Terrorism is a multiple faceted word. Other has defined as the act of instilling fear in ones enemies, which is of course achieved by underhand methods, e.g. suicide bombings. In my opinion, terrorism can be defined more by the results than the actual action. From this point of I can say that terror and fear are the goals of terrorism. I say this because fear undermines faith in the establishment, hence weakening the enemy from within. Terror causes unrest in the masses.
Citing Leon Uris, who said that terrorism is the war of the poor, while War is the terrorism of the rich. This solidifies my reasoning, in that it tell us that terrorism is dependant on who is calling the shots. In simple terms, it’s a political weapon, at its waste a danger to the lives of ordinary men and humanity in general. The best example is the situation which prevailed in Africa in the middle of the last century. The rulers of that day called the Africans who were fighting for their land & freedom terrorist, while those who sympathized with them and their cause called them freedom fighters, strange right! From this I found that there is no clear cut definition of a terrorist, but that does not say that there are no terrorist or that using under hand method as a means to an end, does not make one a terrorist.
Firstly, continuing from the last paragraph, terrorism in its purest form is a cry or indicator that a wrong has been done in the system or society. Secondly, terror directed at an oppressor may at times (of course not violence) be tolerated. But any threat on any life innocent or guilty should and must be a prime factor in determining terrorism.
Looking at terrorism from a 21st century view point is more challenging and to a certain extent confusing. In our day and age, word like international terror, terror networks, weapon of mass destruction (WMD) ,al Qaeda and terms like the axis of evil not only bring confusing, but also instill fear in the masses. Terror has become a mean of income for some individuals. This has led to an explosion of terror groups around the globe. It is a multi-million dollar investment for unscrupulous companies, government official and individuals wanting to dispose of the opponent and further their economic interest in a given place. It is being used also to discredit, destabilize and control economies and states across the globe. Example, the 9/11 the airline and related industries found the stoke prices falling.
Of course, Africa is not left out in this pandemic. In most parts of the continent today, terror is the order of the day. Though there are countries which enjoy moderate peace and freedom, but even in here the effect are evident. This so because most of our economies are donor funded. If a donor country wages war (U.S.A and U.K are the major donors) it automatically means budget deficits for these states, hence making its governments vulnerable.
Finally, terrorism in all its forms should be stopped. This of course should not be done with violence, as they say you do not fight evil with evil. The issue many over look is that terrorism is as I said earlier, a cry by the oppressed in a society. The solution lies not in arms and peace talks, but addressing the core which is in this case injustice. Of course one can say war does offer a solution, but you should ask yourself want kind of solution do we need, short or long term? This is were war fails, it give a temporal solution living the main problem hanging. It’s only when we change our views of each other and learn to respect our differences, can we hope for a better and happier tomorrow | 
