Almost every country in the world was affected by terrorism, whether directly or indirectly. A bomb goes off in an otherwise peaceful country, and the reason given by those who take responsibility, ”the embassy of our enemy is in your country” Should countries not have embassies of countries that are targeted by terrorists in order for them to be safe? Or should we forge a way forward and hope that eventually the war against terrorists will be won?
Terrorism can be defined as the systematic use of terror as a means of coercion. There are different types of terrorism such as:
• State Terrorism in which a state can use force or a threat of force in a bid to terrorize its citizens and achieve a political goal, without declaring war. A clear example of this type of terrorism is the Nazi Rule in Germany. Iran is considered a terrorist state by the US because it provides arms to groups such as the Hizballah, which helps in carrying out its foreign policy objectives. In the same breath, the US was also called a terrorist state, an example of what transpired in the 1980s when it covertly sponsored Nicaraguan Contras.
• Bio-Terrorism which refers to the intentional release of toxic biological agents that are meant to terrorize or harm citizens for a cause or for political gain.
• Cyber-Terrorism in which information technology is used in attacking, the attacks majorly disrupt networked services.
• Eco-Terrorism which encompasses environmental extremists. These are known to set fire or sabotage property such as fur companies, animal research laboratories, and logging companies in order to inflict economic damage and put their point across of safe-guarding the environment.
• Nuclear Terrorism which encompasses the purchase of nuclear weapons, the attack on nuclear facilities, or the building of nuclear weapons. This type encompasses all means of dispersing radioactive materials.
• Narco-Terrorism that encompasses violence used by drug traffickers to prevent a government’s efforts to stop their trade, or as of recent years, it has been used as a means for terrorist groups to use drug trafficking to fund their other operations.
The most commonly cited reasons for terrorism acts are social and political injustice as well as the belief that violence or the threats of it will be effective and ultimately bring about the needed change. The first recorded history of terrorism stretches back to the 1st century; however, terrorism is as old as human’s willingness to use violence to affect politics. The first recorded group of terrorists were the Sicarii Zealots who were a Jewish extremist group who directed their terror at Jewish collaborators such as Herodians, temple priests and Sadducces.
Next came the Hashhashin, where the English word of “assassins” was derived. The Hashhashin group was a secret Islamic sect that were active in Syria and Iran between the 11th and the 13th century. The Sicarii and the Hashhashin are however not thought of as terrorists in the modern sense of the word, since terrorists need mass media in order to create an aura of terror among people in order to make their terrorism activities a success. The first recorded modern day terrorism was the Reign of Terror which followed the French revolution that was instigated by Maxmilien Robespierre in 1793. From then, the ball has kept on rolling with terrorist groups such as the Irish Republican Army, the Kurdistan Workers Party, the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eel am and the list goes on. In recent years, the Al Qaeda that saw the dreaded September 11th attacks.
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