Terrorism. Veiling the attackers, unveiling the victims

Martin Luther King once said, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” He died 40 years ago, but this statment rings even truer today. In early September, at the United Nations Headquarters, the Secretary General convened a Symposium on Supporting Victims of Terrorism: 18 victims and 10 experts from around the world had an opportunity to speak and break the wall of silence which often confines them behind after the clamor of terrorist attacks. The media is frequently more interested in finding a voice or a statement from the terrorist group that committed the attack. But for the victims, when the lights go off, nothing is ever again as it was before.