History and Rationale of Suicide Terrorism

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History and Purpose of Suicide Terrorism: Anthropology 1AB3 In the modern world, the intricate fear of terrorism is present on a global scale, and is especially amplified in the Western world. Terrorism, as defined by the U.S. Congress is “a violent act, appearing to be intended to intimidate or coerce a population, and to affect the conduct of a government”(Atran 2003:1534). A rather recent facet of terrorism has been proven effective in instilling fear in the hearts of many people around the world, and that is suicide terrorism. An extreme form of terrorism, suicide bombers, or “freedom fighters” as their terrorist cells depict them as give their own lives to fulfill the motivations of “humiliation, revenge and altruism” that are catechized into their minds in the destruction of a target (Hassan 2009: 2). Suicide terrorism, as defined by American-French anthropologist Scott Atran is the “targeted use of self-destructing humans against noncombatant civilian populations to effect political change”(Atran 2003: 1534). Many different cultures have varying opinions on the definition of suicide terrorism, and affiliate it with a suicide mission, when the two are separate entities altogether. In a suicide mission, those who participate go into it knowing they may not live, and die accomplishing their mission, whereas in suicide terrorism, it is through their deaths that the mission is accomplished (Horowitz 2008: 3). The real targets in suicide terrorism, are not necessarily those who are targeted, but those who witness the events, as the main objective of this form of terrorism, is to instill fear in a larger population. Those who choose to commit this atrocity, are usually part of terrorist regimes, known as cells, whom through “indoctrination and training under radical leaders, wilfully commit to die for what is perceived as a good method of relieving
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