Tahar Ben Jelloun
The Ondine
pp. 179
Terrorism, anarchy, the rule of law, resistance. And again Isis, Islamism, civil society, kamikaze, utopia. Different words, different meanings, often difficult to understand for adults, even more for young people. It is precisely these, the new generations, Tahar Ben Jelloun addresses in his latest book "Terrorism explained to our children".
A dialogue with his daughter what the author imagines. She who like many young people is growing up with the fear of not being safe, in a society that is constantly under attack and with many questions that are not answered. Precisely to these questions, Tahar Ben Jelloun tries to give a convinced answer that he always tells the truth to the young and the little ones, always choosing the appropriate words and tones. Thus, as in a lesson, alternating definitions with practical and concrete examples, often resorting to historical facts, the author tries to explain the nature of terrorism, focusing on the importance of words, on the responsibility to educate and on the relationship negotiable of the truth. However: "to explain is not to justify or to make innocent; it is a question of allowing the person or the person asking questions to understand better what is happening".
Definitions and historical facts help the reader to lay the foundations for an objective knowledge of the terrorist phenomenon. And then the questions, those that each of us at least once, thinking of any of the attacks of recent years, I think it is placed: "must we be afraid of Islam?","Is there a solution?". To these, the author responds like this: "one must be afraid of those who use this religion to govern and dominate others; yes, jihadists are a threat. How many? Difficult to say...The West must invent a counter-propaganda, work to dismantle that communication system based on lies, the distortion of a religion and the passion for death".
Education, fight against racism, daily work in schools, families and the media: these are, according to the author, the activities to be done to help young people free themselves from the feeling of fear and to recover all those who instead let yourself be carried away in feelings of hatred and lies.
Anita Fiaschetti
