TerrorismUnderstanding the Threat

Course Text:

Martin, Gus (2006). Understanding Terrorism.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Chapter #7 Terrorism from the Left and Right• The Terrorist Left

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia

                                      

Red Army Faction – Baader Meinhof

Irish National Liberation Army

Provisional Irish Republican Army

Vanguard Strategy– leftist activists often employ a vanguard

strategy. – they do not believe all the conditions

necessary for a successful revolution will occur spontaneously, so they must make the revolution happen.

– The goal of this vanguard is to make those exploited people "politically conscious" enough to accept revolution as a viable alterative for their situation.

Left-Wing Ideology and Activism

• Many leftists, especially Marxists, believe– Capitalism inherently causes social and

economic inequities that relegate certain people to subordinate political status.

Karl Marx• German philosopher, sociologist,

economist, and social revolutionary of the 19th century.

• Believed there was always a strain or struggle between the moneyed and the working classes. His concept of class struggle is that it is a factor of one's relationship to the means of production.

• His vision was a society ruled by the proletariat or working class. His teachings were the basis of later communist thinking.

Leftist Terrorism• 19th Century Europe

– Luddites– People’s Will

• Latin America– Columbia

• Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia• National Liberation Army (Che Guevara)

– Peru• Shining Path• Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement

– Argentina• Monteneros

Leftist Terrorism• Asia

– Cambodia• Communists• Khmer Rouge

– Philippines• Hukbalahaps• New People’s Army

• Europe– Italy

• Red Brigades– Germany

• Red Army Faction – Baader Meinhof– Ireland

• Provisional Irish Republican Army• Irish National Liberation Army

Case Study – Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla

• The accusation of "violence" or "terrorism" no longer has the negative meaning it used to have. It has aquired new clothing; a new color. It does not divide, it does not discredit; on the contrary, it represents a center of attraction.

• Today, to be "violent" or a "terrorist" is a quality that ennobles any honorable person, because it is an act worthy of a revolutionary engaged in armed struggle against the shameful military dictatorship and its atrocities.

Carlos Marighella - 1969

                                    

The Urban Guerilla• Fights the military dictatorship with

weapons, using unconventional methods. • The urban guerrilla follows a political goal,

and only attacks the government, the big businesses and the foreign imperialists.

• The urban guerrilla is an implacable enemy of the regime, and systematically inflicts damage on the authorities and on the people who dominate the country and exercise power.

The Urban Guerilla• The primary task of the urban guerrilla is to

distract, to wear down, to demoralize the military regime and its repressive forces, and to attack and destroy the wealth and property of the foreign managers and the upper class.

• The urban guerrilla is not afraid to dismantle and destroy the present economic, political and social system, for his aim is to aid the rural guerrillas and to help in the creation of a totally new and revolutionary social and political structure, with the armed population in power.

Seven Sins of the Urban Gorilla • Inexperience• Boasting• Vanity• Exaggerating one’s strength• Rash action• Attacking an angry enemy• Failing to plan

The Future of the Violent Left– 60s – 80s saw much urban gorilla

warfare

– Ultimately defeated, strategy discredited

– Unlikely to be replicated near term

– Would have to have new ideological revolutionary system like Marxism

The Terrorist Right

Afrikaner Resistance Movement

Blood drop - Klan

United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)

National Alliance - Italy

National Democratic Party - Germany

Right Wing Ideology and Activism

– Outgrowth of fascist, Nazi, Falangist & other movements between WWI and WWII

– Most viable where strong traditions of parties that embody grassroots values

• UK – British National Party• FR – National Front• Italy – National Alliance

Fascism and Falangism• Fascism is a nationalist system of government

in which property is privately owned, but all industry and labor are regulated by a strong national government and all opposition is suppressed. (World Book Dictionary, 1974, Volume 1, p. 760) The government of the Nazi party was fascist.

• The Falange was the Spanish fascist party of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco during that same period. A Falangist is one who asserts these fascist policies. (World Book Dictionary, 1974, Volume 1, p. 752)

Common Themes on the Right• Theory less important• More nonpolitical criminality• Single Issue focus• Less change – more status quo focus

• Xenophobia - fear of strangers or the unknown - comes from the Greek ξενοφοβια, xenophobia, literally meaning "fear of the strange".

Right Versus Left*There was no inspiring singular event for the

right-wing as there was for the left-wing.*The right-wing had no core document of

ideology as did the left-wing.*There was no strong international leadership

that emerged for the right-wing as it did for the left-wing.

*There was no long-term intellectual evolution of theory for the right-wing as there was for the left-wing.

Common Themes on the Right

• Tradition and Order– Nostalgic, mythology, scapegoating

• Right-Wing Nationalism– Loyalty/unity, ant-government

• Religion and Mysticism– Astrology, ancient ceremonies

Rightist Terrorism• Latin America

– Columbia• Death Squads – United Self-Defense Forces

– Argentina• Argentine Anticommunist Alliance

– El Salvador• ORDEN

– Honduras• Morazan Honduran Liberation Front

Rightist Terrorism• Europe

– Germany (Hitler)• National Democratic Party

– Italy• New Order• Armed Revolutionary Nuclei

– Turkey• National Movement Party• Grey Wolves

– Ireland• Ulster Volunteer Force• Loyalist Volunteer Force

The Future of the Violent Right

• Xenophobia – paramilitary – supremacist• Scapegoating• Rejecting unpopular agendas• United States

– Sporadic Violence from• Militia• Racial Supremacists (especially Skinheads)

– Online Hate

• Single-Issue Terrorists

END

TerrorismUnderstanding the Threat

Class #16

Final Examination