Andrei Novikov: The Origins of Terrorism
[Here on this blog, I try when I can to bring in as many Russian voices as possible, whether it is our anonymous polittechnologist, Grigory Pasko, Stanislav Markelov, Lev Ponomarev, Oleg Kozlovsky, or one of the many others. Toward this end, today we are running the following essay contribution from Andrei Novikov, the young journalist and commentator who was interviewed by Pasko after being committed involuntary to punitive psychiatric confinement for publishing articles critical of the government. – Robert Amsterdam] TERROR – IN FRENCH AND IN RUSSIAN? By Andrei Novikov It is interesting to recall the origin of the word TERROR. It literally signifies a “horrible fright”. It first appeared during the time of the Great French revolution. There, the word “terror” (the concept of “terrorism” didn’t exist yet) was applied for signifying STATE REVOLUTIONARY terror in order to intimidate the stratum of society whom they regarded as enemies of the people. A “friend of the people”, the French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat sent people by the thousands to the guillotine – and this was called terror. A thoroughly positive state practice.