War On Terror – Who Is A Terrorist?

We have heard so often the phrase “War on Terror”, but who exactly is a terrorist?  How is terrorism defined?

The International Institute for Counter-Terrorism proposed a definition as follows: “Terrorism is the intentional use of, or threat to use violence against civilians or against civilian targets, in order to attain political aims.”

Sounds simple enough, and surely nobody in his right mind can honestly support terrorism.  But recently, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in an interview with BBC Radio 4 seems to suggest that terrorism can be justified in certain circumstances.

Speaking on the Great Lives program, David Miliband referred specifically to Joe Slovo the anti-apartheid activist from South Africa who was one of the founders of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).  Joe Slovo was also  general secretary of the South African Communist Party during the 1980s.

In an interview with the BBC World Service in 1986, Joe Slovo said: “I think a legitimate target is the enemy and the enemy is basically in uniform, but not all are in uniform. For example in the rural areas, our judgement is that virtually the whole farming community is part of the South African Defence Force.”

Joe Slovo died in 1995 after losing a battle with leukaemia. At his funeral, Nelson Mandela, in delivering an eulogy, said: “He knew when to compromise. Yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant.”

So Joe Slovo was a communist, a militant, and by targeting the civilian farming community, also a terrorist.  Yet British Foreign Secretary David Miliband chose to pay tribute to Joe Slovo on BBC Radio 4.  He said that there were circumstances when terrorism can be “justified” and can be “effective.”  And he backed up his statement this way: “The importance for me is that the South African example proved something remarkable: the apartheid regime looked like a regime that would last forever, and it was blown down.”

Was the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressing the official British Government’s position on this subject?  Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague hoped this is not the case.  He said: “When so much of the efforts of our security services, and the sacrifices of our troops in Afghanistan are devoted to defeating terrorists, this is hardly the time to argue that terrorism is sometimes acceptable.”

Think about it.  Who is right? British Foreign Secretary David Miliband or Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague?  They cannot both be right.  If David Miliband is right, then we are back to the old saying: “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” No one really know who said this, but to adopt this saying is to open a pandora box.  For then any terrorist can claim to be a freedom fighter.  If William Hague is right, then how can terrorists be defeated, and acts of terrorism stopped?