With regards to “Does terror have an economic motive?”

Most viewed the 9/11 attacks as an act of hatred directed toward Western capitalism with the intent of inflicting both human and economic damage. While the human causalities were largely limited to the event itself, the economic effects will be with us for decades, if not forever.

From a different perspective, many throughout the world considered the invasion of Iraq a clear act of terrorism committed by the United States, with a motivation of greed and survival – there is lots of money to be made from the oil business, and without access to Middle East oil our country would collapse.

I find it interesting that in both cases capitalism is a key factor. Not that capitalism itself is bad, but the ways in which capitalism is practiced have profound consequences on different societies and may not harmonize with their local customs, culture or religion.

One of the fundamental issues raised in the article concerns the growing spread between haves and have-nots which too often occurs whenever Western style capitalism is employed. In many cases what the world sees is the rich getting richer while the poor are viewed as being trapped within a type of economic slavery.

Until we have capitalism with a heart, capitalism with a conscience, capitalism with social justice, capitalism with compassion, capitalism with respect – we will continue to breed resentment throughout the world.

That does not justify acts of terrorism as a valid response, but we do need to understand basic human nature, and there has always been a correlation between greed on the one hand, and violence on the other.

With regards to “Does terror have an economic motive?”

Most viewed the 9/11 attacks as an act of hatred directed toward Western capitalism with the intent of inflicting both human and economic damage. While the human causalities were largely limited to the event itself, the economic effects will be with us for decades, if not forever.

From a different perspective, many throughout the world considered the invasion of Iraq a clear act of terrorism committed by the United States, with a motivation of greed and survival – there is lots of money to be made from the oil business, and without access to Middle East oil our country would collapse.

I find it interesting that in both cases capitalism is a key factor. Not that capitalism itself is bad, but the ways in which capitalism is practiced have profound consequences on different societies and may not harmonize with their local customs, culture or religion.

One of the fundamental issues raised in the article concerns the growing spread between haves and have-nots which too often occurs whenever Western style capitalism is employed. In many cases what the world sees is the rich getting richer while the poor are viewed as being trapped within a type of economic slavery.

Until we have capitalism with a heart, capitalism with a conscience, capitalism with social justice, capitalism with compassion, capitalism with respect – we will continue to breed resentment throughout the world.

That does not justify acts of terrorism as a valid response, but we do need to understand basic human nature, and there has always been a correlation between greed on the one hand, and violence on the other.

If one looks more generally acts of terrorism by many unaffiliated groups have often had a basis in economics as well as ideology. On one side Terrorism in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, and Nepal all had both a political and economic basis. I am more inclined to believe that income equality through the empowerment of disenfranchised groups will do more to help than to simply “dream bigger” as Suketu Mehta suggests. Even well developed economies suffer under a worsening Gini Coefficient and have seen sporadic violence. While not an act of organized terrorism, the Los Angeles riots as well as the more recent unrest in Paris have shown that economic inequality and lack of opportunity can lead to civil unrest even in wealthy countries.

There is a bigger conversation here and I hope that we can start discussing the root causes of violence and hopefully find solutions.