What is terrorism?

Terrorists use violence in an attempt to achieve political goals. Their intent is to bring about political change by creating a climate of fear within the society they oppose. The targeting of innocent victims and symbolic locations for a high-profile attack has long been the preferred method of terrorist organizations.

For centuries, terrorism was an instrument of repression by governments as well as a tool of revolutionaries trying to overthrow governments. During the last half of the 20th century, the occurrence of terrorism increased dramatically throughout the world.

Discuss Class Handout 2 after this.

Who are the terrorists?

Show this image to the kids. Then, perform this exercise: ask them what a terrorist would look like. You can even draw an outline on the board and add descriptive features to the drawing as kids respond. Do this for a few minutes, and then ask them these questions:

1. How come our terrorist looks like this?
2. What determines the ‘look’ of a terrorist for you?
3. Why is this person a man? (or woman, depending on the gender the class picks).

After discussing these questions, emphasize that the image they have made is wrong. Rub the image from the board and make the following point.

A terrorist could be anyone. They could belong to any religion, any gender, may or may not be educated, may or may not have families. The only thing common between all terrorists is an irrational want of power, irrational sense of superiority and vengeance.

Then, show video no. 2 from the resource bank. This video is about empathy, choosing one’s path and how a terrorist does not always breed terrorists.

Note: the teacher is requested to see this video in advance and decide if it is suitable for his/her kids.

Do the empathy exercise mentioned in Teachers’ Handout 4 after the video.