World's youth believe 'war on terror' counterproductive

By Brian Whitaker
The Guardian
Dec. 05, 2006

Young people overwhelmingly believe the US-led "war on terror" is not making the world safer, according to a poll conducted in major cities across the globe. The survey of youngsters aged 15 - 17, which was conducted for the BBC in New York, Nairobi, Cairo, Lagos, Rio de Janeiro, Baghdad, Delhi, Jakarta, Moscow and London, found that only 14% of respondents thought US policy in Iraq and Afghanistan was making the world a safer place, while 71% said it was not. The remaining 15% did not know or declined to answer. Negative views of the "war on terror" were strongest in Baghdad (98%) and Rio (92%).

Asked if they "would consider taking action that could result in innocent people dying if they felt very strongly about a cause", 17% said they would. The figure was highest in Baghdad (34%), followed by Jakarta (31%) and London (25%).

Religion figured strongly in the teenagers' lives, with 86% saying they believed in God or a higher being. Although 66% thought religion a force for good, a significant proportion - 20% - viewed it as a source of conflict. In Baghdad, 64% considered it so.

Just over a third (34%) said they were prepared to marry someone from a different religion. That figure was highest in Nairobi (52%) and New York (50%), and lowest in Baghdad (4%).

The teenagers also took a favourable view of immigration, with 79% saying people should be able to live in whichever country they choose. Sixty-four percent said they would emigrate to secure a better future and 14% said they would risk their life to do so.

Oddly, the largest numbers of those who had no intention of emigrating were found in the troubled city of Baghdad (50%).

Opinion was divided as to whether those who move to a new country should keep apart to maintain their own beliefs and culture (38%), or integrate and adopt the culture of their new country (49%).

Only 51% of respondents said they had heard of climate change and understood what it was, and among those only 34% have changed their behaviour as a result. A majority (52%) said they would not lower their standard of living to reduce the effects of climate change.

The vast majority (85% overall) thought crime was generally increasing in their country, but only 6% said they would consider stealing if they really wanted something and could not afford it. Sixteen percent said they would commit a crime in order to become an instant millionaire if they knew they could get away with it - a figure which rose to 37% in Nairobi and 31% in London.

Overall, 17% said they would consider cheating to get into university.

The poll, for the BBC World Service, was conducted by research agency Synovate in October, with 300 or more interviews in each city. Questions about religion and terrorism were not permitted in Egypt because of government restrictions.