Terror forever

The 9/11 attacks occurred 25 years ago, marking the beginning of a new era. In the aftermath, the Bush administration declared the "global war on terror", leading Washington to wreak havoc worldwide. Most countries, following the US lead, have made the prosecution and pursuit of "terrorists" their primary mission. The culture industry and ideological apparatuses have brainwashed people into believing that "terror" is everywhere and that the state must continuously empower itself to eliminate it, even if it means sacrificing basic freedoms.

Pakistan played a significant role in the "war on terror", supporting both the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and conducting numerous military operations domestically. Since 2001, a multitude of "anti-terrorist" laws have been enacted, with increasingly broader scopes. While these laws aim to suppress all forms of dissent and popular political movements, the insurgencies and other forms of political violence that should have been curbed by the state's counterterrorism efforts have only intensified.

Behind the scenes, a global military-industrial complex thrives due to the West's totalitarian regime. Washington has invested $8 trillion in various wars since 2001, a substantial portion of which has been appropriated by private defense contractors tied to the deep state. In Pakistan, the "war on terror" opened up numerous avenues for state officials and private contractors to amass wealth.

The suppression of dissent mirrors Big Tech's growing influence. Today, we stand at another crossroads as Big Tech has risen to the pinnacle of global capitalism, merging state and corporate interests in a unprecedented manner. The discourse around "terrorism" evolved alongside digitalisation, giving rise to terms like "cyberterrorism", "cybersecurity", and "fifth-generation war".

The policing of dissent by the state and affiliated propagandists in the digital realm parallels Big Tech's immense power to access, share, and manipulate data. Recently, a whistleblower resigned from Anthropic, a company developing AI, warning that its advancement is becoming an existential threat to humanity. Anthropic's Claude tool has already demonstrated its destructive potential at the onset of the Iran war.

Edward Snowden predicted this outcome as early as 2013. Despite their professed pro-market libertarianism, billionaires such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk support the state's vast coercive and surveillance capabilities, viewing humanity as a plaything, a sacrificial lamb, or a stepping stone to Mars and more "intelligent" species.

Beyond the hyperbolic claim of an imminent AI-triggered extinction event, the relentless drive for power and profit by Big Tech and the state's unrelenting pursuit of social control should worry anyone committed to human emancipation. Furthermore, non-human life is also at risk. As climate breakdown events occur with increasing frequency and severity, states worldwide are prioritizing massive data centers to satisfy Big Tech's demands by ensuring constant and substantial supplies of electricity and water.

The US state and Silicon Valley billionaires are the main drivers of the contemporary militarized capitalist system. However, we cannot be deceived by blind-faith arguments that there are "good" states, particularly our own, and "green" capitalism that deviates from the system's overarching logic. We must learn the lessons from the "war on terror" and cease cheering on a more sinister and unhinged digitalized fusion of state and corporate power that will define our present and future.

In Pakistan, a critical mass continues to speak truth to the militarized ruling class over the erosion of civil liberties, including in the digital sphere, while also resisting resource grabs and dispossession. The challenge, however, is evident whenever an episode of "terrorism" is exploited by the state to incite nationalist fervor, disregarding all common sense.

To halt the global totalitarian regime's advance, we must unite under an anti-capitalist ideological politics centered around working people and nature, and do so promptly.