Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 25)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 25)
- المحتوى
-
result of this drive for hegemony, and
terrorism became the salient feature of
the imperialist state’s foreign policy.
State terrorism takes a variety of
forms: Nazi Germany’s campaign of
invasions and mass extermination; US
intervention and attacks on indepen-
dent countries; Israeli and South
African racist dispossession and perse-
cution of the native population, and the
massive terror of US-backed dictator-
ships against their own population.
Added to this is the terror of imperia-
lism’s economic system which imposes
undernourishment on the millions.
THE ROOTS OF TERRORISM
AMONG THE OPPRESSED
The internal contradictions of the
capitalist societies give rise to another
form of this phenomenon, which can be
termed individual terrorism. The
objective basis for this is the antago-
nistic contradiction between the bour-
geoisie and the working class. High
unemployment generates terrorism
within the capitalist societies. The
individual’s social functioning is
impaired when work is not available,
since production is the basic activity of
the human being. One of the many
other causes of terrorism is changes in
the social and cultural reality in the
society where the individual’s character
is formed. Constructive conditions are
absent in a society which is full of
exploitation, isolation, social unrest
and instability. Not only are the
unemployed made to feel useless and
neglected, but they are made to feel as
harmful elements in the society, infe-
rior and of limited capabilities, a
burden on society. This is in addition to
inhuman working conditions that
reduce human beings to the state of
animals, working just to survive,
without being given a chance to be
productive and creative. All of these
factors contribute to the development
of violence and terrorism in the capita-
list society.
In essence, all of these material facts
State terror: The Israeli army invades Lebanon.
express the extent of the contradiction
between the social mode of production
and the private ownership of the means
of production. The products of this
contradiction are the real reasons for
individual terrorism. The individual
starts to search for suitable means to
express himself outside the production
process in the capitalist society. Out of
such frustration, terrorist groups
emerge. Certain types of terror groups
may be encouraged by the ruling
authorities, as a way to confuse and
divert the class struggle. The social base
of individual terrorism is drawn from
sectors outside the framework of the
relations of production - the lumpen-
proletariat and the unemployed. The
proletariat that assumes its position
within the relations of production,
rejects terrorism as a form of struggle
against oppression and exploitation,
considering it a struggle among indivi-
duals, isolated from the masses.
There are other social components of
individual terrorism which stem from
the petit bourgeoisie, students and
intellectuals. As a result of the centra-
lization of capitalist production and
unfair economic competition, strata of
the petit bourgeoisie are forced to join
the ranks of the working class. Because
they are forced into the working class,
they do not necessarily develop working
class awareness.Some of them may take
a nihilistic position and use adventu-
rous methods, violence and terrorism
without revolutionary aims, as a means
to escape from this reality.
These are the reasons behind indivi-
dual terrorism. Such an inhuman acti-
vity does not exist in socialist societies;
the socialist society does not suffer the
crises of capitalism; the big bourgeoisie
does not exist, and the petit bourgeoisie
has been transformed to the position of
the proletariat and the working people.
TERRORISM AND
PROPAGANDA
Imperialism uses all its resources to
control the minds of the people and
direct them as it wants, through the
media. The entire system, through
social and psychological propaganda,
aims to divert individuals from their
humanity, by trying to portray the
bourgeois society’s values as perfect’
and eternal. This propaganda aims to
show that individuals who attack or
contradict these values are abnormal,
eliciting a negative reaction to any
revolutionary act in the world. At the
same time, the bourgeoisie’s terrorism
is justified as necessary to defend and
protect the principles of capitalist’
‘democracy’.
RIGHTIST AND ‘LEFTIST?’
TERRORISM
The imperialists divide terrorism into
two kinds: rightist and ‘leftist’.
Marxist-Leninists reject this termino-
logy, but differentiate between revolu-
tionary violence and terrorism. Accor-
ding to Lenin, «Revolutionary violence
is a tactic which involves organizing
political assassinations, accompanying
the revolutionary struggle of the
masses. Revolutionary violence is not
the opportunist terrorism that is totally
unrelated to the core of Marxism. Not
only is opportunist terrorism an iso-
lated and rejected step, but it brings
about no advances in_ socialist
tactics.»(2)
The methods used in contemporary
individual terrorism were historically
used by the anarchists in the first stage
of the labor movement’s struggle.
Despate the illusions and subjectivity of
these anarchists, anarchism was a
weapon to be wielded in the face of the
capitalist system. This radical confron-
tation of the whole of the capitalist
society was sometimes characterized by
heroism and selflessness. In essence,
however, it did not go beyond the petit
bourgeoisie ideology; it was characte-
rized by impatience and inability to
confront the effects of the crisis of the
bourgeois society. Lenin indicated this
by saying, «Anarchism is an inverted
form of the bourgeois ideology.» ()
Therefore, it is mecessary that the
present definition of ‘terrorism’ be
based on scientific Marxist-Leninist
understanding, taking into considera-
tion the class character of all so-called
terrorist acts, and specifying their aims.
The bourgeoisie defines every militant
act as terrorism. The entire bourgeois
media is activated against all revolu-
tionary military practices that are in the
interests of the masses, whereas this
same media supports the criminal acts
of actual terrorist groups.
The history of the international
revolutionary movement has concretely
proven that in certain.moments of the
struggle, when the masses of the wor-
kers are not politically aware, so-called
terrorist acts can have important poli-
tical effects that accelerate the subjec-
tive conditions of the struggle. Lenin
said, «The wish to deny the value of
single, heroic blows is far from our >»
23 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 19
- تاريخ
- أكتوبر ١٩٨٦
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed