CULTURE & SOCIETY
CULTURE & SOCIETY
formations of terrorist organisations, the threat of domestic terrorism became increasingly difficult to control, monitor or prevent. This threat came into reality in the 2010s, when the US suffered 11 terrorist attacks between the years of 2012 to 2019. Supporting motivations varied from neo- Nazi beliefs, neo-fascist beliefs, radical Islamic beliefs, white supremacists, radical jihadists, anti-LGBTQ, anti-republican political views, antisemitism, and anti- immigration beliefs. In comparison to the nineteenth century when domestic terrorism rose for the first time in the US, widely in reaction to racial differences, the network of extremists has expanded both in size and in aim. The type of domestic extremism that we see in today’s world has transformed since its conception into the vicious and complex threat we face now.
However, a plethora of new political ideologies have fuelled many of the recent domestic attacks on US soil. The notorious Unabomber attacks that continued for nearly two decades advocated an anti-technology ideology – heavily unaligned with any form of domestic terrorism seen in US history. Alternative political motivations began to appear across the board such as the Jewish Defence League attacks from 1980 to 1985, or the Centennial Olympic Park bombing that campaigned against “ideals of global socialism” and “abortion on demand”. In fact, one of the largest domestic terrorist attacks in US history, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, was driven by neo-fascist beliefs. The end of the twentieth century gave rise to an increase in formations of extremist groups, all with wildly varying beliefs and aims. With such increasingly sporadic
However, race was far from the sole cause of domestic terrorism; the rest of the nineteenth century saw terrorist motivation that spanned from Mormonism (the Utah Territorial Militia), anti-abolitionists, pro- abolitionists, the KKK and anarchists. Domestic terrorist activity was rife in the USA as they entered the twentieth century. However, this new century saw a momentary shift emerging from a focus on racial issues to anarchist beliefs. These extremists committed deadly bombings at the Milwaukee police department in 1917 and Wall Street in 1920, thought to be perpetrated by followers of Luigi Gilleani, an insurrectionary anarchist. However, violence against the African American community stayed prevalent
in this century. The “United Klan of America” committed the 16th Street Baptists Church bombing at the height of the civil rights movement in 1963, killing four girls between the ages of 11 to 14. Such inhumane acts of violence against the African American community reflects the prevalence of racial discrimination in American society in the 1960s, over 130 years after the abolition of slavery. However, even more staggering was the Charleston church shooting in 2015, which claimed 9 lives. Committed by white supremacist, Dylann Roof, it is clear that the US has not tackled their deep-rooted racial injustices even after such an extensive civil rights movement and fight for equality.
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