An urban guerrilla is someone who fights a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

using

unconventional warfare Unconventional warfare (UW) is broadly defined as "military and quasi-military operations other than conventional warfare" and may use covert forces, subversion, or guerrilla warfare. This is typically done to avoid escalation into conventional ...

domestic terrorism Domestic terrorism or homegrown terrorism is a form of terrorism in which victims "within a country are targeted by a perpetrator with the same citizenship" as the victims.Gary M. Jackson, ''Predicting Malicious Behavior: Tools and Techniques ...

in an

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

environment.

Theory and history

The urban guerrilla phenomenon is essentially one of industrialised society, resting both on the presence of large

urban agglomeration An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

s where hideouts are easy to find and on a theory of alienation proper to the modern society of mass consumption. Michael Collins, a commander of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

(IRA) is often considered to be the father of modern urban guerrilla warfare. In April 1919 an elite assassination unit, known as The Squad or ''Twelve Apostles'', was created in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. The unit was tasked with hunting down and executing British Intelligence operatives in the city; they can be considered one of the first true urban guerrilla units. Historically guerrilla warfare was a rural phenomenon, it was not until the 1960s that the limitations of this form were clearly demonstrated. The technique was almost entirely ineffective when used outside of the later colonial environment, as was shown by the Cuban-sponsored efforts in Latin America during the 1960s culminating in the '' foco'' campaign headed by

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quot ...

in Bolivia that culminated in his death. The need for the target government to be simultaneously incompetent, iniquitous, and politically isolated was rarely met. The failure of rural insurgency forced the discontented to find new avenues for action, essentially random terrorism aimed at creating maximum publicity, provoking the targeted regimes into excessive repression and so inciting the general population to join a wider revolutionary struggle. This movement found its mentor in the leader of the ephemeral Ação Libertadora Nacional, Carlos Marighela. Before his death in 1969 he wrote the ''

Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla The ''Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla'' ( pt-BR, Minimanual do Guerrilheiro Urbano) is a book written by Brazilian Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist Revolutionary, revolutionary Carlos Marighella in 1969. It consists of advice on how to dis ...

'' which, between the polemics, gave clear advice on strategy and was quickly adopted by others around the world.

Historical examples

However, not all urban political violence can be labeled as ''urban guerrilla''. The Black Panther Party might not qualify, due to its public nature, although its policy of "self-defense" was interchangeable with a policy of armed struggle in highly policed African-American communities. Similarly the Italian

Autonomia Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tend ...

movement and the German Autonomen engaged in urban political violence, but not as urban guerrillas due to their policies of public, mass and non-deadly violence. In the 1970s BBC comedy "

Citizen Smith ''Citizen Smith'' is a British television sitcom written by John Sullivan, first broadcast from 1977 to 1980. It starred Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith, a young Marxist "urban guerrilla" in Tooting, south London, who is attempti ...

" Wolfie Smith, the leader of the fictional "Tooting Popular Front" described himself as an Urban Guerrilla.

Africa

Algeria FLN

Ethiopia

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝባዊ አብዮታዊ ፓርቲ, Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā Həzbāwī Abyotawi Party), informally known as Ihapa, is the first modern political party in Ethiopia, esta ...

Somalia

Hizbul Islam Hizbul Islam ("Islamic Party"), also known as Hizbul Islaami, Hisbi Islam, or Hezb-ul Islam, was a Somali Islamist group formed after four Islamist groups merged to oppose the new Somali government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. The four gr ...

* Al-Shabaab * Raskamboni Movement

Asia

Bangladesh

Crack Platoon The Crack Platoon was a special commando team of the Mukti Bahini which was formed in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was formed by young members of Mukti Bahini which carried out commando operations in Dhaka and its surroundings a ...

during the 1971 Pakistan-Bangladesh War

India

* Naxalite movement *

insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger g ...

Insurgency in Northeast India The Insurgency in Northeast India involves multiple armed separatist factions operating in some of India's Northeast India, northeastern states, which are connected to the rest of India by the Siliguri Corridor, a strip of land as narrow as ...

South Korea

* SKNLF * SKSWA

Iran

Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas The Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG; fa, سازمان چريک‌های فدايی خلق ايران, Sāzmān-e čerikhā-ye Fadāʾi-e ḵalq-e Irān), simply known as Fadaiyan-e-Khalq ( fa, فداییان خلق, Fad ...

(OIPFG) (formed 1970) *

People's Mujahedin of Iran The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...

(formed 1970)

Iraq

* Numerous insurgent forces

Japan

Leftists: * Japan Revolutionary Communist League, National Committee (Middle Core Faction) *

Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Revolutionary Marxist Faction) The Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Revolutionary Marxist Faction) ( ja, 日本革命的共産主義者同盟革命的マルクス主義派, Nihon Kakumeiteki Kyōsanshugisha Dōmei, Kakumeiteki Marukusu Shugiha) is a Japanese Trotskyist r ...

* Fourth International Japan *

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

Japanese Red Army The was a militant communist organization active from 1971 to 2001. It was designated a terrorist organization by Japan and the United States. The JRA was founded by Fusako Shigenobu and Tsuyoshi Okudaira in February 1971 and was most active i ...

(detached from Red Army Faction and Kyoto Partisan in 1971) **

United Red Army The was a militant organization, that operated in Japan between July 1971 and March 1972. The URA was formed as the result of a merger that began on 13 July 1971 between two extremist groups, the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist , led in 1971 by Tsuneo ...

(Remnants of Red Army Faction and the Maoist Revolutionary Left Wing of the Japanese Communist Party merged in 1971The final days of revolutionary struggle in Japan
/ref>) * East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front Fascists: *

Tatenokai The or Shield Society was a private militia in Japan dedicated to traditional Japanese values and veneration of the Emperor. It was founded and led by author Yukio Mishima. Background The Tatenokai was created on October 5, 1968, recruiting ...

Malaysia

Malayan Communist Party The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore from ...

(PKM)

Lebanon

* Hezbollah

Palestinian Territories

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary so ...

* PLO * Lehi

Philippines

* Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB) * Red Scorpion Group * Light A Fire Movement (LAFM) * Sandigan Army

Turkey

* Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C) * Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (Turkey) (MLKP) * Devrimci Yol (DEV-YOL) * Turkish Revolutionary Youth Federation * Devrimci Karargâh (DK) *

Group of Communities in Kurdistan The Kurdistan Communities Union ( ku, Koma Civakên Kurdistanê, italic=yes, KCK) is a Kurds, Kurdish political organization committed to implementing Abdullah Öcalan's ideology of democratic confederalism.Abdullah Öcalan, Öcalan, Abdullah]Decl ...

(KCK) *

Kurdistan Workers Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK)

Europe

Belgium

* Cellules Communistes Combattantes (CCC) * Front Revolutionaire d' Action Prolétarienne (FRAP)

France

* Action Directe - A far-left group. * - A fascist group. * FLNC - A Corsican separatist group. *

Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation Armée Secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a far-right French dissident paramilitary organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an atte ...

- A far-right group.

Germany

Leftists: * Movement 2 June *

(RAF) * Revolutionary Cells (RZ) Fascists: * Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund (NSU)

Greece

Revolutionary Organization 17 November Revolutionary Organization 17 November ( el, Επαναστατική Οργάνωση 17 Νοέμβρη, ''Epanastatiki Organosi dekaefta Noemvri''), also known as 17N or the 17 November Group, was a Greek far-left Marxist–Leninist urban ...

* Revolutionary Struggle * Revolutionary Nuclei * Sect of Revolutionaries * Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei

Iceland

* Kópamaros * X18 (guerilla movement)

Ireland

* Irish National Liberation Army *

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

Italy

Poland

* Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party * Rewolucyjni Mściciele

Spain

* ETA * ETA-pm * Terra Lliure * MPAIAC, Canary Islands Independence Movement * GRAPO * Resistência Galega *

Iraultza Iraultza (Basque for Revolution) was a small Basque militant armed group of leftist tendency, active between 1982 and 1996 as a response to the suppression of the Basque resistance movement. It was thought to be a group of less than 50 people based ...

* Comandos Autónomos Anticapitalistas * FRAP * Arxiu * Exèrcit Popular Català * Escamots Autònoms d´Alliberament * Hermanos Quero * Front d'Alliberament de Catalunya * Organització de la Lluita Armada * Exército Guerrilheiro do Povo Galego Ceive * Liga Armada Galega * Loita Armada Revolucionaria *

Fuerzas Armadas Guanches The Guanche Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas Guanches (FAG)) was the armed wing of the Movement for the Self- Determination and Independence of the Canarian Archipelago, es, Movimiento por la Autodeterminación e Independencia del Archipiélag ...

* Andecha Obrera

United Kingdom

* Scottish National Liberation Army * MAC * An Gof *

Free Wales Army The Free Wales Army (FWA; cy, Byddin Rhyddid Cymru) was a paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation, formed at Lampeter in Ceredigion by Julian Cayo-Evans in 1963. Its objective was to establish an independent Welsh republic. History Ove ...

* Cornish National Liberation Army *

North America

Canada

* FLQ (

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

) * Squamish Five * Wimmin's Fire Brigade

Cuba

* 26th of July Movement (M-26-7)

El Salvador

* FMLN

Nicaragua

* FSLN

United States

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police br ...

Black Liberation Army The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was a far-left, black nationalist, underground Black Power revolutionary paramilitary organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic ...

* Black Panther Party *

Border Ruffian Border ruffians were proslavery raiders, crossing from the slave state of Missouri into the Kansas Territory, to help ensure Kansas entered the Union as a slave state. They were a key part of the violent period called Bleeding Kansas, that pea ...

* Brown Berets * Bushwacker * Chicano Liberation Front *

Earth Liberation Front The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for Wiktionary:Autonomy, autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the Earth Liberation Front Press Office, ELF Press Office, use "econom ...

George Jackson Brigade The George Jackson Brigade was a revolutionary group founded in the mid-1970s, based in Seattle, Washington, and named after George Jackson, a dissident prisoner and Black Panther member shot and killed during an alleged escape attempt at San ...

Green Mountain Anarchist Collective Anarchism in the United States began in the mid-19th century and started to grow in influence as it entered the American labor movements, growing an anarcho-communist current as well as gaining notoriety for violent propaganda of the deed and ...

Jayhawker Jayhawkers and red legs are terms that came to prominence in Kansas Territory during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; they were adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These gangs we ...

* Ku Klux Klan * May 19th Communist Movement *

MOVE Move may refer to: People * Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver Brands and enterprises * Move (company), an online real estate company * Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer * Daihatsu Move Go ...

New Black Panther Party The New Black Panther Party (NBPP) is an American black nationalist organization founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1989. Despite its name, the NBPP is not an official successor to the Black Panther Party.

The Night Riders The Night Riders was the name given by the press to the militant, terrorist faction of tobacco farmers during a popular resistance to the monopolistic practices of the American Tobacco Company of James B. Duke. On September 24, 1904, the tobacco p ...

Quantrill's Raiders Quantrill's Raiders were the best-known of the pro-Confederate States of America, Confederate partisan guerrillas (also known as "bushwhackers") who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was William Quantrill and they included Jesse Ja ...

Red Shirts (United States) The Red Shirts or Redshirts of the Southern United States were white supremacist paramilitary terrorist groups that were active in the late 19th century in the last years of, and after the end of, the Reconstruction era of the United States. Red ...

* Republic of Texas (group) *

Sovereign citizen movement The sovereign citizen movement (also SovCit movement or SovCits) is a loose grouping of litigants, activists, tax protesters, financial scheme promoters and conspiracy theorists, who claim to be answerable only to their particular interpret ...

Symbionese Liberation Army The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and American law enforcement considered the SLA to be the ...

US Organization US Organization, or Organization Us, is a Black nationalism, Black nationalist group in the United States founded in 1965. It was established as a community organization by Hakim Jamal together with Maulana Karenga. It was a rival to the Black Pan ...

Weather Underground Organization The Weather Underground was a far-left militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, the group was organized as a faction of Students for a Democr ...

South America

Argentina

* Montoneros - A leftist group. * Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) - A leftist group. * Tacuara Nationalist Movement (MNT) - A fascist group.

Brazil

* National Liberation Action (ALN) * Popular Liberation Movement (Molipo) * Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8) * Armed Revolutionary Vanguard Palmares (VAR-Palmares) * Popular Revolutionary Vanguard (VPR)

Chile

Leftists: * Lautaro Youth Movement (MJL) *

Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front The Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (in es, link=no, Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez, ''FPMR'') was a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organisation officially founded on 14 December 1983 as the paramilitary arm of the Communist Party of Chil ...

(FPMR) * Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) Fascists: * Fatherland and Liberty (PyL)

Colombia

19th of April Movement The 19th of April Movement ( es, Movimiento 19 de Abril), or M-19, was a Colombian guerrilla organisation movement. After its demobilization it became a political party, the M-19 Democratic Alliance (), or AD/M-19. The M-19 traced its or ...

(M-19) *

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...

* National Liberation Army

Uruguay

* Tupamaros

Venezuela

* Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional * Bandera Roja

References

External links

Suggested readings: *Greene, T.N. (ed) The Guerrilla—and How to Fight Him: Selections From the Marine Corps Gazette. Frederick A. Praeger, 1964. *Molnar et al., Undergrounds in Insurgent, Revolutionary, and Resistance Warfare. Special Operations Research Office, American University, 1963. *Oppenheimer, Martin. The Urban Guerrilla. Quadrangle, 1969.
''The Black Bloc Papers: An Anthology of Primary Texts From The North American Anarchist Black Bloc 1988-2005''
by Xavier Massot & David Van Deusen of the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective (NEFAC-VT), Breaking Glass Press, 2010.
''A Communiqué on Tactics and Organization to the Black Bloc, from within the Black Bloc''
by The Green Mountain Anarchist Collective (NEFAC-VT) & Columbus Anti-Racist Action, Black Clover Press, 2001.
''Van Deusen On North American Black Blocs 1996-2001''
by David Van Deusen, The Anarchist Library, 2017. * Peter Polack, Guerrilla Warfare; Kings of Revolution,Casemate,. {{Authority control Terrorism tactics Guerrilla warfare by type Revolutions