Between 2004 and 2017, Europe was under attack, initially by Al-Qaeda and later by the Islamic State. People were randomly getting murdered in cities like Madrid, London, Paris, Brussels, and Berlin. The aftermath of the Brussels’ bombings saw an Australian “security expert” casting slurs on Belgian intelligence and its supposedly porous borders, a critique as baseless as it was audacious, betraying a blatant ignorance of the Schengen Agreement’s very existence and its purpose: free movement to more than 425 million EU citizens.
This prompted us to develop a 6-part documentary series on terrorism with a distinct European perspective.
Initially, we started researching obscure acts of terrorism, but after consulting with academics and specialists within the security industry, it soon became clear that by reconstructing well-known acts of terrorism, much more could be learnt by our team and, consequently, our audience. We also came to understand that terrorism cannot be oversimplified, but at the same time, it cannot and should not be made unnecessarily complicated either. And yet, this has been steadily happening after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
In 1961 former president Eisenhower gave his seminal speech on what he coined the military-industrial complex. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” Eisenhower spoke against increased military spending and yet the United States spent a whopping $916 billion in 2023 compared to $49.88 billion in 1961. During our research we found out that since 9-11, the security industry has ballooned into what we like to call a security-industrial complex that sprawls across governments, private sectors, academia, and beyond, each entity clamouring for a slice of the homeland security pie. Universities, not to be outdone, have become preferred suppliers for the next-gen technologies and strategies in counter-terrorism. Yet, in this complex web of interests, simplicity is the first casualty, obfuscated by a vested interest in the complexity of terrorism.
We decided to focus on attacks in Israel, Italy, Yemen, Norway, Germany, and Algeria between 1948 and 2018. Although we searched for it, we came to understand that there is no common denominator between these acts of terrorism other than the violence inflicted and the pain endured. Each episode can be viewed independently. Still, when viewed as a whole, our series Terror fosters an understanding that is difficult to ignore: terrorism is unstoppable and only humanism will save us from self-destruction. The reality of Guantanamo Bay stands as a stark reminder to our collective failure to grasp this truth. Through the lens of our series, we invite viewers to confront the complex realities of terrorism, providing a journey of understanding and empathy.