Interesting that just two of these have ended up later winning their national elections (Sandinistas and Hamas) (so when does a "guerrilla group" become part of that country's "establishment"?) Hezbollah and IRA (via Sinn Fein) have a small number of their members elected to parliament, and the Taliban and Khmer Rouge have ruled their countries for a period after armed uprisings.
In high school social studies (a few decades ago), my teacher noted with some irony that the guerilla warfare that was such a thorn in the side of the US, was the same tactic that helped us win the Revolutionary War two centuries prior.
Its an uninhabited region north of the United States. Recently there were some rumors that people are living there now. Its impossible to say for sure. Most scientists think its impossible to survive the harsh winter conditions.
All kidding aside, it's amazing how some of us Americans think people up in Canada live in Igloos. They're a first world and fully developed country and only the Inuit near the north pole live in igloos. We need to get better at learning more about other countries.
There was a Canadian show called "Talking to Americans" which was kind of a mix between Leno's Jaywalking Tonight Show segments and "Da Ali G Show". On on episode, Mike Huckabee, then Governor of Arkansas, congratulated Canada on its efforts to preserve its National Igloo in Ottawa.
Gzx5, who are you talking to that actually thinks average Canadians live in igloos? I've never met anyone over the age of nine who thinks such a thing.
Absolutely. Guerrilla, of course, just means warrior. And even when associated with strategy and tactics it involves most (almost all?) military independence struggles.
'Guerilla' means little war; it's the diminutive of 'guerra'. Somebody partaking in guerilla warfare is technically a 'guerillero' or 'guerillera', but it seems that ship has sailed, and it's now acceptable in English to use 'guerilla' to refer both to the warfare as a whole and the individuals involved in it.
Guerrilla group or just murderous terrorists? Calling them a guerrilla group somehow legitimizes their purpose (and in that case ISIS would be even more infamous), and I think that is why they shouldn't be included. Of course the same goes for some of the others already on the list
Totally agree with Sputnix on this. Calling these groups guerrillas seems to add some legitimacy to them, when in fact they are just a bunch of murderers who don't care who they kill or cripple. Maybe change the title to Terrorist organisations as this is what they are.
I disagree. There is not an inherent good or bad connotation for "guerrilla", and it's use does not imply in any form that the cause they support is just or not. To call them a "guerrilla" is perfectly OK.
Having looked up definitions of 'guerrilla' I have to add my voice to those above. Most of these groups are terrorists, not guerrillas. Guerrilla implies that they are fighting against and army or government, not blowing up and murdering civilians.
*A member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces.
*A person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage
*A member of a usually small group of soldiers who do not belong to a regular army and who fight in a war as an independent unit
IMHO, it should be relatively easy to agree that all the groups from the quiz match with this definitions. Meanwhile, agreeing which ones can be called "terrorist" or not is an absolutely fruitless endeavor. It's a label that only exists in the eye of the beholder.
Nice quiz, although personally I don't think that Aum fits into the category of "guerilla" since most of the attacks they did were to preserve the group and they had no real territory unlike the other groups (although Shining Path could somewhat fit these criteria too...)
*A member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces.
*A person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage
*A member of a usually small group of soldiers who do not belong to a regular army and who fight in a war as an independent unit
IMHO, it should be relatively easy to agree that all the groups from the quiz match with this definitions. Meanwhile, agreeing which ones can be called "terrorist" or not is an absolutely fruitless endeavor. It's a label that only exists in the eye of the beholder.