Lighting the Way to Eradicate Poverty and Terrorism

By: Judy I. Shane
Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, UCLA

Since 9-11, most of us are convinced of the power of grass roots movements. Televisions worldwide have repeatedly displayed images of massive destruction caused by grass roots extremists, who have been operating patiently, quietly, and unobtrusively in small cells throughout the world.Fortunately, we have a melting pot of collective wisdom from Americans who've immigrated to the U.S. and who offer a third world perspective-people who can shed light on how the seeds of extremism and terrorism are sown. Some of these people are operating patiently, quietly, and unobtrusively in another kind of grass roots movement - one aimed at permanently eliminating extremism and terrorism through specific economic and human development programs.