Colonialism - A Catalyst for Ethnic Terrorism

In order to understand the question posed, one must first have first understand the motivations, methods, and sentiments of colonial rulers and their colonized people. The outline below provides a basic overview of the primary facets of colonialism and its impacts on the colonized popluations’ minds and souls.

·Colonial rule is established in one or more of the following ways:
- Military Conquest
- Treaty or Contract,
- Merchant Enclaves and Subsequent Settlement.
Colonialism always involves the settlement of people from a metropolitan state in a satellite region.
Colonial rule is characterized by the following:
- Lack of political representation
- Ill conceived borders
- Economic exploitation.
- Alien cultural superiority campaign, perpetrated by the metropolitan invaders
- Indigenous cultural mutation
Colonial resistance is minimized via outreach, political and military means.
Colonial authority generally requires a permanent military force to maintain political control.
Colonial rule is experienced as alien domination.

It is no wonder that colonialism has influenced the development of terrorism in so many regions around the globe. Colonialism is a political process that:

These factors tend to produce an emotionally charged environment that is ripe for the development of terrorism in the name of nationalism or ethnic causes.

The Basque region of Spain was completely incorporated into Spain by Francisco Franco following the Spanish Civil War. Francisco Franco banned the Basque language and expression of the national culture. The underlying resentment of the cultural and political oppression created by these events resulted in the development of Basque Nation and Liberty (ETA), a Basque separatist terror movement seeking their own homeland in Spain. ETA resorted to terrorist tactics to gain recognition for the movement, which ultimately led to greater political access and cultural freedoms – undermining the terrorist movement.

This group was established to support an independent Kurdish state, Kurdistan, in a region that encompases southeast Turkey, northeast Iraq and northwestern Iran. The boundaries of Turkey, Iraq and Iran established by their colonial forefathers, clearly did not take into account the strong ties among the Kurdish people of the region. The PKK has not been successful at establishing Kurdistan, in fact they have actually hurt the Kurdish cause. Nevertheless, their passion for violence and establishment of an independent Kurdish state was put in motion long before the movements founding.

This post could go on to highlight the motivations and rationale for other ethnic terrorist organizations. However, it is my opinion that the analysis would prove to be very similar:

Are there ethnic terrorist movements that contradict this typology?
Do you agree that colonialism breeds terrorism?
Are the Right Wing Radical groups ethnic terrorists?

The globalization process is a new form of colonialism, run in the economic interests of corporations.

Do you think the proliferation of Wal Mart is going to incite terrorism?
How does the World Trade Organization(WTO) play into the mix?
Is eco-terrorism an "ethnic" reaction to economic colonialism