There are 212 definitions of terrorism, but most can agree that terrorism is the use of violence to create fear for political purposes, says Dr. Jonathon Matusitz, Associate Professor at the Nicholson School of Communication and author of “Terrorism and Communication: A Critical Introduction”.
It is important to understand the role of traditional media, new media, symbolism and the messages behind terrorism, Matusitz said Thursday in a presentation to a room of 60 people in the Teaching Academy.
“Terrorism, is an indescribable enemy, it’s a war without frontlines, and its based on asymmetrical warfare, you don’t know your enemy. It’s a weaker group against bigger group- the government,” Matusitz said.
Matusitz uses his text Terrorism and Communication: A Critical Introduction to teach a terrorism and communication course at the University of Central Florida, which is one of the few classes offered across the nation. He is originally from Belgium, and moved to the United States in 2000, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma in 2006. He has 95 academic publications, has done over 100 conference presentations, and taught at a NATO-affiliated military base in Belgium in 2010.
Terrorism, he said, “is all about communication, you’re just making a statement, right? This is who we are.”
The practice of terrorism is 3000 years old; originally it was called regicide, referring to the assassination of kings. However, the very first terrorist groups based on the Quran were called assassins, derived from the Arabic word Hashishin or users of hashish.
Old terrorism, he said, was very discriminate, they believed no innocent civilian should die, like the IRA, Irish Republican Army. But new terrorism is indiscriminate, and Al Qaeda is the epitome of new terrorism.
Matusitz defined four waves of terrorism: first wave took place before the 1920s consisting of dynamite assassinations; the second wave was from the 1920s to the 1960s, the third wave is from the 1960s to 2000 when hijacking began to occur, and the fourth wave propelled by Al Qaeda.
“The $64 question: what causes terrorism,” Matusitz asked.
Religion, he said, is the number one cause, “the leader of the 9/11 hijackers was Egyptian, and he had the Quran in his suitcase that they found in the debris. Suicide bombers read versus from the Quran before going on a killing spree.”
Other causes he listed are: oppression and humiliation, historical grievances, violation of international law, relative deprivation, hatred of global empowerment—“in Pakistan KFC gets blown up everywhere” — financial gain, racism, supporting sympathizers, narcissm, sensation seeking, failure of conventional channels of communication, communication and publicity.
Terrorism, he said, as a communication process is achieved through social noise, signature method and as a conduit metaphor.
“Every terrorist group has its own way of communication, their operation, so that you can recognize it, and they like it,” Matusitz said.
An example of the signature method was the beheading of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by Al Qaeda, he said, it is based on the Quran chapter 47 verse four.
A conduit metaphor is the use of media as “a channel to air grievances”.
Matusitz said, the Tehran Embassy hostage crisis in 1979 gave birth to CNN with Night Life, because they talked about it 50 percent of the time, it was free publicity for Shiite Muslims.
On September 11, 2001, three billion people were watching, he said, “ it was the most watched incident in world history, more than the world soccer cup, and the Olympic games combined.”
Matusitz addressed new media, and how terrorist groups “exploit Internet and social networking sites to publicize their goals and objectives.”
He showed visuals from Al Qaeda online magazines catered to men who speak English to inspire how to make a bomb.
“It’s almost like the 12 steps of weight loss of south beach, but you have the 12 steps of how to make a bomb in your kitchen, apparently its very easy,” Matusitz said.
Another visual was catered toward women, “how to marry a suicide bomber”.
Matusitz also described the concept of understanding symbolism.
“Unless you know your enemy, you won’t get it, principle of warfare ‘know thy enemy’,” Matusitz said.
He counted the 911 days from March 11, 2004, an attack by Al Qaeda from Morocco in Madrid, Spain, and September 11, 2001.
