New radical members can move easily from Europe or other countries to Japan without being noticed.

There is a tendency among Japanese to think that what has to be done as a countermeasure against terrorism is only to make a law and then enacting it. However, many problems still remain, like bureaucratic sectionalism of each related ministry, building a system of cooperation between the central government and local governments, and between the government and the private sector. It is important to keep improving our plans through practice and the verification of the reliability with which the public and private sectors work together. The early formation of emergency laws is also to be desired.

It is inevitable that we must beef up the system for collecting information about terrorism and sharing it. It might also be necessary to adjust laws about the scope of policing rights in order to prevent terrorism.

Japan has to make a thoughtful strategy about the prospect of Islamic radical terrorism, which is going to continue for the next ten to twenty years.