Insurrection as warfare, terrorism, and revolutionary design

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to position insurrectionary methods within a more diverse history of militant resistance; specially those socio-political movements employing urban guerrilla warfare. This discussion begins by outlining the strategy of insurrectionary warfare based in the more centrally located movements texts such as The Coming Insurrection authored by the Invisible Committee. These strategic proscriptions are compared to Marxist-Leninist and national-separatist movements of the mid to late twentieth century to both demonstrate the similarity and highlight difference. This approach argues that modern insurrectionary methods can be understood as a rearticulation of the strategy of urban guerrilla warfare based in the model of the affinity group, and adoptable moniker popularized during the period of anti-globalization summit hopping. This chapter also examines key inter-movement questions such as ‘Is insurrectionary violence considered terrorism?’, and ‘Clandestine cells carrying out attacks claim responsibility for their actions?’