A year ago, I had a conversation with an acquaintance about suicide bombers. She told me that she had never understood suicide bombers until she saw the film Paradise Now. I subsequently watched the film myself, partly to see what was so persuasive, but it made me angrier against suicide bombers, not more sympathetic.
When I learned early last week that the government had withdrawn a teaching pack, which encouraged children to put themselves in the position of 7/7 suicide bombers, my immediate reaction was that ministers had made the right decision.
In my history lessons at school, I was never taught about the Nazis in this way. One drama teacher who encouraged pupils to explore themes around the Holocaust caused a stir and the exploration was brought to an abrupt end by other outraged teachers at my school. I imagine it is scenarios like this that caused the Department for Children, Schools and Families to think again.
"While the resource in no way looks to justify or excuse the terrible events of 7/7, and is designed to educate against violent extremism, we appreciate that it may not be appropriate for use in schools," a DCSF spokesman said.
"It's important that young people discuss these difficult and controversial issues in a controlled environment but, in this case, ministers apologise for any offence caused."
The Daily Telegraph quoted Jacqui Putnam, who survived the Edgeware bomb on July 7.
"I can't see why anyone would think it is a valuable exercise to encourage children to put themselves in the position of men who treated people in such an inhuman way," she said.
"To encourage children to see the world in that way is a dangerous thing. Surely, there must be a better way of achieving their objective?"
Another strong point was made by Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Commons terrorism subcommittee, who said: "How useful is it to pretend to be a suicide bomber if it defeats the object of the lesson?"
I agree. The packs were designed for children as young as 11 and, at that age, a clear and simple message about terrorism should be driven home.
I would hope that ultimately the aim would be for anyone who saw a film like Paradise Now to feel rage and sadness that suicide bombing is the last option the disaffected have.
My Radio Portfolio
3 years ago
5 comments:
I never knew that they stopped doing the Holocaust thing at Fernwood. I remember doing that as well, and I guess I'm glad they stopped it. Putting too that much faith in how 13 year-old kids will handle a topic like the Holocaust is mis-placed. And I remember being hurt by some of my classmates responses.
11 year-old kids should be encouraged to see things from multiple perspectives. They should also understand grey areas in life, rather than dividing the world between good and evil. But at that age, they should just be taught the difference between a good and an evil act. Empathising with suicide bombers should wait until they are *at least* 14, if not a few years older still.
I remember a kid who was about 9 or 10, several years ago commenting on how he thought Saddam Hussein was cool. This is the mind of someone too young to differentiate between an action hero and a militant dictator. Once you have that distinction out of the way, you can start thinking about other stuff...
What I am remembering is when we were told to walk around the school during the drama lesson and peer into the classrooms through the glass in the door. The idea was that all the children in the classroom were taking part in an activity we couldn't join in and this would make us empathise with feelings of exclusion experienced by the Jews in Nazi Germany. We even wore star stickers. But Mrs Simpson had a fit when we told her why we were standing outside the classroom and what we were supposed to be doing. I think Mrs Stanley had a fit too.
This post was really difficult to write. It may even be contradictory without me intending it to be. I do think objectivity and subjectivity are important learning tools for kids and 11-year-olds should understand multi-layers too.
A great post, Karen. I hadn't previously heard of Paradise Now, but it brought to mind that two-part drama series that I think screened on BBC2 last year (or maybe it was C4?). The one I taped for you. Can't remember the title, but the plot concerned a Muslim brother and sister from, I think, Bradford. The brother gets recruited by MI5 while the sister gets recruited by a suicide bomb cell. It all ends badly, of course. The closing shot is the sister's martyrdom video, in which she attempts to justify her actions in terms that no sane person that wasn't an adherent of her twisted faith could possibly accept.
Seventy years ago, Nazi Germany was at the height of its power and preparing the ground to commit arguably the greatest crimes in human history. Yet only now, in the form of The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, are we seeing novels appear that attempt to take us into the black hearts of those committing the atrocities. I haven't read it yet, but there's an extensive review in this week's Spectator. Might be worth mentioning that it was originally published in French. The review is here:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/3409666/not-for-the-fainthearted.thtml
The other book I would mention in the context of attempting to 'understand' crimes against humanity and their perpetrators is Five Days in London: May 1940 - a brilliant account by the historian John Lukacs of Churchill's battle to convince the British war cabinet to continue the fight against Hitler rather than sue for peace. The moral being that in the face of madmen, psychopaths and terrorists willing to resort to the worst means to achieve their goals there will always be otherwise decent and well-intentioned people who seek to 'understand' and thereby appease them. That in the case of the 7/7 bombers this should already be happening less than four years after the attacks should be a cause of alarm to all right-thinking people. The current rise in anti-Semitic attacks is just a continuation of the kind of thinking that seeks to appease radical Islam and its supporters.
I just had a look at that review of The Kindly Ones in the Spectator which was written by Patrick Marnham. This is from the closing paragraph:
“One reaches the last pages of this very long novel absorbed and exhausted, but not exhilarated or even clean. The book evokes corruption so successfully that it becomes corrupting. Perhaps this is a necessary condition of understanding at this level the events that it describes. The question remains as to whether it is a legitimate exercise for a novelist to intervene in recent history in this way. The answer must be yes, if it is done this well.”
For me, seeing a film like Paradise Now or the BBC two-part drama about the Muslim brother and sister, the feeling I was left with was anger, not appeasement. I think the answer is to support moderate Muslims battling extremism and disaffection. It is saddening that one of the world’s three biggest religions, which has inspired so much art and architecture over the centuries, is written off as twisted. The extremists shouldn’t get away with having it that way!
Support the moderate Muslims, by all means. But I would also support former Muslims who have left the faith. Some now live in fear of their lives as a result. The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is an interesting group. Here's their website:
http://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/
Post a Comment