Second Terrorism Essay

Cassandra Monteiro

Terrorism Paper 2

What is Terrorism?

            In my first terrorism essay I argued that terrorism is when a weak person or group of people who are involved in a struggle of power premeditate an attack against a more powerful nation-state with the aim of inflicting terror and fear among the group and people involved or within. I now do not believe in calling these groups weak as they clearly have enough power to inflict great fear among large amounts of people. I now consider terrorism as an attack on a powerful nation-state coming from an oppressed group of people with the aims of inflicting fear to cause change according to their political beliefs and ideals. As we have gone on to cover a large number of cases of terrorism in class I believe that this definition will fit the majority of cases. To prove this, I am going to consider the cases of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

            After watching the video in class about the IRA I had a better understanding of who they were, what they did, and what their motives were. The IRA was made up of people who wanted an independent Ireland, eliminating the British control. This is where the point of a political goal comes in, though they were non-state actors they were fighting for political goals and beliefs. The way they fought was through violence as they believed this is the only thing that would get their point across. Though the original IRA had a civil rights approach to change rather than violence eventually the PIRA broke off and it turned into a bloody and violent battle for independence. The British government was not listening to what the people in Ireland wanted so they were the target of these violent attacks. This proves the point of a more powerful group being attacked by an oppressed group of people. The PIRA acquired weapons and attacked the British Army when they moved into Ireland. They believed that it was essential to commit these violent attacks such as bombings, in order to acquire their freedom and they claimed they intended to cause dysfunction not carnage. Overall the case of the IRA fits my definition of terrorism as they were an oppressed group attacking a more powerful group (the British) with the use of violence in order to achieve political goals (independent Ireland).

            The case of PLO is very similar though they had different motives. The PLO also had political goals that include establishing a Palestinian state though they were willing to work towards a two state solution. They believed that the Zionists expelled the Palestinian people from their land in order to establish a Jewish state. The goals were to have the Palestinian refugees return to their homeland, and to achieve freedom. The PLO also used violence in order to achieve the political goals they wanted. They used guerilla tactics to attack Israel bases and also committed attacks against civilians including a school bus shooting, school attack, and an attack on Israel’s Olympic athletes. In this case the PLO was a group of oppressed Palestinian people who wanted to achieve freedom and ownership of their land. They attacked a more powerful group who had control over their land at the time and they were using violence including guerilla warfare to achieve their political goals. This example clearly fits the definition of terrorism which I provided above.

            Though there is no easy way to define terrorism, there are a few basic factors that should go into identifying a terrorist attack. I believe that the attackers must be an oppressed group who are motivated by political goals based on what they believe. We have gone over many terrorist groups in class and this was a pattern I saw throughout the course. The groups committing the violence were almost always groups that were being oppressed by more powerful groups. Of course another factor is the use of violence. This one is a no brainer, terrorist attacks always include violence even still to this day. Rather than going through peaceful means to achieve their goals they turn to shootings and bombings as they often believe this is the only way to get their point across. This was seen with both the IRA and the PLO as well as many other cases we have discussed. Fear is also a huge factor, these groups have to be taken seriously and truly have to cause fear within society. In the cases we discussed fear always occurred and caused chaos within the places being attacked. This course truly gave me a better understanding about terrorism and what it is. While discussing the cases my definition has changed and I have now formed my own definition of terrorism as being an attack on a powerful nation-state coming from an oppressed group of people with the aims of inflicting fear to cause change according to their political beliefs and ideals.