The world is a cancer eating itself away : a study on Robin Soans' verbatim play talking to terrorists

Abstract EN

The present study aims at analyzing the elaboration of the theme of terrorism in Robin Soans' (1946- ) Verbatim play Talking to Terrorists (2005).

In this play, Soans presents terrorism in its different forms, tactics, and effects through making not only the terrorists to speak but also the individuals who had certain experiences with terrorism.

Moreover, the play attempts to raise questions and solutions of how to control the plague that has been always responsible for reaping lives for nothing.

There is no universal issue attracted Man's attention, interest, curiosity, fear or even argumentation as it happened and is happening with the issue of terrorism.

This might be attributed to the way terrorism is firmly linked to human life, fears, emotions, actions and reactions that used to be hidden before and now are all exposed.

Actually the interest in terrorism is related to the sort of belief and thinking that dominates every nation and the various ideologies that control (or manipulate) it in dealing with internal or external affairs.

As such, terrorism, which is based on conflict, is also responsible for creating conflicts inside nations as well all over the world and its condition as the direct outcome of wars and violent practices and damages.

Some look at terrorism as a suitable means to serve announced or hidden agendas.

Others view terrorism as a harmful action with catastrophic consequences because, sometimes it is only innocent people are entangled without any particular guilt just because they belong to a certain nation or a specific religious trend or even because they possess a particular political belief.

The argumentation of this subject is rather a complex one to view or to discuss because it varies as the variety of human population and because "One culture's murderer is another's martyr [and] revolutionaries also can be freedom fighters."2 Whether this or that, terrorism in the 21th century started to take a certain form: it is to be the motto of rejection or disapproval to the practices of some powers or regimes in authority.

Thus, to provide a compact definition of terrorism is still a matter of debate, but those who are anti-terrorists agree on the general frame of terrorism as: A violent action intended for public effect which is usually directed against members or institutions of the state.

Its intention is to hurt not only its key victims but also those who support them.

When its targets are those in power, the intention is to threaten the whole power structure.

When the targets are the followers of the powerful, often the attempt is to threaten other like-minded followers.