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[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
Terrorist groups often grow out of liberation movements operating in colonies, occupied territories and disadvantaged regions. Prominent examples have included the IRA, the Algerian National Liberation Front and the Basque separatist group ETA. In common with other political terrorist groups, many national liberation groups have left-wing positions, and some have an Islamist alignment.
National liberation movements often adopt violent tactics in situations where peaceful protest is seen to have failed. Terrorism is used in situations where all-out guerrilla warfare is not possible, either because the occupying power is too strong or because the movement's support is too limited. In these circumstances, national liberation movements frequently resort to terrorist violence, aiming to induce the occupiers to withdraw or grant greater autonomy.
On some occasions, as in the case of the sabotage campaign organised by Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC), the adoption of terrorist tactics is agreed on by the whole of a national liberation movement. Often, however, terrorism is as divisive for national liberation movements as it is for revolutionary socialist groups. The tactic effectively separates the group committed to terrorism from rivals using peaceful protest.
Even if they are operating in relative isolation, terrorist groups often see themselves as the spearhead of the broader national liberation movement. The name Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA, translating as 'ourselves alone', echoes this sense of being the vanguard.
The rule that yesterday's terrorist may be today's politician particularly applies to national liberation movements. In July 1946, the Zionist group Irgun planted a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in what was then British-occupied Palestine. An entire wing of the hotel was demolished, killing 91 people. The operation was organised by Menachem Begin, who later became the Prime Minister of Israel – and a bitter opponent of the terrorists of the PLO.