BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — Resistance is not a band of armed men hell-bent on wreaking havoc. It is not a cell of terrorists scheming on ways to detonate buildings. Resistance is a culture — a collective retort to oppression. Understanding the nature of resistance is not easy. Even if a newsbyte could explain why a people resists, it would directly clash with mainstream interpretations of violence and nonviolent resistance.
The Afghanistan story must remain committed to the same language: al-Qaida and the Taliban. Lebanon must be represented in terms of a menacing Iran-backed Hezbollah. The Palestinian territory's Hamas must be forever shown as a militant group sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state. Any attempt at offering an alternative reading is tantamount to sympathizing with terrorists and justifying violence.
The deliberate conflation and misuse of terminology has made it almost impossible to understand and thus resolve bloody conflicts. Even those who purport to sympathize with resisting nations often contribute to the confusion.