Social Entrepreneurship and Terrorism, a solution to 26/11

26/11! That's how the media is reffering to the terrorist attack in Mumbai on Nov. 26th, 2008. This incident was too close to home for me. On that day, at 11am when I had planned to complete a homework assignment for one of my classes I heard the development of terrorist activity starting from one of my favorite café and a common hangout spot in Mumbai, Leopold Cafe. For the next 6 hours I was watching live streaming news from a local Indian news service as the events unfolded. The sight took me back to that unfortunate September morning when a number of us saw the second plane hit the second of the twin towers live on TV.

The last few days have not been easy in trying to stay focused to complete my assignments while wanting to know more about what’s going on in Mumbai, calling all my family and friends daily to find out the latest and to get a pulse of the emotions running through everyone’s mind. Every time I hit the books, I can’t help but drift into the sights and sounds from that Wednesday. Here are excerpts from the commentary from some of my friends.

“I am cancelling my trip to Mumbai for next week. My dad’s freaking out and will not let me get out of Delhi.”

“I’ve joined a group to talk about how we all feel and the message we want to send to the government”.

“Everyone is fine. Luckily this happened at 9 in the night, when most of my friends and family had returned home.”

“My cousin works at the Taj and his shift got over an hour before the terrorists entered the hotel. He lives close by, a stone’s throw away and can hear all gunshots and bombs going off. We were really worried for him, thank God he’s safe.”

“Can you believe it, there were only 10 of them!”

“There’s been a total lack of intelligence and a breakdown of the system.”

“We are going to organize a rally to force the government to take action. We are paying all of this tax money and if it can’t even protect us in such a situation, then the government has no right to be in power.”

I’ve been listening continuously to comments like this and watching news incessantly. Why do I need to watch the same news over and over? I finally realized that this is a knee jerk reaction, a way for me to find peace within me, a way to cry out about what’s happening. I haven’t spoken much about my feelings, how I feel and I guess I need to vent. I thought I could keep my thoughts to myself. But that's not helping and so here it is. This post is my way to vent out my emotions.

I’ve never believed that governments had enough of a power to effect change no matter how noble their ideas. Instead, I believe that this new breed of entrepreneurs called Social Entrepreneurs have more power to effect change and that’s the reason they are doing what they do. I immediately decided to research online for social entrepreneurs or people not recognized as one yet, who work to fight terrorism by fighting social problems such as poverty, lack of education and healthcare by creating income generating opportunities. These social entrepreneurs all know that terrorism stems from adversity and from a continual betrayal by the system. There needs to be a method for people to vent their anger, disappointments, frustrations and the only outlet or counseling they get is from terror groups. Sometime back, we heard from a speaker at a business event that Hamas is considered as a social service group. No doubt!! The challenge for the social entrepreneurs then is to provide access to an alternative outlet to vent.

As David Bornstein describes them, “Social entrepreneurs = Destabilizing forces”

So, here I was online searching for people who were doing this kind of work and to find a way to put my built up energy into their work rather than organize rallies, write letters to government officials, demand their resignations, etc. which I feel are all reactionary measures and not pro-active steps. My job here is to highlight some of the work that these other brave souls are enduring. They work among populations that are known to breed terrorists. Their challenge is to not only work with dismembered sections of the society but to also come up with solutions in places that lack access to common services.

Here’s what I came across….

1. Sushobha Barve - Center for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR)
Profile: http://www.ashoka.org/node/2648
Other weblinks: http://kashmir.ahrchk.net/mainfile.php/v1n6/250/, http://www.opfblog.com/290/bridging-divides-by-sushobha-barve/

2. Susheela Bhan - Institute for Peace Research and Violence
Profile: http://www.ashoka.org/node/2647
Other weblinks: http://proxied.changemakers.net/journal/300506/paul.cfm

3. World Comics - http://www.worldcomicsindia.com/index.html

4. Greg Mortensen and David Relin, authors of the book, “ Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations…One School at a Time”, http://www.threecupsoftea.com/

5. Students tackle terrorism, illiteracy, disaster relief and more in social entrepreneurship contest - http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/03/social264.html

Stanford student Uri Pomerantz, an Israeli, lost his great-aunt in a terrorist attack at a Jerusalem bus stop in 2002. Hisham Jabi, a Palestinian now studying at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management in Southern California, lost a cousin to a bullet in 1991 as Israeli troops quelled a demonstration in Nablus.

Their losses could have made them enemies. Instead, they chose to become business partners. To address the economic roots of terrorism, they teamed up to form Jozoor Microfinance (Jozoor means "roots" in Arabic). The company grants microloans to young Palestinian men who could become targets for recruitment to terrorist groups. More than 60 percent of the Palestinian population lives on less than $2 per day, and the unemployment rate exceeds 50 percent.

I invite all you folks out there to add your experiences and comment on other activities beyond what I have listed here.