A Modern Day Terrorism - Essay Example

?TERRORISM The notion terrorism can rightly be defined as the individual or collective act of aggression and violence that contains ulterior political and financial motifs behind it, applied and exercised by causing massive destruction and ruination to the opponent forces in one way or the other. The aim behind such violent attacks includes inflicting mental, physical, political and economic losses to the rival groups and communities along with spreading of disgust, dread and horror in the socio-cultural environment for the same of gaining political benefits out of such nefarious designs. Though terrorism has been part of various societies of the globe for the last several centuries, yet the contemporary world has become the most despondent victim of such obnoxious assaults and threats. The horrible victimization of terrorism of the modern world is partly due to the invention of latest dreadful and destructive weapons, techniques and strategies, which has taken the entire world into the awkward clutches of terrorism. Additionally, fast increasing gulf of hatred and detestation between the cultures, faiths and civilizations is also inviting violent clashes and conflicts on the very face of the earth, and the political authorities and governments appear to be helpless in combating with this curse even. Consequently, collective measures are being introduced on the concrete foundations of multicultural and inter-faith co-operation to defeat and crush the widespread terrorist nuisance with collective efforts. The theorists, intellectuals and philosophers blame social injustices and inequalities as the root-cause behind the expansion of terrorism in the world. They cite Marxist perspective that declares conflict between haves and haves-not as the by-product of chaos, confusion and anarchical state of affairs in human societies. The theorists are of the opinion that rejection of granting opportunities, resources and privileges to the developing countries is creating frustration in the minds of the masses, which always results in the form of violent reaction to the injustices and inequalities observed and promoted by the elite stratum of society on the one hand, and the powerful states of the world on the other. Hence, it is social inequalities that give birth to violent struggle against exploitation. Marx lauded the basic premise that the labor was the source of all wealth, and the profit of the capitalist was based on the exploitation of the laborers. “The capitalists performed the rather simple trick of paying the workers less than they deserved, because they received less pay than the value of what they actually produced in a work period.” (Ritzer & Goodman, 2003:22) The modern terrorism is also the part of the same ideology created and implied out of sheer frustration and injustices. The present paper aims to identify the problem of terrorism in the light of the ideology, claimed and presented by various terrorist organizations, where these groups try to justify their actions and violent attacks against their opponent forces and groups to set the haves-not free from the exploitation of capitalism and imperialism. The groups under analysis including Baader-Meinhof of Germany, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam in Sri Lanka, and Iranian state-sponsored terrorism reveal one and the same motif, which has been analyzed in the following lines 1. GERMANY A. Background and Facts related to Creation of RAF: World War I had drawn a clear and indelible boundary line between the nations on the basis of their economic position. Consequently, the conflict between the prosperous and poor states started widening to a great extent. The Germans had commenced World War II as revenge against the humiliating terms of Versailles Treaty of 1919, but the War culminated in favor of the capitalist societies, and thus added fuel to fire in the further demarcation between the rich and poor countries. Consequently, many extremist groups raised their heads as reaction to the growing exploitation prevailing in the imperialistic societies. Germany’s Baader-Meinhof (official name RAF) also maintains imperative place in the list of such organizations. The group was founded by the student activists of West Germany by 1967 in the aftermath of the killing of a young journalist during the state visit of Shah of imperialist Iran. The post-war German students were vehemently against the capitalism and looked for the spread of socialist economic system for the just and fair distribution of wealth, opportunities and resources among the individuals. The writings of the Marxist philosophers and scholars belonging to West Germany also infused new spark in the minds of youth, which stood as firm as rock against the class discrimination and capitalism. They considered Communism as the best economic and political system, which condemns exploitation of the proletariat at the hands of the bourgeoisie. Hence, the energetic youth having Communist background laid the foundation of Red Army Fraction to start an armed revolt against the growing capitalism. B. Circumstances Leading to Armed Struggle: The German youth was not only annoyed at the promotion of capitalism in the country, but also it considered German government as the dominion and agent of the USA and her allies. It is therefore, the enthusiastic Germans raised demonstration against the criminal silence of their political leadership on the issue of Vietnamese War. As a result, the communists started getting organized under the dynamic leadership of Ulrike Meinhof, the young communist journalist and activist, in order to set Germany free from the clutches of capitalism. Meinhof, Andreas Baader and Ensslin were the co-founders of Red Army Faction (RAF), who viewed armed struggle as the only way to crush capitalistic exploitation of the poor and weak countries of the world. It is therefore the founders of RAF obtained militia training in Jordan to join the Palestinians in their freedom struggle against the pro-American state of Israel. “Thus, Meinhof, Baader, Ensslin and a few new fellow travelers drew inspiration from the Brazilian Marxist Carlos Marighella, treating as their bible his Minimanual of the Urban Guerilla, which recast Che Guevara’s idea of the peasant revolutionary in an urban environment. They returned to Germany with their new name, a manifesto written by Meinhof and a symbol: a red star crossed by a Heckler & Koch submachinegun.” (Appleyard, 2008: 7) C. Evaluation of the Case: Since major aim behind the organization was the annihilation of the US influence from their country, the RAF started targeting the American military bases and German law enforcing agencies as well. The organizers took the plea that the Capitalist societies had always deteriorated the very foundations of rival countries. Since Germany had fought against the Allies in both the Great Wars, so the US-led countries would try to impose the economic system of their choice in order to keep Germany under their influence forever. The rebel organization raised the slogan of freedom for all countries, and fought for the cause of Palestine, as its leaders considered the US and Israel as unjust oppressors, who were denying the fair and just rights of the Palestinians. However, the faction was crushed by the German authorities with an iron hand, and all important leaders committed suicide in the prison cells in order to escape severe trials and sentences. D. Usefulness of the selected Hypothesis: The hypothesis established for the present study strongly proves the very reality that the RAF had been established as the reaction to the western Capitalistic economic system. However, the faction deviated from its path, and concentrated upon violent and terrorist strategic scheme in order to achieve its goal. The workers of RAF killed several industrialist men and women along with their chauffeurs, guards and attendants just to highlight their exploitative behavior and hatred towards the workers and peasants. However, the faction could witness rise from 1968 to 1977, and was dissolved completely in 1998. Hence, its terrorist activities met its ultimate fate the same year. 2. SRI LANKA A. Background and Facts related to Creation of Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers: Though Germany and Sri Lanka are quite opposite to each other in historical background, culture, civilization, social establishment, religious values and political system, yet both these countries have one thing in common i.e. terrorist threats in the country. Like Germany, Sri Lanka also had to face civil war and terrorist threat in the country for the last three and half decades. Sri Lanka had been a British colony for nearly one hundred and thirty three years, and won freedom from her in the aftermath of WWII. However, the country underwent civil war in the wake of regional, racial and linguistic discrimination observed by the Sinhalese majority over the Tamil minority of the country. The Sinhalese majority of Sri Lanka had introduced privileges and relaxations for their community in educational, economic and political institutions of the country, which rejected the Tamil rights on the foundations of equality and justice. “From 1956 to 1970, the proportion of Tamils employed by the state fell from 60 to 10 percent in the professions, from 30 to 5 percent in the administrative service, from 50 to 5 percent in the clerical service and from 40 to 1 percent in the armed forces.” (Rotberg, 1999: 6) Hence, the Tamils were deprived of jobs, employment and education to a great extent in Sri Lanka. B. Circumstances Leading to Armed Struggle: In the beginning, the Tamils tried to find a peaceful solution of the entire situation through parliament and dialogue, but the Sinhalese did not make any development other than oral commitments. Consequently, the Tamils planned to wage an armed revolt against the injustices in the northern and eastern parts of the country in order to get equal rights for their community since late 1970s onward from political platform. However, the political wing could not obtain any rights for the Tamils. Since Marxist-Leninist party under the title Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had also been functional in the country since 1965, it had also failed to obtain basic rights for all strata of society. Rohana Wijeweera, M. T. Silva and Somawansa Amarasinghe were the prominent leaders, which viewed violent struggle as the only way to win freedom from Sri Lanka. Consequently, the extremist Tamils laid the foundation stone of its separatist militia group under the title Liberation Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE) in June 1983 for winning freedom from the domination of Sinhalese majority of the country. Velupillai Prabhakaran led LTTE for starting terrorist attacks and suicidal invasions in different parts of the country. Like other terrorist factions of the world, LTTE also contained political aims, which it tried to achieve through violence and destruction. Both JVP and LTTE accepted the responsibilities of killing hundreds of men, women and children in Sri Lanka, and paved the way towards the political, social and economic destabilization of the country at large. C. Evaluation of the Case: Looking into the post war history of Sri Lanka, it becomes evident that the Tamils had no separatist intentions and motifs. However, continuous injustices inflicted upon the ethnic group, which enjoyed significant majority in eastern and northern parts of the country. As a result, the Tamils had to launch violent strife for twenty six long years. It is estimated that nearly seventy thousands people were killed during these years, (quoted in scaruffi.com) and Tamils also lost the lives of their own workers during the course of the civil war. Somehow, the terrorist group also met with the same fate as it has been the tradition of such violent factions of society. Several important leaders were murdered by the Sri Lankan army and police, and the rest of them laid arms in 2009 in order to keep on their struggle through peaceful and democratic means. D. Usefulness of the selected Hypothesis: Like RAF, PLO, Al Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist organizations of the world, LTTE was also established on the foundations of social inequalities and injustices committed by the majority Sinhalese on the part of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka. Hence, it affirms the hypothesis that whenever a social class, religious community or racial group is tried to be deprived of facilities and opportunities on the principles of equality and fair play, the deprived faction gets reactionary and organizes violent struggle to eradicate the cruelty has been inflicted upon it to the powerful stratum of social establishment. The same is the case with the LTTE of Sri Lanka, which was forced to get indulged into criminal activities for the eradication of cruelty and unfairness hanging like a sword on the way to their success and glory. The civil war dragged the country into the state of uncertainty besides bringing death and destruction in Sri Lanka. 3. IRAN A. Background and Facts related to Iranian Religious Terrorism: Famous religious revolution in Iran also appeared as a reaction to the exploitative Imperialistic political system prevailing under the pro-American monarchical rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1941--1979). The revolution turned out the Capitalist economic system from the country by introducing organized reforms in political and economic establishment of the country. Hence, the religious terrorism turned out to be the torch-bearer of social justice and equality in Iran. The eco-religious strife changed the entire social, cultural and political set up, and left ineradicable imprints on the national and international politics at large. Historians do not declare the revolution as the outcome of one single factor; rather, there were chain of reasons that paved the way towards revolution. There were inequalities and social injustices prevailing on the land during the Shah’s regime that instigated the people to rise against the powerful monarchical rule. Shah was considered as a trustworthy ally of the USA, and was an arch-enemy of Communism. Though the country made rapid economic progress under the Shah regime, yet the entire financial prosperity was confined to elite stratum only. Thus, the effects of rapidly flourishing economy were beyond the reach of middle and lower classes. Additionally, the Shah had adopted the western cultural characteristics, which were strictly against the Islam traditions and conventions. As a result, the masses sought the support of reformers and religious leaders in order to set free from the capitalistic economic system on the one hand, and fast advancing gulf between the classes on the other. B. Circumstances Leading to Armed Struggle: The Iranian subjects were leading a miserable life in the rich and prosperous government, which was becoming intolerable for them. Consequently, the gulf between the classes started increasing day by day and people rose to the occasion under the banner of Khomeini to combat liberalism and capitalism prevailing in their country. “Wages remained derisory, supply of goods was inadequate and housing was shamefully insufficient before revolution in Teheran.” (Calvocoressi, 1981: 354) People started looking for some savior in the person of the exiled Khomeini. “The forces which are locked in combat are on the one side those of the autocratic monarchy, supported by the capitalist and landlord classes, backed up by the military and police. Facing them is the working class and the middle class who look to the Muslim clergy, particularly the Ayatollah (Holy Man) Khomeini in exile in Paris.” (Grant, 1979: 3) Moreover, Shah had endorsed favoritism in respect of promoting officials in military and other armed forces. The religious and nationalist leadership had started raising voice against class discrimination and inequality imposed by the Shah’s government since 1960s; however, the leadership was forced to exile from the country. Thus, Khomeini had to spend over one and half decade in France and other parts of the world in order to escape imprisonment and torture at the hands of the authorities. Somehow, his family members and followers raised arms and started violence resistance movement against the government. The government tried to deal with the religious faction with an iron hand and murdered several rebels including the son and nephew of Ayat Ullah Khomeini. However, the strikes and riots collapsed the social and financial life in Iran. Since the government failed to bring the religious leaders to the table-talk, situation grew bitter and bitter. Subsequently, Shah had to surrender and the religious groups were there at the helm in February 1979. C. Evaluation of the Case: The political analysts and historians declare the religious terrorist activities of Iran between 1963 to its successful end in 1979 as the outcome of the existing inequalities, injustices, nepotism, favoritism and class discrimination within the social structure of Iran. The analysts explore the elements of Marxism in the background of the revolution because of the flowing of unabated abyss between the haves and haves-not. Since, the Shah had never banned observing of religious activities in the country, and had never tried to stop the religious performances of the people, so the Iranian revolution could not be viewed as the religious one. Thus, the revolution was actually the militant resistant of socio-economic inequalities rather than the religious sanctions in its true sense. D. Usefulness of the selected Hypothesis: Marxist perspective is also applied on the religious terrorism of Iran due to the fact that the Marxists declare Capitalism as the exploiter of the labor and toil made by the workers and peasants, as the system requires labor from the lower class, but benefits the elite stratum only by denying the remuneration to the real deservers. “Imperialism caused the division of society into different classes and strata, where one social class is seriously engaged in the exploitation of others.” (Turner, 2006: 142) Had there been no social inequalities in Iran under the Shah regime, there could have been no signs of militants and extremists in the country. REFERENCES: Appleyard, Bryan 2008 The Baader-Meinhof Gang: first modern terrorists? The Sunday Times http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article4950915.ece Calvocoressi, Peter. 1981 World Politics since 1945. Sixth Edition. Longman Publishers, London Grant, Ted. 1979 The Iranian Revolution retrieved from http://www.marxist.com/the-iranian-revolution-grant-09.htm Ritzer, George & Goodman, Douglas 2003 Classical Sociological Theory Fourth Edition McGraw Hill Publishing Company Rotberg, Robert I. 1999 Creating Peace in Sri Lanka: Civil War and Reconciliation Brookings Institution Press Scaruffi, Piero 2009 Wars and Genocides of the 20th Century retrieved from http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/massacre.html Turner, Jonathan H. 2006 Handbook of Sociological Theory Springer Publishers Read More