Editorial

At the beginning of September 2002 a man was seized at an airport in Sweden. A loaded pistol was found in his hand luggage at the routine control. The man was on his way to an Islamic conference in England. He was immediately arrested, suspected of planning to hijack an airplane and possibly crash it into a building in England. Now, a month later he has been released from custody, although still suspected of intending to conduct some illegal act. Obviously the police and the Swedish Secret Service have found no evidence suggesting that the man intended hijacking, but rather indications that no serious crime has been committed. The release triggered derogatory and arrogant comments in British and American media, including BBC reports. The commentators suggested that Swedish authorities were meek and did not understand the danger of terrorism.

The reactions triggered by the incident at the Swedish airport are in themselves of minor importance. They can, however, be seen as indications of the unfolding of an international climate that is more and more permeated by basic assumptions of Bionian type.

When we write this in the middle of October 2002, Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush have delivered speeches on the necessity of waging a war against Iraq. Similar stereotypical and projective discourses aimed at American and Western forms of civilization are spreading in Islamic countries. In addition to the horror of September 11 in New York, we have this autumn witnessed the outrage in Bali, killing hundreds of young people, as well as raw violence in Palestine/Israel. Several hundred men are imprisoned on the Guantanamo base, deprived of both military and civil rights.

We have seen it before: the building up of scenarios meant to persuade us that an evil enemy is threatening us and has to be struck before he strikes us. How can we assess what the relevant facts are? There are economic, social, religious, military, political and many other aspects to take