ICOM892

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ICOM892

• Session 10
• Terrorism

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What is Terrorism?

• There are many definitions but the basic idea is
  the use of violence to gain attention and to
  pressure people and/or governments to do what you
  want.
• While we tend to think of individuals and
  ideologically motivated groups, there is quite a
  bit written on state terrorism which has a long
  history, eg Genghiz Khan
• One persons terrorist is anothers freedom
  fighter does the end justify the means?
• Today, Muslim fundamentalists are the fashionable
  culprits but they are quite new on the scene
  anarchists, Christians ( eg abortion clinic
  murders in USA), nationalist movements like the
  IRA, Irgun and ETA have been around a lot longer.
  The use of terror by states is well documented.

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Terrorism as PR

• Terrorism can be seen as a violent form of PR. It
  aims to pressure people and/or governments to
  accept certain beliefs or practices, i.e. the
  cause for which the terrorists are fighting.
• Even though many people may reject the violence,
  it brings your cause to notice and gets you press
  coverage.
• It then becomes an issue to be dealt with.

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Aims?

• First and foremost, terrorists want to draw
  attention to their cause and then get sympathy
  for it amongst groups that matter to them
• The bolder the attack and the more damage it
  does, the more media publicity they get. The 9/11
  attack gained enormous publicity for al-Qaedas
  cause some loved it and some hated it but you
  couldnt buy that kind of media coverage
• As 9/11 also showed, the nature of the target is
  important in how much media coverage you get. Had
  the terrorists blown up the twin towers in Kuala
  Lumpur and killed the same number of people, they
  would not have got the amount of publicity they
  got nor as long lasting (Tariq Ali is eloquent on
  this)
• Like any other kind of PR, they may have more
  than one target audience the 9/11 suspect who
  told the US court he did it because he hated
  Americans was clearly not targeting US public
  opinion !
• Religious belief can be a factor but patriotism
  is often more important some terrorists may be
  just mad, but most are sane

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Methods

• Attacking the enemy by assassination, murder and
  blowing things up is a way of attacking a
  powerful enemy you cannot hope to defeat on the
  field of battle it shows you can strike back
• Constant attacks may be aimed at wearing down the
  opponent. So, for example, the IRA bombed in
  Ireland and the UK over a period of years in the
  hope that the English would tire of this and give
  in to its demands for independence it worked at
  first but has been less successful over the last
  few decades
• Taking hostages is a good method because you get
  publicity over a long period while negotiations
  for their release are taking place

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State Terrorism

• Genghiz Khan would destroy a whole town as a
  demonstration to others of what would happen to
  them if they did not submit to him this was a
  form of state terrorism
• During World War II, both sides bombed the other
  in an attempt to weaken morale to the point where
  the public would pressure their government to
  surrender it didnt work
• There is some controversy over whether attempts
  by one country to engineer coups in another is a
  form of state terrorism or just war

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Funding Terrorism

• Terrorism may be funded by governments or by
  individuals who do not actually participate in
  the violence.
• Osama bin Laden and his Saudi backers do not
  shoot guns but provide the money.
• IRA terrorism was funded largely by individuals
  of Irish descent in the USA. When the British
  Ambassador asked JFK to stem the flow of funds to
  terrorists he was told it was politically
  impossible (JFK was a Catholic politician from
  Boston where most of the money came from).
• There is no evidence to support the claim that
  Saddam Hussein was funding terrorism but
  politicians use this claim for their own
  political purposes.

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Irish Republican ArmyFreedom fighters or
Terrorists?

• The IRA has been in existence for almost a
  century. It began as a resistance movement
  against the British. After Irish independence was
  achieved, it continued the fight in the six
  provinces of the North which stayed with Britain.
• It was opposed there by Protestant groups like
  the UDF which engaged in similar tactics of
  murder and assassination.
• Brendan OBrien says It would be wrong to see
  the IRA as simply an illegal terrorist
  paramilitary group motivated entirely by blind
  criminal malice. In the 1990s as much as in the
  1980s and the1970s, the IRA continued with their
  campaign of shooting, bombing, intimidating,
  killing, maiming, terrorising. In their own eyes,
  they were engaged in legitimate armed struggle
  this primarily meant killing people.
• The IRA was, then, essentially a political
  movement but with religious overtones resulting
  from the fact that the struggle in Northern
  Ireland is between two groups identified as
  Protestant and Catholic ie different sects of the
  same religion.

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The Middle East

• Since the Middle East is the focus of world
  attention at the moment, we will take some
  examples from that region
• We will look at Hammas in Palestine and at the
  situation in Iraq particularly as it reflects
  wider attitudes
• This may involve some thoughts on al-Qaeda and
  al-Jazeera

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Palestine

• After WWII, Zionist terrorists used bombing and
  assassination to force the British to turn
  Palestine into the State of Israel, eg King David
  Hotel bombing
• Today, the PLO and Hammas have used terrorism in
  an attempt to make Israel give them back their
  land and their freedom as the Arabs put it
• Israel has retaliated bomb for bomb to stop them-
  which the Palestinians call state terrorism
• This is not the place to go into the complexities
  of the case but simply to note that each side
  tries to force the other side to accept its
  demands by using violence which we might
  reasonably describe as terror
• Discuss Has it worked? What is the media role?
  Both appeal to international opinion. Does that
  work?

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Iraq

• Iraq is even more complex because there are not
  just two parties
• Some have argued that Saddam Hussein was in some
  way connected with the 9/11 attacks and, even
  though there is no evidence for this, polls
  suggest many Americans believe it
• The invasion did two things it opened up faction
  fighting which Saddam had suppressed and it
  provided an opportunity for foreign terrorists
  with a wider agenda to embarrass the USA.
• So you now have attempts to influence the media
  and so-called world opinion by the US and its
  allies the Sunni, the Shiiites, the Kurds, Iran
  and outside terrorists loosely lumped together as
  al-Qaeda all are using force which the other
  groups describe as terror
• Some terrorist groups are using the international
  media to attack their enemies which are the USA,
  Israel and secular Muslim states. Others are more
  domestically oriented and use terror as a means
  of discrediting their domestic political
  opponents and frightening people into following
  them instead. Some may be engaged in both.

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Indonesia

• Dr Sydney Jones said in a lecture that the
  Jihadist terrorists responsible for the Bali
  massacre did it because there were only two
  places where they would get a lot of publicity
  Jakarta and Bali.
• Their aim was to create fear amongst the enemy
  which was white people, Christians, unbelievers
  and all those who were not Muslim. They are hard
  to catch because they are not mainstream and do
  not have a central organisation.

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Summary

• Terrorism is not new and Muslims are quite late
  on the scene
• Terrorists use the media as a weapon to persuade,
  frighten, bully and draw attention to their
  cause they may have more than one audience
• The media cooperates in the sense that dramatic
  violence receives dramatic coverage. Who had
  heard of al-Qaeda before 9/11?
• Terrorists believe that the end justifies the
  means they believe they are warriors fighting in
  a just cause
• How do you counter such attacks? Are they mad or
  noble?

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Anti-terrorist PR

• How to counter terrorism is a difficult and
  controversial topic. Some military and police
  activity is clearly necessary but, however
  necessary, it is treating the symptoms, not the
  disease.
• To treat the disease, you must first find the
  cause and work out how to counter it. If, for
  example, you brand them as evil and declare a war
  on terror are you simply playing into the hands
  of the terrorists who see themselves as soldiers
  fighting a war a just war?
• Is there a PR angle to this? Can we counter their
  PR by counter-PR? This could involve both
  defending the target they are attacking and
  attacking the cause they are promoting. How do we
  wean support away from them?

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Effectiveness

• Some recent newspaper articles have suggested
  that there is evidence to show people are being
  turned off by terrorist acts in their own country
  or which affect them.
• If true, this suggests that terrorism may often
  be bad PR for a cause. People sympathetic to the
  cause may not approve of violence or may turn
  against it if someone they know is blown up.
  Killing foreigners is OK, but not our people.
• Thus, while it gets attention, terrorism needs to
  be carefully targeted for positive PR effect.

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Propaganda

• Think back to what we said about propaganda in
  war. How much of this is relevant to terrorism?
• Terrorists use propaganda and their targets do
  too. The terrorist wants to win people to the
  cause and the target wants to wean people away
  from the cause.
• So the terrorist first wants to get attention,
  then create a positive image of the cause and
  then persuade people to support it. They also
  want to weaken domestic and international
  support for the target government.

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Domestic Politics

• Politicians may use fear of terrorism as
  propaganda for their own purposes.
• For example, the Sydney Daily Telegraph on
  26/10/2007 reported the death of an Australian
  soldier in combat in Afghanistan as Terrorists
  murder Australian soldier. Even by tabloid
  standards, this was a bit much
• You may wish to think about how politicians in
  Australia and other countries talk about terrorism

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Assignment 2

• This is your campaign. Who are you and who am I?
  The bottom line is that you want me to pay for
  your campaign. Why should I give you money? What
  is in it for me?
• Make sure it is international, i.e. operating in
  one or more foreign countries.
• It is not an academic paper but a sales pitch.
  Convince me! Show me yours is the best.
• Do not read your presentation or just read your
  slides I can read. Keep it short and punchy

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Discussion

• How effective is terrorism as a means of
  persuasion and a means of achieving the ends of
  the groups practicing it?
• Identify some successes and some failures?
• Does the end always justify the means and, if
  not, how do you decide when it does or does not?
• Do politicians ever use the threat from terrorism
  for their own domestic political purposes?