"My greatest fear was that my daughters would feel hatred"

The last day of the course in El Escorial, organised by the Fundación Víctimas del Terrorismo and the Centro Memorial para las Víctimas del Terrorismo, dealt with the limits and successes of international cooperation against terrorism, the lessons of other forms of terrorism, and the media, narrative and social perception of terrorism.

The first was that of Blanca Calleja, whose daughter, Magie Álvarez Calleja, nicknamed "the backpacker", was killed on 2 July 2007 in Yemen, in a suicide car attack in which six other Spanish tourists died. "My daughter was life, love". She fondly recalled the show of support from family members and numerous friends that her daughter made throughout her travels around the world. "My biggest fear was that my daughters would not feel hate."  "I believe that hatred does not heal." On the arrest of the attack's ideologue: "It hasn't made me feel more at peace, or better." On the mother of her daughter's murderer: "her son had died killing, and that is terrible". An example.

11M began as "a day like any other". So began Marisol Pérez Urbano, mother of Rodrigo Cabrero, murdered on 11M. "I can't explain how life went on unperturbed without him", "joy and enthusiasm personified". She recalled the terrible moments of uncertainty and mourning, but also the expressions of affection from his students and her son's friends. On the attempt by the political powers that be to twist the truth: "they mercilessly sullied our memory". The same goes for the conspiracy theories, which the trial failed to put an end to. "We suffered double mourning and double victimisation".

José Manuel Sánchez Riera, the only survivor of the 29 November 2003 ambush in Latifiya, Iraq, was the last to recount his nightmare. The anguish came to him once he was safe at the American base. From the initial shock, you come out within a day or two. Between 2004 and 2014, the initial shock turned into post-traumatic stress. She participates in a programme in schools and institutes and the question that students ask her most often is: how can I join the CNI or how can I become a soldier?  

In this sense, Magdalena M. Martín, Professor of International Public Law and International Relations at the University of Málaga, pointed out the predominance of regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism as opposed to the limited role of the UN in this field, regretting that there is no international treaty that establishes an agreed definition of terrorism, nor an international tribunal to judge this type of crime. In contrast, at the European level, the professor highlighted as positive points the adoption of a joint narrative that avoids referring to terrorist crimes as political crimes, as happened in the past, and which places the victims at the centre.

Ignacio Ibáñez, Coordinator. Head of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office in Madrid recalled that it is the principle of national sovereignty that governs the UN. Due to disagreements between member states, the UN's action in anti-terrorist matters does not consist of proposing a comprehensive solution, but rather of taking intermediary steps, the result of constant negotiation between member states. 

Antonio M. Díaz, Professor of Criminology and Security at the University of Cadiz indicated that a series of tools have been developed at different levels: strategic, conceptual, operational and technical. He also mentioned a significant improvement in the conception of what constitutes a sufficient contribution by a state in this type of cooperation, pointing out that we have moved from a quantitative paradigm to a qualitative paradigm, in which the issues on which information is provided are more relevant than the amount of information provided. 

Matteo Re, Senior Lecturer at the Rey Juan Carlos University, Matteo Re, reviewed the years of lead in Italy, a period of intense terrorist activity from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, in order to analyse Italian anti-terrorist policies. He has highlighted two key figures in the success of the fight against both the mafia and terrorism: the pentiti, who, in exchange for a reduced sentence, have to collaborate with the justice system, and the disassociated, who are required to publicly renounce any kind of link with their organisation. 

Gaizka Fernández Soldevilla, head of Research at the Victims of Terrorism Memorial Centre reviewed the lessons learned in the fight against terrorism in all its various aspects, from the political, legal and police spheres. He placed special emphasis on the difficult journey of the victims to emerge from social and institutional oblivion, recalling the achievements of the victims' associations. 

Francisco Llera Ramo, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of the Basque Country focused his presentation on the political and social aspects of the fight against terrorism, stressing the importance of raising awareness and mobilising society. He reaffirmed the need for political consensus to guarantee the continuity of anti-terrorist policy regardless of political alternation and called for a "war without quarter" against violent extremism. 

Ángeles Escrivá, editor-in-chief of El Mundo, warns of the danger of looking the other way while a parallel state develops in some areas, recalling that Salafism is not diversity but extremism. In this respect, she believes that a clear positioning and strategy would guarantee a more stable future, an objective to which the press can contribute with a correct contextualisation of the news that avoids softening the reality of radicalisation. 

Pilar Cebrián, a freelance journalist, she notes that, despite the lower visibility of jihadism on the media agenda, the threat is still present and adds that the terrorist groups present in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are benefiting from the little attention that has been paid to them lately. 

Luis de la Corte, Professor of Psychology at the Autonomous University of Madrid has highlighted the complexity of the media in reporting on jihadism, as well as the risk of instrumentalisation by both terrorist groups and the political class, with the use of media coverage of terrorism to support a partisan editorial line that generates divisions in public opinion. He pointed to a number of good journalistic practices, such as proper time management of coverage, ensuring that neither people nor police operations are endangered, paying special attention to language, and contributing to democratic counter-narratives.