Question

Is terrorism for Jaggar only limited to the actions of individuals or can it include states as well? Explain in detail and give one historical example which she discusses.

Answer 1

Jaggar considers terrorism as a violent act of individuals, groups and even governments. Her primary argument is that until 20^th century, terrorism was practiced by the governments on the people and almost all the dictators in the history robbed people of their rights and brutally tortured them to follow them. At times, governments in the 20^th century, instead of talking to people who fought for their rights, suppressed and unleashed official violence with the help of the military and police. At times minorities who struggle for their rights in their own country are branded as terrorist groups and they were ignored from all the welfares and some of them even fight their governments in a violent way.

Today, terrorism has got a different perspective, which is hatred. Religion plays a major role in determining terrorism today, racism plays terrorism in some countries and caste plays a role in some other countries. The word terrorism has become synonymous with Muslims today because almost all the recent attacks were led by Muslim terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida and Taliban whereas the act of rich countries that took the initiative of robbing the oil rich Islamic countries were not taken into the terrorist account.

Thus Jaggar says that terrorism is not just an individual’s act but it is also carried out by certain groups and governments.

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