Epoch, definitions of terrorism

Editor's Notes

• #4: Terrorism is not new, and even though it has been used since the beginning of recorded history it can be relatively hard to define. Terrorism has been described variously as both a tactic and strategy; a crime and a holy duty; a justified reaction to oppression and an inexcusable abomination. Obviously, a lot depends on whose point of view is being represented. Terrorism has often been an effective tactic for the weaker side in a conflict. As an asymmetric form of conflict, it confers coercive power with many of the advantages of military force at a fraction of the cost. Due to the secretive nature and small size of terrorist organizations, they often offer opponents no clear organization to defend against or to deter.
• #8: Schmid’s quantitative analysis quantitative analyzis (the longest one consist 77 words ) In a study of terrorism, Alex P. SCHMID and Albert J. JONGMAN (SCHMID, JONGMAN, 1984), analyzes the content to 109 definitions of terrorism next finding frequency of the concepts used: (Alex Schmidt és Albert Youngman)
• #13: Sergey Gennadiyevich Nyechayev (Russian: Серге́й Генна́диевич Неча́ев; October 2, 1847 – November 21 or December 3, 1882) was a Russian revolutionary associated with the Nihilist movement and known for his single-minded pursuit of revolution by any means necessary, including political violence. The Nihilist movement was a Russian movement in the 1860s which rejected all authorities. It is derived from the Latin word "nihil", which means "nothing". After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, the Nihilists were known throughout Europe as proponents of the use of violence in order to bring about political change.
• #14: The ultimate goal of an insurgency is to challenge the existing government for control of all or a portion of its territory, or force political concessions in sharing political power. Insurgencies require the active or tacit support of some portion of the population involved. External support, recognition or approval from other countries or political entities can be useful to insurgents, but is not required. A terror group does not require and rarely has the active support or even the sympathy of a large fraction of the population. While insurgents will frequently describe themselves as "insurgents" or "guerillas", terrorists will not refer to themselves as "terrorists" but describe themselves using military or political terminology ("freedom fighters", "soldiers", "activists"). Terrorism relies on public impact, and is therefore conscious of the advantage of avoiding the negative connotations of the term "terrorists" in identifying themselves. Terrorism does not attempt to challenge government forces directly, but acts to change perceptions as to the effectiveness or legitimacy of the government itself. This is done by ensuring the widest possible knowledge of the acts of terrorist violence among the target audience. Rarely will terrorists attempt to "control" terrain, as it ties them to identifiable locations and reduces their mobility and security. Terrorists as a rule avoid direct confrontations with government forces. A guerilla force may have something to gain from a clash with a government combat force, such as proving that they can effectively challenge the military effectiveness of the government. A terrorist group has nothing to gain from such a clash. This is not to say that they do not target military or security forces, but that they will not engage in anything resembling a "fair fight", or even a "fight" at all. Terrorists use methods that neutralize the strengths of conventional forces. Bombings and mortar attacks on civilian targets where military or security personnel spend off-duty time, ambushes of undefended convoys, and assassinations of poorly protected individuals are common tactics. Terrorism does not attempt to challenge government forces directly, but acts to change perceptions as to the effectiveness or legitimacy of the government itself. This is done by ensuring the widest possible knowledge of the acts of terrorist violence among the target audience. Rarely will terrorists attempt to "control" terrain, as it ties them to identifiable locations and reduces their mobility and security. Terrorists as a rule avoid direct confrontations with government forces. A guerilla force may have something to gain from a clash with a government combat force, such as proving that they can effectively challenge the military effectiveness of the government. A terrorist group has nothing to gain from such a clash. This is not to say that they do not target military or security forces, but that they will not engage in anything resembling a "fair fight", or even a "fight" at all. Terrorists use methods that neutralize the strengths of conventional forces. Bombings and mortar attacks on civilian targets where military or security personnel spend off-duty time, ambushes of undefended convoys, and assassinations of poorly protected individuals are common tactics. Insurgency need not require the targeting of non-combatants, although many insurgencies expand the accepted legal definition of combatants to include police and security personnel in addition to the military. Terrorists do not discriminate between combatants and non-combatants, or if they do, they broaden the category of "combatants" so much as to render it meaningless. Defining all members of a nation or ethnic group, plus any citizen of any nation that supports that nation as "combatants" is simply a justification for frightfulness. Deliberate de-humanization and criminalization of the enemy in the terrorists' mind justifies extreme measures against anyone identified as hostile. Terrorists often expand their groups of acceptable targets, and conduct operations against new targets without any warning or notice of hostilities. "Insurgency is best defined as an organized movement aimed at the overthrow or destruction of a constituted government through the use of subversion, espionage, terrorism and armed conflict… Terrorism is not an end in itself. Terrorism can be a subset of an insurgency, or it can be an act of violence by criminals or crazies who want to strike out at anyone especially a government. Timothy McVeigh committed a terrorist act in Oklahoma City but he was not part of any insurgency."
• #15: Terrorism has been practiced throughout history and throughout the world. The ancient Greek historian Xenophon (c. 431–c. 350 BC) wrote of the effectiveness of psychological warfare against enemy populations.
• #16: The history of terrorism is as old as humans' willingness to use violence to affect politics. Terrorism is not a recent phenomenon. It is older than the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome. Its early roots are in acts of assassination, regicide, and tyrannicide. And early examples include the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B. C., The Sicarii were a first century Jewish group who murdered enemies and collaborators in their campaign to oust their Roman rulers from Judea. The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as sicarii, or dagger-men , they carried on an underground campaign of assassination of Roman occupation forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans. Their motive was an uncompromising belief that they could not remain faithful to the dictates of Judaism while living as Roman subjects. Eventually, the Zealot revolt became open, and they were finally besieged and committed mass suicide at the fortification of Masada.
• #18: Jewish religious-political faction of Judah, existing for a period of about 70 years or possible more, in the 1st century CE. The Sicarii were a first century Jewish group who murdered enemies and collaborators in their campaign to oust their Roman rulers from Judea. The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as sicarii, or dagger-men The Zealots achieved fairly little, except to trigger heavy Roman control over the Jews and the closing off of Jerusalem to Jews. But they were the main actors in one of the central legends in Jewish history: the defence of Masada and the subsequent collective suicide. TheologyIn their theology, the Zealots were relatively close to the Pharisees, but their doctrines had a strong focus on the necessities of violent actions against the enemies of Judaism.The Zealots could not accept any foreign rule or domination as they meant that the land of the Jews, Judah, only could be ruled according to the principles and the authority of God. OrganizationThe Zealots were formed as a political party with a designated leadership and lay members. They had broken with the normal Jewish society, and hence also with Jewish authorities and leaders.The Zealots consisted of factions, where a terrorist group, the Sicarii (from the Greek), assassinated both Romans and Jewish leaders with daggers. These actions were sometimes also directed towards normal citizens, and in public places.
• #20: The Hashhashin, whose name gave us the English word "assassins," were a secretive Islamic sect active in Iran and Syria from the 11th to the 13th century. Hassan-i-Sabbah led the Assassins Zealots and assassins were not, however, really terrorists in the modern sense. Terrorism is best thought of as a modern phenomenon. Its characteristics flow from the international system of nation-states, and its success depends on the existence of a mass media to create an aura of terror among many people. Rashid ad-Din Sinan the Grand Master of the Assassins at Masyaf successfully alarmed Saladin not to assault the realms of their sect.
• #22: Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606) was an English soldier and a member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot to assassinate King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England with a huge explosion, which was prevented by his arrest on 5 November 1605.
• #23: tuggee or simply thugs, was a religious cult and an organized gang of professional assassins who traveled in groups across India for several hundred years. They were devoted to Kali, a Hindu goddess associated with violence and sexuality. According to some estimates the Thugs murdered 1 million people between 1740 and 1840 no special weapons, was strangulation.
• #24: The word terrorism comes from the Reign of Terror instigated by Maxmilien Robespierre in 1793, following the French revolution. Robespierre, one of twelve heads of the new state, had enemies of the revolution killed, and installed a dictatorship to stabilize the country. He justified his methods as necessary in the transformation of the monarchy to a liberal democracy: ironicly, he also has been executed by gillotine. The use of terror was openly advocated by Robespierre as a means of encouraging revolutionary virtue during the French Revolution, leading to the period of his political dominance called the Reign of Terror (1793–94).
• #28: The major means of creating terror was assassination. Murder of Sadi Carnot, the president of France, and U.S. president William McKinley, From 1914 to 1932, Galleani's followers in the United States (known as Galleanists), carried out a series of bombings and assassination attempts against institutions and persons they viewed as class enemies.[1]After Galleani was deported from the United States to Italy in June 1919, his followers are alleged to have executed the Wall Street bombing of 1920, which resulted in the deaths of 38 people.
• #29: For example, the 19th century Narodnaya Volya hoped to end Tsarist rule in Russia. But the characterization of terrorism as a state action faded, while the idea of terrorism as an attack against an existing political order became more prominent. The major means of creating terror was assassination. It is striking how frequently attacks on prominent people took place between the years 1880 and 1914. There was the murder of Sadi Carnot, the president of France, and U.S. president William McKinley, the assassinations of the empress of Austria, the King of Italy, and the prime minister of Spain. In 1879 there were two attempts on the life of the Kaiser and one on the King of Italy, a plot to blow up the House of Commons, and an anarchist plot to blow up, all at once, Emperor Wilhelm, the Crown Prince, Bismarck, and Moltke. And of course, that of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914. Rózsa-Flores Eduardo (Santa Cruz, Bolívia, 1960. március 31. – Santa Cruz, Bolívia, 2009. április 16.) bolíviai-magyar katona, színész, író, költő és publicista, a Magyar Zsidó Kulturális Egyesület alapító tagja, a Jobbik.net szerkesztője, a Kapu és a Leleplező című folyóiratok munkatársa, az Ellenkultúra.info alapító-főmunkatárs, a Magyar Iszlám Közösség alelnöke.[1] Magyarországon és külföldön Eduardo Rózsa Flores néven is ismert volt, míg fiatalkorában a Rózsa György Eduárdó nevet használta. 2009. április 16-án Bolíviában egy Santa Cruz-i hotelszobában, máig vitatott módon, társaival együtt kommandósok agyonlőtték.
• #30: In the latter half of the 19th century, terrorism was adopted by adherents of anarchism in Western Europe, Russia, and the United States. They believed that the best way to effect revolutionary political and social change was to assassinate persons in positions of power. From 1865 to 1905 a number of kings, presidents, prime ministers, and other government officials were killed by anarchists' guns or bombs.
• #34: But it was also a war where images changed public opinion - images such as this by Nic Ut of nine-year-old Kim Phuc. On 8 June 1972 a South Vietnamese aircraft accidentally dropped its napalm payload on the village of Trang Bang. With her clothes on fire, Kim Phuc ran out of the village with her family to be airlifted to hospital. She survived and now lives in Canada.
• #38:  In 1980, Israel instituted a military decoration, the Lehi ribbon.Former Lehi leader Yitzhak Shamir became Prime Minister of Israel in 1983.
• #42: After the 1967 war, Habash adopted a more radical socialist philosophy and established the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestie (PFLP) in 1968. PFLP became the first organization of its kind to hijack airplanes. In 1968, three armed PFLP terrorists hijacked an El Al flight flying from Rome to Tel Aviv. On July 22, 1968, an El Al Israel Airlines plan departing from Rome and headed for Tel Aviv, Israel, was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine(PFLP). They successfully diverted the plane, carrying 32 passengers and 10 crew members, to Algiers. Most of the passengers were released relatively quickly, but for seven crew members and five Israeli male passengers, who were held hostage for five weeks. After 40 days of negotiation, the Israelis agreed to the exchange. In 1970, the PFLP claimed responsibility for simultaneously hijacking four flights, three of which they flew to Jordan and blew up, triggering the start of the Black September War between the Jordanian army and Palestinian forces. On Sept. 6, 1970, terrorists belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) almost simultaneously hijack three jetliners shortly after they take off from European airports on routes toward the United States. When hijackers on one plane are foiled, hijackers seize a fourth jet, divert it to Cairo, and blow it up. The two other hijacked planes are ordered to a desert air strip in Jordan known as Dawson Field. In 1972, working in conjunction with PFLP forces, Japanese Red Army terrorists killed 24 people at Lod International Airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport). The PFLP's final hijacking occurred in 1976, and resulted in a rescue effort by Israeli forces in Entebbe, Uganda
• #43: In 1972, working in conjunction with PFLP forces, Japanese Red Army terrorists killed 24 people at Lod International Airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport).. Walter Laqueur: The History of Terrorism’’, 2000. New Brunswick, State University of New Jersey, (USA) kiadványa, 92.o.
• #45: There has been much discussion of Asymmetric Warfare. This is where a superior power is confronted with an unconventional, much smaller enemy. However, the enemy has a fervent belief in a cause, but attacks using new, often never used before approaches often to the surprise of the dominant force. Arthur H. Garrison, How the World Changed: a History of the Development of Terrorism, presented at Delaware criminal Justice Council Annual Retreat, Oct 28-29, 2001 http://www.state.de.us/cjc/history.ppt
• #46: In the 1880s, an initial "Anarchist Wave" appeared which continued for some 40 years. Its successor, the "Anti-Colonial Wave" began in the 1920s, and by the 1960s had largely disappeared. The late 1960s witnessed the birth of the "New Left Wave," which dissipated largely in the 90s leaving a few groups still active in Sri Lanka, Spain, France, Peru, and Columbia. The fourth or "Religious Wave" began in 1979, and, if it follows the pattern of its predecessors, it still has twenty to twenty-five years to run.
• #48: Examples: Assassinations of Pres. McKinley, Spanish Prime Minister, etc.
• #50: Minimanual Of The Urban Guerrilla (Portuguese: Minimanual do Guerrilheiro Urbano) is a book written by Brazilian guerrilla fighter Carlos Marighella in June 1969. It consists of advice on how to disrupt and overthrow an authoritarian regime, aiming at revolution. The text has been banned in many countries, but remains in print and on bookshelves in several others, including the United States.
• #71: A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that causes damage to buildings, dams, bridges, computer systems or other structures of a society. A weapon of mass casualty is a weapon that causes massive sickness and/or death. Biological and chemical weapons are weapons of mass casualty. It is these types of weapons that are generally referred to as weapons of mass destruction. Weapons of mass disruption are weapons that cause social, political and/or economic damage to society. Magnetic pulse weapons (to disrupt computer operations), agro terrorism (disrupt food supply or manufacturing) or cyber terrorism (hacking into computers and destroying bank records or government records) are examples of weapons of mass disruption. The distinctions explain how terrorist goals can be achieved and that any act of violence is not terrorism. A terrorist act can involve a weapon that achieves all three goals, such as September 11th. The attack was one of mass destruction of infrastructure (the WTC and Pentagon), mass casualty (an estimated 3000 people killed) and mass disruption (airports shut down, new laws passed, heightened fear of future attack, loss of millions of dollars due to the loss of the WTC as an economic center).
• #72: We were surprised on Sept. 11. However, it is very important to recognize that terrorism is not new, and it’s primary goal is not to kill, but to communicate a message. Terrorism is a form of violence, and has been used throughout history. Terrorism most certainly has a psychological impact, and is a very powerful political act. It gets people heard. Arthur H. Garrison, How the World Changed: a History of the Development of Terrorism, presented at Delaware criminal Justice Council Annual Retreat, Oct 28-29, 2001 http://www.state.de.us/cjc/history.ppt
• #73: Networks will become looser, terrorists and extremists groups will be able to setup and close more quickly. Technology and the internet, in particular, deliver the capacity for terrorism groups to build a loose network, even from a virtual community, at a very high speed. An explanation for this could be the lack of leading ideologies in some terrorist forms. The changing dynamics in our societies, together with technological advances, may encourage isolated, disaffected individuals to turn into violent extremists, to the extreme of becoming ‘lone wolf’ terrorists.
• #75: The decrease of Al Qaeda’s central influence becomes more and more obvious. The shape of Al Qaeda is not the main issue, the problem is the seeds that were planted a long time ago have grown within European society. Al Qaeda’s current capacity could be measured by any attack carried out. Such a show of strength might ignite passions on both sides of the divide. The consequences of the Arab spring cannot yet be fully assessed although it presents a huge opportunity for terrorists.