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28———Anarchism

members in Kenya that bin Laden had formed a united anarchism range between the extremes of terrorism
front with other militant Islamic groups against the and pacifism.
United States. Although anarchists have developed various meth-
Ali is currently a fugitive. The U.S. State Depart- ods of accomplishing social change since the French
ment is offering up to $25 million for information philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865)
leading to his arrest or conviction. first introduced the term in 1840, the mass media and
the general public continue to present and perceive
See also AL QAEDA; OSAMA BIN LADEN; EAST AFRICAN
anarchists as unruly, usually angry, individuals hiding
EMBASSY BOMBINGS
a knife, a pistol, or a bomb awaiting the moment for
Further Reading violent action.

Bergen, Peter L. Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of “PROPAGANDA BY DEED”
Osama bin Laden. New York: Free Press, 2001.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Most Wanted Terrorists.” Anarchism was a product of the miserable social, eco-
http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/terrorists/fugitives.htm, nomic, and political conditions of working people in
October 2001. the 19th century. Industrial development and signifi-
Frontline. “Hunting bin Laden.” PBS. http://www.pbs.org/ cantly greater mobility brought rapid urban growth
wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/, May 1, 2002.
“A Nation Challenged: The Hunted; The 22 Most Wanted and the expansion of the gap in wealth and geography
Suspects, in a Five-Act Drama of Global Terror.” between social classes. Where working and living
New York Times, October 14, 2001, 1B. conditions were intolerable and hunger claimed many
Reeve, Simon. The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin lives, anarchist ideas found adherents.
Laden, and the Future of Terrorism. Boston: North- Anarchism was the first revolutionary movement in
eastern University Press, 1999. history that not only criticized authority but also
U.S. District Court Southern District of New York. United agitated for immediate and radical social change.
States v. Usama bin Laden et al. Indictment S(10) 98 Cr. Anarchists, however, are stymied by their very con-
1023 (LBS). cept of social relations—organizing is anathema.
Thus, with a theoretical prohibition against large
group action, Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin
ALIR. See ARMY FOR THE (1814–1876) made the proposal for “propaganda by
LIBERATION OF RWANDA. deed,” the most extreme method of struggle. He
thought that individuals or small groups of people
should kill those who represented an existing social
order, causing such dread and horror that the masses
ANARCHISM would spontaneously revolt and overthrow the state
itself. Similarly, German radical thinker Karl
Heinzen theorized in an 1848 essay called “Der
Anarchism is a theory of human governance that Mord” (“Murder”) that all forms of violence (includ-
rejects any coercive form of central authority and ing not only murder but suicide) are both justified and
offers a view of the future based on the voluntary necessary in revolutionary struggles.
cooperation between free individuals and groups Bakunin’s ideas found many followers. During the
forming the backbone of the social order. External last quarter of the 19th century and before the out-
authority—laws, government, police, church, and so break of World War I, an epidemic of terrorist attacks
forth—would be eliminated as they would be unnec- spread from Europe all over the world; the attacks
essary; crime would not exist, and, should an offense included the attempted assassination of German
occur, psychological methods of discipline such emperor Wilhelm I in 1878; the attempt on the life of
as shaming, for example, would suffice. Anarchists the German princess in 1883; the assassinations of
have divergent views on the level of community General Martinez Campos in Barcelona, Spain, in
cooperation, ranging from individualism to mutual- 1892, of President Sari Carnot of France in 1894, of
ism and from syndicalism to communism, and on the Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary in 1898, of
how these ideals can be achieved. Known tactics of King Humbert I of Italy in 1900, of U.S. president