Beyond Terror: the truth about the real threats to our world.

• Author: Smith, Ron
• Position: Book review

BEYOND TERROR: the truth about the real threats to our world

Authors: Chris Abbott, Paul Rogers and John Sloboda

Published by: Random House (for the Oxford Research Group), London, 2007, 120pp, $13.99.

There is a story (perhaps apocryphal) that on a quiet news day, an Irish newspaper plastered its billboards with: 'No News of the Pope'. Sales rocketed but when readers opened their papers they were surprised to find that there was, indeed, no mention of the Pontiff.

The publishers of Beyond Terror seem to have acted in the same spirit. This book is not primarily about terrorism, although there are plenty of references to it. The significance of the title is that there are other threats to human security that are more important than international terrorism and we should be focusing on these, rather than the so-called 'war on terror'. Specifically, these more important threats are climate change, competition over resources, marginalisation of the majority world and global militarisation. The bulk of this slim volume (120 pages) is devoted to chapters on each of these topics. The two final chapters revolve around the theme 'what is to be done?' and the answer that is given to this question is clear. You should join your local green party or peace activist group (contact details are supplied in a substantial final section).

Notwithstanding its name, the 'Oxford Research Group' is not presenting a balanced, academic assessment of global threats. Rather, it offers a particular political agenda with a call to action. In the light of this, the sub-title of the book ('The truth about the real threats to our world') is deeply ironic. It is not the truth; it is, at best, a partial truth, contrived to achieve a political end. If this were not plain enough from the tenor of earlier discussions in the book, the purpose is made explicit in the chapter on global militarisation. Here the authors report on what they see as a very desirable campaign to force the United States to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Europe. They go on:

These initiatives may flounder if there is not massive public pressure on politicians and diplomats. Everyone can support individuals and organisations pushing for these vital steps. In Beyond Terror readers are not invited to make up their minds on difficult and highly-contestable issues. They are, instead, urged to the barricades.

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The Oxford Group authors supply several arguments in support of their...