Al-Qaeda: How Discursively Legitimize Violence Against the West?

Abstract

Terrorism has been considered a media phenomenon, an indiscriminate and irrational act that generates multiple controversies in public opinion. However, for actors who engage in this type of action this tool is used as a strategy in the operational and ideological level, since they seek to cause the most damage, instill fear, chaos and paradoxically, find new followers. In this sense, is it possible to justify violence against civilians? This article seeks to answer this question by analyzing the three communiqués issued by the Islamist Al- Qaeda network in the context of the attacks in the United States of America, Spain and Britain. The goal is to understand the discursive strategies employed by the organization to position terrorism as “act of justice “, and thus make a kind of moral freedom from violence.