Terrorism
9-11-06
Today seems an appropriate day to address the topic of terrorism.
A good place to start might be for us to define terrorism and properly identify the known terrorists and terror organizations.
According to Wikipedia, a highly popular and interesting tool created by our technological exuberance, over 100 definitions of the word “terrorism” are currently circulating around the biosphere. The most recent entry at Wikipedia states that “among these definitions, several do not recognize the possibility of the legitimate use of violence by civilians against an invader in an occupied country, and would thus label all resistance movements as terrorist groups. Others make a distinction between lawful and unlawful use of violence. Ultimately, the distinction is a political judgment.”
So, there’s some confusion and disagreement within the mainstream. And, it seems to also make clear that ordinary human beings fighting for freedom against tyranny are terrorists. No such thing as “freedom fighters,” at least in the eyes of some.
Amongst the “some” is the United States government.
The United States government accepts and promotes the idea that “terrorists are people who don’t belong to any recognized armed forces or who don’t adhere to the laws of war and who are, therefore, regarded as ‘rogue actors’.” This is convenient and self-serving because it removes the possibility that a government or the organized military could be a terrorist organization.
Now, I want you to think carefully about this. Read it again, if necessary, because it’s important.
Ordinary people fighting against oppression and tyranny are terrorists. Governments or states are not terrorists or terrorist organizations.
Think about it a little more. Let it sink in.
Notice how the United States government doesn’t label so-called enemy governments like those in Iran “terrorist.” They are governments that supposedly support terrorism, but are not terrorists.
Why not just call them terrorist governments?
The reason is that any such distinction also makes the United States government a terrorist organization, and even a cursory examination of the facts leads to the indisputable conclusion that the United States government is the largest terrorist organization in the world. The best funded and with more training facilities and outposts than any other organized group. Nearly 1.4 million members on every continent except for Antarctica.
We’re still the only nation to have unleashed the horror of nuclear weaponry upon the world, and we are the greatest exporter of war the world has ever seen. Examine the history in the Middle East. South America. Proxy forces all over the globe, including and complicit participation in genocide. Refer to East Timor for a recent reference.
The health of the state is war.
Hell, for that matter go all the way back to genocide on this continent. The Cherokee an the Trail of Tears. Chiricahua herded off like cattle to Florida. Don’t forget Sand Creek.
But why focus on the past. Let’s look at the present.
In my opinion, terrorism is any act that deliberately and willfully destroys life in support of non-sustainable and unnecessary activities.
Isn’t it reasonable to assume that the non-humans of Prince William Sound that perished at the hands of Exxon experienced terror? I feel certain that if you could ask the people killed by the criminals at Union Carbide in the Bhopal Disaster of 1984, they would tell you they were victims of terror. And if the hundreds of species driven from their homes by the expansion of industrialism and capital could talk, I’m sure they’d say they had experienced terror.
Rachel Corrie was a casualty of terror. State sponsored terror against the individual freedom fighter. She was purposely run over by a coward driving a fucking Israeli military bulldozer.
I believe the amphibians driven out of my community by the poison sold and applied by Trugreen are victims of terror.
I believe the politico-industrialists driving the machine AND the people that support them with their votes and actions are terrorists.
The people that died on 9-11 were victims of heinous, criminal acts carried out by lunatics. But don’t feed me bullshit. Don’t try to tell me that terrorism is some new enemy and that our government is here to protect our “freedoms.” That’s crap. Our government is here to protect the interests of greedy industrialists and the advance of capital.
You should carefully consider how the diction and the definitions have changed, because what’s really happening is a complete erosion of the most basic right in democracy.
These definitions and the overall tenor of our society suggest that the individual no longer has a right to stand up against state sponsored oppression, because to do so is to become a terrorist. And it also means that the official government response, such as what we’re witnessing in Iraq, Iran and possibly beyond are legitimized.
It’s propaganda, pure and simple, and we, the people, have a duty, a moral obligation to resist.
“Be of good cheer, the military-industrial state will soon collapse. Meanwhile, we must do all in our power to oppose, resist, and subvert its desperate aggrandizements. As a matter of course. As a matter of honor.”-Edward Abbey
All I could think of all day was how terrible it is that the deaths of those who died five years ago have been used to create fear for the purposes of greed, and
the something like 125 Iraqi dead daily.
Thanks for writing this.