Terrorism is not a solid entity that can be weighed, measured or analyzed; it is rather a social construct of realities. Its definition differs from different historical and social context whereby distinct groups have conflicting meaning (Martin, 2015). The social terrorism construction adopted by Islamic countries significantly differs from the view of the western countries, for instance, the United States of America. The United States defines terrorism as the act of vandalizing civilians and states property or injuring citizens devoid of expressly chartered acquiescence of a particular government with a venture to fulfill some political goal (Caruso, 2014). Some individuals in the Islamic world believe that terrorism is a form of a fight back against their oppression by the West. The social construct nature of terrorism creates a significant barrier towards its eradication.
The case of fundamentalist students, whereby students stormed the American embassy in Iran and captured the embassy and military personnel is a perfect scenario that portrays the terrorism social construct nature (Shannon, 2014). The US perceived the incidence as a terror act but the student was had a perception that they are guarding their country. The incidence was spearheaded by the fact that the US President Jimmy Carter had allowed the deposed former leader of Iran (Shah) to seek medication in the United States.
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The Iranians thought that the United States were trying to reinstate Shah forcefully back into power for their selfish gain over oil. It is to this effect that the Iranians named the United States as “The Great Satan”. The fundamentalist students stormed the U.S embassy to fight for their country’s wellbeing and also to fight against the perceived reinstatement of Shah. It is thus clear that the students were not undertaking a terrorist act but the U.S viewed it as a terror attack.
References
Caruso, R. (Ed.). (2014). Understanding terrorism: A socio-economic perspective (Vol. 22).
Emerald Group Publishing.
Martin, G. (2015). Understanding terrorism: Challenges, perspectives, and issues . Sage
Publications.
Shannon, M. K. (2014). American–Iranian Alliances: International Education, Modernization,
and Human Rights during the Pahlavi Era. Diplomatic History , dhu019.
