Journey of Terrorism from Birth to Maturity

(MENAFN- Daily Outlook Afghanistan) Basically,the concept of ‘Terrorism' is as old as the civilization of mankind itself andhas existed in all ages in some form or other which might be known anarchists,revolutionaries, fundamentalist or dissents against the established authorityor even ruling tyrants having no tolerance or dissent. However, terrorism wasnot as widespread phenomenon as it is today in contemporary political system ofthe world. Terrorism has, in fact, become a global phenomenon with increasingand rather well identifiable links between different terrorist group andorganisation. They use each other's areas for recruitment and training,exchange of illegal weapons, engage in joint planning and ventures and alsoprovide administrative and other logistic support. This type of terroristactivities show a new dimension due to circumstances characterised by theadvancement of science, technology and diverse social, economic, political andhistorical reasons conditioning it. It will remain a menace as long as thereare people who are driven by fanaticism, paranoia and extremism. So long asthere exists in the world poverty, strife, injustice and oppression, conditionswill exist which terrorists can turn to their advantage.
Origin of the termand initial phase
The term terrorismcomes from the French word terrorisme, which is based on the Latin verb terrere(to cause to tremble). It dates back to 1795 when it was used to describe theactions of the Jacobin Club in their rule of post-Revolutionary France, theso-called ‘Reign of Terror'. Jacobins are rumored to have coined the term‘terrorists' to refer to themselves. Terrorism refers to a strategy of usingviolence, social threats, coordinated attacks, in order to generate fear, causedisruption, and ultimately, brings about compliance with specified political,religious, or ideological demands. Traditionally, terrorism is a highly organisedenterprise that fits into a clear political strategy. It has been filling thenews for most of our lives and will doubtless go on demanding the attention ofour children and grand-children as well. What is new is how it achieves itsgoals these days.
Until today the worldunder UN has failed to come to an agreement about what is an acceptabledefinition for terrorism. It is still under debate despite attempts made bymany experts. The effort to approach terrorism from a definitional perspectivehas thus become a never – ending effort.‘Terrorism is a term used to describe the method or the theory behind themethod whereby an organised group or party seeks to achieve its avowed aimschiefly through the systematic use of violence. Terroristic acts are directedagainst persons who as individuals, agents or representatives of authorityinterfere with the consummation of the objectives of such a group. In the senseit differs in several important aspects from such phenomena as mob violence,mass insurrection and governmental terror. Terror practised by a government inoffice appears as law enforcement and is directed against the opposition, whileterrorism in its proper sense implies upon defiance of law and is the meanswhereby an opposition aims to demoralise a governmental authority, to undermineits power and to initiate a revolution or counter-revolution.
Started as arevolutionary technique
Terrorism as arevolutionary technique was for many years an accepted tenet of anarchism. Thewritings of Bakunin with their emphasis upon violence as a method of achievingsocial change were the inspiration, if not the actual source of this doctrine.The idea of the propaganda of the deed was developed in the years followingBakunin's death by Kropotkin, Brousse and others, who stressed the failure ofgenerally accepted methods and the educative and publicity value of acts ofterrorism. This theory was translated into action principally in the last twodecades of the nineteenth century. It was almost always part of the strategy ofan armed national liberation movement, and in the colonial context it usuallyworked in the end. The reason terrorism worked so well in anti-colonialstruggles was that you did not have to defeat the imperial powers superiormilitary forces in order to win. They were a long way from home and there was alimit to how many lives and how much money the imperial government would spendto hang into its possessions. But the early, easy successes of terror tacticsin the anti-imperial context left everybody with a greatly inflated notion ofwhat the technique could achieve against an established national governmentwith local roots.
With its initialsuccess in several spheres, the concept of terrorism also gained other valuablecharacters such as mass realisation and publicity. Even today terrorism as amethod is always characterised by the fact that it seeks to arouse not only theringing government or the nation in control but also the mass of the people toa realisation that constituted authority is no longer safely intrenched andunchallenged. The publicity of the terroristic act is a cardinal point in thestrategy of terrorism. If terror fails to elicit a wide response in circlesoutside of those at whom it is directly aimed, it is futile as a weapon in asocial conflict. In this phase and type of terrorism violence and death are notintended to produce revenue or to terrorise the persons attacked but to causesociety or government to take notice of the imminence of large scale struggles.The terroristic act committed in secrecy by one person or several is conceivedas the advance notice of what may be expected from mass action.
First detail planningin Soviet Union
The fullestexpression of the theory and practice of this terrorism is to be found in thefunctioning of the famous Russian revolutionary organisation Narodnaya Volya,formed in 1879. In the same year it made an unsuccessful attempt to shoot theCzar and in the following year a revolutionary workman, Khalturin, succeeded indynamiting the Czar's dinning room at the Winter Palace, where the royal familywas to entertain a large official assemblage. But in 1881 Alexander II waskilled by a bomb. Such an effective start encouraged the Narodnaya Volya andits activity spread despite the efforts of the government to exterminate theorganisation at all costs. The newly formed Party explained its method ofaction in paragraph 2, section D, of its programme, which defined destructiveand terroristic activity as follows: ‘Terroristic activity, consisting indestroying the most harmful person in government, in defending the partyagainst espionage, in punishing the perpetrators of the notable cases ofviolence and arbitrariness on the part of the government and theadministration, aims to undermine the prestige of the government's power, todemonstrate steadily the possibility of struggle against the government, toarouse in this manner the revolutionary spirit of the people and theirconfidence in the success of the cause, and finally, to give shape anddirection to the forces fit and trained to carry on the fight.'
Apart from this terroristiccommitment, the organisation was crystal clear in matters of motivation andend. The motivation of the party was frequently stated in paragraph 1, sectionV, of the same programme which reads, ‘By this overturn, in the first place,the development of the people will be to proceed independently and in line withits disposition, and, in the second place, many purely socialist principlescommon to us and the people will gain recognition and be supported in ourRussian life. It also stressed that the use of terror was not an end in itselfbut only a means to effect the transference of power from the government to thepeople; that the party proposed to seize and retain power only until a form ofpopular government could be determined upon by a Constituent Assembly; and thatit would not decree revolutionary reforms and impose its desires upon thepeople but on the contrary would aid the latter to express its own will, to whichthe party would submit. In later years, although it was revived in 1901 whenthe Socialist Revolutionary Party came into existence and in 1917, upon thecessation of the temporary political alliance of the Socialist Revolutionaryparty with the Bolsheviks, it however, never attained real success as a methodof revolution.

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