Comments on: A Haunting Presence: Pirates, Then and Now

By: mary

mary — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:55:48 +0000

According to Wikipedia – it was a Russian

“Terror” comes from a Latin word meaning “to frighten”. The terror cimbricus was a panic and state of emergency in Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105BC. The Jacobins cited this precedent when imposing a Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. After the Jacobins lost power, the word “terrorist” became a term of abuse. Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by a government, in modern times “terrorism” usually refers to the killing of innocent people by a private group in such a way as to create a media spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a “terrorist”.[8] Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group “People’s Retribution” (Народная расправа) in 1869.
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There is also the George W Bush version- a ‘terr’ist’ – one who is sought in the war on terr’r.

By: Hue Longer

Hue Longer — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:42:05 +0000

I think the term “terrorist” was first used by the French…I think too that it was used (in English) to describe Democrats in England who challenged the crown. Open to corrections on this, but the word has a long history of being used by those with power to describe those without it

By: anthony innes

anthony innes — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:22:56 +0000

Michael Kenny nice info thanks.The new history coming from a wider world view shows most history (at least as taught in schools) is bunk.
Those interested in Piracy without the froth and bubbles and still rivetting will enjoy “Pirate of Exquisite Mind ” a biography of William Dampier. Finton O’toole’s “White Savage ” sheds light on the period . The greatest pirate of all was the Chinese woman Cheng I Sao.
Danny Ray come on mate; social justice or its abscence is one of the root causes of piracy allied with connivance of rogue governments and arms traders.Try “Liberty Verses the Law ” by Christopher Hill if you want to understand a process that turns people into that thug. I have the same contempt for those of religious persuasion but I hardly want to kill them as a nice little earner.

By: Michael Kenny

Michael Kenny — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:35:46 +0000

Just to get the Irish history right, the Sack of Baltimore, as it’s called, occurred in 1631 and is a unique event in Irish history. About 100 English settlers (the English were colonising West Cork at the time: the Plantation of Munster) were taken. I doubt, therefore, if the locals shed many tears over them! The pirate captain was a Dutchman and I doubt if Algerians would have been able to navigate in the wild Atlantic as far as Ireland on their own.

The one million Europeans enslaved in northern Africa between the years 1530-1780 is highly dubious. It was put about by some screwball American academic in a book designed to show that Muslims are inherently evil and that only the US can defend Europe from their ravaging hordes etc., etc.,etc., i.e. classic Israel Lobby propaganda. The Sack of Baltimore is one of those wierd little details that people chuckle about precisely because it only happened once and I know of no European country that regards North African piracy as a major chapter in its history in the way that the Barbary pirates figure in American history. There might have been a few raids on the Mediterranean coast in the context of the on-going fight with Turkey that Mr Grosso refers to, but a million people goes too far.

As I keep saying, European history is a lie Americans agree on!

By: Danny Ray

Danny Ray — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:20:09 +0000

So you are saying that it’s OK to hang the SOB’s from the yard arm when we catch them?

On Dec. 26 to 27 1851 during the capture of Lagos by HMS Bloodhound, and HMS Teazer the british navy burned many priate ships and hung their whole crews. This was the biggest defeat of priacy ever.

For the next 20 years the brits set fire to the whole Sulu coast to stop priacy.

What I wish to know is can we do that again?

I mean social justice be damned this could be a real money maker.

what if a group of private individuals like a group of unemplyed Blackwater boys took it up. Would it be a blow in the war of social justice?

What I am tring to say is that a thug is a thug is a thug.