[News] When the colonizer calls resistance terrorism

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Comments <https://english.palinfo.com/opinion_articles/>
When the colonizer calls resistance terrorism
Sayid Marcos Tenório
<https://english.palinfo.com/authors/sayid-marcos-tenorio>

Sunday 9-August-2026

Throughout history, almost every national liberation struggle has been
labelled “terrorism” by the powers exercising colonial rule or foreign
occupation. This strategy is nothing new.

The British Empire branded IRA fighters in Ireland and EOKA guerrillas in
Cyprus as terrorists. France portrayed Algeria’s National Liberation Front
(FLN) as a criminal organization. The same happened to the Mozambique
Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the People’s Movement for the Liberation of
Angola (MPLA), the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) in
Namibia, and even Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC).

History, however, vindicated these movements and condemned the colonial
regimes that sought to perpetuate their domination.

This pattern reveals a constant: those who occupy a territory seek to strip
the occupied people of any legitimacy to resist.

The dehumanization of resistance is a colonial strategy. By labelling every
resistance fighter a “terrorist”, attention is shifted away from illegal
occupation, apartheid and the denial of self-determination, and redirected
towards the reaction of the occupied people.

This narrative, however, encounters clear limits within international law
itself.

>From the United Nations Charter to Resolution 1514 (XV) on decolonization
and Resolution 2625 (XXV), which reaffirms the principle of peoples’
self-determination, the understanding has been consolidated that peoples
subjected to colonial domination, foreign occupation or racist regimes have
the right to struggle for their liberation.

Several subsequent resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly
recognised the legitimacy of national liberation movements and acknowledged
that such resistance may take the form of armed struggle, provided that it
remains subject to the rules of international humanitarian law.

This is precisely why the international community has never automatically
equated national liberation movements with terrorist organizations.

International humanitarian law regulates the manner in which armed
conflicts must be conducted and imposes obligations on all belligerents,
including resistance movements.

However, it does not eliminate the political and legal right of a people to
resist occupation. Confusing these two dimensions serves only the interests
of occupying powers, because it transforms a conflict of a political and
legal nature into a mere policing matter.

The history of the so-called “State of Israel” itself exposes this
contradiction.

Before 1948, Irgun and Lehi were regarded as terrorist organizations by the
British government because of attacks such as the bombing of the King David
Hotel and the assassination of UN mediator Folke Bernadotte.

Years later, their leaders reached the highest levels of government, and
Menachem Begin received the Nobel Peace Prize. This demonstrates that the
label “terrorist” often reflects political circumstances more than any
permanent legal definition.

In the contemporary context, this debate remains highly relevant. Palestine
continues to be recognized by the United Nations as a territory under
occupation, while Western Sahara remains on the UN list of
Non-Self-Governing Territories, awaiting the fulfilment of its people’s
right to self-determination.

In this context, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which emerged
during the First Intifada, and the Polisario Front, recognized by the
United Nations as the representative of the Sahrawi people in the Western
Sahara peace process, belong to the historical tradition of national
liberation movements.

As with South Africa’s ANC, Algeria’s FLN, Namibia’s SWAPO, Mozambique’s
FRELIMO and many other movements, both base their struggle on their
peoples’ claim to the right of self-determination in the face of occupation
or foreign domination.

This does not mean that every military action carried out by resistance
organizations is automatically legitimate under international law.

The rules of international humanitarian law apply to all parties to a
conflict and prohibit deliberate attacks against civilians, regardless of
the cause being defended.

However, possible violations of these rules do not, in themselves,
invalidate the legal legitimacy of the struggle for self-determination, nor
do they automatically transform a national liberation movement into a
terrorist organization under international law. These are distinct
questions, frequently conflated for political convenience.

There is no colonialism without resistance. There never has been.

The French Resistance against Nazi occupation, Vietnamese guerrillas,
Algerian fighters, South Africans who confronted apartheid, African
liberation movements, the Polisario Front and the Palestinian resistance
all demonstrate that no people will indefinitely accept the loss of their
land, sovereignty and dignity.

The real question, therefore, is not why resistance exists.

The question the world should be asking is why military occupations,
colonial processes and regimes that deny entire peoples the right to
determine their own destiny continue to exist.

As long as there is colonization, apartheid, illegal annexation and denial
of self-determination, there will be armed resistance movements.

And international law, despite political pressure and attempts to
criminalize liberation movements, continues to uphold the fundamental
principle that the freedom of peoples is not an act of terrorism, but a
fundamental right of humanity.

*-Sayid Marcos Tenório is a historian, specialist in International
Relations, founder and vice-president of the Brazil-Palestine Institute
(Ibraspal). Author of the book Palestina: do mito da terra prometida à
terra da resistência (Palestine: from the myth of the promised land to the
land of resistance). His article appeared in MEMO.*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20260809/21a469cc/attachment.htm>