Help Azale with his terrorism paper

[Azale]

For my seminar class I need to write/present a bit of research on something related to terrorism. Here is what the assignment blurb says in the syllabus:

Papers: One research paper (undergraduates 3000 words). This paper can cover with one terrorist group (foreign or domestic) or event (foreign or domestic) except Al-Qaeda or those sponsored by Al-Qaeda since there will be way too much competition for these topics.

So I have a few questions for the World History subforum crowd...

1. What terrorist group would you recommend?
2. Any good sources? I have a few of my own, but more is always welcome.
3. If I were to choose an event (something I could argue was or was not terrorism), which one should I look at?

I have a focus on East Asia, but really for this class any geographic region will suffice.

 

[Bugfatty300]

I'd choose the Ku Klux Klan. Tons of material, sources, and a long history.

 

[Luckymoose]

Aum Shinrikyo. I've told you this.

 

[Tee Kay]

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam? They're rather prominent, and politically-driven. They're probably more similar to Al Qaeda and your "typical" "terrorist organizations" than Aum Shinrikyo.

 

[Azale]

I'd choose the Ku Klux Klan. Tons of material, sources, and a long history.

Yea, but that's a double edged sword. Then my professor will EXPECT a wealth of primary sources

I could, perhaps, just focus on one period of the KKK. Maybe just their revival in the 1900s or just their activities during Reconstruction.

Aum Shinrikyo. I've told you this.

Yea, and I still really like it. The tough part is gathering solid information...that's not in Japanese.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam? They're rather prominent, and politically-driven. They're probably more similar to Al Qaeda and your "typical" "terrorist organizations" than Aum Shinrikyo.

I've considered these guys as well. It has that nice blurry distinction between terrorist organization and "protector" of an oppressed minority.

 

[Luckymoose]

Yea, and I still really like it. The tough part is gathering solid information...that's not in Japanese.

Anything else shows weakness. Doing the hard research is worth more in the grade department dawg.

 

[GoodGame]

For my seminar class I need to write/present a bit of research on something related to terrorism. Here is what the assignment blurb says in the syllabus:



So I have a few questions for the World History subforum crowd...

1. What terrorist group would you recommend?
2. Any good sources? I have a few of my own, but more is always welcome.
3. If I were to choose an event (something I could argue was or was not terrorism), which one should I look at?

I have a focus on East Asia, but really for this class any geographic region will suffice.

Something related to the Palestinians going back to say the 50's or so. That'd be similar to the KKK, but I think more interesting though perhaps too complicated to cover in detail if you cover the whole period.

For Asia, you could talk about the Japanese cult from the 1990s.
Or maybe there is something related to Indonesia? Political independence or religious-based, I think.

On "was it terrorism" topic, what about the bombing of the USS Stark?

 

[bombshoo]

I did a couple of papers on the PKK a while back so I could provide quite a bit of assistance if you chose to do them.

If I had to recommend one just for the sake of being interesting I'd have to say Shining Path though.

 

[say1988]

The FLQ is the only terrorist organization I know much of anything about, and you can talk about how the former members are now respected members of society.

 

[Communisto]

The IRA is always classic. Hundreds of years of history if you trace it back far enough and make proper connections.

 

[Azale]

I did a couple of papers on the PKK a while back so I could provide quite a bit of assistance if you chose to do them.

If it wouldn't be a major pain the ass, could you send me some of what you have? I had scribbled down the PKK as an idea before, but had completely forgotten about them!


The rest of you guys are throwing some great ideas out there. If I don't have a clear cut topic by Monday, I'll have absolutely no excuse now

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

Che Guevara.

 

[Karalysia]

The Naxalites in India are possibly one of the most powerful modern communist insurgencies right now so that could always be interesting.

There's also the East Turkestan Liberation Front or whatever they're called in China so it might be interesting to examine how autocratic states deal with such things. Chechnya/Dagestan might also work.

Or the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda a Christian terrorist group. Or the Sarawhai Liberation Front in the Western Sahara. The ETA in Spain.

 

[Azale]

There's also the East Turkestan Liberation Front or whatever they're called in China so it might be interesting to examine how autocratic states deal with such things.

Great idea!

Or the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda a Christian terrorist group.

The LRA is morbidly interesting, but I have yet to think of a good thesis question for them.

EDIT: Whiskey Lord, you might've been kidding but that would be a pretty good terrorist/not terrorist justified/not justified topic.

 

[Masada]

Partai Komunis Indonesia?

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

I know it would be. I was just stirring the pot because there are no doubt some radicals on here who idolize old ChiChi.

And wasn't he really just a Cuban imperialist anyway?

 

[Lord Baal]

Partai Komunis Indonesia?

That's what I was going to suggest. Viet Minh and Viet Cong are also possibilities. The good part with them is that you could spend half an essay just arguing about whether or not they really were terrorists.

 

[Azale]

I know it would be. I was just stirring the pot because there are no doubt some radicals on here who idolize old ChiChi.

And wasn't he really just a Cuban imperialist anyway?

Guevara was a sophisticated thug who saw the communist insurrections in various third world locales as a vehicle for his own violent adventurism. He chafed under the responsibilities of actual civilian leadership after the Cuban revolution, iirc.

I think I'll avoid him though since I would be too tempted to delve into the backgrounders necessary for all the conflicts he involved himself in.

That's what I was going to suggest. Viet Minh and Viet Cong are also possibilities. The good part with them is that you could spend half an essay just arguing about whether or not they really were terrorists.

PKI maybe, but Viet Minh and Viet Cong is a little too close to my professor's area of intense study. A good portion of the Asian revolutions class I took with him was about the Vietnam conflict. Same reason why I'm avoiding anything to do with the CCP or the Guomindang.

I did manage to find a good number of sources on Aum Shinrikyo through my superior resourcefulness I had an idea to try a comparison of religious/apocalyptic philosophies and strategies of Aum Shinrikyo and US counterparts, maybe a question of what causes some groups to resort to terrorism and why some don't? And whether mass psychological oppression/brainwashing a form of mental terror?

Since the paper is only supposed to be about 20 pages max, I might have to stick with just one of those questions (if I still like them after a bit of pondering).

 

[Heretic_Cata]

1. What terrorist group would you recommend?
2. Any good sources? I have a few of my own, but more is always welcome.
3. If I were to choose an event (something I could argue was or was not terrorism), which one should I look at?

1. Islam
2. Fox News
3. 9/11

Oh, you said you can't do that one.

In that case
1. United States of America
2. History
3. 1776

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[amadeus]

The ANC.