Revolutionaries Vs Terrorists

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. This famous adage applies to the current situation regarding terrorist groups such as the Taliban, Boko Haram, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda, who are all based on Islamic extremist beliefs. Victims of terrorist attacks see these radicalists as terrorists. On the other hand, proponents of the terrorist groups believe that the militants are revolutionaries, who are important for the establishment of their radical political causes through extreme violence such as suicide bombing. As shown, the word pair, revolutionary and terrorist, can depend on who distinguishes the word pair as well as the aims of the pertinent group. The common response to the difference between a terrorist and a revolutionary would …show more content…
It can be generally agreed that both revolutionaries and terrorists aim to bring about some form of political change. For instance, one of the most impactful terror incidents in history, the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 were carried out by several men who hijacked commercial airplanes. In the eyes of Americans, these men were seen as terrorists, but proponents of their terrorist cause and Al-Qaeda saw these men as revolutionaries. On the other hand, during the American Revolution era, several American colonists named “Patriots” protested British taxation without representation on goods such as tea. One such example is the famed demonstration - in response to the Tea Act - on December 16th, 1773 known as the Boston Tea Party; the Sons of Liberty, as these rebellious colonists named themselves, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company. Fellow colonists who supported their cause viewed the Patriots as heroes, while Loyalists, ones who were loyal to the British king, and the British Parliament as well as British citizens perceived the Patriots as criminal insurgents. Both the 9/11 incident and Boston Tea Party were acts of sabotage and both had polarized viewpoints on who were revolutionaries and who were terrorists. Hence, these two historical events exemplify that differing views can cause respective reversals …show more content…
Both the goals of “terrorists” and “revolutionaries” must be analyzed. Politicians, journalists, security personnel, and academic scholars all use a variety of definitions to interpret terrorism by analyzing factors such as motivations, modus operandi, and mission. In a survey conducted by Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman as part of their book, Political Terrorism, the following is a statistical ordering of definitions of terror in leading academic literature: “violence or force (appeared in 83.5% of the definitions); political (65%); fear, emphasis on terror (51%); threats (47%); psychological effects and anticipated reactions (41.5%); discrepancy between the targets and the victims (37.5%); intentional, planned, systematic, organized action (32%); methods of combat, strategy, tactics (30.5%)” (Schmid and Jongman, 2005). This listing shows how the qualifications for terrorists include instilling fear and utilizing mass violence. On the other hand, the authors point out that these same “terrorists” can be defined by more positive terminology such as national liberation movements, guerilla movements, underground movements, and commandos are also used to define terrorists;

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