Terrorism (from french (XVIIIe century)
: terrorisme under
the Terror) refers to the systemic or calculated use
of
violence or the threat of violence, against the
civilian population, to instil fear in an audience
for purposes of obtaining political or religious goals.
It is critical to distinguish terrorism from irregular,
revolutionary or
guerrilla warfare. These are not intrinsic forms of
terrorism. However, revolutionaries and guerrillas can
become terrorists if they knowingly and wilfully bring
violence against civilians for political or religious
purposes.
Terrorism can be committed by
governments (see
state terrorism), individuals, or non-government
groups; although some consider
governments incapable of terrorism by definition
(see article
state terrorism and section on state terrorism
below). In the eyes of a government that might endorse
the political motives of the violent actors, such acts
can also be ignored as terrorism, and can even be
referred to as acts of freedom.
One who carries out acts of terrorism is a
terrorist, though which acts those are is the
subject of intractable debate. Terrorists are not
protected by the
laws of war because they cannot claim lawful
combatant status. Guerrillas are often mistaken for
terrorists, and some terrorists call themselves
guerrillas. Adding to the confusion, are the numerous
states, including developed ones who routinely employ
terrorist strategies, in addition to established
military practices.
Asymmetric warfare, and
low-intensity warfare[?] are military terms for
tactics that can include terrorism or guerilla warfare.
If applied to states' actions with respect to the
citizens of other states, most of 20th century warfare,
from aerial bombing of cities to "scorched Earth"
policies to "ethnic cleansing" would qualify, and many
states would be "terrorist" by definition. Thus the term
"terrorist" itself usually will be applied (in military
terms) to
non-state actors[?] in
asymmetric warfare.
As defined by the
United States
Department of Defense, terrorism is a very specific
type of violence, although the term is often applied to
other kinds of violence felt to be unacceptable. Typical
terrorist actions include
assassinations,
kidnappings, bombings, drive-by shootings, lynchings,
hijackings, and random killing. It is a political,
not military, strategy and is generally conducted by
groups not strong enough to mount open assaults,
although it is used in peace, conflict, and war. The
intent of terrorism is to induce a state of fear in an
audience (not its victims) in order to cause the
audience (or its government) to alter its behavior. This
is the
FBI's working definition that was also taken up by
the
British government in the
Terrorism Act 2000
As if to illustrate the over-politicized use of the
term terrorist, the US
FBI listed
Reclaim the Streets a party organiser amongst the
"Threats of Terrorism to the United States." FBI
director
Louis Freeh listed Reclaim the Streets as a
"potential threat" to the United States along with
assorted terrorists from
Egypt and
Lebanon.
The report reads in part: "Anarchists and extreme
socialist groups - many of which, such as the Workers'
World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against
Capitalism - have an international presence and, at
times, also represent a potential threat in the United
States. For example, anarchists, operating individually
and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999
World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in
Seattle."
The list also included "extreme fringes of animal
rights, environmental, anti-nuclear, and other political
and social movements" as well as the Animal Liberation
Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).
Earth Liberation Front have never done
bodily harm of any type, claim only to have
committed arson and "animal liberation", and claim
non-violence to all living things as an explicit part of
their doctrine. This group cannot conceivably satisfy
the US Department of Defense definition, but the
FBI finds it convenient to motivate its funding and
"counter-terror" activities, gaining prestige for what
would otherwise be ordinary arson cases.
The State Department also refuses to classify
domestic
militia groups as terrorist groups, despite a
striking similarity in causes, doctrine, and training.
This is widely believed to be due to a desire to
maintain domestic cohesion, as the government fears the
destructive potential of these groups if provoked. In
the case of
Irv Rubin of the
JDL, the
FBI took action to infiltrate and interfere with
attempts to commit terrorism against
Darrell Issa[?], a
US Congressman[?], but does not consider the
JDL to be a terrorist group in the same sense as
groups such as
Al-Qaeda.
In the current post-9-11
context, many claim the word terrorist to be
overly politicized; being not a reference to a
behaviour, but rather is an adjective to characterize
and demonize an enemy in terms that carry moral disgust
and outrage. This process of
demonization of an enemy is normal in war and serves
to solidify public opinion:
George W. Bush of the
USA, for example, routinely describes "the
terrorists" as being "evil" and "without conscience."
Significant
terrorist incidents include the
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack as well as the
Omagh bombing in
Northern Ireland, and the
Oklahoma City bombing. See also
terrorism against Israel.
Some famous
terrorist organizations of the
20th century include the Spanish
ETA, the German
Red Army Faction (also known as the Baader-Meinhof
Gang), the
Irish Republican Army,
Islamic Jihad, the
Ku Klux Klan, the
Palestine Liberation Organization, the
Peruvian
Shining Path,
al-Qaeda, the
Italian Red Brigade, the
Front de Libération du Québec, the
Weathermen,
Black September,
Puerto Rico's
Los Macheteros, and the multi-Arab group
Hezbollah.
Terrorism is extremely difficult for governments to
control or prevent, especially if its practitioners are
willing to risk or embrace certain death in the process.
A few governments such as
Iraq,
Yemen, the
United States and
Libya, and the countries that supported the
Taliban regime in
Afghanistan have been accused of actually promoting
or protecting certain terrorist groups.
Terrorism has been used (though not so named) throughout
recorded history at least as far back as ancient
Greece. During the
French Revolution the more extreme period of the
rule of the
Committee of Public Safety received the name of "
The
Terror", epitomising state terror directed primarily
at the state's own citizens: the Committee's
Jacobin adherents became "Terrorists" (with a
capital "T").
Prior to the
19th century terrorists would give immunity to
innocents not involved in the conflict. For example,
Russian radicals intent on the assassination of
Tsar Alexander II in the mid-19th century cancelled
several actions out of concern that they might injure
women, children, elderly persons, or other innocents.
Over the past two centuries, however, as states have
become increasingly bureaucratized, the death of a
single individual leader did not produce the political
changes that the terrorists desired, so they turned to
more indirect methods to cause general anxiety and loss
of confidence in the government.
Today terrorism's use has increased among the
alienated due to the psychological impact it can have on
the public through the extensive media coverage that it
can generate. Terrorism is often the last resort of the
desperate, and can be and has been conducted by small as
well as large organizations. Historically, groups may
resort to terrorism when they believe all other avenues,
including economics, protest, public appeal, and
organized warfare, hold no hope of success (also see
rioting). This suggests that perhaps one effective
way to combat terrorism is to ensure that in any case
where there is a population feeling oppressed, that at
least some avenue of gaining attention to problems is
kept open, even if the population in question is in the
minority on an opinion. Other reasons to engage in
terrorism include attempts to gain or consolidate power
either by instilling fear in the population to be
controlled, or by stimulating another group into
becoming a hardened foe, thereby setting up polarizing
us-versus-them dynamics (also see
nationalism and
fascism). A third common reason to engage in
terrorism is to demoralize and paralyze one's enemy with
fear; this sometimes works, but can also stiffen the
enemy's resolve. Often, a particular group engaged in
terrorist activities can be characterised by several of
these reasons. In general, retribution against
terrorists can result in an escalating tit-for-tat;
however, it is often felt that if the consequences of
engaging in terrorism are not swift and punishing, the
deterrent to other terrorist groups becomes diminished.
Terrorism relies heavily on surprise and often occurs
when and where least expected. Terrorist attacks can
trigger sudden transitions into conflict or war. It is
not uncommon after a terrorist attack for a number of
unassociated groups to claim responsibility for the
action; this may be considered "free publicity" for the
organization's aims or plans. Because of its anonymous
and often self-sacrificial nature, it is not uncommon
for the reasons behind the action to remain unknown for
a considerable period.
There are eleven major multilateral conventions
related to states' responsibilities for combating
terrorism.
In addition to these conventions, other instruments
may be relevant to particular circumstances, such as
bilateral extradition treaties, the 1961 Vienna
Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and the 1963 Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations. Moreover, there are
now a number of important United Nations Security
Council and General Assembly Resolutions on
international terrorism, including three important
Security Council resolutions dealing with Libya's
conduct in connection with the 1988 sabotage of Pan Am
103, which includes UN Security Council Resolutions 731
(January 21, 1992); 748 (March 31, 1992) and 883
(November 11, 1993).
The following list identifies the major terrorism
conventions and provides a brief summary of some of the
major terms of each instrument. In addition to the
provisions summarized below, most of these conventions
provide that parties must establish criminal
jurisdiction over offenders (e.g., the state(s) where
the offense takes place, or in some cases the state of
nationality of the perpetrator or victim).
- Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts
Committed On Board Aircraft (Tokyo Convention,
agreed 9/63--safety of aviation):
- applies to acts affecting in-flight safety;
- authorizes the aircraft commander to impose
reasonable measures, including restraint, on any
person he or she has reason to believe has
committed or is about to commit such an act,
when necessary to protect the safety of the
aircraft and for related reasons;
- requires contracting states to take custody
of offenders and to return control of the
aircraft to the lawful commander.
- Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful
Seizure of Aircraft (Hague Convention, agreed
12/70--aircraft
hijackings):
- makes it an offense for any person on board
an aircraft in flight [to] "unlawfully, by force
or threat thereof, or any other form of
intimidation, [to] seize or exercise control of
that aircraft" or to attempt to do so;
- requires parties to the convention to make
hijackings punishable by "severe penalties;"
- requires parties that have custody of
offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution;
- requires parties to assist each other in
connection with criminal proceedings brought
under the convention.
- Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts
Against the Safety of Civil Aviation (Montreal
Convention, agreed 9/71--applies to acts of aviation
sabotage such as bombings aboard aircraft in
flight):
- makes it an offense for any person
unlawfully and intentionally to perform an act
of violence against a person on board an
aircraft in flight, if that act is likely to
endanger the safety of that aircraft; to place
an explosive device on an aircraft; and to
attempt such acts or be an accomplice of a
person who performs or attempts to perform such
acts;
- requires parties to the convention to make
offenses punishable by "severe penalties;"
- requires parties that have custody of
offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution;
- requires parties to assist each other in
connection with criminal proceedings brought
under the convention.
- Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons
(agreed 12/73--protects senior government officials
and diplomats):
- defines internationally protected person as
a Head of State, a Minister for Foreign Affairs,
a representative or official of a state or of an
international organization who is entitled to
special protection from attack under
international law;
- requires each party to criminalize and make
punishable "by appropriate penalties which take
into account their grave nature," the
intentional murder, kidnapping, or other attack
upon the person or liberty of an internationally
protected person, a violent attack upon the
official premises, the private accommodations,
or the means of transport of such person; a
threat or attempt to commit such an attack; and
an act "constituting participation as an
accomplice;"
- requires parties that have custody of
offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution;
- requires parties to assist each other in
connection with criminal proceedings brought
under the convention.
- Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear
Material (Nuclear Materials Convention, agreed
10/79--combats unlawful taking and use of nuclear
material):
- criminalizes the unlawful possession, use,
transfer, etc., of nuclear material, the theft
of nuclear material, and threats to use nuclear
material to cause death or serious injury to any
person or substantial property damage;
- requires parties that have custody of
offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution;
- requires parties to assist each other in
connection with criminal proceedings brought
under the convention.
- International Convention Against the Taking of
Hostages (Hostages Convention, agreed 12/79):
- provides that "any person who seizes or
detains and threatens to kill, to injure, or to
continue to detain another person in order to
compel a third party, namely, a State, an
international intergovernmental organization, a
natural or juridical person, or a group of
persons, to do or abstain from doing any act as
an explicit or implicit condition for the
release of the hostage commits the offense of
taking of hostages within the meaning of this
Convention;"
- requires parties that have custody of
offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution;
- requires parties to assist each other in
connection with criminal proceedings brought
under the convention.
- Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of
Violence at Airports Serving International Civil
Aviation (agreed 2/88--extends and supplements
Montreal Convention):
- extends the provisions of the Montreal
Convention (see No. 3 above) to encompass
terrorist acts at airports serving international
civil aviation.
- Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts
Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, (agreed
3/88--applies to terrorist activities on ships):
- establishes a legal regime applicable to
acts against international maritime navigation
that is similar to the regimes established
against international aviation;
- makes it an offense for a person unlawfully
and intentionally to seize or exercise control
over a ship by force, threat, or intimidation;
to perform an act of violence against a person
on board a ship if that act is likely to
endanger the safe navigation of the ship; to
place a destructive device or substance aboard a
ship; and other acts against the safety of
ships;
- requires parties that have custody of
offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution;
- requires parties to assist each other in
connection with criminal proceedings brought
under the convention.
- Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful
Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms
Located on the Continental Shelf (agreed
3/88--applies to terrorist activities on fixed
offshore platforms):
- establishes a legal regime applicable to
acts against fixed platforms on the continental
shelf that is similar to the regimes established
against international aviation;
- requires parties that have custody of
offenders to either extradite the offender or
submit the case for prosecution;
- requires parties to assist each other in
connection with criminal proceedings brought
under the protocol.
- Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives
for the Purpose of Identification (agreed
3/91--provides for chemical marking to facilitate
detection of plastic explosives, e.g., to combat
aircraft sabotage). Consists of two parts: the
Convention itself, and a Technical Annex which is an
integral part of the Convention.
- designed to control and limit the used of
unmarked and undetectable plastic explosives
(negotiated in the aftermath of the Pan Am 103
bombing);
- parties are obligated in their respective
territories to ensure effective control over
"unmarked" plastic explosive, i.e., those that
do not contain one of the detection agents
described in the Technical Annex;
- generally speaking, each party must, among
other things: take necessary and effective
measures to prohibit and prevent the manufacture
of unmarked plastic explosives; take necessary
and effective measures to prevent the movement
of unmarked plastic explosives into or out of
its territory; take necessary measures to
exercise strict and effective control over
possession and transfer of unmarked explosives
made or imported prior to the entry-into-force
of the convention; take necessary measures to
ensure that all stocks of such unmarked
explosives not held by the military or police
are destroyed or consumed, marked, or rendered
permanently ineffective within three years; take
necessary measures to ensure that unmarked
plastic explosives held by the military or
police, are destroyed or consumed, marked, or
rendered permanently ineffective within fifteen
years; and, take necessary measures to ensure
the destruction, as soon as possible, of any
unmarked explosives manufactured after the
date-of-entry into force of the convention for
that state.
- does not itself create new offenses that
would be subject to a prosecution or extradition
regime, although all states are required to
ensure that provisions are complied within their
territories.
- International Convention for the Suppression of
Terrorist Bombing (agreed 12/97--expands the legal
framework for international cooperation in the
investigation, prosecution, and extradition of
persons who engage in terrorist bombings):
- creates a regime of universal jurisdiction
over the unlawful and intentional use of
explosives and other lethal devices in, into, or
against various defined public places with
intent to kill or cause serious bodily injury,
or with intent to cause extensive destruction of
the public place;
- like earlier conventions on protected
persons and hostage taking, requires parties to
criminalize, under their domestic laws, certain
types of criminal offenses, and also requires
parties to extradite or submit for prosecution
persons accused of committing or aiding in the
commission of such offenses.
During the negotiations on the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court, many states supported
adding terrorism to the list of crimes over which the
court would have jurisdiction. This proposal was not
adopted; however the Statute provides for a review
confrence to be held seven years after the entry into
force of the Statute, which will consider (among other
things) an extension of the court's jurisdiction to
include terrorism.
Six broad categories of terrorist organizations can be
identified, though the distinctions between them are not
always precise. In addition to this classification,
terrorism can also be classified by its range of
operations into
domestic terrorism and
international terrorism[?].
Main article:
State terrorism
The first usage of the word terrorism (terrorisme in
french) was in France during
The Terror, then first usage of this word was for
state terrorism.
According to Spanish judge
Baltasar Garzón[?], "State terrorism
is a political system whose rule of recognition permits
and/or imposes a clandestine, unpredictable, and diffuse
application, even regarding clearly innocent people, of
coercive means prohibited by the proclaimed judicial
ordinance. State terrorism obstructs or annuls judicial
activity and transforms the government into an active
agent in the struggle for power."
Almost all the countries in
Latin America have experienced periods of state
terrorism under dictatorial or military governments,
pushed by the CIA
Condor Plan[?]; it is common that the initial 3-5
years after the
coup d'état are characterized by violence,
arbitrary detentions, exile,
torture, and "disappearing" people.
The population of the
Soviet Union also suffered state terrorism during
the
Stalin era. Millions were semi-arbitrarily arrested,
forced to sign ridiculous confessions, and executed or
sent off to the
Gulag labour camps.
Communist regimes in other countries also practiced
state terrorism to control the population, but to a
lesser degree than the Soviet Union.
The bombing by
United States using
fire-bomb
attacks on Dresden killed 135,000 citizens, and
Tokyo killed 83,000 citizens and the
atomic bomb attacks on
Hiroshima killed 70,000 citizens and
Nagasaki killed 36,000 citizens during
World War II. Some argue that these acts qualify as
state terrorism. However, there were valid military
reasons for the attacks on these particular locations.
For example, Nagasaki had major naval shipyard
facilities and Hiroshima had bases where tens of
thousands of Japanese soldiers were quartered. There is
also evidence that the United States attempted to
repeatedly warn the civilian populations of Nagasaki and
Hiroshima to evacuate the target areas. There is no
evidence that causing civilians deaths was the purpose
and objective of the attacks.
State terrorism is mantained through state-founded
propaganda, mainly stating that it is for "National
Security Reasons", that it's a short period of time,
that the government is in state of war against guerrilla
or terrorist groups (usually, the groups that are still
loyal to the last president), and that they are working
to restore the "Constitution and the Democracy".
The most pervasive elements of state terrorism are
that detained people usually have no right to a judicial
process and many people are executed under summary and
secret trials. In virtually every case where a terrorist
group has achieved power it has been marked by a
dictatorship.
States widely classed as 'terrorist' include:
Anarchists believe that all states are founded on
violence and therefore the term 'terrorist state' is
redundant. As with other uses of the term 'terrorism',
the term 'state terrorism' is highly controversial. Many
people would classify the
United States,
Britain, or
Israel as leading terrorist states.
Main article:
Nationalist terrorism
Nationalist terrorists seek to form a separate state
for their own group, and try to draw attention to their
fight for "national liberation."
Examples of Nationalist Terrorist Groups:
Main article:
Religious terrorism
Religious terrorists use violence to further what
they see as divinely commanded purposes. (see also
Religious intolerance).
Examples of Religious Terrorist Groups:
Main article:
Left-wing terrorism
Left-wing terrorists are out to destroy
capitalism and replace it with a
communist or
socialist regime.
Examples of Left-Wing Terrorist Groups:
Main article:
Right-wing terrorism
Right-wing, or "neo-Fascist", terrorists seek to do
away with liberal democratic governments and create
fascist states in their place. They frequently attack
immigrants and are both racist and xenophobic, often
specifically antisemitic.
Many right-wing Latin American terrorist groups
during the
1980s, known as
death squads, consisted usually of members of the
armed forces who acted in an unofficial capacity to
terrorize dissidents, generally with the implicit
support or protection of high ranking officials. As
private groups with overlapping memberships with the
military, they were able to carry out a terror campaign
on the government's behalf while giving the government a
form of plausible deniability. The most famous victims
of this campaign of death squad terrorism in
El Salvador were four American nuns in
1980, and archbishop
Oscar Romero also during that year. In a civil trail
ending in July of
2002,a
Miami, Florida jury found two former Salvadoran
defense officials in the torture of three Salvadoran
dissidents and ordered them to pay $54.6 million to the
plaintiffs.
In many other cases, right-wing terrorists are among
the least organized; most of them belong to various
neo-Nazi groups.
Main article:
Anarchism and Violence[?]
Anarchist terrorism was much more prevalent from the
1870s into the
1920s than it is at present. Several heads of state
were assassinated, including
President of the United States
William McKinley. The justification of Anarchist
terrorism was that such acts would make anarchist ideas
famous; however, there were also many terrorists and
criminals who called themselves "anarchists" but had
little in common with philosophical anarchists, who
often rejected any association with these individuals.
This was also known as "propaganda
by the deed[?]". Modern Anarchist terrorists would
include
Revolutionary Cells[?],
Germany and
Direct Action,
Canada. (Neither actually called themselves
Anarchists.) Often some Anarchists are found
participating with the more violent elements of
demonstrations, such as the anti-globalism protests in
the
1990s and
2000s. This violence included both the broadest
definition of the word as the destruction of property
and the more narrow definition of the word as being
beaten or teargassed by police. There are significant
sections of the Anarchist movement who do not support
terrorism or violence, including many organisations and
individuals that advocate
pacifism.
Famous terrorists include some of
the most notorious fighters in history:
Famous terrorists and former terrorists:
See also:
The Terrorist (film),
List of terrorist groups,
asymmetric warfare,
assassin,
guerrilla,
doublespeak,
Bomb threat,
mailbomb,
U.S. list of state sponsors of international terrorism,
bioterrorism,
narcoterrorism,
List of terrorists,
list of people,
list of people by occupation,
Insurance of terrorism.
