Domestic Terrorism in the American Context

Assume that a nascent anarchist movement continues in its opposition to globalism. How should the modern leftist movement be described? What is the potential for violence originating from modern extremists on the left?

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The modern leftist movement consists of agitators and educators and seek to implement a broad range of reforms on various grounds including gay rights, drugs, gender roles, as well as abortion (Lukes, 2003). This contrasts with the earlier Marxist movement which were taking a strategy encapsulated within vanguardism precincts to stir social justice, mainly via labor unionization. In essence, the modern left movements as included in the international terrorism in the US includes such movements supporting labor activism, peoples rights, single issues such as environmentalist and peace movements, groups which question tradition (Martin, 2013).

However, since the left-wing movements are also agitators, they can be radicalized, and therefore, can contribute to terrorism. For instance, according to Martin (2013), the Black Power and New Left movements became radicalized and advocating resistance against the Establishment, which basically entails mainstream American social and political institutions. The resistance is characterized by civil confrontations and disobedience with the authorities. Therefore, this leads to social tensions as evidenced on March 4, 1970 where four students were killed and nine wounded at Ohios Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard following days of violent antiwar demonstrations which sought to prevent US incursion into Cambodia (Martin, 2013). In the same year, around 30 Reserve Officer Training Corps were bombed as well as the incident where a student and a passerby were killed and dozens of students hospitalized when police fired into an African American protestors in Jackson State University on May 15 (Martin, 2013).

Therefore, in the case of a nascent anarchist movement opposing globalism, the likelihood of violence coming from modern extremist on the left is very high owing to generational rebellion, as they were deeply affected by the civil right movement, the Vietnam War, and turmoil in African American communities. Since anti-globalism emanating from nascent anarchist movement prevents the ideologies of globalization, the modern extremist from left will initiate resistance against this move and may be characterized by violence. It should be noted that these types of movement from the left will always oppose moves that prevent social changes. Since anti-globalization can be seen as a move opposing social change, then the new left movements will oppose it via violence.

Keeping in mind the many conspiracy and mystical beliefs of the American right, what is the potential for violence from adherents of these theories to the modern American environment?

In modern times, right wing terrorism is exacerbated by the neo-Nazi movement. Since this has grown from Nazism, which is characterized by mystical beliefs and conspiracy, particularly on its racial supremacy ideologies, the likelihood of violence from adherents of these theories to the modern American environment is high. Ideally, since the American right has its mystical beliefs and conspiracy entails creativity, Christian identity, as well as racist strains of Asatru, it reveals that there could be some aspect of religious extremism, and in most instances, this exacerbates religious terrorism (Martin, 2013). In addition, the neo-Nazi terrorism is characterized by religious fanaticism, racial supremacy, and political violence. In the US, the right-wing terrorism occurs in social and political contexts, for example the KKK violence in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as neo-Nazi violence in the 1980s (Martin, 2013). Also, antigovernment terrorism, as well as single-issue terrorism in the 1990s characterized domestic terrorism in the US.

Therefore, adherents of these conspiracies and mystical beliefs of the American right are more likely to show some extent of violence in the US. Particularly, violence will be directed to individuals or groups which are against their beliefs or pose a threat to the beliefs. In addition, the extremism can be against the government whenever it adopts policies that the right-wing oppose. It is also important to note that the American right do not pose a threat as big as the new left does in modern times.

As a matter of policy, how closely should hate and antigovernment groups be monitored? What restrictions should be imposed on their activities? Why?

In the US, everyone has the freedom of expression and speech (Blocher, 2013). However, there exist a significant threat from hate and antigovernment groups, which in many cases leads to violence. As the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization that monitors antigovernment and hate groups, report that 1360 groups and 321 militias operate in the US, and as the 2013 report shown, there has been a rise of 813 percent of the number of these groups from 2008 (Potok, 2013). As such, since these groups are increasingly growing, the threat of domestic terrorism is very real.

For this reason, they need to be closely monitored. According to Project Censored (2013), there has been a paradigm shift from racist hatred to that concentrating on the government along with its representatives. As such, close monitoring of these groups is essential to prevent instances of domestic terrorism. In addition, the government should be able to control them because it cannot prohibit these extremist groups. This is because the First Amendment of the constitution guarantees the freedom of speech. However, it can implement certain restrictions, for example, the issuance of permits whenever a certain group requires to march through a city. The permit scheme should however be administered fairly, but it can come with an applicants fee. If the demonstrators do not have the permit then the government can legally stop the demonstration or march. Other restrictions include banning sound amplification devices. In addition, the government can impose laws that restrict individuals from handing out literature, as well as allowing specific speakers to speak instead of a random speaker. By doing so, then the government will be a step ahead in controlling domestic terrorism, as such groups will be exercising their freedom to speak under legal grounds.

Is the American activity profile truly an idiosyncratic profile, or can it be compared with other nations environments? If so, how? If not, why not?

The American profile is not truly idiosyncratic, rather, it can be compared to nations environments. For instance, there is the civil rights movement in the UK which was as a result of migration into the UK. It is particularly characterized by racism. For instance, there were a number of blacks making a difference in civil rights of the blacks, for example, Paul Stephenson, who in 1963 was involved in boycotting a racist bus company. In addition, according to NowaczynskI (2013), there has been an increase in domestic terrorism characterized by extremist incidents committed by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), as well as those committed by separatists. These include Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), as well as the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA). All these movements are based in the UK. Additionally, the Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA) has also committed many terrorist attacks in the UK. The US has had similar terrorist groups including the KKK. For this reason, the US is not idiosyncratic, but similar trends are shown in different countries.

What is the likelihood that the new millennium will witness a resurgence of a rightist movement on the scale of the 1990s Patriot movement? What trends indicate that it will occur? What trends indicate that it will not occur?

There is a high likelihood that rightist movements will exhibit significant resurgence on the scale of Patriot movement in the 1990s. For instance, the movements are now capitalizing on developing websites and everyone can access to information they post on these sites. Also, any incident involving shooting is covered by the media across the US, as well as he media spin surrounding gun control (Castells, 2015). The government, in some occasions ignore certain incidents that can trigger rightist movements, for example, the government ignores illegal immigration in Arizona. In addition, there is the concern over the government putting in place UAVs and tracking the citizens via mobile communications devices.

One of the major difference of the Patriot movement in the 1990s was that there was no internet, and currently, there is and conspiracy theorists, as well as mystical beliefs can be spread over the internet (Gallaher, 2003). The people spreading these ideologies love the internet and can capitalize on it to initiate a rightist movement similar to the Patriot movement. For this reason, there is a probability that there will be such movements in the future.

References

Blocher, J. (2013). Nonsense and the freedom of speech: what meaning means for the First Amendment. Duke Law Journal, Forthcoming. Retrieved: http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3420&context=dlj Gallaher, C. (2003). On the fault line: Race, class, and the American patriot movement. Rowman & Littlefield.

Castells, M. (2015). Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the Internet age. John Wiley & Sons.

Lukes, S. (2003). Epilogue: the grand dichotomy of the twentieth century. Ball, T. et al, 602-26.

Martin, G. (2013). Understanding Terrorism Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd

Nowaczynski, J. (2013) Comparing Domestic Terrorist Threats in the US and UK. Retrieved: http://www.e-ir.info/2013/11/11/comparing-domestic-terrorist-threats-in-the-us-and-uk/Potok, M. (2013). The Year in Hate and Extremism. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2013/year-hate-and-extremismProject Censored, (2013). Hate Groups and Antigovernment Groups on Rise across US - Top 25 Censored Stories from 2012-2013. Project Censored. Retrieved: http://www.projectcensored.org/5-hate-groups-antigovernment-groups-rise-across-us/