Terrorism - can we ever truly understand it?

We might think we have a sufficient grasp of terrorism and its influence on the modern world.

A definition of terrorism that I read earlier: ‘the unofficial or unauthorised use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims’.

For after all, terrorists are just the ones acting alone to destroy our Western civilisation, often pre-meditated and as part of a group, in the name of some form of God. Right?

Not quite. Terrorism is a concept that has been deep-rooted in society for centuries, yet the label has only surfaced so vehemently in the last 70-80 years.

The word ‘terrorist’ comes from the French Revolution of the 18^th century. The staunchly left-wing group in the country were ‘The Jacobins’ and at the time they were given the tag of ‘terroristes’ due to their attempted brutal suppression of opposition and their failing monarchical system, along with any supporters, in a period that has aptly been named ‘The Terror’.

However, historians have traced the roots of terrorism, depending partly on its definition, to the 1^st century. A radical offshoot group of the Zealots, in Judaea, mainly targeted their Jewish rulers and other wealthy elitist groups in the hope of unsettling their regimes.

Another key person in the development of terrorism was an Italian revolutionary leader, Felice Orsini, who attempted to assassinate Napoleon III, French Emperor. He acted alone, throwing three bombs and killing 8 bystanders, whilst injuring over one hundred.

Other examples include groups such as the Narodniks in Russia in the build up to the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the IRA, famous for their attempts to disrupt and take control of Ireland by use of terror in the late 20^th century.

All these examples mentioned are ones that attempt to threaten their own countries’ regimes, they are internal threats.

Which is what makes the more recent rise of Al-Qaeda and IS so strange.

Clearly these groups are acting with the intention of damaging people and cultures on the opposite side of the globe.

And even without knowing it, they can influence and affect us. For indoctrinating a single person, whom may they not even know of, people that are much like Felice Orsini before, they are causing masses of destruction around the world.

There have been too many examples for me to mention over the past few years. Obviously, the notable ones are 9/11 and 7/7, events which shocked the world.

And in this regard, they are clearly at the forefront of our minds, they have had some influence for sure, but how much have they affected our way of life and how we see them?

We would like to say that they won’t ever damage us, that we will stand together and not let it get to us, but in reality, terrorists have changed the way we approach our daily lives.

The infamous example, after the 7/7 bombings, is the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian man who was shot to death by the Metropolitan Police as a result of the bombings. It is clear that this wouldn’t have happened without the terrorist event in the first place.

Even the concept perhaps intimidates us. For although it would not be right for me to directly associate Muslims with these attacks, the majority of recent IS attacks have been Muslims pushing against the West and their direct involvement in the Middle East. It has led to a divide in our country, Muslims and religious minorities have felt the brunt of many people’s frustrations.

This was illustrated in 2016, with the issue of Brexit. The result and vote may not have been to do with immigration, but much propaganda was raised, on both sides, about this issue.

And again, it is doubtful that this would have come about if the rate terrorism hadn’t arisen in recent years. Things like the unemployment rate are slowly decreasing, and time will only tell, but even from an economic point of view, in my opinion, leaving made little sense – showing the impact of terrorism.

Unfortunately, this is now unavoidable in our society.

Terrorism is forever going to impact the Western (and the rest for that matter) world and there is very little we can do to escape that. The simple shock and fear that the terrorists, be that a single person or a group organised attack, create in amongst us, in our towns and communities, is evidence that they are doing their job. Their primary aim is to divide us apart, at the very heart of our lives.

Until we realise this, we won’t fully understand terrorism as a concept. Given that it is so destructive and divisive, this would be a very scary prospect indeed.