Communist terrorism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Communist terrorism is terrorism carried out in the name of furthering Communist goals or teachings. After Islamic groups, Communist groups are the largest number of organizations on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
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[edit] Shining Path
The Communist Party of Peru more commonly known as the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), is a Maoist guerrilla organization in Peru that launched the internal conflict in Peru in 1980. Widely condemned for its brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, trade union organizers, popularly elected officials and the general civilian population[1], Shining Path is on the U.S. Department of State's "Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations" list.[2] Peru, the European Union[3], and Canada[4] likewise regard Shining Path as a terrorist group and prohibit providing funding or other financial support.
[edit] FARC
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is a Marxist/Leninist organization in Colombia which has employed vehicle bombings, gas cylinder bombs, killings, landmines, kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, as well as guerrilla and conventional military. The United States Department of State includes the FARC-EP on its list of foreign terrorist organizations, as does the European Union. FARC has It funds itself principally through extortion, kidnapping and their participation in the illegal drug trade.[5][6] Many of their fronts have also overrun and massacred small communities in order to silence and intimidate those who do not support their activities, enlist new and underaged recruits by force, distribute propaganda and, more importantly, to pillage local banks. Businesses operating in rural areas, including agricultural, oil, and mining interests, were required to pay "vaccines" (monthly payments) which "protected" them from subsequent attacks and kidnappings. An additional, albeit less lucrative, source of revenue was highway blockades where guerrillas stopped motorists and buses in order to confiscate jewelry and money. An estimated 20-30 percent of FARC combatants are under 18 years old, with many as young as 12 years old, for a total of around 5000 children. [7]), Children who try to escape the ranks of the guerrillas are punished with torture and death.[7][8] The United States Department of State includes the FARC-EP on its list of foreign terrorist organizations, as does the European Union.
[edit] Communist Party of the Philippines
The Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA)is a paramilitary group fighting for communist revolution in the Philippines. It was formed on March 29, 1969. The Maoist NPA fights a "protracted people's war" as the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The NPA is classified as a terrorist organization by the Philippine Government, the US, EU and other countries. The NPA's targets often include politicians, military, police, criminals, landlords, business owners and occasionally U.S. agents in the Philippines. In its Second Rectification Movement the group conducted a purge killing thousands of partisans and members on accusations of being deep penetration agent by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine intelligence community. Former NPA fighter Robert Francis Garcia chronicled the wild murders in his book To Suffer Thy Comrades and organized the Peace Advocates for Truth, Healing and Justice (PATH), a group composed of survivors of the "purges" and the families of victims and their friends and supporters.
[edit] Kurdistan Workers Party
The Kurdistan Workers Partyis a Marxism-Leninist nationalist group which uses force and the threat of force against both civilian and military including by suicide bombing. It is recognized as a terrorist organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the USA, NATO and the EU.
[edit] November 17
Revolutionary Organization 17 November(also known as 17N or N17) is Marxist terrorist organization formed in 1973 and believed by many to be have been disbanded in 2002 after the arrest and trial of a number of its members. During its heyday, the urban guerrilla group assassinated 23 people in 103 attacks on U.S., diplomatic and Greek targets. Greek authorities believe spin-off terror groups are still in operation, including Revolutionary Struggle, the group that allegedly fired a rocket propelled grenade at the U.S. Embassy in Athens in January 2007.
[edit] Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front
The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front, is a militant Marxist-Leninist party in Turkey. It is in the terrorist organization lists in the U.S., the UK and the EU.
[edit] Tamil Tigers
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers) are a Marxist/Leninist influenced terrrorist group which has committed more suicide attacks in the last two decades than any other terrorist organization. They have been influenced by a largely Communist. The Tamil Tigers are engaged in a struggle for independence from the central Sri Lankan government.
[edit] ETA
ETA is a Marxist-Leninist paramilitary Basque nationalist organization. ETA has committed approximately 900 killings and dozens of kidnappings. More than 500 ETA militants are held in prison in Spain and France. On March 22, 2006 the organization declared a "permanent ceasefire." ETA broke the ceasefire with a car bomb attack on December 30, 2006 at Barajas International Airport, Madrid killing two Ecuadorians.
[edit] Revolutionary Nuclei
Revolutionary Nuclei is a Marxist-Leninist group in Greece, formed in 1995. The group is on the U.S.Department of State's list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations and appears on the list of terror organisations of the European Union.
[edit] May 19th Communist Movement
The May 19 Communist Organization, also referred to as the May 19 Communist Coalition, was a US-based, self-described revolutionary organization formed by splintered-off members of the Weather Underground. The group was originally known as the New York chapter of the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), an organization devoted to legally promoting the causes of the Weather Underground. Its name was derived from the birthdays of Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X. The May 19 Communist Organization was active from 1978 to 1985.
In 1981 Kathy Boudin, together with several members of the Black Liberation Army, participated in a robbery of a Brinks armored car at the Nanuet Mall, near Nyack, New York. Upon her arrest Boudin was identified as a member of the May 19 Communist Organization. From 1982 to 1985 a series of bombings were ascribed to the group.
By May 23, 1985 all members of the group had been arrested, with the exception of Elizabeth Duke, who remains a fugitive. At a 1986 trial, six group members were tried and convicted of multiple counts of domestic terrorism.
[edit] State Sponsored Terrorism
Stéphane Courtois’ The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression notes that communism killed between 85 million and 100 million people in the last century. Communism, as Courtois and his fellow historians establish, killed with brutal efficiency: approximately 65 million in China under Mao Zedong, 25 million in Bolshevik and Stalinist Russia, 2 million in Cambodia, and millions of others in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Courtouis notes that this shockingly soaring count of the dead was accomplished by mass murders, town burnings, planned famines and other ruthlessly conceived methods. [9]
[edit] References
- ^ Burt, Jo-Marie (2006). "'Quien habla es terrorista': The political use of fear in Fujimori's Peru." Latin American Research Review 41 (3) 32-62.
- ^ US Department of State, "Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)" October 11, 2005. Available online Accessed 1 February 2006.
- ^ Council Common Position 2005/936/CFSP. March 14, 2005. Available online. Accessed September 27, 2006.
- ^ Government of Canada. "Listed Entities". Available online. Accessed September 27, 2006.
- ^ BBC News. "Colombia's Most Powerful Rebels." September 19, 2003. Available online. Accessed September 1, 2006.
- ^ International Crisis Group. "War and Drugs in Colombia." January 27, 2005. Available online. Accessed September 1, 2006.
- ^ a b Human Rights Watch. "Colombia: Armed Groups Send Children to War." February 22, 2005. Available online. Accessed September 1, 2006.
- ^ Human Rights Watch. "'You'll Learn Not to Cry: Child Combatants in Colombia." September 2003. Avaliable online. Accessed September 1, 2006.
- ^ Courtois, Stephane (1999). The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674076082.
