恐怖主义(terrorism)

有系统地使用暴力来制造某些人的恐惧，期以达成特定的政治目标。世界各地的历史上都出现过恐怖主义活动，包括左派及右派的政治组织、民族主义者、特殊族群团体及革命分子。恐怖主义虽然常被认为是颠覆及推翻既存政治体制的工具，但有时也会被政府用来对付人民以强化国家意识形态，例如某些古罗马皇帝、法国革命时期（恐怖统治Reign of Terror）、纳粹德国以及史达林时代的俄国。恐怖主义的影响逐日加大，因为一方面现代武器的致命性和科技复杂性愈来愈高，另一方面现代媒体传散这类攻击新闻的即时性也愈来愈高。有史以来最严重的恐怖攻击发生在2001年9月：自杀性的恐怖分子劫持四架美国民航客机，其中两架撞上纽约世界贸易中心（World Trade Center）的双子星大楼，另一架撞击华府的五角大厦（Pentagon），第四架则坠毁在宾州匹兹堡附近。这些撞击导致世贸中心几乎全部崩坍、五角大厦西南角烧毁，造成飞机上266人罹难、撞毁的建筑物内外数千人死亡。

English version：

terrorism

Systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective. It has been used throughout history and the world by political organizations of both the left and the right, by nationalist and ethnic groups, and by revolutionaries. Though usually thought of as an instrument for destabilizing or overthrowing existing political institutions, terror has also been employed internally by governments against their own subjects to enforce adherence to the national ideology; examples include the reigns of certain Roman emperors, the French Revolution (see Reign of Terror), Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union in the Stalinist era. Terrorism's impact has been magnified by the deadliness and technological sophistication of modern-day weapons and the capability of modern media to disseminate news of such attacks instantaneously throughout the world. The deadliest terrorist attack ever occurred in September 2001, when suicide terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes and crashed two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center complex and one into the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C.; the fourth plane crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The crashes resulted in the collapse of much of the World Trade Center complex, the destruction of part of the southwest side of the Pentagon, and the deaths of 266 people aboard the planes and thousands more in the buildings or in nearby areas.

参考文章

• 中华人民共和国反恐怖主义法(2018版）法律全文