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Since the early 2000s, global, underground networks of insurrectionary anarchists have carried out thousands of acts of political violence. This book is an exploration of the ideas, strategies, and history of these political actors that engage in a confrontation with the oppressive powers of the state and capital. The vast majority of these attacks have been claimed via online communiqués through anonymous monikers such as the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI). The emphasis of the insurrectionary, nihilist-infused anarchism is on creating war-like conditions for opposing capitalism, the state, and that which perpetuates structural violence (e.g. racism, poverty, speciesism, gender roles). To connect the various configurations of post-millennial, insurrectionary resistance, the book explores explore three of its most identifiable components, the FAI, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF), and emergent networks in Mexico. In his discussion of guerrilla warfare and terrorism, conflict theorist Richard Rubenstein points to a two-stage understanding advocated by Vietnamese leader and military strategist General Vo Nguyen Giap. The book also examines the strategy of Blanquism, the contribution of "classical anarchists," the influence of theorists such as Tiqqun and The Invisible Committee. It seeks to construct the basis for an insurrectionary framework based around a shared politic. The feminist methodology and ethic of research adds a great deal, including a reading of identity politics, standpoint theory, action-orientated research, and embedded, emotive and sincere participatory involvement. The design and methodological intent of the book is to embrace a "militant" form of inquiry which is counter to the project of securitization.
The authors investigate the timing of insurgents’ use of terrorism within the context of wider-scale warfare. Unlike the great wars found in modern history, the dominant form of warfare in recent years has become internal. The main actors are non-state groups seeking to replace an existing political order through violent means. Terrorism, especially indiscriminate attacks on unarmed civilians, has been an important component of these groups’ tactical repertoires. The purpose of this study is to explore variations in the timing of insurgents’ use of terrorism within the context of war. The authors draw on the largely separate literatures on terrorism and warfare as well as complementary sources of data on terrorist events, insurgent groups, and various forms of armed conflict. The product of this analysis is a mapping of the frequencies of terrorist attacks over time and the identification of these attacks as occurring during the beginning, middle, or ending stages of wider-scale warfare. This is followed by in-depth discussions of the insurgent groups whose use of terrorism matches each of these patterns as well as the contexts within which these groups operate. Readers of this book will include students, scholars, policy-makers, members of the military, and the general public.
)), fostering conflict to expose inequality (i.e. making social war), and directly attacking forms of domination through informal, individualist, illegal action including property destruction, sabotage, propaganda, expropriation, and strikes at individuals. Unlike Marxism and other revolutionary frameworks, insurrectionary anarchism is not rooted in a specific theory of change (e.g. historical materialism) but is rather a theory of critique and action, not prefiguration. In his discussion of guerrilla warfare and terrorism, conflict theorist Richard Rubenstein (1987, 29
adept at combining tactics of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. ISIL emerged from AQI, which has been listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States Department of State since 2004 and which changed its name to Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) in 2006. ISIL has been described as an “umbrella organization.”8 Since its split from its own and al Qaeda’s affiliate, 154 THE ROLE OF TERRORISM IN TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY WARFARE the al-Nusra Front, in 2013 and from al Qaeda in 2014, ISIL has captured substantial territory in Syria and Iraq and proclaimed the
guerrilla warfare on a culture obsessed with fitness and beauty, some time in an ill-defined future. In the absence of their imprisoned leader, Ramón, they badly botch kidnapping attempts and attacks on televised aerobics programmes. Once Ramón is released and returns to guide them, however, they successfully kidnap Patricia, a wealthy heiress, from her wedding party, slaughtering most of the guests in the process, as well as losing two of their own number. Escaping in their space ship, the mutants prepare to rendezvous with the heiress’ father, Orujo, on the distant
Roberto Matta. 2 The Argentinean kinetic artist Julio Le Parc mirrored this call to action in February 1968 by publishing a radical manifesto in the Parisian journal Rohbo examining the possibility of a cultural guerrilla warfare. 3 Two months later, the anti-imperialist imperative and the Third World agenda that the Cuban Congress had exemplified reverberated in the visual politics of the artists of
war, as part of a wartime strategy. Many armed groups combine tactics. They may engage in guerrilla warfare in addition to terrorism. Defining guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare has been distinguished from terrorism on the bases of targets, tactics, objectives, organization, resources, and location (rural versus urban). Guerrilla attacks occur in the context of warfare – specifically “small wars.” Their attacks tend to be aimed at combatants, which is a term also requiring further consideration. Combatants may be understood to include military, police, and
.g., guns, bombs, suicide vests) with which they have become familiar and adept. They can apply the weapons and tactics rehearsed in attacks against softer (e.g., civilian) targets in their attacks on harder targets. To the extent that perpetuating fear is a goal of these groups, they may continue to pursue this goal and achieve it regardless of the targets of their attacks. There is an assumption that with sufficient resources, terrorist-insurgents may begin engaging in the types of activities more commonly associated with guerrilla warfare, including sabotage, hitand
crackdown by the Jordanian Armed Forces against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in September 1970, referred to in Palestinian history as Black September. Palestinian guerrilla warfare had been on the rise as a popular armed struggle against Israel, particularly in the aftermath of the devasting Arab-Israeli war in 1967. Precipitated by the success of the ‘Battle of al-Karama’ in 1968, a
appears at least to be an unusual phenomenon in the modern history of insurgencies. Rather than advancing from terrorism to guerrilla warfare to conventional military tactics, today’s insurgents are finding their strength in a combination of these, though one that relies more heavily on terrorism and guerrilla tactics than military confrontations. Insurgents must take advantage 226 THE ROLE OF TERRORISM IN TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY WARFARE of the weak, finding their safety in the absence of a state capable of responding to the insurgents’ threats. Regardless of their