Terrorism’ or ‘Guerrilla Movements?
Definitive meanings of the nouns ‘terrorists’ and ‘Guerrillas’ seems prima facie to be comprehensible. But as differing political ideologies, the acute division of the affluent and the necessitous, or other similar circumstances become apparent, the definitions can interchange.
“You see it’s like a portmanteau – there are two meanings packed up into one word”.
Lewis Carroll, ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ 1872.
Photograph, GNU Free Documentation License.
A case in point was Yasir Arafat. Born Muhammad ‘Abd ar-Ra’uf al-Qudwah al-Husayni, 4 August,1929, died 11 November, 2004. Yasir Arafat who was chairman of al-Munaẕẕamāt Taḥrīr Filasṭ īniyyah q.e., the Palestinian Authority (PLO), from 1969 to 2004, and was co-founder (with Khalil al-Wazir) of the ‘Harakat al-Tahrīr al-Watana al-Filastīnī’ ‘Movement of Liberation of the Nation of the Palestinians’, also known as ‘al-Fatah’ q.e.,’conquest’ or ‘opening’; in 1957. This organization was responsible for killing eleven Israeli competitors at the 1972 Olympic Games in München, Germany.
Other terrorist activities soon followed, especially against Israel. Arafat was perceived by his opponents as a “terrorist” while his followers would have considered him a heroic “guerrilla” fighter, and symbol of the national aspirations of the Palestinians. In the course of time, Arafat metamorphosed firstly, into a first-time non-governmental diplomat to ever address a plenary session of the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly (November 1974). And then into a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, with Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin (1994), as co-signatory of the ‘Oslo Accords’; in September 1993. The case of Yasir Arafat suggests that Terrorists or Guerrillas today can become heads of state tomorrow. Yitzhak Shamir (Lohame Herut Yisrael), and Yitzhak Rabin (Irgun Tsvai Leumi). Contrariwise, heads of state can become terrorists tomorrow. For example, Idi Amin Dada Oumee, president of Uganda (1971-79), reported to have tortured, and murdered, between 100,000 and 300,000 Ugandans. And he had hijacked a French aeroplane bound for Entebbe; in July 1976. Pol Pot (or Saloth Sar), prime minister of the new Khmer Rouge (1976-79), who killed and displaced millions of his people.
Delineating the nouns ‘Terrorism’ and ‘Guerrilla’.
Terrorism From the French ‘terrorisme’, that came out of the French Revolution (1787-1799), and into English usage in 1795 for convenience purposes, will be defined as: ‘any violent actions against ‘civilian targets for the purpose to intimidate’. A few examples were: The Puerto Rican Fuerzas Armadas de Liberaciān Nacional ‘Armed Forces of National Liberation’, formed in 1974 to gain independence from the U.S. This organization was responsible for an attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman ( 33rd president ( 1945-53 )), on the 1 November, 1950, and on the 1 March, 1954, fired projectiles, into the U.S., House of Representatives; wounding five congressmen. It was also responsible for bombing the Rockefeller Centre Manhattan (1974), and Wall Street, Manhattan (1975); which killed four people and injured fifty others.
The noun Guerrilla or Guerrilla is from the Spanish ‘guerra’ war, and was adopted into the French and English lexicons between 1808 and 1814. in this article, will likewise, be defined as: an activity specifically directed against military targets. For example, during World War II (1939-45), the French, Belgium (et al.) ‘resistance movements’ which conducted covert operations against the German occupation, were ‘guerrilla movements’. Other examples were: China’s Mao Tse-tung (1949), and Cuba’s Fidel Castro Ruz (1959).
Inexactness of the nouns: ‘Terrorist’ and ‘Guerrilla.
The distinguishing features of these definitions (vs.) does tend to become ambiguous in diverse situations. For example, attacks upon U.S., armed services in Saudi Arabia (al-Mamlaka al-‘Arabiyya as-Su‘ūdiyya) in 1996. And at Port Aden 2000, and two U.S., embassies in East Africa, i.e., the Republic of Kenya (Jamhuri Ya Kenya) and the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri Ya Muungano Wa Tanzania). Both these attacks were in 1998, and the attack on Al-Khobar oasis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1996 that killed nineteen U.S., servicemen, had been described, by the U.S’s. State Department, as a ‘terrorist attack’, attributed to the Hizbu-‘llāh. The Hizbu-‘llāhq.e.’The Party of God’ arose in Lebanon in 1982 (q.l.) It was set up by the Shi̓ite for the purpose of removing foreign invaders from Lebanon. Defining these as ‘terrorist attacks’ doesn’t match the definition of ‘Terrorism’. Military installations and embassies seem more likely targets for ‘guerrillas’ than ‘terrorists’, but if civilians are inadvertently entangled in the attack, the line between the definitions become inexact.