User:Blue borg/Radio and terrorism

The radio have a widespread use as a tool of communication. Since its invention in the late 19th century, it has been used for various purposes around the world. This article discusses radio as a political tool of propaganda in the context of terrorism; the article does not discuss radio broadcasts without a clear political motive.

Definition of terrorism

See also: definition of terrorism

First of all it is nessecary to have a definition of terrorism to limit the scope of the article. In the following the definition given by professor Bruce Hoffman[3] will be used

[…] define terrorism as the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear through violence or threat of violence in the pursuit of political change. […]. Terrorism is specifically designed to have far-reaching psychological effects beyond the immediate victim(s) or object of the terrorist attack. It is meant to instill fear within, and thereby intimidate, a wider “target“ audience that might include a rival ethnic or religious group, an entire country, a national government or political party, or public opinion in general. (Emphasis added)

This definition includes non-state terrorism as well as state and state-sponsored terrorism, which are often omitted in official government definitions. This is chosen to include government entities as several recognized states through history have used radio technology as part of propaganda campaigns in order to scare domestic as much as foreign adversaries, or to terrorize the public.

As Hoffman states, one of the important aspects of terrorism is to spread a political message not only to the targets of the act itself but to a much wider audience. This can be done by letting the act speak for itself – by letting the public analysts evaluate the episode, try to derive a cause and a motivation based on the context. But another and more direct method is to let the acts be followed by a communiqué. This could be an elaborate explanation of reasons or merely a statement of the perpetrators attitude towards a subject which can then be used for further interpretation.

Radio as a propaganda tool

See also: Propaganda

Propaganda can be defined as the deliberate propagation of information presented in a way that is aimed to serve a political agenda. In short, the purpose is to effect the general opinion concerning a certain political subject. To do this as effeciently as possible it is first of all necessary to reach as much of the target audience as possible, in order to increase the overall chance of gaining influence on the general opinion within this group.

A lot of different communication tools can be used to spread propaganda, ranging from simple word of mouth, in which informations is passed verbally from one person to another, to distributed printed matter, eg. pamphlets, leaflets or newspapers; the latter form greatly increased in use with the invention of the printing press. But these forms have som limitations. Word of mouth, the simplest form of disseminating information, works best in small, tightly knit communities. It's disadvantages include the difficulty of reaching a larger audience, that the propagation of the information through a population is largely uncontrollable, and that the actual information can change with every link that it passes through. Printed matter benefits from a more controlled spread of information, but requires somewhat advanced printing equipment to be efficient, and equally important, it requires that the recipents can read.

When radio was first used, its benefits for propaganda purposes was quickly discovered. The propagation of radio waves ensures a large cover area. At the same time information can be passed on evenly and near instantly over great distances, or in the words of Lenin,

"Radio is a newspaper without paper and without [borders]."

Radio does not require any specific skills to perceive other than understanding the language of the broadcast. Though it requires that the audience be in posession of a radio receiver, such equipment is quite easely attainable, and its use simple. Furthermore, several people can gather around and listen to one receiver.

There is a big difference in the way radio have been used by governments and by clandestine groups due to the conditions they have to work under. However, there are some general purposes that are common for most uses. Radio broadcasting can be used to:

1. gain public support
2. boost morale of supporters
3. pass on information to active supporters
4. intimidate opponents

The first is to try and influence the audiences opinion on a political subject by expressing ones view on things and giving information in the context that suits one's purpose better.

The second can be done by telling of victories and accomplishments in order to heighten the spirit of the supporters.

These two have a great deal of overlap, since victories display the strength of the broadcasting organization which can be an assisting factor when trying to gain support or recruit new followers.

The third is done by groups without proper communications infrastructure. They can use the radio transmissions to send vital information to active supporters through coded messages. One example of the this was the way the Special Operations Executive of the British military used radio transmission during World War II to notify resistance groups in the Nazi-occupied areas of the time and place for airdrops of weapon supplies.

The fourth is closely connected with terrorism due to the fact that as stated in the definition, terrorism can be just the threat of violence. Furthermore the spread of information about acts of violence is an important part of a terror campaign.

Radio supporting state terrorism

See also: State terrorism

From early on, radio broadcasts was used to support what is commonly considered state terrorism. In this context, the radio, as part of a larger propaganda campaign, was important due to the fact that government controlled media can reinforce the feeling of the state being absolutly supreme, thereby making it easier for the authorities to gain acceptance for abusive policies. At the same time it can curb resistance by creating the image that people who do not agree with the official politics are alone, and by giving more or less obvious examples of what happens to all who oppose the regime. All this is part of a nation's political atmosphere, and the latter very important in the two examples listed below, where the governments managed to create a climate of fear in the public.

Stations used by states can be divided in three sub-groups:

• white are the official channels through which a government propagates its propaganda, with no attempt to hide either source or motive.
• gray have an obvious political agenda, but is untruthful concerning its source. E.g. a state that poses as a domestic resistance movement of a foreign country, to display opposition to the government, in an effort to disrupt the picture of the government being in complete control.
• black hides both the true purpose of the broadcast and the organization behind. This means broadcasts by one party to a conflict, while pretending to be from the other party, possibly in an effort to mock and ridicule the opponent, thereby lowering its status.

Governments can transmit from within the borders and therefore broadcasts don’t have to be limited by other restrictions than their own. They have the means to build radio stations with enough power to send to other countries, and to broadcast in many different launguages, and at the same time to produce the programs of the necessary quality to be used at "black" and "gray" stations. It is vital to be able to hide the true source of the broadcasts for these kinds of stations to be succesful.

The Soviet Union

The Stalinst regime used various forms of propaganda to disseminate Marxist ideas, including a radio station broadcasting from an airplane to make it mobile.

Nazi Germany

Germany has an important history of radio propaganda too. Joseph Goebbels, the Minister for Public Enlightment and Propaganda during the National Socialist (Nazi) regime was known for his firm belief in the efficacy of propaganda, and for the methods he employed. Although he appears to have had the one basic assumption that all media should be employed simultaneously, and therefore didn't favour one media as such, he acknowledged the extensive reach of the radio, and its efficency in spreading propaganda . Radio was used not only within the German borders, as a way of consolidating their power, but Germany also transmitted to foreign contries as a means of promoting their policies. During World War II, Germany made a trans-European radio network to broadcast Hitler's speeches. But it was not only this kind of "white" propaganda that the Nazis used. To direct the more devious radio propaganda, Germany had Büro Concordia, a propaganda department specialized in clandestine broadcasting. The flagship of the stations was the "black" New British Broadcasting Station (NBBS) which sent its inauguration broadcast in Febuary, 1940. This station aired fake news and was believed to instruct a 'fifth column' inside Britain. As with many of the clandestine stations this was done to scare the listeners and sow defeatism among the public.

Nazi Germany also sponsored terror organizations outside their own borders. During the war they supplied the Irish Republican Army (IRA) with a radio transmitter, in hope of gaining influence on the tactics of the IRA, and to get coded military secrets sent to Germany. However, IRA instead used the radio transmitter for their own purposes in their campaign against the British rule.

Radio supporting sub-state terrorism

The radio have been involved in several ethno-nationalistic liberation struggles around the world. This section focuses on organizations that fight for 'liberation' against the government in their country. There are given two examples of succesful liberation fights, where the organizations mentioned ended up attaining their goal, and then two examples of terrorist organizations that to this day still strive to gain independence. All of these four organizations are known to have used/use radio broadcasting as a part of their campaign. The following definition of clandestine radio broadcasting will thus be appropriate:

"Unofficial stations, mostly identified with specific underground organizations, that [attempt] to gain a psychological or military advantage as well as to communicate, often via coded messages, with operatives in the field."

Contrary to the government controlled stations, the clandestine stations of non-state organizations are of course deemed illegal by the governments that they defy. Often it is necessary for the stations to be mobile in order to avoid being seized by the government. This limits the choice of equipment to smaller and less powerful transmitters, and thereby the range of the broadcasts. Since the stations operate from within the area where they wish to address the public this doesn't seriously hamper the efficacy of the broadcast. The limited means of these organizations also limits the languages they can broadcast in, but for gathering domestic public support and rallying troops, the native language is sufficient.

One of the most well-known revolutionaries, Che Guevara, have in his writings on guerrilla warfare called radio a "factor of extraordinary importance" in a revolution, because guerrilla operated radio:

• can reach the whole nation, acting as a unifying force
• does not require its users to be literate
• present more immediate news than print
• is best at communicating and stirring emotions

In his view the guerrilla organization should stimulate opposition within the country, and use the radio to direct the actions of this civilian opposition. Thus, the radio is an instrument that can be used to maintain leadership of civilian organizations even though the leaders are geographically remote.

Where as Che Guevarra believed in the efficacy of the words spoken, that is the contents of the broadcasting, others lean towards the view that it is the mere symbolism of a resistance organization being able to maintain broadcasting that governments fear. By operating a station for an extended period of time, the myth that the government can easily crush any opposition is disspelled. It enhances image of the organization as a viable opposition force, and thereby reinforces their effort to gain support from the passive masses.

Succesful historical examples

Here are given two examples of liberation struggles, where the radio played a major role in the ethno-national organizations succesful attempt to gain independence from a colonial authority.

Israel

In the fight for an independent Israel out of the British Mandate of Palestine the radio have been called "a medium that was so important in the formation of the nation".

Haganah Radio started Hebrew language broadcasts around 1940 and was the most well-organized of the clandestine radio services in what was to become Israel. They ran at least three different radio stations which, after the independende in 1948, were merged into Kol Israel (Voice of Israel), the national Israeli radio service. Besides Haganah, two other main underground resistance groups used clandestine radio transmissions, the Irgun and Lehi. Irgun was the first to start its broadcast in 1938 through the station Kol Tsion HaLokhemet (Voice of Fighting Zion), when they took responsibility for the bombing of an Arab fruit market killing 24 persons and wounding 129. Former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, once a leader of Irgun, have later asserted that Voice of Fighting Zion was instrumental in preparing the Jews for the outbreak of war in Palestine. The Lehi group (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, also known as the Stern Gang or Stern Group) operated the station "Radio of Fighters for the Freedom of Israel" from 1941. Lehi was the Israeli resistance organization that devoted most time and effort in radio broadcasting. Their transmissions are believed to have been somewhat better known than those of the Irgun, and their station was the only one to keep on broadcasting even through World War II. Both Irgun and Lehi were paramilitary organizations and responsible for the attack on an Arab suburb of Jerusalem known as the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948.. At the time it was estimated that around 250 arabs where killed in the attack, but in 1987, the Research and Documentation Center of Bir Zeit University published a study that concluded: "The [historical] sources which discuss the Deir Yassin massacre unanimously agree that number of victims ranges between 250–254; however, when we examined the names which appear in the various sources, we became absolutely convinced that the number of those killed does not exceed 120, and that the groups which carried out the massacre exaggerated the numbers in order to frighten Palestinian residents into leaving their villages and cities without resistance." The Irgun commander in charge of the raid, Mordechai Raanan, later explained: "I told the reporters that 254 were killed so that a big figure would be published, and so that Arabs would panic." The deliberate exaggeration of the figure by the two groups shows that they perfectly fit the definition of terrorism; the purpose of the violence was to instill fear in a wider target audience, in this case, an entire rival ethnic/religious group, which they wanted out of the country. It has been stated that the broadcasts were a considerable factor in the Palestinian Arab exodus from Israel.

The importance of the clandestine broadcast can be assessed by looking at two different aspects. The organizations themselves spend time and effort, over long period of time, in providing the radio services and therefore it is natural to conclude that they must have found it worthwhile. At the same time, the British authorities also devoted a great deal of effort to the find or jam the stations in an attempt to silence them. This indicates that both sides of the conflict saw radio broadcasting as a powerful tool in the fight.

Algeria

In the Algerian war of independence (1954–62), the radio also came to play a major role as the public views on the radio shifted. According to the French author Frantz Fanon, who worked with thoughts on decolonization and the psychopathology of colonization, a significant change happened in minds of the native Algerians. At first the radio was percieved by the natives as a tool of the occupier, a symbol of the French presence. Listening to the radio "meant giving asylum to the occupier's words", to accept "being besieged from within by the colonizer" since all radio broadcasting were Frenchmen speaking to Frenchmen about French issues in French. During the early years of the war the illiterate population only got inaccurate news of the revolution through word of mouth. But in 1956, the resistance organization National Liberation Front (NFL) aired a program carried through Egypt. The program was called "Voice of Fighting Algeria", and it supported the revolution by opposing the French control of the country. As word spread about this new 'front' in the war, things took a drastic change: the native population started to buy radio recievers. Suddenly the radio became the way to obtain information about the revolution. It shifted from being part of the "occupier's arsenal" to be the "primary means of resisting". As the French authorities tried to silence the station by jamming it, the listeners had to make a further effort to receive the information they sought after, only involving them even more in the revolutionary struggle. The prevailing thought was that the harder the French tried to disrupt "The Voice", the more they probably had to conceal, and as people searched the wavelengths they found other voices.

Already from 1953 radio broadcasts were transmitted from the Egyptian capital of Cairo to the French colonies Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. When the first two of these colonies revolted against the colonial authorities, the radio station Voice of the Arabs started mocking the Algerian population for being "asleep and silent" while the other nations where "crushing the pillars of French imperialism". This continued until the Algerian revolution began in November 1954, after which the tone changed, and the station declared, "Today […] Algeria began to live a worthy and honorable life [when they] started the insurrection". The French authorities therefore believed that the uprising had been directed from outside, that the Egyptian broadcasts had been inciting the unrest. From spring 1957, one of the largest resistance groups, the FLN, established their own clandestine radio service within Algeria, to supplement the broadcasts still being send from Cairo. During the war, both sides comitted acts of terrorism. The FLN spread terror among the French inhabitants by bombing civilian targets, and as a result of that the French authorities sent in the military against the native population. This led to well documented acts of torture and executions of believed revolutionaries and affiliates of the resistance movements.. All this time the French tried to counter the effect of the broadcasts by doing their own, and jamming as many as possible of the foreign transmissions. But as both Tunisia and Marocco joined in at broadcasting propaganda supporting the revolution, the authorities failed to gain control over the airwaves.

This example show how radio can be used as a tool for many purposes in a struggle of two-way terrorism. At first it is used by a colonial power to display their superiority. Then foreign nations used the range of radio technology to spark unrest, and suddenly a change occured, making radio broadcasting an important part of uniting the natives for a common cause of independence.

"In the end, Algerians owed a measure of their independence to the 'unquestionably effective' device of the radio – which shaped oppinions, re-oriented perceptions and united Algerians in a common struggle."

Contemporary examples

In modern times the western governments have somewhat abandoned the use of radio to promote politics, and have turned to the more powerful media of television. But this doesn't mean that the radio has outlived its use as a technology to support terrorism. In many countries, the use of TV isn't yet widespread enough to be reliable as the main tool of communication, and for non-government groups it can be difficult to run a TV station, especially if they have to hide it from the local authorities. This is why radio remains a popular communication technology in many parts of the world.

Through history it have been common for governments to designate resistance movements as terrorists no matter the methods employed in the fight. The following two examples, however, are known to be associated with direct violence in pursuit of political change, and hence fits the definition of terrorist organizations. In both countries TVs are being used, but still the organizations devote ressources to maintaining their radio broadcasts, meaning that they must see them as an important part of their fight.

Hezbollah (Lebanon)

In Lebanon, the Shia Islamic organization Hezbollah have been running the radio station Al-Nour since 1988, for reasons including spreading religious messages, and gathering support for the resistance. The organization and its affiliates have been linked to several major terrorist attacks, including kidnappings and bombings. Among these is the 1983 truck bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 American service personnel, and the June 2006 capture of two Israeli soldiers during a raid on a border post in northern Israel, sparking the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. At the very first day of this conflict, the Israeli military bombed the radio station, indicating that the Israelis acknowledged the station as an important part of the Hezbollah communications infrastructure.

LTTE (Sri Lanka)

In Sri Lanka, the terrorist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which also goes by the name The Tamil Tigers, have been figting for an independent state for the Tamil part of the Sri Lankan inhabitants, a Tamil homeland, since the mid-1970s. From the beginning the group focused on elitism and after the aforementioned Hezbollah suicide attack in 1983 the leadership of LTTE decided that this method would be the best solution to achieve their goal. Since then the group have been known for its suicide bombings.

A part of the orginization's effort to appear organized and capable have been to operate a broadcasting service called Voice of Tigers This station is a part of their quasi-governmental structure in the northern parts of Sri Lanka which is largely controlled by the organization. The station have been bombed several times by the Sri Lankan Air force, latest in October 2006. An action which was condemmed by the International Federation of Journalists, because the station is somewhat internationally recognized.

See also

• Radio
• History of radio
• Terrorism
• Propaganda
• Propaganda of the deed
• State terrorism

• Unconventional warfare
• Psychological warfare
• Psychological operations
• Covert operation
• Black operations
• False flag

External links

• ClandestineRadio – A list of clandestine radio stations (not regulary updated)
• A brief history of radio in Israel
• Intellectual Agenda – Inventing Europe – Technology and the Making of Europe from 1850 to the Present

Conclusion (not to be published on Wikipedia)

There are several different views on how radio broadcasting can influence the listeners. Che Guevarra believed that the words could inspire and ignite the revolution spearheaded by the rebels. Others state that an illegal station operated by revolutionaries is in itself a symbol of defiance of the authorities, dispelling the myth that the government is in total control. Franz Fanon emphasizes that the importance of the radio is involving the population in the struggle – to make them one with the revolution.

The truth is likely a mix of these theories. Depending on the situation, the actual broadcasts, and the minds of the audience, radio can have varying effects. Even though it is difficult to asses how big the influence of radio have on an audience, or even how large the actual audience is, it is quite clear that radio is still viewed as an efficient tool. Governments have spent considerable resources on silencing clandestine stations operated by terrorist organizations, and interfering in broadcasts by foreign powers. Additionally, many resistance movements use resources on maintaining radio broadcasts.

When it comes to terrorism, it is obvious that many ethno-nationalistic wars of independence have had radio playing a significant role as an instrument of communication – to communicate defiance of the government in power, communicate unity, viability and strength of the organization, and most importantly to communicate a political message to the world. As with many other things, propaganda of the deed only works if the message is actually spread – people can't understand you, if they can't hear you.

In a time where the world wasn't as closely connected as today, and the international press wasn't as eagle-eyed, it was insufficient for the organizations to just generate attention with terror, they also had to make sure their message got through. And the radio has to this day kept a position as a technology that is easy to use and fits the attention aspect of terrorism. But radio as a medium to raise awareness is limitied due to its fixed range, and that the transmission is in a specific language, contrary to pictures which can be understood by all disregarding nationality and tongue. Therefore the use of radio have been limited to national fights, or wars fought between countries of close geographical proximity. In international terrorism it is unlikely that we will ever see a widespread use of radio, and as computer technology and the Internet is disseminated worldwide, radio as a tool of terrorism will probably fade away.