Chapter Fourteen: Terrorism in the United States

1. Chapter Fourteen:Terrorism in the United States

2. Nationalistic Separatism: The Case of Puerto Rico

3. Nationalistic Separatism: The Case of Puerto Rico • 1898- The United States captured Puerto Rico in the Spanish-American war • The United States granted Puerto Rico commonwealth status • Three opinions of the Puerto Rican population • Some desire Puerto Rican statehood • Some want to create an independent country • Some want to maintain a commonwealth status

4. Nationalistic Separatism: The Case of Puerto Rico • Revolutionary organizations that embraced the nationalist terrorist campaign • Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) • Volunteers for the Puerto Rican Revolution (OVRP) • The Armed Forces of Liberation (FARP) • The Guerilla Forces of Liberation (GEL) • The Pedro Albizu Compos Revolutionary Forces (PACRF)

5. The Development of Right-Wing Violence

6. The Development of Right-Wing Violence • History of right-wing extremism • The first incident of antifederal behavior came shortly after the American Revolutionary War • 1791- The Whiskey Rebellion • Antifederal attitudes were common in some circles in the early 1800s • The Know-Nothings (a.k.a., the Order of the Sons of America and the Sons of the Star Spangled Banner) were anti-Catholic, anti-Irish, and anti-immigration • The Civil War • Southerners were fighting to keep the power of local government

7. The Development of Right-Wing Violence • The Ku Klux Klan • Founded by Nathan Bedford Forrest, the KKK was created as an antiunionist organization that would preserve southern culture and traditions • Shortly after the Civil War, hooded Knight Riders terrorized African Americans to frighten them into political and social submission • In the 1920s, the Klan sought political legitimacy • The modern KKK grew after WWII, becoming up to the present day, fragmented, decentralized, and dominated by hate-filled rhetoric

8. The Development of Right-Wing Violence • Right-wing extremism from the 1930s to the present • Michael Barkun says that a new religion, Christian Identity, grew from the extremist perspective • Anglo-Israelism saw white Americans as the lost tribes of Israel. William Swift preached this message beginning in the late 1940s • Two of Swift’s disciples, William Potter Gale and Richard Butler, went on to form right-wing associations • Gale formed the Posse Comitatus • Butler formed the Aryan Nation • Christian Identity is based on the premise that God was white

9. The Development of Right-Wing Violence • Identity theology • Identity theology is based on a story of conflict and hate. According to this theology, Jews have gained control of the United States by conspiring to create the Federal Reserve System. The struggle between whites and Jews will continue until whites ultimately achieve victory with God’s help • Before the Christian Identity movement • Before the Christian Identity movement, American extremism was characterized by ethnocentrism and localized violence

10. Contemporary Right-Wing Behavior, Beliefs, and Tactics

11. Contemporary Right-Wing Behavior, Beliefs, and Tactics • Issues that hold the right-wing movement together • The right-wing tends to follow one of the forms of extremist religions • The movement is dominated by a belief in conspiracy and conspiracy theories • Right-wing extremists continue to embrace patriotism and gun

12. Contemporary Right-Wing Behavior, Beliefs, and Tactics • Limit of right-wing terrorism • Groups are rural and tend to emerge from farm-based compounds

13. Contemporary Right-Wing Behavior, Beliefs, and Tactics • Trends of the right-wing movement in 1984 • The White supremacy movement • Ku Klux Klan • Neo-Nazis • Other White European or Aryan-based organizations • Survivalism • Survivalists withdraw from society, forming compounds in rural areas • Religion • Many right wing extremists follow Christian Identity

14. Contemporary Right-Wing Behavior, Beliefs, and Tactics • Rejuvenation of the extremist right • The Brady Bill • The Brady Bill caused many conservatives to fear federal gun-control legislation; Extremists felt they had an issue that appealed to mainstream conservatives • Ruby Ridge • The Ruby Ridge incident had a strong symbolic impact on the extremist right • The Waco siege • Although David Koresh had nothing to do with right-wing extremists per se, he had the formula: guns, a survivalist compound, and a belief in a Warrior God

15. Contemporary Right-Wing Behavior, Beliefs, and Tactics • Current situation of the extremist right • After September 11, 2001, violent members of the right-wing movement melted away from large organizations and began to congregate in small groups • The existence of the smaller groups engaged in more individualistic violence

16. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms

17. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms • Nordic Christianity • Using ancient Norse rites, they claimed to worship the Triune Christian Deity, but they added Odin (Wotan) and Thor. Odin, the chief of the Norse gods, called Nordic warriors to racial purification from Valhalla, or the Viking heaven. Thor, the god of thunder, sounded the call with a hammer that shook the heavens

18. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms • Creatorism • Creatorists call for a holy war or RAHOWA • Creatorism is a religion with more violent tendencies than Christian Identity

19. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms • Free-Wheeling Fundamentalists • The majority of right-wing extremists retreated to more conservative churches and relied on individual interpretations of scripture from lay preachers along the American frontier to justify antigovernment actions. This group can be described as Free-Wheeling Fundamentalists • They believe that the federal government and local governments are their enemies and the God will assist them in their confrontation with evil

20. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms • Militias • Militias thrive on conspiracy theories. • They believe the U.S. government is leading the country into a single world government controlled by the United Nations and that the New World Order is a continuation of a conspiracy outlined in the Protocols of Zion, a document written after World War I, claiming that Jews are out to control the world • Militias are almost always religious, but few embrace Christian Identity, Nordic Christianity, or Creatorism. For justification, they rely on Free-Wheeling Fundamentalism and violent passages of Christian scripture quoted out of context. • Simply joining a militia group does not make a person a terrorist

21. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms • Paramilitary groups • Paramilitary groups, or armed civilian militias that organize themselves in a military manner, operate on different levels • Paramilitary groups come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and most of their action is rhetorical

22. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms • Third position • The Third Position tried to unite both left- and right-wing extremists • Both extremes found that they had some things in common: They hate the government, they have no use for large corporations, and they distrust the media

23. Conspiracies, Militias, and the Call to Arms • Small violent groups after September 11, 2001 • These small groups embrace the ideas of Marighella and felt that any act of violence would help to create the mayhem necessary to topple the government

24. Pierce’s Blueprint for Revolution

25. Pierce’s Blueprint for Revolution • William Pierce • William Pierce was a White supremacist with headquarters in rural West Virginia. He led an organization called the National Alliance, purchased Resistance Records, a recording label for Skinhead hate music

26. Pierce’s Blueprint for Revolution • The Turner Diaries • The Turner Diaries is a diatribe against minorities and Jews • From a technical standpoint, it is a how-to manual for low-level terrorism

27. Pierce’s Blueprint for Revolution • Dangers of The Turner Diaries • It could inspire copycat crimes • Some who have read this book have taken action • Robert Matthews founded The Order • Timothy McVeigh was arrested with a worn copy of The Turner Diaries

28. Pierce’s Blueprint for Revolution • Hunter • Hunter tells the story of a lone wolf named Hunter who decides to launch a one-person revolution • It could and has inspired copycat crimes

29. The Decline of the Left

30. The Decline of the Left • Contributions to the demise of left-wing terrorism • Intellectual elites controlled the movement, yet the movement lost its base when student activism began to disappear from American academic life • Left-wing groups had engaged in symbolic violence • Guilt may have been a factor in the demise • Left-wing movements became more specific, focusing not only on certain political behavior, but on particular causes

31. Ecoterrorism, Animal Rights, and Genetic Engineering

32. Ecoterrorism, Animal Rights, and Genetic Engineering • Earth Liberation Front (ELF) • ELF migrated from Europe to the United States • The alliance has been responsible for more than six hundred criminal acts since 1996 • Its tactics include sabotage, tree spiking, property damage, intimidation, and arson

33. Ecoterrorism, Animal Rights, and Genetic Engineering • The Monkey Wrench Gang, by Edward Abbey • In The Monkey Wrench Gang, the heroes drive through the western states sabotaging bulldozers, burning billboards, and damaging the property of people they deem to be destroying the environment • Abbey, however, is an environmental activist rather than a hate-filled ideologue

34. Ecoterrorism, Animal Rights, and Genetic Engineering • Ecoterrorism today • Most violence associated with ecoterrorism has taken place in the American West • From 1995-1999, damages total $28.8 million • ELF activities have increased each year since 1999 • Ecoterrorists are uncompromising, illogical extremists just like their right-wing counterparts; They use ecology as a surrogate religion

35. Antiabortion Violence

36. Antiabortion Violence • Tactics of antiabortionists • Antiabortionists began with bombing and arson attacks • Today assault and gunmen along with bombing and arson are antiabortionist tactics

37. Antiabortion Violence • Justification for antiabortion acts • Violent antiabortionist advocates justify their actions in the same manner as other political extremists • Accepting the status quo is worse than using violence to change behavior. It is the standard justification for terrorism

38. Antiabortion Violence • Explanations for violent political behavior • Social control breaks down under stress and urbanization • Violence increases when people are not satisfied with political outcomes • Violence can be reinforced by social and cultural values • Violence can stem from a group’s strength or weakness, its lack of faith in the political system, or its frustration with economic conditions

39. Antiabortion Violence • David Nice and abortion clinic bombings • Bombings tend to be regionalized • Most of the bombings occurred in areas of rapidly expanding population and declining social controls. This means bombings tended to occur in urban areas • Bombings also reflected a method a communicating frustration with political processes and outcomes • States that experience bombings also exhibit a greater toleration for crimes against women • Bombings are a sign of weakness • Killing was a means of communication

40. Black Hebrew Israelism: An Apocalyptic Single Issue

41. Black Hebrew Israelism: An Apocalyptic Single Issue • Black Hebrew Israelism • Black Hebrew Israelism is a Christian Identity with an African twist • Black Hebrew Israelites believe that the original Israelites were dark-skinned Africans • The mythology of Black Hebrew Israelites and their beliefs dates back to the Civil War. In the latter part of the twentieth century, again like Christian Identity, the group developed an elaborate theology to explain the status of African Americans • The African Heritage Study Bible is used to demonstrate that the Jews who Moses led out of Egypt were black

42. Black Hebrew Israelism: An Apocalyptic Single Issue • Hulon Mitchell Jr. • Mitchell and Linda Gaines moved to Miami, Florida, in 1979 and laid the foundation for a Black Hebrew Israelite group known as the Nation of Yahweh • By 1985, the Nation of Yahweh developed into a group of worshippers who focused their attention on Mitchell • Mitchell began expanding his theology, teaching that whites were devils and his followers were to kill them in the name of God. He created an internal group called the Brotherhood, and one could obtain membership only by killing a white person • Over the next few years, Mitchell dispatched Death Angels to kill whites in the Miami area

43. Black Hebrew Israelism: An Apocalyptic Single Issue • The tension between believing and acting • Black Hebrew Israelism is indicative of the tension between believing and acting, and it presents a dilemma for those charged with security • The problem for those charged with preventing violence is that when a belief system degrades or demonizes another group, violence often follows