Terrorism’s overarching aims tend to be highly symbolic, baseless and unreasonable. Strikes against the “ruling class” and the “enemy of the people” – and the collateral losses that may result from them – are not imbued with any strategic wisdom simply because those responsible adopt a particular name or publish a political manifesto. You can be a terrorist without the branding, whether you are out to serve a campaign or to punish, or belong to a small or big group, so long as you employ violence that leads or can lead to death.
The murderous attacks on ruling New Democracy officials in Thessaloniki, which ultimately caused the death of Vagia Nestora and the injury of another four people, are exactly what they look like: terrorist hits. It doesn’t matter if or who assumes responsibility, what their purpose was or where the perpetrators lie on the political spectrum. The targets were chosen for ideological and political reasons, the purpose was to terrorize them to any degree and the method confirmed that: The arson attacks were capable of harming the targets and a lot of others still, of causing material damage, injury, or death, or all of the above, as was the case. If it looks like a terrorist, walks like a terrorist and terrorizes like a terrorist, then it’s probably a terrorist.
