Foundations of Terrorism: Act of Violence by a Perpetrator - Essay Example

Foundations of Terrorism Foundations of Terrorism Terrorism is the act of violence by a perpetrator(s) that is aimed at influencing the attitude and or behavior of a larger audience. Different reasons form the foundations for a particular group to practice terrorism and they are aimed at achieving different ends. This paper aims at analyzing and getting a better understanding of the foundations of terrorism, the different religious backgrounds for terrorism, and the terrorist groups that have emerged over the years. Left-wing terrorism aim at changing the social, political, and social system of a state in accordance with an extremist model with a Marxist-Leninist ideology and is well exemplified by Red Brigates (Brigate Rose) in Italy. The Red Brigades aimed at overthrowing the parliamentary and capitalist system and replacing it with a system ruled by a proletariat and had Potere Proletarion Armato, Prima Linea, and Nuclei Armati Proletari as organizations liaised to it. Red Brigates had 120 active members with operative members ranging from 50 to 75 at any given time. Operations are continuing for the Red Brigades but the last attack orchestrated by the group occurred in 2002 with their areas of operation being Italy with the specific operation areas as Milan, Genoa, Turin, Venice, Bologna, and Rome (Hoffman, 2006). Right-wing terrorism has a high reliance on restoring national greatness, expel cultural minorities, suppress opponents, and overthrowing democratic and capitalist systems for the establishment of a revolutionary order. Russian national Unity is an example of right-wing terrorism group and the main cause of the group was to ensure the creation of a racially pure Russian through the expulsion of the Turks, Jews, and Caucasians from Russia. The group consists of 6,000 active members and has operations running to the present in Ukraine, Russia, and Baltic States (Martin, 2003). Ethno-nationalist terrorism aims at gaining political self-determination and international recognition with their main motivation being ethnicity, religion, and nationalism. An example of an Ethno-nationalist terrorism group is Irish Republican Army (IRA) that has Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA, Provos) as an alternative name. The cause of the IRA is to form a unified Irish Republic with Sinn Fein as a directly liaised organization with the group that has been in operation since 1919 despite using the name PIRA in 1969. The group reached its peak in 1970 when in consisted of 1500 members and it was operative until 2005 when the decommissioning of weapons was completed. The main areas of operation of the group are Ireland, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, and some international operations with the current active members of the group not known after decommissioning (Houle, 2005). Religious terrorism involves groups that are based on religious motivation. Islam is the main ideological motivation for religious terrorism and is aimed at the Western society that it considers decadent and depraved. An example of a religious terrorism group is Hizb ut-Tahrir al Islam and aims at ensuring interaction with Ummah for her adoption of Islam and lead to the restoration of Khilafah and rule according to the revelation of Allah. It has a million members, started operations in 1953, and has operations globally and London as its most important center. The core characteristics of religious terrorism are violence, which as Hoffman states “is a sacramental act or divine act executed in direct response to some theological demand or imperative” (Hoffman, 2006) and the use of religion as a propaganda tool for the explanation or a justification of certain events (Hoffman, 2006). The other characteristic is the requirement for the blessing by a religious authority or leader of the actions of religious terrorists prior to being carrying out. The core characteristics of secular terrorism is the demand for the release of prisoners who have been held for past terrorists activities by these groups as exemplified by PLO terrorists, Red Brigade Moro kidnapping, and Khartoum embassy, and controlling time that entails taking hostages and making demands to countries and governments against certain deadlines. The other characteristics of secular terrorism is that there are based on a social, economic or political pint of view and operations are aimed at a small regional or national area where they aim at implementing or provoking change to a given area or region where they operate (Rodgers, 2001). From the core characteristics, we can determine that secular terrorism uses less violence, is discriminative, and does not base its acts of violence or other terrorist activities on religious ideologies and beliefs, as is the case in religious terrorism. The other difference is that secular terrorism operates within a region and aims at a specific social problem for the people within the area while religious terrorism does not discriminate in terms of region as long as the people targeted do not share the religious ideology and believe. The other difference between secular and religious terrorists is that secular terrorists appeal to actual or potential sympathizers to whom they purport to defend while religious terrorists are actors engaging in a total war. Secular terrorists view the system as one that can be corrected through the violence they perpetrate among other acts of terrorism while religious terrorists view themselves as outsiders aiming for fundamental changes in the existing regime (Tan, 2006). There are four examples of religious terrorism Islam, Judaism, the American Christian White Supremacist, and a cult. There are terrorist groups associated with each of these religious terrorist groups including Islam is divided into two factions representing Shia and Sunni Islam with the Iranian revolution being a terrorist group that exemplifies Shia Islam religious terrorism. This is due to the Shia Islam beliefs and history well advocated for by the Iranian revolution where it asserts the need for all the Muslims globally to resist Western intrusion with particularly emphasis on the United States. Shia Islam considers secular governments as illegitimate and views Iran, as having instituted a true Islamic state, violence and other terrorist acts are divinely used and necessary to ensure the same is done in other areas. Shia Islam rejects the order of the world and aim at changing it fully and this is captured by the aims of Iranian revolution. This is advocated by the members of the Iranian Revolution sowing that it is a Shia Islam terrorist group. Al Qaeda exemplifies the Sunny religious terrorist group due to the ideology and goals that Al Qaeda harbors, which is to drive Americans and remove their influence on Muslim nations with the main emphasis being Saudi Arabia, and willingness to kill non-Sunny’s, and unite all the Muslims. The main goal is to form an Islamic nation that adheres to the rules of Caliphs where the Shiites disagree. This has led to some violent attacks by Sunny terrorists groups aimed at Shiites. Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) is an example of a religious organization basing on Judaism and this is through basing their violent actions on religious precepts, being members of a religious movement, alienation by the state, and aim at eliminating an enemy, the Arabs, as advocated in their teachings by the late Rabbi Kahane. The American Christian White Supremacist religious group example is the Christian Patriots due to the aims it encompasses resembling those embraced by the American Christian White Supremacist. These include fighting for equality for all Americans, being a member of a given religious organization sharing similar beliefs and practices and willing to protect the at all costs including violent acts, reaching for the undecided and extending its membership, and fighting for national unity. Bwagwan Shree Rajneesh is an example of a cult motivated terrorist movement where a cult is formed by members with the same religious convictions and is willing to cause mass killings. The Bwagwan Shree Rajneesh contaminated Salad bars in ten restaurants leading to 751 people ill and 45 of them hospitalized giving the reasoning behind the decision for it as an example of a cult terrorism form. The motivations of Narodnaia Volia include presence of autocracy and government ownership of land and the goals they aim at population representation in government, freedom of speech, and introduction of popular militia. The motivations of Red Army Faction are generating a collapse of the capitalist system and struggle against imperialism through provoking the authorities to take hard measures following series of terrorist attacks and the goals they aim at achieving are overthrowing the capitalists system and replacing it with a people’s democracy. The motivations of Shining Path are equitable distribution and prosperity for workers and the goals they aim at achieving are promote human rights, stop worker exploitation, and the creation of a communist state through violent uprising. The thugs used deceit, attacked individuals and not institutions, used a noose for killing, and dismembered corpses to prevent proper burial and they lasted for more than six hundred years killing more people than any terrorist group to the present. The thugs were of Hindu religion and believed in the cardinal Hindu myth as a basis for their actions attacking travelers, were guided by strong rules, and not interested in physical wealth. The Assassins was an Islamic group with political motives of purifying Islam used daggers to kill, made not escape attempts, organized summons to persuade more followers, organized supporting centers in urban areas for sustenance, and prepared for a long time before committing the assassinations (Rapoport, January 01, 1984). Zealots-Sicarii were of Jewish origin carrying out terrorist actions during holy days and used daggers assassinating prominent priests for having Hellenistic practices, engaged in military fights and slaughtering prisoners in the open(Rapoport, January 01, 1984). The significance of these groups in the development of modern terrorism is that they developed the ideologies that modern day terrorism is based, the methods used by the terrorists, and the violence in modern age is based on those of these three groups. References Hoffman, B. (2006). Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press.  Houle, M. (2005). Terrorism. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Martin, G. (2003). Understanding terrorism: Challenges, perspectives, and issues. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Rapoport, D. C. (January 01, 1984). Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions. The American Political Science Review, 78, 3, 658-677. Rodgers, C., Kline, R. D., Dekmejian, R. H., TAE Productions., Ambrose Video Publishing., Liberty International Entertainment Inc., & Facets Entertainment Group. (2001). Religious terrorism. New York: Ambrose Video Pub. Tan, A. T. H. (2006). The politics of terrorism: A survey. London: Routledge. Read More