Documentation of Militant Extremist Group/Person's Use of Themes
Source material for Saucier, et al., 2009.
BAADER-MEINHOF
Extreme measures
reform means “you set up only better means of discipline, better methods of intimidation, better methods of exploitation” (Baader-Meinhof) Source: Rote Armee Fraktion (1970).
"the consent of the masses can only be won through the armed struggle itself" (Wright p.106, from Mahler - i.e., we have to use violence to win mass consent
Valuing intolerance and vengeance
“those who are unwilling to take violent action on behalf of strong beliefs are cowards” (paraphrase of Baader-Meinhof) Source: Rote Armee Fraktion (1970).
"love for human beings is today only possible in the death-dealing hate-filled attack on imperialism-fascism" (Wright, p.42; Der Spiegel, 2 June 1975, p.2) violent struggle as "sabotage and punishment of responsible personages for cruelties against the people" Wright p.89 (Mahler interview in Christian Science Monitor, 29 Aug 1978)
"Violence is the only way to answer violence" RAF's Gudrun Esslin, 1967
Utopianizing
"motivated in part by a genuine desire to produce a better society..." Wright p..189-190
"One can of course surmise the kind of society they envisaged from those aspects they rejected: a world order without military alliances; the elimination of imperialism and racism; a society where no man feels alienated from the product e is producing and there is no compulsion to possess; and the destruction of capitalism and a global redistribution of wealth" (Wright, p.40)
Modernity disastrous
the Red Army faction’s view that economic progress has only brought new forms of oppression (Wright, 1991, p. 39)
Civil government illegitimate
“Behind the parents stand the teachers, the Youth Authority, the police. Behind the foreman stands the master craftsman, the personnel office, the factory security force, the welfare service, the police. Behind the building superintendent stands the administrator, the landlord, the bailiff, the eviction notice, the police. What the pigs manage with censorship, dismissals, notices of termination, with the bailiff's seal for seized belongings and the nightstick, they do with those things. Of course, they grab for the service pistol, the tear gas, hand grenades and machine pistols. Of course they escalate the [means of oppression]weaponry, if they are otherwise bogged down ["...nicht weiterkommen" is a military term for an advance that is being held up]. Of course, the GI's in Vietnam were retrained in guerilla tactics, the Green Berets given a course in torture. So what? Of course, the execution of sentences for political [prisoners] is intensified. You have to make clear that that it is Social Democratic garbage to assert that imperialism, including all the [Kurt] Neubauers and [Gen. William] Westmorelands, Bonn, the [Berlin] Senate, the State Youth Office and the borough offices, that the whole filthy bunch would allow itself to be infiltrated, to be led around by the nose, to be overpowered, to be intimidated, to be abolished without a struggle.” Source: Rote Armee Fraktion (1970).
Perception one’s group obstructed:
"We will never forget the blood spilled by Schmidt and the imperialists who support him" Wright p.78 (letter received by a French newspaper 'Liberation')
"love for human beings is today only possible in the death-dealing hate-filled attack on imperialism-fascism" (Wright, p.42; Der Spiegel, 2 June 1975, p.2)
Dehumanization
characterization of police forces as “pigs” (Baader-Meinhof and other leftists of their era). Source: Rote Armee Fraktion (1970).
"To capitalists, profit is everything and the people who create it are dirt" - statement from "2 June Commando" (somehow related to B-M gang)
"Either a pig or a human being either survival at any price or a fight to the death either a problem or a solution nothing in between” Wright, p.189, citing RAF
Tactics absolving responsibility:
"the consent of the masses can only be won through the armed struggle itself" (Wright p.106, from Mahler - i.e., we have to use violence to win mass
Good/evil dualism:
"the individual to become part of the collective and to view society in terms of 'black and white' standards of good and evil," (Wright, p.142, based on Becker, 1978)
Either/or dualism:
"Either a pig or a human being either survival at any price or a fight to the death either a problem or a solution nothing in between” Wright, p.189, citing RAF
IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY
Extreme measures
The rule of thumb for all our actions can therefore be clearly seen to be that we must explain by whatever means we have at our disposal why we bomb, why we punish criminals, why we execute informers etc. – Source: IRA Green Book
[Five-fold guerrilla strategy includes] 1. A War of attrition against enemy personnel which is aimed at causing as many casualties and deaths as possible so as to create a demand from their people at home for their withdrawal.
2. A bombing campaign aimed at making the enemy's financial interest in our country unprofitable while at the same time curbing long term financial investment in our country.
3. To make the Six Counties as at present and for the past several years ungovernable except by colonial military rule. - Source: IRA Green Book.
Glorify dying for cause
"The milestones, the battle honours won, the bloodstained trail of sacrifice, imprisonment, hunger strikes, executions, yet with telling blows delivered to the enemy, often in the heart of British imperialism itself, commanding the open admiration of freedom-loving peoples around the world."- Source: IRA Green Book.
Killing or offensive war a duty
“it may or may not be right to kill, but sometimes it is necessary” (Adams, 1996, p. 169, quoting a short story he had written)
Extending military technology
- Pearse p.121-122 in Wright (1891) - wanting to arm all Irish citizens, and "bloodshed is a cleansing and sanctifying thing" - note the purity theme
Perception one’s group obstructed
“[we] are morally justified in carrying out a campaign of resistance against foreign occupation forces and domestic collaborators” (IRA volunteer handbook called “Green Book”)
"We are anti-imperialists" - Adams An Phoblacht / Rep. News, 7 Nov. 1985
Irish citizens are "victims of the imperialistic social, economic, and cultural system" An Phoblacht/Republican News, 17 Nov. 1983
Tactics absolving responsibility
"the IRA is a symptom of the violence, not the cause of it." Gerry Adams in Before the Dawn, p.247
"If it was war they wanted, then it was war they would get" - Adams, Before the Dawn, p.143 (i.e., we certainly value fighting back)
"the major part of violence is created and maintained by Britain ... The real terrorists are the UDR and the Police" (Wright, p.94; Owen Carron in Irish News 22 Aug 1981).
Glorious past
Professor Edmund Curtis, writing of Ireland in 800 AD says that ‘she was the first nation North of the Alps to produce a whole body of literature in her own speech’, and he is told how the Danes were driven out or assimilated by a people ‘whose civilisation was a shining light throughout Europe’, prior to the Norman invasion of 1169 with which there ‘commenced more than 8 centuries of RELENTLESS AND UNREMITTING WARFARE that has lasted down to this very day’. – IRA Green Book
AL GAMA'A AL ISLAMIYYA - QUTB
Annihilate and purify
“the earth should be cleansed of corruption, by force if necessary” (paraphrase of sentiments expressed by Sayed Qutb of Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya in his “milestones” manifesto of political Islam) "God has informed the Believers that the life of this world is such that checking one group of people by another is the law of God, so that the earth may be cleansed of corruption." (Qutb, 1964, Ch 4.)
Glorify dying for cause
that “it is God’s choosing and honoring a group of people...who are singled out from other people for honor...among the noblest angels” (Qutb, 1964, ch. 12) More fully: "All men die, and of various causes; but not all gain such victory, nor reach such heights, nor taste such freedom, nor soar to such limits of the horizon. It is God's choosing and honoring a group of people who share death with the rest of mankind but who are singled out from other people for honor..."
Killing or offensive war a duty
the duty to engage in holy war, especially when one finds insistence that this means war for offensive and not just defensive purposes (as for Qutb)
Extending military terminology –
“jihad” as holy war
Utopianizing
"God's Lordship should be established over the entire earth..." ch.4 of Milestones, Qutb
"to create a new world on the foundation of submission to the creator" Milestones, Qutb, ch10
Catastrophizing
“Mankind today is on the brink of a precipice” (Qutb, 1964, Introduction)
Modernity disastrous
“Western civilization is unable to present any healthy values for the guidance of mankind” (Qutb, 1964, Introduction.)
Civil government illegitimate
Qutb, civil governments are illegitimate because they involve decisions made by people, not by God, that is, they are not based on strictly on God’s authority as found in the Islamic scriptures. "Any system in which the final decisions are referred to human beings, and in which the sources of all authority are human, deifies human beings by designating others than God as lords over men." (Qutb, 1964, ch. 4).
Perception one’s group obstructed
Qutb asserted "World Jewry" was and is engaged in tricks and schemes whose "purpose" is: to eliminate all limitations, especially the limitations imposed by faith and religion, so that Jews may penetrate into body politics of the whole world and then may be free to perpetuate their evil designs. (Qutb, 1964, ch8).
He also alleged the West had a centuries-long "enmity toward Islam" which led it to create a "well-thought-out scheme ... to demolish the structure of Muslim society," (Qutb, 1964, ch8).
Glorious past
“At one time this Message created a generation - the generation of the Companions of the Prophet, may God be pleased with them - without comparison in the history of Islam, even in the entire history of man. After this, no other generation of this caliber was ever gain to be found. It is true that we do find some individuals of this caliber here and there in history, but never again did a great number of such people exist in one region as was the case during the first period of Islam. ... This generation, then, drank solely from this spring and thus attained a unique distinction in history. In later times it happened that other sources mingled with it. Other sources used by later generations included Greek philosophy and logic, ancient Persian legends and their ideas, Jewish scriptures and traditions, Christian theology, and, in addition to these, fragments of other religions and civilizations. These mingled with the commentaries on the Qur'an and with scholastic theology, as they were mingled with jurisprudence and its principles. Later generations after this generation obtained their training from this mixed source, and hence the like of this generation never arose again. Thus we can say without any reservations that the main reason for the difference between the first unique and distinguished group of Muslims and later Muslims is that the purity of the first source of Islamic guidance was mixed with various other sources, as we have indicated.” – Qutb, Milestones, ch1
MEIR KAHANE AND ASSOCIATES
Extreme measures
“we must take destiny into our own hands” (Binyamin Ziv Kahane).
Annihilate and purify
describing Passover as “the holiday that decrees the death and destruction of wickedness and not coexistence with it” (Kahane, M., Passover, date unknown).
Valuing intolerance and vengeance
“he who gives up peace and tranquility in the name of God’s battle and God’s vengeance merits eternal reward” (paraphrase of sentiments expressed by Meir Kahane). Literally, "Precisely he who gives up his peace and tranquility, devoting himself to G-d's battle and to taking G-d's revenge, merits everlasting peace." (Kahane, M., War and Peace, date unknown).
“we must take destiny into our own hands” (Binyamin Ziv Kahane).
"Where revenge is necessary, it is a great thing."
"No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place." - Revenge the Jewish Approach
Extending military terminology
"devoting himself to G-d's battle and to taking G-d's revenge" - War & Peace
Supernatural intervention
the command by the supernatural that is implicit in “devote yourself to God’s battle” (Meir Kahane)
"We will behave as if at war. And, God willing, there will be surprises." (Kahanist Baruch Marzel, quoted in Frontline's The Jerusalem Report, PBS 2005).
Utopianizing
B. Kahane (the real struggle) - "restore the Jewish nation to its greatness"
“For we were not born in order to be slaves with improved
conditions in Egypt; we were born to be redeemed. We were not born to
live in villas in settlements surrounded by fences, like ghettos, with
improved mortgage benefits: we were born to conquer and rule all of the
land of Israel, free of the goyim and of our enemies. And if the price,
more or less temporarily, is the loss of economic or security benefits,
due to lack of participation on the part of the existing regime, or the
necessity of gathering our own straw to make bricks for a while, the
price is worth it. For we were not born to live with the status quo,
after the fact. We were born to establish an ideal world, as it was at
the beginning.” – B. Kahane, “We Were Born to Establish an Ideal World”
Catastrophizing
political disagreements as a leader holding “an entire country hostage” with its people “driven to desperation” (B. Kahane, On Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations,1995). Source:
Glorious past
“Young Jew whom I have never met, come home. Return to your people and their destiny. It is beautiful. You are young and for you, Return is simple. And know that your life can only be lived in one place. Home. The Land of Israel. It is a large land. Extending from the Mediterannean to the Jordan, from Hermon through Sinai to Sharm-al-Sheaykh. It stands, capable of absorbing millions, many millions of its sons and daughters who have not yet come. It is the land where one cannot move without colliding with the Jewish past. This is the land where Abraham walked and Isaac and Jacob traveled; where David and Saul fought the enemy and Deborah and Samson smote the foe; where the Prophets raised their eyes unto the heavens and spoke to the people; where the Maccabees preserved Judaism with the sword and where the Sanhedrin and Ben Zakkai continued it with the book; where Bar Kochba died and where his children will return. Here is Eretz Yisrael; here is your home.” – M. Kahane, “Why Be Jewish?”
LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY
Annihilate and purify
“the world should be purified of sin” (Alice Auma Lakwena of the Lord’s Resistance Army), literally "a spirit called Lakwena, who ordered her to build up the HSMF, in order to bring down the government, purify the world of sin, and build up a new world in which humans and nature would be reconciled" (Behrend, p.109)
Killing or offensive war a duty
to the situation in Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army where it is said that “in general spirit possession in his movement involved the duty to kill” (Behrend, 1998, pp. 114-115). “His” refers here to Severino Lukoya, father of Alice Lawkena.
Extending military terminology –
in the name of the movement: "Lord's Resistance Army" and "United Democratic Christian Army"
"He [Kony] likewise took over Alice's Holy Spirit tactics, as a way of combining modern western military techniques with ritual practices" (p.115)
"Possession by a spirit ... was interpreted as a sign of being chosen to fight" p.114
Supernatural intervention
belief that the leader can never be killed or that after a ritual (purifying them of all sin) those fighting for him cannot be wounded or killed (associated with Joseph Kony of Lord’s Resistance Army).
Alice Auma’s possession by a spirit called Lakwena who ordered her to create a militant-extremist group in order to build up a new and purified world (the origin of the Lord’s Resistance Army later led by Kony)
Utopianizing
Alice Auma’s possession by a spirit called Lakwena who ordered her to create a militant-extremist group in order to build up a new and purified world (the origin of the Lord’s Resistance Army later led by Kony)
TAMIL TIGERS
Extreme measures–
"...the Tamil youth realised that the redemption to their plight lay in revolutionary politics, a politics that should pave the way for a radical and fundamental transformation of their miserable conditions of existence." A.S. Balasingham, Liberation Tigers and Tamil Eelam Freedom Struggle (Madras, 1983), p.23. Also, "He who dares, wins." - V. Pirabhakaran (TT leader) in A. Pratap, Island of Blood, (2001, New York, Penguin), p.69. Also, "I strongly felt that an armed struggle was the only way to confront a system which employs armed might against unarmed and innocent people." V. Pirabhakaran (TT leader) in A. Pratap, Island of Blood, (2001, New York, Penguin), p.73.
"You (arm chair) intellectuals are afraid of blood. No struggle will take place without killings." - V. Prabhakaran, reported comment, p.69 in M.R.N. Swamy (2002). Tigers of Lanka: from boys to guerrillas (3rd ed.). Delhi, India: Konark.