By: Maureen Duffy
PDF Version: “Inspired by the Past, We Shape the Future”
Matter Commented On: Conference on “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Security in the Changing World,” and attacks by extremists on educational institutions, “Inspired by the Past, We Shape the Future”
Recent terrorist and/or militant incidents have focused on universities and schools, assumed, by some, to be a desirable target for extremists because of their symbolic value. Another motivation for such attacks may be that education itself is viewed as an antidote to the spread of extremism, and suppressing education may be seen as a means of gaining control over the population — a theory expressed by Malala Yousafzai, from Pakistan, who, at the age of 15, was shot in the face on a school bus for advocating for education for girls. She has famously called on the United Nations to send “books and pens, rather than tanks,” to parts of the world struggling with extremist violence. Military intervention and legal enactments may have some impact on extremism, but they can also often escalate the problem, rather than diminishing it, and they can give rise to new human-rights abuses. Education appears to be a much more promising tool in many cases, and that is likely why it is under attack.