聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Author, historian, journalist and broadcaster Gwynne Dyer visited Arcola on the eve of Remembrance Day 2016, where he spoke to high school students from Arcola and Carlyle about terrorism, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and the effect of technology on society. Dyer also took questions from the audience after his speech.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Introducing himself, Dyer said: 鈥淢y job as a journalist is making sense of stuff while it's still happening. You get half of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and you're trying to put it together while you're still writing it.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Dyer walked his audience through a brief but nuanced history of Islamic terrorism, adding: 鈥淪ince 9/11, terrorism has been topic number one and a lot of people worry about it. But terrorism is smaller than it looks. It's designed to look big to media and if (the terrorists) get lucky, the government will do stuff that serves the purpose of the terrorists.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淏ut it's always smaller than it looks but it's designed to look big. And it's always designed to get a reaction.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Dyer said that terrorism is not a new phenomenon, adding that in the 20th and early 21st century, Canada has lost six people to terrorism-including from FLQ (Front de liberation du Quebec) activities in Canada in the 1970s. 鈥淏ut in terms of news value, (those deaths) are the same as one bad car crash. However, (because) these deaths are because of terrorism, there's a media feeding frenzy.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He added that because terrorist attacks-small or large- are so shocking and garner so much attention, governments 鈥渁re forced to do something. In the case of Prime Minister Harper, after the Ottawa attack, 鈥淭here was nothing he could really do, so he changed the law, which nibbled away at our civil liberties...They're little things, but our civil liberties weren't what they were before.Terrorism has that effect. He did something, because he had to do something.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 聽鈥淚n Canada-a country of 36 million- four people were lost to terrorism in 2014. Two were innocent army reservists and two guilty terrorists,鈥� said Dyer, adding: 鈥淭he response got us going to the point where tens of thousands of soldiers went abroad. One hundred and fifty died, combatting a problem that may not have required a military response at all.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭errorism is a technique, a tool, and anybody can use it.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Dyer stated that the origins of Islamism and current terrorist attacks began in the 1970s.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淐urrently, all terrorists are Muslims,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I did not say all Muslims are terrorists. More to the point, they're all Arabs-actually Arabs are only one-quarter of the world's Muslims. So that's where you want to look to figure out what this is all about.'
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚n the Arab world-except for Tunisia, every single government is a dictatorship.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭errorism was a part of revolution (since the 1970s). And revolution is not easy to make. It's hard to overthrow a dictatorship. You need a big new idea to put you in power to overthrow a dictatorship.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he tragedy is that Islamism is the big new idea. It's not a religion,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t's a revolutionary new doctrine that uses the religion.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭errorism makes the government behave really badly, which makes the people support the revolutionaries.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚n the end, it's all about making the revolution happy.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Dyer predicted that in the end, the so-called Islamic State-IS- 鈥渨ill go back to being terrorists without a country within five years or so.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Dyer told the sudents: 鈥淭his will probably last the rest of your lives-or the first half of your lives, but I believe there will be no big attacks. A few small attacks are possible, because it's not humanly possible to eradicate the thing, but they will age out and have generational turnover.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淎nd frankly, you can live with that.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Dyer added that he altered the topic of his planned address in Arcola, because: 鈥淵ou may have noticed that there was an election in the United States with a rather surprising result.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淢r. Trump is an unusual person to be elected American president. He talks like a revolutionary -when he talks about tearing up trade agreements, for example,鈥� adding: 鈥淐anada is a big trading nation and it does 80 percent of its trade with the U.S.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he recent deal Canada made with the EU (European Union) will help a lot.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲hen Mr. Trump says he will renegotiate trade deals or tear them up, he's concerned with Mexico because of (manufacturing) plants that have moved there.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淏ut we will be what the military calls 'collateral damage.' I think something like that is likely to happen to Canada. We're heading into some fairly stiff headwinds in terms of our normal trade agreements with the U.S.,鈥� added Dyer. 鈥淢r. Trump made some very major promises to the people who voted for him.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e have a problem here,鈥� he added. 鈥淢r. Trump was elected by and large by the part of the American population that was very hurt by globalization-largely, the old, white working class who have lost an enormous amount of jobs (who live) in the states the Americans call 'the rust belt.' Those jobs went elsewhere or vanished.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淗e's not going to be able to walk away from that- they elected him.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淏ut is the problem really what Mr. Trump says?鈥� asked Dyer. 鈥淚 think he is, in fact, on the wrong track. In the 80s or 90s, yes (he would be), but today, if you brought those industries back to the U.S., a lot of those jobs aren't in those industries anymore. America is producing twice as much in its factories as it did 20 years ago. The Mexicans, the Chinese or the Canadians aren't taking those jobs away-it's automation. You can do the same job now, with fewer people.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淎s the machines get cleverer, more jobs get taken away. Every ATM is the ghost of three bank tellers, for example. And it's moving up through the skill sets a software gets more sophisticated.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Dyer closed by telling his young audience: 鈥淲e are in a very big time of change here. Jobs are evaporating. Is it a disaster? It is if we let it be one. But the wealth is still here and we're still as rich as we were before as a society.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he question is: How do you figure our how everyone in society has enough money to live on and self-respect, even if they're only working part-time?鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e are in a second industrial revolution here. The transition then was pretty difficult, but we're all richer and happier as a result.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲ith this technological revolution, that is really the task of this generation,鈥� said Dyer. 鈥淭he point is not to treat it as a catastrophe, but as an opportunity.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚t's not a disaster yet, so don't treat it like it is.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Visit organizer Regi Maher-who has arranged two visits to Arcola School by Dyer-says: 鈥� This was a timely visit by an internationally-known and respected journalist who gave an important speech to an attentive audience. The students were very engaged and their questions really demonstrated that, as well as their interest and concern about our world today.鈥�
