Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 107 No. 5 £1.50 June 2002
EDITORIAL - WHAT IS TERRORISM? Since NATO has declared war on terrorism, it is appropriate to examine how the term may be defined. The problem common to the articles in this issue of the Record is how to respond ethically to situations of injustice. The situations range from the politically peaceful and stable to the far more desperate situations in India and Palestine. Living in north London, citizen Tom Rubens perceives failures and defects in the borough which he would like to address; he therefore puts himself forward for election to thc council. This is surely the democratic ideal. Peter Tatchell describes his attempts to use the rule of law to limit the injustice being perpetrated in Zimbabwe by a dictator wielding nearly absolute power. Vidya Anand's passionate account of the terrible plight of the Dalits in India raises the question of whether violence against civilians (albeit members of an 'oppressing' class) can ever be justified. Mohammad Ibrahim presents a series of aphorisms from the Qur'an dealing with conflict, the provenance of which is left to the Pilo()Ian Devi - the Bandit Queen reader to ponder. Deliberate suicide would appear to be condemned. Finally, Les Levidow's quote from the EU definition of terrorism suggests that a criminal act ( eg bombing a bus-load of arbitrary civilians) constitutes terrorism if its aim is to induce terror in the populace which in turn may influence political change in a direction desired by the bomber.
MY BIDS TO ARREST MUGABE Peter Tatchell 3 PHOOLAN DEVI, BANDIT OR LIBERATOR? Vidya Anand 8 IS ISLAM A THREAT TO WORLD PEACE? Mohammad Ibrahhn 14 TERRORISING DISSENT Les Levidow 17 STANDING FOR THE.. COUNCIL IN 2002 Tom Rubens 23 ETHICAL SOCIETY EVENTS 24