M2 Discussion: When does “ideology” become “terrorism?”
This module examines the historical and ideological basis of terrorism. Select a specific terrorist action that has occurred in the world during the past 25 years. Clearly identify the event in the subject line for the discussion. Describe the event, the perpetrators, the victims and how historical and ideology resulted in this terrorist action. Some questions that you may want to consider in your analysis of historical and ideological origin include:
How did historical events influence this action?
What are the ideological foundations of this action?
What is the difference between terrorism and acts of war? Does the historical moment make any difference?
Are deliberate attacks against civilians legitimate acts of war? Why or why not?
Is there such a thing as justifiable terrorism?
How and when does activism become terrorism?
Then Respond to two students below:
Christopher Alverio
Many terroristic groups may note themselves as Freedom Fighters and will utilize violence and terror and to make a political statement. For example, The David hotel terror attack was conducted by a Jewish organization the Irgun in Jerusalem in the 1940s and was an attempt to rid the British occupancy out of Jerusalem. This was one of the largest terror acts of the 20th century. As represented in this week’s video, “In the Name of Liberation: Freedom by Any Means”, narrated the aftermath of the David Hotel with the following,
“But of the 91 dead only 28 were British, 17 Jews died alongside 41 Arabs, of all these 54 were innocent civilians unconnected to the British Authorities in any way”.
This attack amongst a series of other attempts to obtain a political reaction eventually led the British out of the country leaving both the Jewish and Arabic community to feud amongst themselves. Fast forward decades later, as seen in recent news the conflict amongst both communities continues. However as indicated above, though the terror attack may have given this terror group the Irgun the results they wanted, at what cost I ask? The taking of a human life, especially innocent civilians is a perspective I can never fathom.
As recent as this past Friday February 10th, 2023, there was a vehicle ramming attack that was conducted in a part of Jerusalem. It was noted that this terror attack was done by a Palestinian man who killed two people, one of the victims unfortunately was a 6-year-old child. To dissect this a little more I spoke to by wife about this heinous act, being that she is an Israeli citizen with both of her parents still living in Israel. She recalls multiple terrorist acts over the last few decades similar in nature.
Mostly due to the settlement of the Jewish community and the State of Israel occupying what was once a part of Palestine. This has caused the two communities to have political unrest and constant loss of life on both sides of the communities. This recent act of terror is still undergoing an investigation and there has yet to be any ties with the known terrorist group Hamas and likely a lone wolf type of attack.
Hamas is a Palestinian militia with a high population known to occupy the Gaza Strip part of the region. Hamas is an acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement”, indicated from Wikipedia. I have personally even witnessed real time activism here in New York City about the unsettlements in the middle east. As I agree it is most important to express our freedom of speech peacefully, however using violence certainly changes activism into terrorism.
Works Cited
Kingsley, Patrick. “At Least 2 Dead as Driver Rams Bus Stop in East Jerusalem.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/world/middleeast/jerusalem-car-attack.html.
The Age of Terror: A Survey of Modern Terrorism: In the Name of Liberation: Freedom by Any Means, 2002. https://digital-films-com.library.esc.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=31761
“Hamas.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Feb. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas.
Sophia Wilfong
The Boston Marathon Bombing was a terrorist attack that happened on April 15, 2013 at the Boston Marathon. Two pressure-cooker bombs filled with shrapnel and hidden inside of backpacks went off by the finish line, which killed three3 spectators and injuring over 260 people (History.com). The perpetrators were two brothers, Dzhokhar (19) and Tamerlan (26) Tsarnaev who grew up in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan (History.com). Older brother Tamerlan ended up dying after a shootout with police and his brother drove over him in the SUV they had stolen (history.com).
Before Tsarnaev was found and incarcerated, a note supposedly written by him was found inside of a boat that said the Boston bombings were “committed in retaliation for the U.S. wars in Muslim countries” (History.com). The brothers were both Muslim, and investigators think that they were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs (history.com). They were not part of a terrorist group, but instead used the internet to learn how to build explosives and carried the bombing out all by themselves (history.com).
While both war and terrorism have the purpose of killing people, acts of war kill innocent people in order to achieve something else (McMahan). I don’t think that there is any justification to terrorism. There are ways to get a point across that don’t involve harming people. Activism is a powerful thing, that often times is filled with passion and emotion. But it can become terrorism when one becomes too engrossed in their emotions and beliefs that they feel that violence is the only answer.
