What is terrorism?

1. What is terrorism?

2. Freewrite: • What is terrorism? • Freewrite for 5 minutes on the above question. If you can, give me examples of terrorism and explain why you consider it to be an act of terrorism. Remember that a freewrite is a non-stop writing activity.

3. Develop a 2-3 sentence definition of “terrorism” • Ask yourself the following questions: • Can it involve simply the destruction of property, with no injuries? • Does terrorism have to be violent? What if the intent is to not harm anybody? (What is violence?) • Does terrorism have to target large numbers of people or can it target a few? A single person? • Can governments commit acts of terrorism, or is the term reserved only for people who operate outside of governments (organizations, groups, “extremists,” “radicals,” etc.)? • Can terrorism be nation to nation? An entire nation towards a specific individual? • Is any targeting of civilians “terrorism”? • Must terrorism involve the people of one country attacking citizens of another or can it be within a country? • Does motive make a difference? • Does terrorism need to be intentional? What if it fits your criteria, but it is by accident?

4. Scenario #1 The country of Marak? Israel The country of Bragan? Palestine The country of Bolaire? The United States

5. Israeli-Palestinian Conflict • Both the Jewish and Palestinian people have claims to this area in the Middle East. • In 1948 the country of “Israel” was created allowing for areas of Palestinian settlements. • Palestinians in Israeli territory were forced out of their homes into these “Palestinian” areas. • Those who refused were forcibly moved and their homes bulldozed.

6. Israeli-Palestinian Conflict • Much violence occurred between both Israelis and Palestinians. • In 1967 the Israeli military invaded and occupied these areas (Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip). • The Palestinian minorities were forced into refugee camps where oppression and violence are common.

7. Israeli-Palestinian Conflict • A cycle of retributive violence has occurred between the two peoples: • Forced out of their homes, Palestinians attack Israeli neighborhoods. • Fearing violence and attacks, the Israeli military invades the Palestinian areas and kills those suspected of the violence.

8. August 21, 2003 the entire commercial area of Nazlat 'Isa was razed to the ground as some 15 bulldozers, accompanied by large numbers of military and border police, destroyed over 100 shops and 5 homes. - PENGON photo One of the 117 olive trees uprooted by Israel on 9 December 2004 in Jayyous. A truck driver driver said he would bring the trees to the Tel Aviv area, to be sold. (Photo: ChristophGocke)

9. Israel has seized more than half of the West Bank since 1967. AlJazeera Workmen assemble a section of the Israeli separation barrier, which will consist of trenches, walls, barbed wire, electronic fences, and patrol roads. When completed, the barrier system will snake throughout the West Bank - REINHARD KRAUSE/REUTERS

10. Scenario #1 Review • Think for a minute about the Israeli-Palestinian scenario we have looked at the past few days. • Discuss in your group if you believe this scenario to be an act of “terrorism.” Remember that you must back up your thinking with specific points from your definition of terrorism. Give time for each group member to share. 2. Does your definition of “terrorism” need to be adjusted? If you answer yes to this question, spend a few minutes doing so.

11. Scenario #2 The country of Menin? The United States The country of Pungor? India The corporation? Union Carbide

12. Union Carbide – Bhopal Disaster • Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company. The Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India made pesticides. • On the night of Dec. 2-3, 1984 the plant began leaking chemicals. • It is estimated that over 5,000 people were killed on that night and as many as 10,000 since due to birth defects, sicknesses, still births, etc.

13. Union Carbide – Bhopal Disaster • Before the disaster, Union Carbide began a series of cost cutting decisions in order to maximize profits: • Filling chemical tanks beyond recommended levels. • Poor maintenance at the plant. • Refusal to follow safety procedures. • Safety systems switched off to save money – including the chemical refrigeration system. • All of these were well known prior to the disaster by the Union Carbide Corporation.

14. Union Carbide – Bhopal Disaster • It is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 people have permanent injuries due to the disaster. • These include: • eye problems • Respiratory difficulties • immune disorders • Cardiac failure • female reproductive difficulties • Birth defects • Union Carbide and Dow Chemical Company deny that any permanent injuries were caused by this chemical leak.

15. Union Carbide – Bhopal Disaster • Union Carbide or Dow Chemical Company refuse to clean up the chemical plant, nor take responsibility for the environmental devastation of Bhopal: • The factory is now abandoned, but chemical contamination of the area is everywhere. • Several studies have shown that the soil and groundwater within 15 miles of the plant have been contaminated. • In 1991 the local authorities declared water from over 100 wells unfit for drinking.

16. Union Carbide – Bhopal Disaster • Prior contaminations had occurred throughout the 1970s and early 1980s – several contaminated, livestock dying, etc. • Workers had been injured and even killed in accidents over the years. • Union Carbide and Dow Chemical Company have paid for an intelligence research organization called Stratfor to spy on Bhopal Disaster Activists. • Warren Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide, was charged with manslaughter by an Indian court, but the U.S. refused extradition.

17. Scenario #2 Review • Think for a minute about the Bhopal Disaster scenario we have looked at the past few days. • Discuss in your group if you believe this scenario to be an act of “terrorism.” Remember that you must back up your thinking with specific points from your definition of terrorism. Give time for each group member to share. 2. Does your definition of “terrorism” need to be adjusted? If you answer yes to this question, spend a few minutes doing so.

18. Scenario #3 The country of Tobian? The United States The country of Ambar? Nicaragua The “country next door”? Honduras The guerrillas? Contras

19. Nicaraguan Civil War • Daniel Ortega, the leader of the socialist rebel group known as the Sandinistas took control of Nicaragua in 1979. • In 1980, new U.S. president Ronald Reagan began the push to support the anti-Sandinista government counter-revolutionaries known as Contras (short for the Spanish name la contrarrevolucion).

20. Nicaraguan Civil War • A civil war would rage between these two groups for the next decade. • The Contras supported by the U.S. and the Sandinistas supported by the communist Cuban government. • Most of the violence committed between these two groups was not directed towards each other, but towards the civilian population.

21. Nicaraguan Civil War • The U.S. government gave instructions to the Contras to attack “soft targets” (undefended civilian targets). • Farmers’ cooperatives • Hospitals • Churches • Village leaders • Doctors • Nurses • Health care clinics • Judges

22. Nicaraguan Civil War • The CIA released a manual for use with Contra trained leaders titled “Implicit and Explicit Terror.” • It instructed the Contras to continue these attacks claiming that the people of Nicaragua would lose confidence in the Sandinistas and join with the counter-revolutionaries.

23. Nicaraguan Civil War • The United Nations, in a report issued in 1984, stated that the U.S. supported “Contras have killed, tortured, raped, mutilated and abducted hundreds of civilians. . .” • Other reports claim that the Contras have kidnapped, tortured and executed children and burnt civilian houses to the ground.

24. Nicaraguan Civil War • "We found that there is substantial credible evidence that the contras engaged with some frequency in acts of terroristic violence directed at Nicaraguan civilians... These are individuals who are not caught in the cross-fire between Government and contra forces, but... deliberately targeted by the contras for acts of terror." ~ International Human Rights Law Group

25. School of the Americas • Now known as WHIN SEC. • SOA is a U.S. Defense Department program that trains Latin Americans with the tools to protect Democratic ideals throughout the Western Hemisphere • Many of the Contras were trained at SOA.

26. Nicaraguan Civil War / School of the Americas Video link (7:45-24:30)

27. Scenario #3 Review • Think for a minute about the Nicaraguan Civil War (Contras / Sandinistas) scenario we have looked at the past few days. • Discuss in your group if you believe this scenario to be an act of “terrorism.” Remember that you must back up your thinking with specific points from your definition of terrorism. Give time for each group member to share. 2. Does your definition of “terrorism” need to be adjusted? If you answer yes to this question, spend a few minutes doing so.

28. Scenario #4 The country of Anza? The United States The country of Baltus? Sudan The countries where the Anza embassies were bombed? Kenya and Tanzania “Prominent” individual mention? Osama bin Laden

29. Bombing of Kenyan and Tanzanian Embassies • On August 7th, 1998, al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden, simultaneously bombed the embassies of Kenya and Tanzania. • Nearly 300 people were killed and some estimate over 4,000 wounded. News story video link

30. Bombing of Kenyan and Tanzanian Embassies • al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. • Bin Laden stated that the strikes were in retaliation for the arrest and torture of 4 “terror” suspects who had been arrested 3 months earlier by U.S. forces.

31. Bombing of Kenyan and Tanzanian Embassies • The bombings were on the 8th anniversary of the arrival of U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia, which was the home-country of Bin Laden.

32. U.S. Retaliatory Strike on Sudanese Pharmaceutical Factory • Less than 2 weeks later, the U.S. fired a series of Cruise Missiles from U.S. ships in the Red Sea that destroyed a Sudanese Pharmaceutical factory. • It was believed that the factory was making chemical weapons. • It was also believed that the owners of the factory had ties with the al-Qaeda organization. • Both claims have now been proven as false.

33. U.S. Retaliatory Strike on Sudanese Pharmaceutical Factory • The factory made more than 70% of all of Sudan’s medicine, mostly Chloroquine, the standard treatment for malaria. • Some humanitarian organizations believe that the destruction of much needed medicine for the Sudanese people has killed another 20,000. News story video link

34. Scenario #4 Review • Think for a minute about the U.S. Embassy in Kenya and Tanzania (and the U.S. attack in Sudan) scenario we have looked at the past few days. • Discuss in your group if you believe this scenario to be an act of “terrorism.” Remember that you must back up your thinking with specific points from your definition of terrorism. Give time for each group member to share. 2. Does your definition of “terrorism” need to be adjusted? If you answer yes to this question, spend a few minutes doing so.

35. Scenario #5 Sport-King? Nike The country of Morcosas? The United States

36. Transnational Corporations: Nike • You could replace “Nike” with literally hundreds of other TNCs. • Transnational Corporations (TNC) are companies that do not have only one country of operation. • For example, the company may have their administration located in the U.S., but their factories and other operations are spread out to 10 other countries.

37. Transnational Corporations: Nike • The U.S. headquarters are in Beaverton, OR, however, Nike has factories in 12 different countries. • These factories are not technically “owned” by Nike. • The owners of these factories are contracted to make Nike products. • The minimum wage of these factories on average is 17 cents / hour. Behind the Swoosh Video

38. Scenario #5 Review • Think for a minute about the Nike / Transnational Corporations scenario we have looked at the past few days. • Discuss in your group if you believe this scenario to be an act of “terrorism.” Remember that you must back up your thinking with specific points from your definition of terrorism. Give time for each group member to share. 2. Does your definition of “terrorism” need to be adjusted? If you answer yes to this question, spend a few minutes doing so.

39. What is terrorism? Student #1 Student #2 • Spend 3 minutes looking over the 5 different scenarios. • If you need to, revise your definition of terrorism. • In your group, you will have 1 minute to read your definition of terrorism, then explain which 3 scenarios you plan to write about and why they connect to your definition. Student #3 Student #4 Crude Documentary