The four waves of modern terrorism

Modern terrorism, as deduced from this literature, is acts to violence strategically used by secular groups spanning international borders with the aim of achieving a desired outcome. Further, it can be seen as organized activity whose genesis can be traced back to the 1880’s. From then to now there are identifiable traits and patterns observed from different (terrorist) groups which have allowed for the conceptualization of the term modern terrorism.

This concept therefore, can be best explained in the context of being a wave or having a life cycle. That means it is a cycle of activity demarked by phases from inception and expands along the way then eventually it declines. The world, thus far, has experienced four waves of modern terrorism each following in chronological order with periods of overlapping. The first was the Anarchist wave followed by the Anticolonial, then the New Left and now the Religious wave.

This summary will give a brief history of each of the four waves then the similarities and differences would be discussed. The Anarchist wave which was the birth of international terrorist activity started in Russia. It resonated at the time of revolt against the Czar Alexander II lead government who could not deliver on his promise to provide funds for the serfs to buy land. There were other social and politic issues that left people dissatisfied with the governance. As a result there was a spate of assassinations against prominent officials which eventually lead to the death of Alexander. The justification of such acts was that it was necessary to liberate humanity for its oppressors.

As enshrined in their philosophy anarchist believed that their (terror) actions would eventually force those in support of the government to undermine the said doctrines they support then causing society to become polarize making way for a revolution. The anarchist doctrine spread to other states, primarily to those with established Russian diaspora. They trained and encouraged groups that had similar or even different political aims. The high point of this wave was in the 1890’s often referred to as the ‘Golden Age of Assassination’.The Anticolonial wave was triggered after the Versailles Peace Treaty was signed concluding the World War I.

States under colonial rule pressed for independence and terrorist activity was used to achieve such. It bore fruit for the establishment of the states such as Ireland, Israel, Cyprus and Algeria. The wave quelled as more states gained independence from their colonial ruler. Significantly, there were many states, who eventually gained independence not through force at the hands of terrorist but as result of the popular will at that time which was the principle of self-determination taking resonance.

United States (US) whom demonstrated how self-sufficient and powerfully it became since its own independence from colonial rule pressed hardest for the elimination of those colonial empires.The wave did not however end after the states declared their independence, and it was due to the fact that within some territories there were fragments of the populace, mainly those who had roots from their colonial empire, who did not want the colonial empires to abdicate its rule. Therefore terrorist acts prevailed until imperial rule came to an end. The Vietnam War was a stimulating factor in the emergency of the New Left wave. It was simulating because onlookers of the war in the Third world and in the Western heartland saw how effectively the Viet Cong’s use their primitive weapons against the US’s modern technologically advanced weapons and this showed existing systems had value.

Many groups emerged and were strengthened with the aspirations of being the vanguard of the Third World populace. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was one such group that emerged stronger with the credence that terror was the only way to remove Israel occupation.The modus operandi of the terrorist groups of the third wave revolved around international hijackings which included planes so as to secure hostages, as well as kidnappings of prominent persons. There were also many incidents of high profiled figures being assassinated.

Unlike the predeceasing waves groups conducted more assaults abroad than on their home soil also, there were many American targets. Islam has dominated the Religious wave. The acts of terrorism associated with other religious groups have been minimal. Islamic groups are noted to have conducted most of the profoundly and deadly international attacks. There was a combination of three events in the Islamic world, all occurring in 1979, which was responsible for the launching of the fourth wave.

The events were the Iranian Revolution, the beginning of a new Islamic century and the Soviets invasion into Afghanistan. Iranians had succeed in a revolt against the secular culture that persisted by the then Shah. This showed that religious orientations had strong influence in defeating the Shah. Subsequently, the Iranians inspired and assisted in Shiite terror in other Islamic territories.Inspired by the self-martyrdom tactics of medieval Assassins the Shiites in Lebanon introduced suicide bombing which proved very effective in ousting the Americans and other foreign military occupation in their territory.

At the time of the Revolution in Iran the new century of Islam began inspiring thousands of Muslims to flock to Mecca; this caused 10,000 causalities. This happening may be linked to incidences of Sunni terrorism experience in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, the Philippines and Indonesia. The third event that initiated Muslim terror was the Soviet Union’s invasion into Afghanistan. This caused Sunnis to unite waging resistance against the Soviets who eventually left Afghanistan. This defeat was sterling to terrorist activity since it showed how victorious religion was in defeating a superpower. The al-Qaeda group lead by Osama bin Laden (now deceased) has been the most notorious of the Islamic terrorist group of the fourth wave thus far.

One major similarity amongst the groups in each of the four waves was how they networked and how their activities were funded.The Anarchist in Russia started teaching their tradecraft to other group from different territories that had similar or even different political aims. Although initially the Russians financed their activities from bank robberies as they branched out to new territories they eventually garnered economic support from other anarchist groups it helped. Groups in the second wave also received support from diaspora groups who settled in other territories.

The Irish rebels were known to received support from the Irish American Community however, it was the support of the US government (in the1920s) that champion their cause to be recognized as an independent state from British rule. Outside government influence also helped many groups. The partnering and networking continued in the third wave and there were also state sponsored groups. Al Qaeda was a large organization with a large international reach spanning seventy-two countries. Its successes could not have been achieved if not for its global presence. The role of women differed though amongst the groups in the different waves.

Women played an active role during the first wave and were considered ‘priceless assets’.It was Vera Zasulich, a female anarchist rebel, who wounded a Russian police commander who abused political prisoners. She was later prosecuted for her actions and subsequently acquitted. In the second wave however, women’s role was of lessor prominence. It was noted that they performed roles of messengers and scouts.

In the third wave they resumed their roles as leaders and fighters. In the fourth wave there were conflicting views of the role of women. The Tamil Tigers whose preferred method of terror was suicide bombing used women to carry out their acts of terror. But bin Laden’s philosophy on terrorism did not involve the use of women period. He held the view that Muslim women should be protected. As it relates to the eradication of the wave each wave had their challenges.

During the first wave affected governments joined to combat terrorist activities by having international police cooperation and better control of borders.The cooperation only lasted three year since the interest of states conflicted. In the second wave the actions of the terror groups were often seen as a means to freedom. As a result the anticolonial terrorist sought to win support for their cause.

When the British decided to withdraw from Palestine the United Nations (UN) legitimized the separation of the entities. The anticolonial terrorists felt a sense of support by international conventional standards and hence sought to interest the UN in their struggles. In the third wave the UN’s role changed dramatically from that of the second wave. The war on terrorism had begun.

Major UN conventions succeeded in declaring all terrorist acts, which included hijacking, attacks on government officials and on foreign state facilities as well as funding of the international activities, as crimes. In the fourth wave the US plays an influential role in subduing the al-Qaeda movement.The US’s pressure on Pakistan to stop funding the movement suggests that the terrorist group might have a spoke in its wheel. Notwithstanding the unique factors that birthed these four waves of modern terrorism it must be recognized that their unifying factor was that of revolution from perceived oppression. The anarchist made it clear that they were dissatisfied with the governance of the day and sought of a revolution. This was followed by the anticolonial terrorists who fought for independence.

The third and fourth wave sought to rid its states from foreign and secular (in some case) occupation.