Mia Bloom
Mia Bloom
Mia M. Bloomis a Canadian academic and author. She is a professor of Communication at Georgia State University. She was formerly an associate Professor of International Studies at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park and a fellow at the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at Penn State...
franchise
The old centralized al-Qaeda is gone. It's become more like a franchise operation.
sri-lanka creating soldier
When I was in Sri Lanka with the [Tamil] Tigers, there were editorials in the paper saying that soldiers really had to stop raping Tamil women at checkpoints because they were just creating more operatives. The [Tigers] were cognizant of this and exploited it: "Don't be a victim, join the movement.
religious brother husband
The best predictor of a woman's involvement in terrorism, whether it's a secular or religious group, is a relationship with a terrorist: her father, brother, husband or even her son. Terrorism becomes a bit of a family business.
europe violence common
Misuse of the Koran to provide legitimacy for violence is common, particularly in Europe, where terrorists tend not to be well-educated Muslims.
suicide children iraq
I did a study of soldiers returning from Iraq, and their levels of PTSD were much higher if they had had to shoot a woman or child, even if they knew the person was a suicide bomber.
successful bombers target
With a civilian target, female bombers tend to be more successful and cause more damage.
media attention attractive
Acts perpetrated by women, particularly attractive women, get far more media attention.
pride culture action
The terrorists provide an outlet where with just one action, a raped woman can go from being a source of dishonour to her family to being a source of pride in a culture of martyrdom.