THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-May 25, 2017- Topic 1

Horror in Manchester

For the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Monday night’s suicide attack in Manchester that left at least 22 people dead and 59 injured, all those who were present at the city’s main indoor arena to attend Ariana Grande’s concert were infidels. All of them were just innocent teenagers and the blast hit them when they were leaving after the concert. It is a familiar story.

 Over the past three years, terrorists have repeatedly struck Western cities, massacring unarmed civilians, including children. Be it the Bataclan theatre in Paris, the Brussels airport or the Manchester Arena, terror has aimed to unleash maximum panic and thereby create divisions in societies, challenge the public’s faith in their institutions and trigger ethnic, racial or religious tensions. So when in a statement issued on the Internet the IS boasts of killing and injuring “100 crusaders” in Manchester, it is actually trying to hard-sell its world view of a “holy war” between the two largest faiths. Investigators are yet to confirm the IS link. But the exact affiliation of the perpetrator may be immaterial to groups such as the IS and al-Qaeda, which have contracted out their violent, polarising ideology to extremist cells and individuals across the world. The British government has, wisely, refused to play ball so far. In a strong message delivered from Downing Street, Prime Minister Theresa May has hailed the spirit of Britain, which “through years of conflict and terrorism has never been broken and will never be broken”.

The attack, the first major terror strike in 12 years in the country, raises daunting challenges for the U.K. Over the past 18 months alone, British intelligence agencies, deemed to be among the best in terms of resources and efficiency, have reportedly thwarted at least 12 terrorist plots. Still, the 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a British national of Libyan origin, slipped off their radar, entered the Arena complex and detonated an improvised bomb at its foyer. While more details about Abedi are yet to emerge, there are already questions about how he got his hands on an improvised bomb small enough to conceal in a belt or behind a vest. For Britain, this is going to be a long fight with no quick fixes on the cards. Hundreds of British nationals had travelled to Syria, a country that is being bombed by the U.K., the U.S. and several other countries, to join the IS over the past three years. Many of them came back, and with the IS under growing pressure in Syria and Iraq many more battle-hardened men could return, aggravating the situation. While Britain has raised its threat level to critical in the aftermath of the attack, a longer-term challenge for the political and community leadership is to find a way to address the challenge of radicalism.

Vocabulary

Arena: a level area surrounded by seats for spectators, in which sports, entertainments, and other public events are held.

Example: Whole towns could be surrounded, or a mile-wide dragnet thrown over an area which contained sporting arenas .

Synonyms: stadium, amphitheater, coliseum, sportsplex, field, ring, court

Infidel: a person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one's own.

Example: They wanted to secure the Holy Places from the infidel

Synonyms: unbeliever, disbeliever, nonbeliever, agnostic, atheist, heathen

Innocent: not guilty of a crime or offense.

Example: The arbitrary execution of an innocent man

Synonyms: guiltless, blameless, in the clear, unimpeachable, irreproachable

Concert: a musical performance given in public, typically by several performers or of several separate compositions.

Example: Symphony concerts

Synonyms: musical performance, show, production, presentation, recital

Unleash: release from a leash or restraint.

Example: We unleashed the dog and carried it down to our car

Synonyms: let loose, release, set free, unloose, untie, unchain

Ethnic: of or relating to a population subgroup within a larger or dominant national or cultural group with a common national or cultural tradition.

Example: Leaders of ethnic communities

Synonyms: racial, race-related, ethnological, cultural, national

Crusader: a fighter in the medieval Crusades.

Example: Participation in the Crusade was said to have great spiritual value for the individual crusader .

Synonyms: campaigner, fighter, champion, advocate, reformer

Affiliation: the state or process of affiliating or being affiliated.

Example: He had no particular affiliation, no close associates

Synonyms: association with, connection with/to, alliance with/to, alignment with

Perpetrator: a person who is responsible for a crime or other misdeed.

Example: The culprits behaved like seasoned thugs but claimed that they were guardians of law and order.

Synonyms: guilty party, offender, wrongdoer, perpetrator, miscreant, criminal

Daunting: seeming difficult to deal with in anticipation.

Example: A daunting task

Synonyms: intimidating, formidable, disconcerting, unnerving

Detonate: explode or cause to explode.

Example: Two other bombs failed to detonate

Synonyms: explode, go off, blow up, shatter, erupt, ignite, bang, blast

Foyer: an entrance hall or other open area in a building used by the public, especially a hotel or theater.

Example: There are plans for two new studios, a workshop, expanded offices, dressing rooms and public foyers , and terrace spaces.

Synonyms: hall, hallway, entrance, entry, entranceway, entryway, vestibule, entrance hall

Vest: confer or bestow power, authority, property, etc. on someone.

Example: Executive power is vested in the president

Synonyms: confer on, entrust to, invest in, bestow on, grant to, give to