From terrorism to bioethics

Searching for more constructive responses

Paul Komesaroff
Global Reconciliation, Centre for the Study of
Ethics in Medicine and Society, Monash University
 Speaker disclosures

 Clinician and researcher

 Professor of Medicine, Monash University
 Executive Director, “Global Reconciliation”
 Director of Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society
 President-elect, Adult Medicine, Royal Australasian College of
Physicians
 Member or chair of various ethics committees
 Chair, Editorial Board, Journal of Bioethical Inquiry
 Founder/board member of Praxis Australia
 Author of Riding a crocodile: A physician’s tale
Plan of talk

 Definitions and history of terrorism

 The special case of bioterrorism
 Some ethical challenges
 The moral problem at the heart of terrorism
 Ethical responses to terrorism
 Example 1: the Middle East
 Example 2: Asia-Pacific dialogues
Understanding the problem of
terrorism
 Terrorism
 History of terrorism
• Robespierre
• Fanon
• Post-war anticolonialist movements

 New conditions
• Globalisation
• The rise of non-state actors
 Bioterrorism
 6th Century BCE: Assyrians added biological agents to their weapons
arsenal.
 184 BCE: Hannibal’s forces threw snakes onto an enemy ship.
 300 BCE: Greeks used animal corpses to pollute water supplies of enemies.
 1346 CE: Tartars fired corpses of plague victims using catapults into Kaffa.
 1760: British gave smallpox-contaminated handkerchiefs to Native Indians.
 World War I: Germany spread cholera in Italy and plague in Russia.
 World War II: Japan dropped bombs filled with plague infested fleas in
China.
 Vietnam War: use of napalm and defoliants
 Iraq and Syria: use of mustard gas and other chemical agents

Parker L “Bioterrorism and Intelligence.” Global Security Studies, Summer 2013, 4(3):53.
(Anderson and Bokor, 2012, 522-523). (Kanchanapoom and Khardori, 2005). (Phillips, 2005).
 The law of war
 Declarations of war and surrender
 Treatment of prisoners of war
 “Military necessity”
 “Distinction”
 “Proportionality”
 Prohibition of certain weapons
 Conduct during conflicts:
• Protection of doctors and ambulances
• Protection of women and children
• Hostage taking
• Uniforms
• Parachuting pilots etc.
 Ethical issues for health professionals

 The wider context:

• Underlying causes of terrorism
• Law of war
 Ethical issues for health professionals

 Historical considerations: the role of doctors in

past health emergencies
 The ethos of medicine and other professions
 Examples of the Plague, TB, HIV
 Examples from outside medicine
 Ethical issues for researchers

 The concept of “dual use” and historical background

• Theory of Relativity
• Nuclear fission
• War-time science
• Milgram experiment
• Aum Shimrikyo
The concept of reconciliation and
ethical responses to terrorism
 Meanings of terrorism

 A deliberate strategy of battle, especially in anti-colonial

struggles

 A propaganda weapon used to refer to any armed, non-

state actor
Meanings of terrorism

Ethical formulation:
 A catastrophic collapse in communication within a
polity associated with the loss of non-violent
mechanisms for resolving conflicts leading to
violence that does not respect the traditional “laws
of war”
Underlying causes

Include:
 the growing limitations of the nation state
model of world political organisation; and
 the failure of globalisation to provide a
workable alternative.
The therapy
 Ethical dialogues can provide effective responses
to blockages in communication
 They can help restore respect and trust, sufficient
to re-establish non-violent exchanges
Reconciliation
 The promotion of dialogue and communication
across difference: cultural, religious, political, philosophical etc.
 Concerned with translation between systems of
meaning
 A process, not an end-point
 Aims not to abolish but to preserve and protect
differences.
Reconciliation does always not come
naturally

The examples of:

 health care
 the arts
 sport
Reconciliation is not conflict resolution
 The ethical basis of reconciliation
 The problem of translation
 “Incommensurability”
 Ethical premises of communication, including
openness and “hospitality”
 Technics of reconciliation

 Capturing of threads of shared meaning between discourses

in conflict
 Use of rhetorical resources to create meanings across
systems of thought and action
 metaphor and metonymy
 The internal response of a system to an external stimulus
 Depends on the social context of the utterance/illocution
Examples of how ethics can contribute
to the restoration of communication
Ethical contributions to restoring
communication

Examples from:
 The clinic
 Different medical traditions
 Children’s health in the Middle East
 Asia-Pacific dialogues on “radicalisation”
“Caring for the children of Israel and
Palestine”

 There is an emergency in child health

 Needs are highly variable
 None of the regimes can be trusted
 People across the world have a responsibility to care for
each other
 Problems faced by children in Israel and
Palestine
Palestine
 Effects of war
 Effects of occupation
 Poverty
 Lack of adequate health care

Israel
 Effects of war
 Effects of international condemnation
 Mental health issues
 Violence and substance abuse
 Multiple issues arising in specific cultural settings
Caring for the children of Israel and Palestine
Project goals
1. To establish a framework to address the health needs of young
people
2. To support community organisations working for child well being
3. To foster dialogue and build confidence in civil society
4. To deliver actual health services to children in the region who
most need them in a sustainable, ongoing manner
5. To provide a model for a new global approach to humanitarian
aid.
 Project strategy
 To develop an international, self-sustaining array of micro-
partnerships between civil society groups within and outside the
region.
 To foster dialogues and practical projects at the community level.
 To support individual partnerships and activities with a micro-
financing process.
Conclusions and challenges
Some conclusions and challenges

 “Terrorism” has various meanings

 The central ethical content is a blockage of
communication
 Ethical dialogues may provide an effective therapy
Some conclusions and challenges

 Reconciliation discourses can contribute to a

healing process by re-activating hope and the
possibilities for change.
 Despite geographical distances and cultural
differences, people across the world can contribute
to healing the wounds and rifts that are causing
such tragedy.
 A proposal and an invitation
The Asia-Pacific ethical dialogues
 Building on work undertaken by Professors Soenarto and
Rivin
 Aiming to establish a platform for ongoing dialogues about
conflict, terrorism, radicalisation and other issues
 Workshops to be conducted in Taiwan and elsewhere
 Contributors from many countries are envisaged.
http://globalreconciliation.org

Centre for the Study of Ethics in Medicine

and Society

paul.komesaroff@monash.edu