terrorism6
How does the FBI define domestic terrorism?
"groups of individuals who are based and operate entirely in the United States and Puerto Rico without foreign direction and whose acts are directed at elements of the U.S. government or population."
The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was founded in _________ as an organization that was to protect the black community from police brutality.
1966
In _________, FLQ terrorists kidnapped a British official and the Canadian Minister of Labor, and subsequently began making demands for the release of separatist prisoners
1970
The Oka crisis occured in
1990
Armed Forces of National Liberation (United States, Puerto Rico)
: The Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN, in Spanish the name is Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional) was a prominent Puerto Rican nationalist terrorist group that was mainly active from 1974 until 1985 in the United States and Puerto Rico. Its goal was to obtain full Puerto Rican independence from the United States. To achieve this goal, the FALN carried out 72 bombings, 40 incendiary attacks, 8 attempted bombings and 10 bomb threats, all of which caused 5 deaths, 83 injuries, and several million dollars in property damage. Attacks were carried out in Puerto Rico, New York and Chicago. The group started to become inactive when its members were captured and convicted. There have been no incidents since the mid-1980s. Group Membership: Some of the members included Grailing Brown, Richard Cobb, Edwin Cortes, Jaime Delgado and Dora Garcia-Lopez. Lifespan: 1974 to 1985. Key Targets: United States Government, U.S. citizens and facilities.
Conclusion
According to the FBI, today right-wing terrorists—most notably loosely affiliated extremists—continue to represent a formidable challenge to law enforcement agencies around North America, even as animal rights and environmental extremism takes on a higher profile.1
Native Extremism: The Anti-Indian Movement
Anti-Indian groups consist of extreme right-wing militants in Canada and the United States. Their members are concerned with land and jurisdiction and they continue to play a role in what has essentially been the same conflict for over 400 years. The conflict rages both inside and outside Indian reservations. John Burrows highlights the fact that the Anti-Indian movement, although it has grown in size and sophistication over the past 20 years, has nevertheless had little impact on government, legislation, and other key areas of interest. However, groups in the Pacific Northwest have popped up which are involved in intimidating, violently assaulting, and even murdering members of various societies, including most categories of non-whites. These right-wing extremists present a serious threat on the opposite end of the native spectrum.1
Ernst Zundel was responsible for:
Disseminating Nazi propaganda on the Internet
moderate Klan
Does not advocate violence or paramilitary actions and tries to project an image of law-abiding citizens.
Earth First! (USA, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Philippines and the Czech Republic
Earth First! is an environmentalist organization that started in the U.S. in 1980 in order to go beyond what the mainstream environmentalist groups were willing to advocate. The organization promotes the concept of "Deep Ecology", according to which all forms of life on earth are equally valuable, regardless of their utility to human beings. Therefore, the intrinsic values of organisms outweigh their market values. The organization's initial activities included the publishing of a periodical called Earth First! The Radical Environmental Journal, and eventually the group started to take action against companies which it thought could cause the destruction of wildlife habitats or wild places. Civil disobedience acts included road blockades, activists attaching themselves to heavy equipment, tree-sitting and sabotage of machinery. Targeted companies are those that build dams, logging companies or other companies promoting "destructive" development of the environment. In the 1990s, the group attracted left-wing or anarchist political members, but it eventually became more of a mainstream movement rather than an organization. The organization's structure is decentralized. More radical members joined the Earth Liberation Front. Group Membership: First members included Dave Foreman, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, Christopher Manes, George Wuerthner, John Davis and Judi Bari. Lifespan: 1980 to the present. Key Targets: Governments and private industries that destroy the environment.
In recent years, _________ has emerged in the United States
Ecoterrorism
During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, _________ bombed Centennial Olympic Park.
Eric Robert Rudolph
The Symbionese Liberation Army
Founded in 1972 in Oakland, California, by community activists and graduate students, most of them with comfortable family backgrounds, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) emphasized from the outset its interracial character but also the black and minority leadership of the group. The 1974 kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, the granddaughter of press tycoon William Randolph Hearst, drew national, even worldwide, attention to the SLA. After Patricia Hearst's father agreed to put up a total of $4 million to feed the poor, his daughter decided to stay with her kidnappers and participated in a bank robbery. While the SLA claimed that Hearst acted out of her own free will, once captured and indicted, Hearst insisted that she had been brainwashed.1
The Christian Identity movement originated in:
Great Britain
Aryan Nations (Pennsylvania)
Group Ideology: Aryan Nations was founded by Richard Butler in the mid-1970s as an arm of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, a Christian Identity group led by Wesley Swift. Following Swift's teachings of British Isrealism, extreme anti-Semitism and political militancy, the AN is strongly white nationalistic, neo-Nazi and anti-government (which its members refer to as the "liberal-Marxist-homosexual-Zionist coalition"). The AN grouped many far-right extremists in America, such as members of the National Alliance, the Ku Klux Klan and the Silent Brotherhood/the Order. Its goal was to form a national racial state or an Aryan homeland, carved out of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming by overthrowing the United States government. It spreads its propaganda via the Internet, videos, posters, conferences and youth activities. The organization lost its compound in Idaho and went bankrupt (losing $6.3 million) after a lawsuit in September 2000, following an assault led by Aryan Nations guards who assaulted, chased and shot a mother and son who had briefly stopped their car in front of the AN compound. In 1998, a former Aryan Nations guard shot and wounded five people at a Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles and called it "a wake-up call to America to kill Jews". He also killed a Filipino-American postal worker. In 2001, Richard Butler announced a successor named Ray Redfeairn who had a substantial record of criminal activity, including weapons charges, charges of aggravated murder and robbery, and he shot a police officer several times in 1979. He then pled guilty by reason of insanity (psychologists described him as a paranoid schizophrenic during the trial). He spent four years in a mental hospital and died in 2003. It is still unclear how the death of Richard Butler (in 2004) will affect the group. Terry Long is the former leader of the Aryan Nations in Canada. Group Membership: Richard Butler was the founder and leader of the organization until his death in 2004. Butler appointed Pastor Ray Redfeairn as National Director of the organization shortly before he died. Lifespan: Mid-1970s to the present. Key Targets: Mainly Jews and non-whites.
Black Liberation Army (USA)
Group Ideology: Created in the early 1970s, the Black Liberation Army's stated goal was to "take up arms for the liberation and self-determination of black people in the United States." The BLA was also anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist and anti-sexist, and wanted to institute a system in which "Black people have total and absolute control over their own destiny as a people", and they thought that this was only possible through class struggle. The group was a splinter from the Black Panther Party. The group carried out various criminal acts, including bank and armored car robberies, bombings and prison breaks. According to the U.S. Justice Department, the BLA was suspected of involvement in at least 60 incidents, including numerous murders. In 1981, along with two members of the Weather Underground, the BLA carried out a Brinks truck robbery, killing one guard and two police officers. In 1984, a plane was hijacked by a man claiming to be part of the BLA. The group ceased dissolved when most of its members were jailed or fled in exile. Group Membership: Top members included Sundiata Acoli, Assata Shakur, Mutulu Shakur, Herman Bell, Jalil Muntaqim, Joseph Bowen, Robert Seth Hayes, Sekou Kambui, Ojore N. Lutalo, Abdul Majid, Bashir Hameed, Sekou Odinga, Kojo Bomani Sababu, Kamau Sadiki, Russel "Maroon" Shoatz, Arthur Lee Washington, Jr. and Assata Shakur. Lifespan: 1971 to 1984. Key Targets: The United States government and symbols of capitalism.
The FLQ
Group Ideology: The Front de Libération du Québec, or the FLQ, attracted a great deal of attention in the 1970s as a result of its terrorist activities and the level of fear and terror it briefly managed to awaken in many Canadians. This Canadian separatist group, established in the 1960s, aimed to achieve independence for the province of Quebec. The FLQ maintained a strong French heritage and a firm desire to be separate from the rest of the country and its mainly British tradition. During this time, public demonstrations and terrorist activities became more and more common in Quebec. In 1970, FLQ terrorists kidnapped a British official and the Canadian Minister of Labour, and subsequently began making demands for the release of separatist prisoners. The Canadian official was subsequently murdered when the terrorists' demands were not met. As a result of the terror and violence rampant during this time, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was compelled to institute martial law for six months. This turbulent period in Quebec history is known as the October Crisis and reveals that any country, regardless of its previous record, and despite the fact that it is a moderate and remarkably peaceful country, is vulnerable to acts of terrorism. According to one journalist, however, Mr. Trudeau's implementation of the War Measures Act demonstrated the steadfastness with which he "crushed terrorism in Canada even as it gained purchase in Europe in the 1970s". Group Membership: Normand Roy, Michel Lambert, Robert Comeau, André Lessard, Pierre Marcil, and Réjean Tremblay among others. Lifespan: 1963 to the present. Key Targets: The Canadian government and English-owned private businesses or institutions.
National Alliance (West Virginia)
Group Ideology: The National Alliance is a Neo-Nazi white supremacist group that is politically white nationalist and white separatist, against the growth of democracy and profoundly anti-feminist. The founder, William Pierce, formulated a philosophy that he called "Cosmotheism," a racist religion that emphasizes white supremacy and the unity of the white race with nature. This led to the creation of the Cosmotheist Church, with a compound situated in West Virginia. The organization glorifies Adolf Hitler, whom they call "the greatest man of our era". In its attempt to secure a "white living space" and "white survival", the organization disseminates propaganda via its website, Internet radio, fliers, magazines, mail and computer games. The group distributed flyers at the University of Alberta in November 2000. The group has ties with white nationalist groups worldwide, including the British National Party, a racist, anti-minority, neo-Fascist party in Great Britain, and with the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD), which is the German National Democratic Party, an ultra right-wing nationalist party in Germany. The National Alliance stated that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were due to the U.S.'s unconditional support of policy towards Israel, and that Israel's intelligence agency set up the 2001 anthrax attacks in the U.S. to trigger the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a long-time enemy of Israel. Some racially motivated killings in the U.S. have reportedly been linked to National Alliance propaganda and to William Pierce's literature, most notably The Turner Diaries (1978, under the pseudonym of Andrew Macdonald). The protagonist is called Hunter, a serial killer who cleanses America of its "sickness" by killing all interracial couples, blacks, Jews or white women who date men of another race. The book is believed by some to have been the inspiration behind the Oklahoma City bombing. Group Membership: Founded by William Pierce, who died in 2002, and is now led by Shaun Walker. Membership is over a thousand. Lifespan: The group was founded in 1974, and it lost power after much infighting over the legacy of William Pierce. It is always recruiting new members. Key Targets: All Jews, nonwhites and feminists.
Puerto Rican Nationalist Groups
However, their rhetoric has become increasingly militant and threatening.2 In the following weeks, months and years, the FALN was responsible for several dozen bombings across the United States that killed six people and injured many more. Of the five cases that the FBI categorized as domestic terrorism in 1998, three occurred in Puerto Rico: the bombings of an aqueduct project in Arecibo and of two banks in Rio Piedras and Santa Isabel.1 According to the Federation of American Scientists, the FALN's American and Puerto Rican reign of terror came to an end when a number of its members were captured and convicted. Following the arrests, FALN attacks in New York, Chicago and Puerto Rico virtually came to an end. In 1999, President Bill Clinton offered clemency to 16 of these terrorists.2
Ernst Zundel (Canada, United States, West Germany):
Ideology and Activities: Ernst Zundel has been a major Holocaust denier and white supremacist ideologue fighting for the rehabilitation of the reputation of Adolf Hitler. He published several Holocaust denial books (The Hitler We Loved and Why; UFOs -- Nazi Secret Weapon?, German Secret Weapons of World War II; and Secret Nazi Polar Expeditions), created the German-Jewish Historical Commission and Concerned Parents of German Descent, which disseminated anti-Zionist and Holocaust denial propaganda, and contributed to numerous articles on the same topics. Zundel distributed his Holocaust-denial and pro-Nazi materials throughout the world, most notably in Canada, the United States and West Germany. This was done through a website (the Zundelsite) and massive mailing and advertisement campaigns. The dissemination of Nazi and neo-Nazi materials was illegal in West Germany (as it is today in the unified German state), and Zundel's efforts attracted the attention of the authorities in Europe as well as in Canada, where he had emigrated in 1958. Zundel was convicted on February 26, 1985, of publishing false news about the Holocaust, later on under the Canadian Human Rights Act for using "telephonic devices" to incite hatred, for alleged immigration violations by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and in March 2005 he was deported to his native Germany after a ruling from Canadian Federal Court Justice Pierre Blais. German authorities had charged Zundel with inciting racial hatred and defaming the memory of the dead in March 2005. He was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison on February 15, 2007. Colleagues: Ingrid Rimland (wife and Webmaster), Douglas Christie (lawyer), Paul Fromm, the Institute for Historical Review, Walter Mueller. Lifespan: Born in 1939. Ideology: Holocaust denial, white supremacy.
Anti-Abortion Violence
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that the U.S. Constitution grants women the right to abortion. The overwhelming number of pro-life activists and the groups that emerged were and are distinctly nonviolent and willing to work within the legitimate political process. However, some individuals and factions were not content with bringing legal actions to the courts, lobbying members of Congress, organizing demonstrations, harassing abortion providers and seekers, and staging acts of civil disobedience; instead, they called for and/or committed violence—against abortion clinics and their personnel. From 1977 through 2002, the National Abortion Federation, one of the choice groups that track violence against abortion providers and clinics, documented more than 4,000 acts of violence and more than 75,000 incidents of intimidation, harassment, threats and picketing.1
The Weather Underground
It was not until the 1960s and 1970s when leftists in the United States once again embraced terrorist methods to further their political ends. The Weathermen, later renamed the Weather Underground to signify the prominent roles of women in the organization, were the best known among the white terrorist groups of this era. An offshoot of the radical New Left organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the founders took their name and the title of their first manifesto from the lyrics of a Bob Dylan song. Their radicalism was fueled by opposition to the Vietnam War and to racial and social inequality in the United States. Unlike their European soulmates, the Weather Underground never managed to terrorize the whole country by spreading massive fear and anxiety.1
The BAF(Quebec)
La Brigade d'Autodéfense du Français (BAF) claimed responsibility for at least seven incidents, including arson attacks, which took place between November 1999 and September 2000, all in the province of Quebec. The RCMP states: "perpetrators broke into St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, cut the phone line, and poured heating oil into the church from the furnace fuel line. The oil was lit, but firefighters were able to limit the damage. The church was to have been the site for a fundraiser for a court challenge to the Quebec French-language laws".1
________ assassinated U.S. President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York, in 1901.
Leon Czolgosz
Group Profiles and Incidents of Domestic Terrorism: Right-Wing Militias, White Supremacists and Christian Identity Groups
Oklahoma city bombing
Terrorist Attack
On April 19, 1995, two men, namely Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, carried out a terrorist attack on a U.S. government office complex in Oklahoma City. A truck bomb composed of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane exploded in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It constituted the deadliest domestic act of terrorism within the United States, killing 168 people. In his defense, Timothy McVeigh argued that the bombing was in response to the 1993 U.S. government's 51-day siege at Waco, Texas, which resulted in the deaths of 76 Branch Davidian members, and also to avenge the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege, in which white separatist Randy Weaver was arrested and his wife Vicki killed by law enforcement. Terry Nichols, on his part, explicitly hated the federal government. The bombing was officially blamed on domestic right-wing terrorists, and led to the creation of the Counter-Terrorism Bill. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were both charged in this terrorist act. Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death by lethal injection and was executed on June 11, 2001. Terry Nichols received a life sentence with no possibility of parole for his part in the bombing. Both men were former members of the U.S. military and supposedly members of the Michigan Militia and other paramilitary groups.
Canada, ecoterrorists have been most active
On the West Coast
The Animal and Earth Liberation Fronts
On the left side of the political spectrum, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) have also advocated political violence to draw attention to their causes—the preservation of all animal life and the protection of the environment against exploitation by "the capitalist society [that] is destroying all life on this planet."1 In the United States, the Animal Liberation Front was established in the late 1970s along the line of the British ALF model. Growing increasingly more action oriented, the ALF has claimed responsibility for attacks on and destruction of fur companies, mink farms, animal research laboratories and restaurants. The Earth Liberation Front, established in the United States in 1994, also took its cue from the ELF in Great Britain, an extremist offshoot of the Earth First! environmental group, which had left the mainstream environmental movement to engage in highly visible protests and a civil disobedience campaign. ALF and ELF work closely together and may have overlapping followers. In spite of the growing aggressiveness of ecoterrorists in recent years, they did not kill or injure human beings. However, their rhetoric has become increasingly militant and threatening.2
Christian Identity movement
Originated in 19th century Great Britain as "British Israelism" laim that white Christians are the true Israelites of the Old Testament and therefore God's chosen people.1 e Christian Identity Movement (CIM) in the United States brings individuals together through their opposition to gun control, the federal government, taxes, environmental regulations, homosexuality, racial integration and abortion, and their support for home-schooling, states' rights and a shared belief in an international conspiracy that is set to take over the United States and the world.2
The 1974 kidnapping of _________ by the Symbionese Liberation Army brought the group international attention
Patricia Hearst
Single-Issue or Special Interest Terrorism
Single-issue or special interest groups are narrowly focused on one particular agenda point or a package of closely related issues.1
The Weathermen were an offshoot of the
Students for a Democratic Society
Native Terrorism: The Oka Crisis (Quebec)
The 1990 Oka crisis in Canada has widely been viewed as "the most acute aboriginal crisis in modern times." The 78-day crisis during the summer of 1990 involved armed natives in a standoff against thousands of police officers and soldiers. The central issue for each of the opposing sides in the crisis was the title to land. Yet what began as a land claim dispute escalated into a violent confrontation that captured the attention of Canadians across the nation. The native Mohawks aimed at preventing bulldozers from gaining access onto ground that would be used to build a golf course. The spot was the site of a native burial ground. The Canadian army was eventually brought in. Riots took place throughout the unstable period. Though most natives claim to abide by non-violent traditions, the Oka situation involved a group identifying itself as "The Warrior Society." The so-called Warriors were armed, militant hardliners carrying guns in order to keep police and business entrepreneurs off of their land. Gunfire rang out from both sides, and other incidents of violence also took place. One Sûreté du Québec police officer was killed during the crisis. Ultimately, the Warriors surrendered. The crisis was a rallying cry for natives aggravated with political marginalization and a history of 500 years of inequality.1
Animal Rights and Ecoterrorism: Animal Liberation
The ALF was founded in the UK, and its goal is to engage in direct action to further the cause of animal liberation. Therefore, ALF activists engage in direct action to save as many animals as possible and their aim is to force animal abuse companies out of business. ALF's structure is entirely decentralized, and in one of its publications, it is stated that "any vegetarian or vegan who carries out an action that falls within the ALF's policies may claim that action on behalf of the ALF." The ALF claims to be non-violent. However, their actions usually cause damage and destruction, at least on property. Furthermore, some activists who have engaged in direct action that could endanger life have used alternative names, claiming the acts on behalf of more radical groups such as the Animal Rights Militia or the Justice Department. Terrorist actions include the removal or liberation of animals from vivisection laboratories, attacks and threats toward medical and scientific research laboratories, butcher shops, and retail furriers, theft of research animals, the destruction of research equipment and records, and vandalism and arson. ALF activists have been fully supportive of an international animal rights campaign called Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty (SHAC) which focuses its action on attempting to close the Huntington Life Sciences, the most important animal testing company in Europe which tests a variety of products on approximately 75,000 animals every year, including dogs, cats and monkeys. Authorities have noticed an escalation in violence from the ALF, and it was identified as a terrorist threat by the United States Department of Homeland Security in January 2005. Group Membership: There are an unknown number of members and the group is entirely decentralized. Each cell operates clandestinely and independently of one another. Key leaders include David Barbarash and Ronnie Lee. Lifespan: The ALF was founded in the UK in 1976 and the American branch was founded in 1982. Key Targets: Governments and animal abuse companies.
Animal Rights and Ecoterrorism: Justice Department
The ALF was founded in the UK, and its goal is to engage in direct action to further the cause of animal liberation. Therefore, ALF activists engage in direct action to save as many animals as possible and their aim is to force animal abuse companies out of business. ALF's structure is entirely decentralized, and in one of its publications, it is stated that "any vegetarian or vegan who carries out an action that falls within the ALF's policies may claim that action on behalf of the ALF." The ALF claims to be non-violent. However, their actions usually cause damage and destruction, at least on property. Furthermore, some activists who have engaged in direct action that could endanger life have used alternative names, claiming the acts on behalf of more radical groups such as the Animal Rights Militia or the Justice Department. Terrorist actions include the removal or liberation of animals from vivisection laboratories, attacks and threats toward medical and scientific research laboratories, butcher shops, and retail furriers, theft of research animals, the destruction of research equipment and records, and vandalism and arson. ALF activists have been fully supportive of an international animal rights campaign called Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty (SHAC) which focuses its action on attempting to close the Huntington Life Sciences, the most important animal testing company in Europe which tests a variety of products on approximately 75,000 animals every year, including dogs, cats and monkeys. Authorities have noticed an escalation in violence from the ALF, and it was identified as a terrorist threat by the United States Department of Homeland Security in January 2005. Group Membership: There are an unknown number of members and the group is entirely decentralized. Each cell operates clandestinely and independently of one another. Key leaders include David Barbarash and Ronnie Lee. Lifespan: The ALF was founded in the UK in 1976 and the American branch was founded in 1982. Key Targets: Governments and animal abuse companies.
Native Terrorism: The American Indian Movement (AIM)
The American Indian Movement was started in the mid-1960s in the prisons of the American Midwest. American Indians were concerned with social injustices and the marginalization of native people. Today it exists in many places throughout North America. The AIM approach "explicitly seeks to find solutions through negotiation and peaceful means. But AIM people feel strongly that they must defend themselves, and help all Indian people defend themselves, from unjust violence and coercion". The charges most often brought against AIM activists include riots and assaults against police. In Canada, the AIM became influential in 1973. The organization recognizes no border between Canada and the United States, striving to achieve similar goals in both countries. The most important political arena for AIM members in Canada is the land claims issue. Struggles continue in British Columbia and many other provinces, and the movement continues to grow.1
_________ tried to kill President Harry Truman.
The Armed Forces for Puerto Rican National Liberation.
Anti-Abortion Terrorism: Army of God
The Army of God is a terrorist network of "soldiers" fighting against abortion. The soldiers never meet, but are led their Chaplain, Pastor Michael Bray, who wrote a book called A Time to Kill which defends the use of violence against abortion providers. The Army of God also distributes an instruction manual for attacking abortion clinics, cutting off the hands of abortion doctors, manufacturing bombs and other illegal activities. Many of its members have been involved in terrorist incidents, including the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996 which killed one person and injured 111 others, bombings of abortion clinics and gay bars, the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian in 1998, and sending 550 anthrax threat letters to clinics in 2001. Recent reports have noted an increase in the Army's anti-gay rhetoric, and authorities are worried that the group may direct their violence toward homosexuals as well. Group Membership: Key leaders include Don Benny Anderson, Michael Bray, Neal Horsley, James C. Kopp, Eric Robert Rudolph. Lifespan: 1982 to the present. Key Targets: Abortion providers and homosexuals.
Black panther party
The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was founded in the fall of 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California, as an organization that was to protect the black community from police brutality. The Black Panthers were not racist but condemned the oppression of both blacks and whites by the capitalists and their corporate power structure. While involved in violent actions but often the target of unprovoked police violence, the Black Panther Party did not understand itself as a terrorist organization.1
The Black Panthers (California)
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, a black nationalist/racial equality organization, originally sought to promote civil rights and self-defense through a revolutionary class struggle. Founded in 1966 in California by Huey Percy Newton and Bobby Seale, the group was socialist/Marxist, but especially very critical of the United States government. It drew attention to the oppression of the black population, called the U.S. a racist capitalist state, and its objectives included freedom for all imprisoned blacks, exemption of black people from military service, and full employment of the black population. The Black Panthers gained some public support due to their confrontational approach, as well as their social programs which aimed at helping the poor in communities most neglected by the government, such as the Free Breakfast for Children program, sickle-cell disease tests and free food and shoes. Following Martin Luther King's assassination, the group started to pursue armed strategies, namely militarily training while arming its members. This militaristic approach led to many confrontations with authorities and the group's primary political goals suffered. The group decided early on that authorities abused African Americans in Oakland, California, and encouraged them to openly bear arms, and the armed Black Panthers would patrol the Oakland police, in order to stop racially-motivated crimes against the local African-American community. Eventually, after much conflict with law enforcement and internal problems, the group nearly collapsed and its leadership either died or they had fled the country. In all, four airline hijackings were claimed by the group, wherein planes were forced to fly to Cuba, Algeria and North Korea, where group members requested asylum. Other members joined the Black Liberation Army. Group Membership: The group was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. There were approximately 2000 members in 1970. Members included Mumia Abu-Jamal, Ashanti Alston, Richard Aoki, Charles Barron, William Lee Brant, Elaine Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Bunchy Carter, Mark Clark, Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Neal Cleaver and many others. Lifespan: 1966 to 1972. Key Targets: The United States government.
Other groups
The Council of Conservative Citizens, Elohim City, Greater Ministries International, The Hammerskin Nation, Militia of Montana, Nazi Low Riders
Earth Liberation Front (United Kingdon, United States, Canada, Greece)
The ELF was first created in the UK, and it defines itself as "a movement of independently operating eco-saboteurs". The ELF is now active in other countries such as the United States, Canada, and Greece. It has a decentralized structure, with small autonomous groups or individuals (cells) who engage in direct action, economic sabotage and guerilla warfare to cease the exploitation and destruction of the environment. Tactics are allegedly non-violent, and the group claims that no human has ever been injured by any of their actions. Terrorist activities usually destroy property, facilities or companies which the members believe can cause harm to the environment, including companies involved in logging, genetic engineering, home building, automobile sales, energy production and distribution as well as nuclear power plants and ski resorts. Activities have included arsons and fire-bombings. The ELF was classified as the top domestic terror threat in the United States by the FBI in March 2001, and members are regularly charged in court. Group Membership: There is no formal leadership in the ELF, however Red Coronado is the alleged "national leader" of the ELF in the U.S. and Craig Rosebraugh was the unofficial spokesperson for the ELF from 1997 to 2001. The number of members is unknown due to the decentralized nature of the group. Lifespan: 1994 to the present. Key Targets: Governments and private industries that destroy the environment.
Domestic terrorist groups throughout history include
The FLQ b) The ALF c) The Weathermen d) The SLA
Native Extremism: Little Shell Pembina Band of North America
The Little Shell Pembina Band first existed as a branch of the Chippewa Indians, who owned land that was recognized in the early 1700s by European settlers. The land goes throughout South and North Dakota, up to Canada. An agreement was reached between the United States and Little Shell in 1856, where the United States was to pay the tribe for the land, which they did not do. After an allegedly fraudulent treaty, the tribe became nomadic. In the 20th century, lawsuits were launched against the United States government for federal recognition of the tribe and the funds from appropriations statutes pertaining to Chippewa land claims. The courts refused to recognize the link between Delorme's band and the Chippewas, and Delorme transformed the Little Shell Band into a sovereign citizen group. By 2004, the Little Shell Band claimed to be a "completely sovereign tribe", with its own executive, legislative and judicial powers, and entitled to over 53 million acres of land. At this point, the Little Shell Band allowed anyone, regardless of ancestry, to become a member of the group, opening the door for a variety of anti-government activists to join, including members from extreme right-wing movements. Since the Little Shell Band started operating as a sovereign citizen group, its members have used its self-declared sovereignty to their advantage, with activities that include offering bogus insurance, evading taxes, avoiding regulations, usage of bogus license plates and delaying court cases. Group Membership: The Delorme family has been head of the tribe since 1863, most notably Ronald Delorme. The tribe counts 60 documented members, and has approximately 100 additional members. Lifespan: 1863 to the present. Key Targets: The group is anti-government, and some members belong to sovereign citizen, militia or white supremacist groups.
The May 19 Communist Organization (M19CO) (United States)
The May 19 Communist Organization (M19CO) (United States) Group Ideology: Founded in 1968, the M19CO was a front or a cell of the Revolutionary Armed Task Force (RATF), consisting of a coalition of splintered-off members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army. The use of May 19 in the group's name refers to Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh's birthdays. The group was radically anti-racist, anti-imperialist, pacifist, and politically communist/socialist or leftist. Some of their goals included freeing political prisoners being held in U.S. prisons, the appropriation of capitalist wealth in order to fund their third objective, and the initiation of a series of bombings and terrorist attacks. Members funded their operations with bank robberies. The organization committed a series of attacks between 1983 and 1985 in order to draw attention to what the group referred to as "immoral actions of the United States government". Bombings included the National War College, the Washington Navy Yard Computing Center, the Israeli Aircraft Industries Building, New York City's South African Consulate, the Washington Navy Yard Officers' Club, New York City's Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the United States Capitol Building. There were no victims, but the organization threatened that there could have been victims in the future. Following these bombings, almost all members were arrested and convicted of various crimes such as robbery, possession of illegal weapons and explosives, forgery and domestic terrorism. Group Membership: The group had less than 20 members, including Laura Whitehorn, Timothy Blunk, Alan Berkman, Susan Rosenberg, Marilyn Buck, Linda Evans and Elizabeth Duke. Lifespan: 1968 to the mid-1980s. Key Targets: The United States government.
National Socialist Movement (Minneapolis)
The NSM is currently the largest active neo-Nazi group in the United States, with many chapters across the country. It traces its roots back to the American Nazi Party in the 1960s and has a paramilitary structure. Members also engage in paramilitary training and are given recipes for explosives. The members are explicitly Nazi as they openly worship Hitler and imitate the uniforms and paraphernalia of the Third Reich. The goal is the creation of an all white greater America that would exclude all nonwhites, Jews and homosexuals and include policies such as racial separatism and isolationism, and economic policies such as affordable housing, a living wage and profit sharing by large corporations. NSM supports an "instant death penalty" for homosexuals. The NSM propagates its ideology via its website, publications, conferences, rallies and racist video games for the young. The NSM actually recruits many children into its youth organization, the Viking Youth Corps, to promote racial awareness among the youth. John Taylor Bowles, a former federal officer of the United States Department of Agriculture, was the NSM candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Group Membership: The group was founded by Robert Brannen and Cliff Herrington. Current leader is Jeff Schoep. Members are mostly young racist skinheads. Lifespan: 1974 to today. Key targets: All non-white racial minorities, Jews and homosexuals.
The New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
The New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense has no link with the Black Panther Party, except for the partial use of the name, which several members of the original Panthers have condemned, because of the racism and anti-Semitism of the NBPP. The NBPP is considered by many as a black racist hate group that is anti-white and anti-Semitic. Unlike the original Black Panthers, who promoted multiculturalism and community programs to help the poor, the racist rhetoric of the NBPP overshadows their efforts to promote black pride and consciousness. At their annual Million Youth March, the NBPP has already drawn some 6000 people to protest against police brutality and to call for the extermination of whites in South Africa. Just like anti-Semitic white hate groups, the NBPP has promoted an anti-Jewish 9/11 conspiracy theory, blaming Jews for the attacks. Some members came from the Nation of Islam, a 1930s separatist, Islamist, and socio-political organization in the U.S., which has been criticized for its racism, anti-Christianism, anti-Semitism, anti-White, homophobic and sexist tendencies. They currently organize demonstrations throughout the U.S., calling for black empowerment and civil rights. Group Membership: The founder was Aaron Michaels, and the current leader is Ben Trebach. Lifespan: 1989 to the present. Key Targets: The U.S. government, all non African-Americans, Jews.
The Order (United States)
The Order was a neo-Nazi white nationalist revolutionary group founded in 1983 by Robert Jay Mathews, and influenced by the National Alliance's leader William Pierce and his racist novel, The Turner Diaries. Members were first recruited from other white supremacist groups such as the Aryan Nations and the National Alliance. The group's main goal was to overthrow the United States federal government, which the group referred to as "ZOG" (the Zionist Occupied Government) to create an Aryan homeland for the white race. The Order encountered problems when it started to commit violent crimes to fund its objectives, including robberies (banks and armored cars) and counterfeiting operations. The group also carried out synagogue and theatre bombings, and murdered a Jewish radio host, Alan Berg, after an argument between Order members and Berg during his talk show. The leader of the group was killed in 1984 during a shootout with the FBI, as he refused to surrender on counterfeiting charges. In all, many Order members were convicted of racketeering and in some cases murder charges, and they received sentences ranging from 40 years to life in prison. Today the group is allegedly inactive, but its former leader is still idealized by many active white supremacist groups. Group Membership: The leader was Robert Jay Mathews, who died in 1984. Other important members included Richard Scutari, Bruce Pierce, David Lane and Ardie McBrearty. Lifespan: 1983-1984. Key Targets: The U.S. federal government, Jews and other racial minorities.
The Republic of New Afrika (USA)
The RNA was the first organization asking for reparations for American slavery, which existed prior to the civil war. The RNA's goal is for African Americans to gain self-determination and to achieve an independent nation with a self-sufficient economy, carved out of five states, namely Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, which would constitute the Republic of New Afrika. The leaders, two brothers named Gaidi Obadele and Imari Abubakari Obadele, also wanted $400 billion dollars as reparation for the injustices suffered by Black Americans during the slavery period. The group carried out terrorist attacks or shootouts with police and FBI agents who conducted raids during their meetings. In 1971, three people claiming to be members of the RNA hijacked a TWA flight. During a 1971 FBI raid in Mississippi, a policeman was killed and Imari Obadele was arrested along with six other prominent group members. This put a stop to the group's militancy, but upon his release from prison, Imari Obadele focused on establishing a political movement. The RNA is now a non-militant political organization which still wants an independent nation in the five American southern states listed above. Group Membership: Founders and leaders were Gaidi Obadele and Imari Abubakari Obadele, and key members included Hekima Ana, Iyaluua Ferguson, Charles Howard Sr. and Ukali Mwendo. The group claims to have 10,000 members. Lifespan: 1968 to the present. Key Targets: The United States government.
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that
The U.S. Constitution grants women the right to abortion
The Weathermen/The Weather Underground
The Weathermen (or The Weather Underground Organization) was a U.S. radical communist organization that grew out of the Students for a Democratic Society, and the anti-Vietnam War movement in the 1960s. The Weathermen quickly planned terrorist activities such as bombings, jailbreaks and riots to achieve the revolutionary overthrow of the government of the United States and of capitalism. In their "Days of Rage", an anti-Vietnam War riot in Chicago in 1969, six people were shot and seventy arrested. The Weathermen went underground and issued a "Declaration of a State of War" against the U.S. government after the police murdered two Black Panther leaders. Among their criminal acts, group members assisted in the prison break-out of Timothy Leary, an LSD advocate, in 1970. Their political beliefs went from socialism to communism, and members allegedly met with Cuban and North Vietnam representatives. Near the end of the 1970s, as their revolution failed to materialize, some members turned themselves in, while others dispatched to other groups, or were imprisoned. However, the evidence used against them was officially deemed illegally obtained and inadmissible in court, and thus few members served prison sentences. Group Membership: Top members include Kathy Boudin, Mark Rudd, Terry Robbins, Ted Gold, Naomi Jaffe, Cathy Wilkerson, Jeff Jones, David Gilbert, Susan Stern, Bob Tomashevsky, Sam Karp, Russ Neufeld, Joe Kelly, Laura Whitehorn and Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. Lifespan: 1969 to 1977. Key Targets: The U.S. government.
White Revolution (Arkansas)
The White Revolution is a fairly new neo-Nazi white supremacist, anti-democratic and anti-Christian group based in Arkansas and led by Billy Roper. Its goal is to unite all white supremacist groups to create a "white revolution" and eventually establish an all-white government, with foreign and domestic policies that would only be based on the interests of white people. Billy Roper, who claims to come from a family that has three generations belonging to the Klan, was expelled from the National Alliance after William Pierce's death. He quickly established alliances with other groups including the National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations, and a number of Klan factions and plans to make links with the WCOTC and the National Alliance. The White Revolution is intended to constitute a white supremacist umbrella organization that is not perceived by other leaders as a threat. The group's propaganda is mainly disseminated via the Internet. Group Membership: Roper is Chairman, and his board of directors includes Victor Gerhard, Chris Quimby, Justina Cook and Tom Martin. Lifespan: September 2002 to the present. Key Targets: Jews and non-whites.
The first Anarchists in the US
The anarchist movement failed. Leon Czolgosz, famous anarchist and assassin of U.S. President William McKinley
What is linked with the emergence of right-wing terrorism in the United States?
The civil war (1861-1865)
Klu Klux Klan
The founders of the Ku Klux Klan were Confederate Civil War veterans. Today a few thousand members are organized into units of approximately 100 members each. Founded in 1865 to contest the adoption of the 13th amendment to the U.S Constitution which abolished slavery and slave labor, they targeted black freedmen and white supporters of African Americans' rights. In disguises, they beat and lynched targets under the cover of the night with the goal of maintaining white supremacy in the south. The second Ku Klux Klan emerged after the release of D.W. Griffith's motion picture Birth of a Nation, which glorified the first Klan and the southern power structure and racial discrimination it stood for. At the peak of the second Klan period in the mid-1920s, the organization had a total membership of 3-4 million. In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan foreshadowed the organizational structure of more recent and contemporary terrorist organizations in that it worked both within the legitimate political process and at the same time had members who engaged in illegal political violence.1 The new Klan, which emerged in 1915, added a hatred of Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners and organized labor to its hostility toward blacks. A burning cross became the symbol of this new organization. It peaked in membership in the 1920s, dropped drastically in activity in the Great Depression of the 1930s, and experienced a resurgence in membership and activities with the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Bombings, whippings, shootings and lynchings were again committed by members of this group against innocent people.2
Creativity movement (formerly known as the World Church of the Creator) (Wyoming)
The group was originally named the Church of the Creator, and considers itself to be a religion based on race, or white supremacy. It changed its name in 2003, when it lost a trademark infringement lawsuit. The group rejects Christianity, which it describes as a Jewish concoction for worldwide power, and its members are extremely anti-Semitic. They deny the Holocaust. The founder, Ben Klassen, recruited white supremacist members throughout the U.S., Canada, Sweden and South Africa. The World Church of the Creator has a longstanding reputation as being one of the most violent white supremacist groups in the United States. In 1991, one of its ministers, George Loeb, was found guilty of a racially motivated murder of a black Gulf War veteran. The victim's family won a lawsuit against the Church of the Creator, asking for $1 million in damages and the dissolution of the organization for vicarious liability in the murder. Among other incidents, in 1997, WCOTC Florida State Director Jules Fettu and fellow Creators Donald Hansard and Raymond Leone were arrested and charged for a violent attack against an African-American father and son in Miami. In 1998, four members were indicted on hate-crime conspiracy charges for an armed robbery of an adult video store in Florida and the assault of the Jewish store owner. In 1999, two members were charged for the murder of a gay couple in California. The organization is now led by Matt Hale, and recruits women, children and incarcerated men, many of whom are violent criminals. It propagates its message mainly via the Internet. In Canada, George Burdi was the leader of the Canadian branch of the Church of the Creator. He was eventually convicted for assault causing bodily harm during one of his demonstrations. He had attacked an anti-racism demonstrator, and spent one year in prison. He renounced white supremacism upon his release. Group Membership: The group was founded by Ben Klassen. The present leader is Matt Hale. Lifespan: 1973 to the present. Key Targets: Mainly Jews as well as Christians, African Americans and other people of color.
Left-Wing Terrorism
The left-wing groups in the United States that turned to terrorism in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the Vietnam War and the civil rights struggles were inspired by Marxist ideology.1 Unlike in much of Europe, however, the U.S. left-wing revolutionary movements did not generate widespread public support, nor were most groups long-lived or successful in their efforts to carry out acts of violence. In 1967, several protest groups began to coalesce around the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army (infamous for its kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst) were active in the 1960s and 1970s. Many in these groups were linked with Puerto Rican nationalist groups, such as the Macheteros. Fortunately for the U.S., most of the student-based groups were active in ideological rhetoric but not skilled in violence. Many of the bombing attempts killed more of the student activists than they did the intended targets.2
The deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil to date, other than 9/11, was committed by
Timothy McVeigh
Group Membership
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, both white supremacists. Lifespan: Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 - June 11, 2001), Terry Lynn Nichols (born April 1, 1955, sentenced to life in prison without parole). Key Targets: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
During the October Crisis, Prime Minister Pierre implemented the
War Measures Act
The Branch Davidians (Waco, Texas)
ents: The Branch Davidians are an apocalyptic Christian sect, and in the case of former leader David Koresh, it constituted an apocalyptic cult. The sect originally split away from the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which emphasizes the imminent arrival of Jesus Christ (and the belief that his arrival would signify the beginning of the "Last Days") vegetarian dietary rules and the inerrancy of the Bible. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) started investigating the settlement of the cult which was situated at Mount Carmel, ten miles outside of Waco, Texas, because the group allegedly stockpiled illegal weapons and David Koresh allegedly practiced polygamy with teen brides and physically abused children and infants. Events led to a violent raid after David Koresh refused to execute a warrant on February 28, 1993, as part of an investigation into allegations of illegal weapons and child abuse, resulting in an FBI and BATF 51-day siege where approximately eighty Davidians, including twenty-seven children and Koresh himself were killed. A gasoline stockpile in the Branch Davidian complex was ignited by grenades that were launched by the FBI. Group Membership: The leader and founder of the Branch Davidian millennial cult in Waco was David Koresh. He had more than a hundred followers at Mount Carmel. Lifespan: Following David Koresh's death, the Branch Davidian movement continued along two factions. One was an anti-Koresh group that was taken over by a group of 24 members who try to comprehend the events of Waco in the light of Bible prophecy.
Right-Wing Terrorism
far more extreme than conservatism, strong in the US both before and now. White supremacist groups in the US trace their roots to the group that emerged after the Civil War (the Klu Klux Klan)
purist clan
holds aggressive rallies and follow the original tradition and ideology of the Klan.
Left-wing groups
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