Terrorism in Australia: A Comparative Analysis

Running head: TERRORISM IN AUSTARLIA
TERRORISM IN AUSTARLIA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1TERRORISM IN AUSTARLIA
This essay shall be dealing with the aspect of terrorism in Australia. For the present two
articles shall be taken up for discussion and they shall be compared in order to testify which
contributes substantially to the comprehension of terrorism and which does not. In the following
sections, first the two articles shall be discussed and their main points and arguments shall be
noted down. Having provided an account of what the article talks about, the comparison shall be
provided and which article contributes to a justified understanding of terrorism without derailing
the issue to something which has no connection or it provides a perverted understanding of
terrorism.
The first article ‘Being a ‘suspect community’ in a post 9/11 world–The impact of the
war on terror on Muslim communities in Australia’ by Cherney and Murphy (2016), deals with
the aspect of the effect of terrorism which is not about the death and destruction but about the
effects which affects the common people in the long run, and that is prejudice. Like in the other
parts of the world, Australia’s muslim population too have to face quite a lot of prejudice and
stigma which makes them the scapegoat of the wrongdoings of someone else who commits it by
misrepresenting the message of the religion and its tenets. This particular article is a product of
quantitative research and the inferences derived has been on the basis of the inputs provided by
the muslim population of the cities of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne on how the effect of the
counter terrorism laws of Australia is making life difficult for the muslim community of the
nation. In the article the basic premise has been the 9/11 attack on the twin towers in the United
States of America and how that has resulted in the resurrection of the counter terrorism policies
in the nation following the global bandwagon of waging war against terrorism. The most
unfortunate consequences of the motive of the government had been faced by the muslims of the
nation. The most direct and the most evident form of counter terrorism tactics that had been

2TERRORISM IN AUSTARLIA
undertaken by the security forces had been faced by the muslims of the nation. They have
reportedly suffered criminalization as a community and have been constantly kept under the
radar of being suspects of some supposed terror attacks. Despite being a part of the nation, the
muslims have been subjected to constant otherization and stigmatization. According to the
scholars, the reason behind the predicament of the muslim community of Australia is a result of
the global phenomenon and the reflection of which is something that was also found in the
country. There are basically two reasons as to why the muslim community is stigmatized as a
collectivity which perpetrates terrorism. The primary reason is the fact that majority of the
terrorist attacks have been committed by muslim people and they have links to some group or the
other which champions radical Islamism. Naturally, the mindset that muslims, islam and
terrorism go hand in hand is inculcated. The second reason and perhaps the more important one
is the media portrayal of the muslims and islam as perpetrators of terrorism is something which
had generated massive impact on the way the community came to be viewed. The muslim
community of Australia thus was faced to counter the counter terrorism motives of the
government by means of either distancing themselves from the general mass o Australians, or
they have responded by means of engaging in public platforms more to put the message across
that they as muslims are equally against terrorism and their religion does not teach to kill. They
are constantly made to face the situation whereby they have to justify themselves as not the
perpetrators of terrorism. Cherney and Murphy (2016) respond to that by saying that the muslim
community is being made to act by means of justifying themselves as innocent is in itself an
unjustified act as it is up to the people to realize that on the basis of few isolated acts of terrorism
an entire community should not be generalized and marginalized. On the basis of the testimonies
collected by them they have concluded that the efforts on part of the muslim community is all te