Freedom fighter
Freedom fighter is a
relativistic local term for those engaged in
rebellion against an established organization that is thought to be oppressive. The terms
"freedom" and "
rebellion" are often confusing, as often both sides in armed conflict claim to represent the
popular cause of
"freedom". While external intervening parties, even oppressors, almost always claim to be "liberators",
'freedom fighters' also often become
oppressors in the eyes of civilians.
Though the literal meaning of the words could include
anyone who fights for the cause of freedom, common use is restricted to those who are actively involved in an
armed rebellion, rather than those who "fight" for freedom by peaceful non disturbive means (though they may use the title in its literal sense).
"Freedom fighter" is a
loaded term. People who are self-described "freedom fighters" tend to be called
assassins,
rebels, or
terrorists by their foes. During the
Cold War, the term
'freedom fighter' was widely used by the
United States and other
Western Bloc countries to describe rebels in countries controlled by
communist states or otherwise under the influence of the
Soviet Union, including rebels in
Hungary, the
anti-communist Contras in
Nicaragua,
UNITA in
Angola and the multi-factional
mujahideen in
Afghanistan. However, 'rebels' of the same nature in modern day
Iraq are labeled as
insurgents by the same United States.
The term
freedom fighter, while indicating favor of some political group, often does not reflect any actual political position of those fighting — central to this is a dispute over the meaning of
freedom itself and whether a group in question can be said to actually fight for the purpose of establishing
freedom. This was particularly true in
Nicaragua, where the
US government was inclined to a favorable view of the
Sandinista movement until some time after it accumulated power, when it backed the
Contra rebels. If the Sandinistas were fighting for
freedom then why would an oppressive government be established? And were the subsequent
Contra organizations then fighting against freedom? Of all political labels,
freedom fighter is perhaps the most blunt term for "friend" — some think that it signals an unwillingness to abandon moral support regardless of methods, an unbreakable alliance between players, perhaps even proxies in an unconventional war.
The ambiguity of the term
freedom makes the use of the label
freedom fighter particularly useful for
propaganda purposes. It is relatively simple to show that the "enemy" has done something which violates one of the many possible meanings of the word freedom, which allows the propagandist to appear to take the moral high ground by fighting for the cause of freedom. In addition to this, propagandists commonly use
virtue words like "
freedom", "
social justice", "
liberation", and "helping the poor", which tend to evoke positive images in the target audience in order to attach those images and feelings to his cause.
Certain media agencies, notably the
BBC and
Reuters, except in attributed quotes, refuse to use the phrase "terrorist" or "freedom fighter", in favour of neutral terms such as "
militant", "
guerrilla", "
assassin",
paramilitary or
militia to avoid the editorialising implicit in the use of such words. :(However the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s, when reporting on
the Troubles in Northern Ireland, did refer to the
Provisional Irish Republican Army as terrorists, while referring to members of
loyalist armed groups such as the
Ulster Defence Association and
Ulster Volunteer Force as "
paramilitaries". They continued to use neutral terminology of other "
insurgent" conflicts around the world).
*
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Separatists)
* The
African National Congress, c.f.
Alfred Nzo's Address to the British Trades Union Congress at its Presentation of a Gold Medal to Nelson Mandela, 1988.
*The
Dalai Lama: "We are freedom fighters unique in our peaceful approach to liberation."
*The
Irish Republican Army*
Babbar Khalsa (Sikh separatists)
*
GAM Gerakan Aceh Merdeka
*
CNRT Conselho Nacional de Resistência Timorense
*
Irregular military*
Assassin*
Terrorism*
Doublespeak*
Freedom Fighters (video game)*
martyr*
V for Vendetta*
News Coverage of Freedom Fighters and Rebels
