In the Middle East, in the period between 1968 and 1990, terrorism was used by secular transnational organizations from various regions such as the Palestinian Liberation Front, Black June of Palestine, the Red Brigades in Italy, the Basque Fatherland in Spain, First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Group in Spain, Peoples Struggles and People's Resistance Groups in Iran, the Irish Republican Army in Belfast, the Tupamaros of Paraguay and Argentina, and the Shining Path movement in Peru. These secular and socialist movements, with a few exceptions, almost disappeared in the 1990s.
-Understanding Terrorism: Threats in an Uncertain World, 2004, page 69
Why?This is a question that I rarely see asked and answered during the thousands of hours/pages of talking-head/written journalism expended over the last four years. When I grew up in the 1980's, "terrorist" meant one of two things: either you were a European radical trying to scare the authorities into giving up imprisoned fellow travelers or you were trying to scare people out of Israel. The former have nearly gone silent. Why? The quoted passage is from an essay titled "Terrorism, 'True Believers,' and the Attack on Globalization" and was written by Sheldon Smith. He hits on something and attempts to explain it on the next page, but doesn't really satisfy.
You'd think that the near-total inactivity (or growing ineptitude or inability to find support) of a spectrum of violent organizations over a relatively clearly-defined timeline would generate more interest. After 9/11, we plagued ourselves with counter-terrorism questions.
The only reason I can think of that intellectuals and academics didn't tear open this subject is because they think what the world faced then is not the same as what the world faces now. If the two operate on vastly different premises, the solution for one isn't likely to be the solution for the other. For example:
If anyone has any resources on this idea, please send them this way.
ATTENTION: Comments are closed. You are viewing my old blog, archived for search engine purposes.
To view the new blog, please go to the homepage. To find the current version of this entry, search here.