I have just watched Terry Waite's programme about Terrorism on Channel 5.
It was really good.
I think it needs saying that states can be terrorists too.
But I understand that he was talking about non-state terrorism.
When does war become terrorism? And when does terrorism become war?
Does it just depend on who is speaking.
The idea is of course that terrorism is violence that is not committed by a state and often targets civilians indiscriminately.
Terry Waite said that he thinks of terrorism sometimes as being a symptom of a situation.
He's got a point. He said that he doesn't agree with their methods but understands why they do it.
I don't think there is anything inevitable about the choice of terrorism as a tactic.
It is debatable whether it is ever justified.
It can be demonstrated that there is no correlation between the degree of oppression and the bad circumstances of a given group and the extent of its adherence to terrorism.
Fanaticism is not always caused by terrible oppression.
I firmly believe in peace and peaceful means.