‘Terrorism will not be stopped by militarised minds which create insecurity and fear and hence breed terrorism.’

‘Terrorism can only be stopped by cultures of peace, democracy, and***image1:right*** people’s security. It is wrong to define the post September 11th world as a war between civilisation and barbarianism’ or democracy and terrorism’. It is a war between two forms of terrorism which are mirror images of each other’s mindsets ñ mindsets based on this can only conceive of monocultures and must erase diversity, the very precondition for peace. They share the dominant culture of violence. They used the same weapons and the same technologies. In terms of the preference for violence and use of terror, both sides are clones of each other. And their victims are innocent people everywhere. The real conflict is between citizens across the world longing to live in peace and security and forces of violence and terror ñ denying them peace and security.

‘On 18th September, the day for solidarity with victims of the Sept-ember 11th terrorist attack on the US, I joined the millions to observe two minutes’ silence at 10:30 a.m. for those who lost their lives in the assault on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. But I also thought of the millions who are victims of other terrorist actions and other forms of violence. And I renewed my commitment to resist violence in all its forms.’

‘While observing two minutes’ silence in the midst of tribal families who are victims of starvation, even while 60 million tonnes of food is rotting in storage, I could not help but think of economic policies which push people into poverty and starvation as a form of terrorism.’

‘The deliberate denial of food to the hungry is at the core of the World Bank Structural Adjustment Programmes. Dismantling the Public Distribution System (PDS) was a World Bank conditionality. It was justified on grounds of reducing expenditure. But the food subsidy budget has exploded from Rs. 2,800 crore in 1991 to Rs. 14,000 crore in 2001. More money is being spent to store grain becaue the Bank required that food subsidies be withdrawn. This led to an increase in food prices, lowering of purchase from PDS and hence build up of stocks. The food security of the nation is collapsing.’

‘For the 30,000 people who died in the Orissa Supercyclone, and the millions who will die when flood and drought and cyclones become more severe because of climate change and fossil fuel pollution, President Bush is an ecological terrorist because he refuses to sign the Kyoto protocol. And the WTO was named the World Terrorist Organisation by citizens in Seattle because its rules are denying millions the right to life and livelihood.’

‘As we remember the victims of Black Tuesday, let us also strengthen our solidarity with the millions of invisible victims of other forms of terrorism and violence which are threatening the very possibility of our future on this planet. We can turn this tragic brutal historical moment into building cultures of peace.’

Extracts of an email from world renowned environmentalist Vandana Shiva, Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy.