Tackling terror and disturbed youth across societies

The cancellation of Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna this week because of the attempted terror attack on the spectators is a matter of serious concern. Three teenagers, all of them citizens of Austria, have been arrested in connection with the attempt to kill innocent people, which shows that random violence by a handful can create fear and panic and force whole societies to step back.

The Austrian authorities have said that two of the teenagers owed allegiance to Daesh, and they are of Iraqi origin. But London has decided to go ahead with the Swift concerts as planned. In Britain too there has been the terrible event of an assailant killing three young girls who were practising dance and yoga at a private club which was influenced by Swift’s music. Far-right groups in Britain went on a rampage across the country, targeting migrants, and migrants from Muslim countries in particular. The British police had said that the assailant who was killed was neither a migrant nor a Muslim. So, the issue is much more complicated, blurred than what it might appear in the first place.

It is now a well-known fact that most of the hideous school shootouts in the United States are carried out by teenagers with a disturbed mindset, youngsters who are social misfits. The tendency towards acts of extreme violence appears to be emanating from the adolescent age group. It cannot be denied that extremist ideological indoctrination only complicates the issue much further. The violence unleashed by the far-right rioters in Britain was equally of the dangerous kind.

What may be needed is an international initiative to deal with the unsettled youth across national societies. It cannot be done by a bureaucratic setup like the United Nations. It has to be a worldwide effort by a voluntary organisation like the Médecins Sans Frontieres, the Red Crescent/Red Cross, or a Youth Movement.

A psychological approach has to be adopted because the idea has to prevent the teenagers of going astray because they come from troubled and broken homes, or from societies and neighbourhoods wracked by violence. Terrorist organisations look for recruits in these troubled spots.

The youths need an alternative of hope. The competitive society has its advantages perhaps but it leaves too many people behind. What is needed is a caring society.

Whole communities need to get into this act of taking care of the youth gone astray. And they would need help from the state and bigger organisations, including the big corporations. The private sector has a big stake in the well-being of the youth, and they have to do their bit.

It is necessary to fight and end the reign of terrorist organisations, but it will not be enough. There is the bigger challenge of keeping away youth from crime and terror. It may look a hopeless task but it cannot be given up. The blinkered approach of war against terror alone does not work. And much of the proof lies in the experience of the last 20 years of this century. And the powerful states, whatever their rivalries among themselves, should scrupulously avoid armed bands of any kind.

It has to be on the same footing as the war on drugs and the war on illegal human trafficking. Unless the alternative, humane strategy is adopted to tackle the potential gunmen and terrorists lurking in our societies, the fight against terror would remain unfinished. A terror incident in London, Vienna or an American town should not be treated as an isolated local incident. There is a global social pattern where most of the suspects come from a certain age group and from a certain sociological background.