Understanding Terrorism - Essay Example

Terrorism Q1 Terrorism cannot be justified under any circumstances; a prime example is the Al Shabaab in Somali who have resorted to warfare to remove the Somali government to establish their own fundamental Islamist state. According to the FBI terrorism is the illegal use of violence against people or property to coax the reigning regime, the civilian population or a segment of society in the pursuit of political or social objectives. Terrorism is not permissible under any situations as most of the time these fighters are extremely conservative and violate too many human rights to justify their cause. The Al shabaab removed all signs on shops that were in English or Somali demanding the people to put signs in Arabic, failure to do so would result in a hefty fine, corporal punishment, amputation or even death. The Al Shabaab is an extremist group; their actions do more harm than good and show why terrorism cannot be justified no matter the cause. Q2 There are diverse classifications of fighters centered on their devotions, ways and means of combat, whereby a terrorist is one who uses fear, that is, terror, to achieve their political and social goals. Whiles a revolutionary is one who believes in an over haul of the government and in the way people think. Therefore, a revolutionary does not necessarily resort to violence although many revolutions have been characterized with a lot of violence as was seen in the French revolution and the Arab spring. A freedom fighter is one who strives to acquire freedom of his social group who he believes is oppressed by the reigning government. When struggling for liberation in Argentina, Che Guevara resorted to violence however not all freedom fighters will choose warfare as their style of combat. Guerillas combat in small crowds if possible under cover or at nightfall choosing for an autonomous and lopsided style of aggressiveness. Their smaller units enable them to strike faster and escape before their stronger opposing forces can organize a counter attack. A terrorist can become a guerrilla but not all guerillas are terrorists as the Philippine forces resorted to guerilla tactics during the Vietnam War (Kramer 98). Terrorist action is the use of fear to achieve sociopolitical ends. Q3 A relationship has been observed between terrorism and the level of freedom within a regime, an authoritarian regime is more likely to experience acts of terrorism than a liberal regime (Cinar 3). The feeling of oppression and denial of human rights is all the motivation required to resort to violence but there are cases of liberal governments facing terrorist activities. Polish workers demonstrated against the regime of Wladyslaw Gomulka In 1970 because of the government’s continuous oppression of opposition views due to the poor working conditions and the (Shlapentokh 171). In 2011, the Arab spring revolution occurred and saw several Arab leaders face disapproval and removal from power due to their human rights violation. Muammar Gadaffi of Libya faced the revolt of his people due to gross human rights violation. In Syria, there are daily riots as revolutionaries and freedom fighters resort to guerrilla tactics and terror to remove the incumbent president Al Assad who they accuse of using excessive force to silence his critics within the country. The leading motive for the terrorism seen in liberal countries is the failure of appropriate application of the philosophies of democracy. Ethnic terrorism is the main form of terrorism observed in liberal democracies as ethnic or religious minorities feel that there are not given equal treatment, their values are not respected (Cinar 5), or that there is cultural erosion of their culture for the dominant group such as the September 11 Airline smash of the Twin Towers by Bin Laden. One of the grievances of the Al Qaeda group is the spread of western values and culture that is eroding Arabic culture as well as the development of America the expense of their own countries. Spain a country known for its good human rights record has also faced terrorism activities such as in 2004 when the train station in Madrid was planted with ten explosions around the tube that were detonated and killed 192 people 3 days before elections. The incumbent party lost as the placement of troops to Iraq had been throughout its sovereignty and by its endorsement, with Spanish resident being fearful of a second attack, they voted out Aznar’s Popular Party and voted in the Socialists who until the attack had been trailing in polls (Lewis 70). Q4 Terrorists have different motivation some being nationalistic and economic agendas others being religious and cultural. It has been noted with religious terrorist activities, the terrorists with many being make bigger sacrifices willing to sacrifice even their own lives to achieve their aims, as they believe the rewards for their work will be realized in life after death. Suicide bombings and self-immolation are tactics more commonly associated with religious terrorists than with terrorists with a nationalist agenda. Nationalist terrorists are also less keen on civilian deaths as they are on government change; for these reasons nationalist terrorists are less likely to count civilian deaths as a victory, religious terrorists will on the other hand commit acts that will have symbolic meanings so as to spread their spiritual beliefs. Islam terrorists have popularized the term suicide bomber and have used them frequently in both local and international attacks. Religious terrorists feel that they have the right to decide judgment on their fellow human beings over their way of life (Juergensmeyer 24), as compared to nationalists such as Che Guevara who instead sought to free their own. Q5 The Tamil Tigers can be categorized as freedom fighters who recourse to horror to accomplish their objectives. The differences between a terrorist, revolutionary and freedom fighter are at times difficult to see as they overlap one another and it is also a matter of perspective as for every cause that triumphs another one is sidelined this makes freedom fighters be labeled terrorists internationally while being praised as freedom fighters locally. The Tamil Tigers do enjoy a lot of popular support from their place of residence and therefore cannot be said to be ruling by use of terror. The group is also fighting for the Tamil area to be recognized as a state as the want liberation from Sri Lanka who they believe has marginalized their community, and the features displayed by this group present them as freedom fighters and not terrorists (Law 78). When the use of force and local popularity are put into consideration, the Basque separatists, IRA and Al Qaeda can be categorized as terrorist groups. They have resorted to the use of force and fear to retain control of their regions in Spain and Afghanistan respectively. The Basque separatists have used targeted civilians in their home regions and their reign saw massive bloodshed in Spain as they carried out their campaign (Law 79). The IRA has had parliamentary representatives from Ireland as targets in its attacks (Law 83) which points out to their unpopularity. They would not be popular even if they were to seize power and would therefore resort to violence and maiming in order to retain control of their respective areas they are therefore terrorists. The Al Qaeda group in Afghanistan is an international terrorist movement with a highly sophisticated network that unlike the other terrorist groups has coordinated its attacks in continents away from its country of origin. Al Qaeda with Osama bin Laden organized the August 7 1998 bombing in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people and injured 4500 (Law 180). It also claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks and has acted as a training ground for others to form or join groups such as Mujahideen and Janjaweed in Sudan. Al Qaeda unlike the IRA and Basque does not have one target but rather multiple cities that they perceive as enemies of true Islam. Acts of terrorism have been recorded for over 1000 years. Terrorism results in colossal loss of human life and should not be condoned, and the society should join hands in its fight and prevention. Works Cited Lewis, Jon E. Mammoth Books Presents Terrorist Attacks and Clandestine Wars London: mammoth, 2012.Print. Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. University of California Press, 2003. Print. Kramer, Paul A. The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines. Accessible publishing. 2008. Print Law, Randall. Terrorism: A History. Polity: Cambridge. 2009.Print. Cinar, Bekir. The relationship between terrorism and liberal states European Journal of economic and political studies. 2001. Shlapentokh, Vladimir A Normal Totalitarian Society: How the Soviet Union Functioned and How It collapsed. New York: Library of Congress. 2001.Print. Read More