In 2009 there were over 500 bombing is Pakistan, including suicide bombings committed by children.On Ted.com, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy uses “propaganda” footage of a Taliban training camp, to address how the Taliban convinces children to become suicide bombers. Through her interviews, with children from poor families (who attend these training camps/”schools” where they get free accommodation, food and perhaps a stipend) Ms. Obaid-Chinoy puts forward a five step process by which the Taliban has “perfected” the recruitment and training of children suicide bombers. Step one: prey on the poor, and underprivileged, and separated the children from their parents. Step two: use religion, they “teach” the children the Koran, in Arabic, which is a language Pakistani children to not normally speak; which allows the Taliban to distort the message of the Koran. Additionally, they do not allow any other information to be accessed by the students. Step three, facilitate hate: the training camps beat and starve the children. Step four: promise better things to come: the Taliban teaches the students that although their life on Earth is horrible, after they commit a suicide attack they will be rewarded in the after-life. Step five: the Taliban preaches that the West doesn’t care about civilian deaths, so they shouldn’t either. They show the children videos of the West bombing Arab nations as proof. Throughout the video Ms. Obaid-Chinoy uses the words “propaganda” and “brain washing”, and these words clearly have a negative connotation, yet even after our class and discussing the meaning of these words I still feel like (although they are perhaps dubious) they are the best label for actions such as the Taliban’s systematic method of training.
This is extremely interesting insight that Obaid-Chinoy gives. What i find fascinating is how organized and arguably effective the Talibans' method is. I watched the clip and it is amazing to hear to young man talk about his own experience and the lack of expression on his face when he is talking about it.
However, what i find most interesting is how you can relate this to public diplomacy. By using this video you are noting how public diplomacy is not just for nation states anymore, but also transnational organizations. This notion dives into what we have been talking about with how ones define public diplomacy and how "new public diplomacy" is not just for nation states.
This is an interesting analysis of how suicide bombers are 'bred' by the Taliban -for me especially because I just learned about Palestinian suicide bombers in a theory of conflict class which reflects different methods of 'creating' these suicide bombers. In the case of PSBs, scholars such as Ghassan Hage do not see this decision as a result of specific social conditions; whereas, the Taliban apparently preys on such impoverished citizens. But because of a more community oriented society, these bombers have altruistic attitudes which lead them to think less of themselves as individuals. Actually I guess there are similarities in both societies, with the Taliban making it more of an obvious training method, versus Palestinians being culturally 'trained' just because of the society they live in.
I wonder how Public Diplomacy could be used to counter this 'training' of suicide bombers? Perhaps some types of programs could be introduced that could give these children something else to do besides get pulled in by the Taliban and brainwashed. The US may not be so successful as a nation-state trying to introduce such diplomacy, but NGOs and TANs could make a difference within target countries to enhance education and the social conditions of these susceptible children
Lynn,
ReplyDeleteThis is extremely interesting insight that Obaid-Chinoy gives. What i find fascinating is how organized and arguably effective the Talibans' method is. I watched the clip and it is amazing to hear to young man talk about his own experience and the lack of expression on his face when he is talking about it.
However, what i find most interesting is how you can relate this to public diplomacy. By using this video you are noting how public diplomacy is not just for nation states anymore, but also transnational organizations. This notion dives into what we have been talking about with how ones define public diplomacy and how "new public diplomacy" is not just for nation states.
This is an interesting analysis of how suicide bombers are 'bred' by the Taliban -for me especially because I just learned about Palestinian suicide bombers in a theory of conflict class which reflects different methods of 'creating' these suicide bombers. In the case of PSBs, scholars such as Ghassan Hage do not see this decision as a result of specific social conditions; whereas, the Taliban apparently preys on such impoverished citizens. But because of a more community oriented society, these bombers have altruistic attitudes which lead them to think less of themselves as individuals. Actually I guess there are similarities in both societies, with the Taliban making it more of an obvious training method, versus Palestinians being culturally 'trained' just because of the society they live in.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how Public Diplomacy could be used to counter this 'training' of suicide bombers? Perhaps some types of programs could be introduced that could give these children something else to do besides get pulled in by the Taliban and brainwashed. The US may not be so successful as a nation-state trying to introduce such diplomacy, but NGOs and TANs could make a difference within target countries to enhance education and the social conditions of these susceptible children