State-run Chinese media say a terrorist attack on a railway station in western Xinjiang province has killed three people and wounded 79.
Police say the attackers slashed people with knives and set off a bomb apparently between the station exit and a bus stop in the capital of Urumqi.Uighurs complain about the Chinese government's violent oppression. No doubt. But killing civilians is not a way to win friends and influence people, nor does it do anything to reduce violent oppression of Uighurs by the Chinese government. If anything, it provides both more excuse, reason, and popular support for doing so.
Terrorism is a fundamentally stupid method of accomplishing your ends. Attack those who are directly attacking you. Attack the security forces of the Chinese government if they are attacking you. Attacking civilians is what Gandhi's famous statement alludes to: "An eye for an eye will blind the world."
Terrorism is a fundamentally stupid method of accomplishing your ends.
ReplyDeleteIt worked for the IRA. It worked for the KKK.
It also depends on the target population. In some societies, if the state cannot protect the people, the people abandon the state and submit to whoever can end the threat - such as those who created it.