Terreō by Oscar Saunders

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TERREŌ

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

– Proverbs 6:16-19 –

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FRIGHTEN

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†† ††† ††† † † †† ††† ††† † † †† ††† ††† † † † † Oscar J. Saunders † † †† †† † †† ††† ††† † † †† ††† ††† † † †† ††† ††† † † †† ††† ††† † † †††††††† †††††††† †††††††† †††††††† †††††††† † † † † † † †††††††† †††††††† Atheist

Changing the way we see Terrorism.

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ORIGIN OF THE TERM

MARTYRDOM & SUICIDE TACTICAL TERROR KIEV’S BURNING

A COMMON MISCONCEPTION ROLE REVERSAL

REMOVING MIRANDA

FORGIVE ME FATHER

RETURNING RADICALISED EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

THE OKLAHOMA RED HERRING FAIRYTALE TERRORS

WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION

MISUNDERSTANDING TERRORISM

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erroris

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A word used to scare the public and point blame, a word used to hate and segregate communities, a word used to grab attention and gain support, a word thrown around - by all.

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ORIGIN OF TERRORISM

n a time when the word is used haphazardly, where did it actually originate? “Terrorism” comes from the French word terrorisme, and originally referred specifically to state terrorism as practiced by the French government during the 1793-1794 Reign of Terror. The French word terrorisme in turn derives from the Latin verb terreō meaning “I frighten”. The terror cimbricus was a panic and state of emergency in Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105 BC. The Jacobins cited this precedent when imposing a Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. After the Jacobins lost power, the word “terrorist” became a term of abuse. Although “terrorism” originally referred to acts committed by a government, currently it usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes in such a way as to create a media spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a “terrorist”. Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group “People’s Retribution” (Народная расправа) in 1869. In November 2004, a United Nations Secretary General report described terrorism as any act “intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act”.

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ANGO

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Tango is the code word used in telecommunications to represent words that begin with the letter ‘T’. It is widely used by SWAT teams and various military operations when locating or targeting potential terrorists.

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MARTYRDOM & SUICIDE

mportant symbolic acts such as the blood sacrifice link acts of violence to religion and terrorism. Suicide terrorism, self-sacrifice, or martyrdom has throughout history been organized and perpetrated by groups with both political and religious motivations. The Christian tradition has a long history of heterodoxical and heretical groups which stressed self-immolative acts and scholarship has linked this some degree to modern political groups such as the Irish Republican army. Suicide terrorism or martyrdom is efficient, inexpensive, easily organized, and extremely difficult to counter, delivering maximum damage for little cost. The shocking nature of a suicide attack also attracts public attention. Glorifying the culture of martyrdom benefits the terrorist organization and inspires more people to join the group. According to one commentator, retaliation against suicide attacks increases the group’s sense of victimization and commitment to adhere to doctrine and policy. This process serves to encourage martyrdom, and so suicide terrorism, self-sacrifice, or martyrdom represent “value for money”. Robert Pape, a political scientist who specializes in suicide terrorism, has made a case for secular motivations and reasons as being the foundations of most suicide attacks, which are often labelled as “religious”.

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FIGH ER

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FREE

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Freedom Fighter is a term used to describe someone who is engaged in armed rebellion or resistance against an oppressive government. A militant revolutionary fighting in a region for change of power.

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TACTICAL TERROR

errorism is a form of asymmetric warfare, and is more common when direct conventional warfare will not be effective because forces vary greatly in power. The context in which terrorist tactics are used is often a large-scale, unresolved political conflict. “..religion is not innocent. But it does not ordinarily lead to violence. That happens only with the coalescence of a peculiar set of circumstances - political, social, and ideological - when religion becomes fused with violent expressions of social aspirations, personal pride, and movements for political change.” “Whether or not one uses ‘terrorist’ to describe violent acts depends on whether one thinks that the acts are warranted. To a large extent the use of the term depends on one’s world view: if the world is perceived as peaceful, violent acts appear to be terrorism. If the world is thought to be at war, violent acts may be regarded as legitimate. They may be seen as pre-emptive strikes, as defensive tactics in an ongoing battles, or as symbols indicating to the world that it is indeed in a state of grave and ultimate conflict”. - Professor Mark Juergensmeyer

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RC HIS

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Anarchist has been a term used by many to depict a person who believes in or brings about anarchy. Someone who feels anarchy and chaos is the way forward.

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KIEV’S BURNING

he area around central Kiev descended into a warzone on Wednesday 22nd January 2014, with protesters and police clashing against a backdrop of flames, burning tyres and snow. Heavily armoured officers met protesters throwing Molotov cocktails, and brandishing chains and guns. The protest started after the government announced it would not sign a deal aimed at strengthening ties with the EU. Two days into the battle 5 protesters have been confirmed dead, some with bullet wounds although government forces claim their weapons do not hold live ammunition. The emergency services are treating hundreds of wounded from both sides with more fatalities expected. Despite appeals for calm, police in riot gear confronted the anti-government protesters with force after Prime Minister Mykola Azarov continued to take a tough line, defending his actions and then branding the protesters as “terrorists”. Although President Viktor Yanukovich has held talks with opposition leaders, the violence, sparked when Ukraine ditched a trade deal with the European Union and turn to Russia for financial aid late last year, looks set to continue.

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IONARY

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REVOLU

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A Revolutionary is someone who advocates or engages in political revolution, to bring about a change in politics or government, usually for the better of the citizens of that region.

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A COMMON MISCONCEPTION

rom Fox News to the Weekly Standard, non-conservative have tried to paint terrorism as a largely or exclusively Islamic phenomenon. Their message of Islamophobia has been repeated many times since the George W. Bush era: Islam is inherently violent, Christianity is inherently peaceful, and there is no such thing as a Christian terrorist or a white male terrorist. But the facts don’t bear that out. Far-right white male radicals and extreme Christianists are every bit as capable of acts of terrorism as radical Islamists, and to pretend that such terrorists don’t exist does the public a huge disservice. Dzhokhar Anzorovich Tsarnaev and the late Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev (the Chechen brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing of April 15, 2013) are both considered white and appear to have been motivated in part by radical Islam. And many terrorist attacks in the United States have been carried out by people who were neither Muslims nor dark-skinned. When white males of the far right carry out violent attacks, neocons and Republicans typically describe them as lone-wolf extremists rather than people who are part of terrorist networks or well-organized terrorist movements. Yet many of the terrorist attacks in the United States have been carried out by people who had long histories of networking with other terrorists.

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NSURGEN

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An Insurgent is a person, sometimes civilian, fighting against an established authority/government or invading force; a rebel or revolutionary.

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ROLE REVERSAL

he virulent, neocon-fueled Islamophobia that has plagued post-9/11 America has not only posed a threat to Muslims, it has had deadly consequences for people of other faiths, including Sikhs. Sikhs are not Muslims; the traditional Sikh attire, including their turbans, is different from traditional Sunni, Shiite or Sufi attire. But to a racist, a bearded Sikh looks like a Muslim. Only four days after 9/11, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh immigrant from India who owned a gas station in Mesa, Arizona, was murdered by Frank Silva Roque, a racist who obviously mistook him for a Muslim. But Sodhi’s murder was not the last example of anti-Sikh violence in post-9/11 America. On Aug. 5, 2012, white supremacist Wade Michael Page used a semi-automatic weapon to murder six people during an attack on a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Page’s connection to the white supremacist movement was well-documented: he had been a member of the neo-Nazi rock bands End Empathy and Definite Hate. Attorney General Eric Holder described the attack as “an act of terrorism, an act of hatred.” It was good to see the nation’s top cop acknowledge that terrorist acts can, in fact, involve white males murdering people of colour.

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A proponent or practitioner of activism is seen as an activist, someone who is constantly active in bringing about change, a cause he or she feels passionately towards.

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REMOVING MIRANDA

ew rules allow investigators to hold domestic-terror suspects longer than others without giving them a Miranda warning, significantly expanding exceptions to the instructions that have governed the handling of criminal suspects for over four decades. The move is one of the Obama administration’s most significant revisions to rules governing the investigation of terror suspects in the U.S. And it potentially opens a new political tussle over national security policy, as the administration marks another step back from pre-election criticism of unorthodox counter-terror methods. The Supreme Court’s 1966 Miranda ruling obligates lawenforcement officials to advise suspects of their rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present for questioning. A 1984 decision amended that by allowing the questioning of suspects for a limited time before issuing the warning in cases where public safety was at issue. That exception was seen as a limited device to be used only in cases of an imminent safety threat, but the new rules give interrogators more latitude and flexibility to define what counts as an appropriate circumstance to waive Miranda rights.

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SOLDIER

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A term rarely used to describe a military person seeking money or adventure through war. One who will serve in any army or undertake risky tasks for wealth, personal gain or a love of the thrill.

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FORGIVE ME FATHER

errorism comes in all shapes and forms, unfortunately the mainstream media tend to portray only one side. Not as

well known as al-Qaeda, but still a terrorist organisation, is the Army of God. An organization that has praised Eric Rudolph, who is serving life without parole for a long list of terrorist attacks committed in the name of Christianity. Rudolph is best known for carrying out the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics — a blast that killed spectator Alice Hawthorne and wounded 111 others. Hawthorne wasn’t the only person Rudolph murdered: his bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama in 1998 caused the death of Robert Sanderson (a Birmingham police officer and part-time security guard) and caused nurse Emily Lyons to lose an eye. Rudolph’s other acts of Christian terrorism include bombing the Otherwise Lounge (a lesbian bar in Atlanta) in 1997 and an abortion clinic in an Atlanta suburb in 1997. Rudolph was no lone wolf: he was part of a terrorist movement that encouraged his violence. The Army of God continues to exalt Rudolph as a brave Christian who is doing God’s work.

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RESIS ANCE

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A Resistance is usually an underground organisation engaged in a struggle for national liberty in a country under military or totalitarian occupation.

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RETURNING RADICALISED

uring the recent surge of British and European citizens heading out to fight a Jihadist war in Syria against the re-

gimes forces, the Metropolitan Police force have decided to intervene when such members of the community return to the UK. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said some of those going to Syria to train in terror camps or fight were as young as 17, and that the majority were young men - although they were aware of some young women also travelling there. Scotland Yard’s biggest concern is that some of these citizens may return to the UK as terrorists, or at least capable of starting small terror cells within the EU. Sir Peter, who leads the Association of Chief Police Officer’s “Prevent” strategy on counter-terrorism, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that those returning from Syria “may well be charged and investigated, but they will be put into our programmes”. These programmes would see police work with local agencies such as schools and youth organisations, “essentially to make sure these people haven’t been affected and try and make sure they’re not a threat to this country”. But there was also “a real worry about those who may be radicalised, who may have been engaged in terrorist training”.

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A Nihilist ultimately believes that the destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for the future improvement of a country. Some protesters are seen as nihilists due to their violent tendencies.

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EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

he BBC’s Editorial Guidelines have clear regulations surrounding the use of the word “terrorist” when it comes to

making a report. This is what is written on their website: We must report acts of terror quickly, accurately, fully and responsibly. Terrorism is a difficult and emotive subject with significant political overtones and care is required in the use of language that carries value judgements. We try to avoid the use of the term “terrorist” without attribution. When we do use the term we should strive to do so with consistency in the stories we report across all our services and in a way that does not undermine our reputation for objectivity and accuracy. The word “terrorist” itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should convey to our audience the full consequences of the act by describing what happened. We should use words which specifically describe the perpetrator such as “bomber”, “attacker”, “gunman”, “kidnapper”, “insurgent”, and “militant”. We should not adopt other people’s language as our own; our responsibility is to remain objective and report in ways that enable our audiences to make their own assessments about who is doing what to whom.

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Saboteurs are individuals or organisations that aim to sabotage certain opposing targets for political or social change. Whether it be through bombing innocents or online hacking, saboteurs wish to cripple infrastructures.

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THE OKLAHOMA RED HERRING

eocons and Republicans grow angry and uncomfortable whenever Timothy McVeigh is cited as an example of a non-

Islamic terrorist. Pointing out that a non-Muslim white male carried out an attack as vicious and deadly as the Oklahoma City bombing doesn’t fit into their narrative that only Muslims and people of colour are capable of carrying out terrorist attacks. Neocons will claim that bringing up McVeigh’s name during a discussion of terrorism is a “red herring” that distracts us from fighting radical Islamists, but that downplays the cruel, destructive nature of the attack. Prior to the al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing McVeigh orchestrated was the most deadly terrorist attack in U.S. history: on April 19 1995, 168 people were killed and more than 600 were injured. When McVeigh drove a truck filled with explosives into the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, his goal was to kill as many people as possible. Clearly, McVeigh was not motivated by radical Islam; rather, he was motivated by an extreme hatred for the U.S. government and saw the attack as revenge for the Ruby Ridge incident of 1992 and the Waco Siege in 1993.

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A Militant is anyone fighting in a war or protest, whether it is civil or overseas. The characteristics of a militant are usually aggressive and combative in support of a cause.

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FAIRYTALE TERRORS

here are different churches with beliefs and practices that vary, but core doctrines are consistent. All of the major authoritarian religions posess an enormous psychological control because they are based on fear, which is the most primitive and powerful human emotion. Secondly, they emphasize shame; humans are bad and need redemption. So the basic meme complex passed on to each generation of children is that you need religion in order to survive and in order to be acceptable. Eternal punishment. The first key doctrine is eternal damnation for all unbelievers. This is the terrifying backdrop for the salvation message presented to all newcomers and all children born into the faith. The Bible is quoted, including the words of Jesus, to paint a horrifying picture of hell as a lake of fire, a fire of eternal torture impossible to quench despite any pleading. Mormons describe a hell of “outer darkness” that is cold and just as terrifying. Jehovah’s Witnesses threaten the horror of dying forever at Armageddon and missing out on Paradise. Small children can obviously visualize these things while not having the brain capacity to evaluate the message. Moreover, the powerful social context makes rejecting these teachings impossible. Children are completely at the mercy of religious adults.

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EXTREM IS

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An Extremist is anyone who holds extreme political or religious views, especially advocating in illegal, violent or other extreme action.

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WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION

hen trying to understand current events in their fuller context, it’s often more useful to look at the policies and interests that are influencing these events rather than individual cases (although the individual cases often make up what we call “the news”). That is because there is often a gaping chasm between the formally stated goals of a policy and its actual effects. Think of the “wars” on various nouns such as “terror” or “drugs”. Though framed in simplistic P.R. terms, these “wars” justify a variety of other actions and serve many additional interests. Massive surveillance of citizens has emerged from the “war on terror,” and a prison-industrial complex and money-laundering banks have profited from the “war on drugs.” Despite this reality, discussions about and opposition to these “wars” are often argued from the rather fictional standpoint that these stated goals are the actual goals. In the mainstream news media and conventional political circles, that’s often the case even if it is patently obvious that the policy in question does not further the supposed goal and that everybody smart enough to have some influence is aware of this, and should be.

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A Tyrant is a cruel or oppressive ruler, a person exercising power or control in an unreasonable, or arbitrary way to command a region and its population.

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MISUNDERSTANDING TERRORISM

errorism’s most enduring feature remains its capacity to provoke anger, frustration, and fear. Terrorist incidents are sudden, violent, and highly publicized. The U.S. air raid on Libya in April 1986 struck a responsive chord with the American public that came after months of warnings by the Reagan administration that the United States would hit back hard against terrorists and the states supporting them. Combating terrorism has become a top-priority issue with both government officials and the average citizen. But lost in the search for a policy on terrorism are fundamental questions: Are vital U.S. interest really threatened by international terrorism? And if not, should Washington be devoting as much attention to the problem as it has been in recent years? The debate over military responses to terrorism is fuelled by the American public’s and government’s growing frustration and anger toward the new enemy. It also reflects the pragmatic strain in American culture that seeks straightforward solutions to the most complex problems. That there may be no solution to this one, or that solutions may lie in long-term developments beyond Washington’s control, has not been addressed. Yet the continuing expectation that terrorism can be beaten raises the stakes in the conflict and places American foreign policy at further risk.

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A Terrorist, a Tango, a Freedom Fighter, an Anarchist, a Revolutionary, an Insurgent, an Activist, a Soldier of Fortune, a Resistance, a Nihilist, a Saboteur, a Militant, an Extremist or even a Tyrant. Either way you look, they’re all Terrorish.

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- Nelson Mandela

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Terrorism knows no face, seeks no single goal, and encompasses many creeds and colours. It can infiltrate any religion, can consume any mind and embodies various motives. We must not stigmatise just one faith for acts of terror, otherwise we are sure to find ourselves segregating humanity due to the horrific acts of few.

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have tried to paint terrorism as a largely or exclusively Islamic phenomenon. Their message of

Islamophobia has been repeated many times since the George W. Bush era: Islam is inherently

violent, Christianity is inherently peaceful, and there is no such

thing as a Christian terrorist or a white male terrorist. But the facts don’t bear that out.

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