The appalling tragedy in Niger (a very young man hit accidentally at the
edge of happiness, with a friend who came to share with him this moment) is
primarily a new opportunity to ponder the enigma of the human condition :
what is life worth if it can be reduced to that?
It is also an opportunity to understand what happens today with the
proliferation of terrorist attacks directed against NGOs. In southern
countries (mostly in Muslim countries, but not only) terrorist movements are
now in fact aiming at humanitarian executives as they attacked Western
military forces and UN agencies. Care, Oxfam, Action against Hunger, Doctors
of the World, and many other less known (like the one employing this young
Frenchman in Niger), pay a tribute increasingly heavier to this violence.
But they are not stray bullets. And these young idealists are not hit
accidentally. NGOs are becoming more prevalent, and more numerous, more
efficient, providing public goods, in place of governments and international
institutions which delegate this action to them. They protect the weakest
and provide increasingly significant assistance. Health, food supply,
education, finance.
They create a real economic sector based on the denial of benefits, more and
more efficient. In doing so, they are also trying to repair what
globalization has that is fundamentally unfair and destructive. Thus they
open a path to repair the world, which can only displease those who denounce
the horror of the world.
They are also dangerous for terrorists and their ideology because they are
essentially Western. (There is practically no Indian or Chinese NGOs in
Africa. More generally, there are no NGOs of emerging economies away from
home, where they have much to do, especially in terms of human rights).
Also, these NGOs, from Europe or America, give a good image of their world:
they employ and train local executives. Leaders in the field do not seek
profit or fame, but only to give meaning to their lives. They thus represent
the best of the West disinterested and demonstrate that the westernization
of the world is not necessarily a disaster. For terrorists, this is
strategically unacceptable. NGOs are, for them, as dangerous as could have
been missionaries in the 19th century. And besides, many terrorist discourse
confuse humanitarians and proselytes…Therefore, increasingly, terrorists
will do everything to destroy them. Or at least force them to work under the
protection of Western armies. To discredit them. It is therefore a new front
line and a major issue for the future: NGOs, on which will increasingly
depend the success of globalization, which can only work where their teams
are safe, which they cannot provide themselves. Terrorism aims for the heart
by attacking them. Governments are wrong not to defend them better. This is
a beautiful, a real issue for the G20.