Guerrilla Warfare

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Monday December 27, 2004 06:44 by DM Gould

Guerrilla’ is a Spanish word meaning ‘little war’. Small nations or revolutionary bodies can only defeat the occupying forces, who are superior in human resources and arms, as well as economic and material resources, by means of guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare has been employed to overthrow colonialism, to launch civil wars, and by Communist and Western powers in the Cold War.

Up until World War II, guerrilla warfare was largely ignored in military textbooks. Today, its implications cannot be ignored. Many countries, (e.g., Britain) even have specific brigades set up to combat guerrilla warriors.

Even when the urban guerrilla applies proper tactics, errors still occur. But, one can make every effort to diminish the margin of error. Carlos Marighella, a leader of guerrilla freedom fighters in Brazil in the late 1960s, listed in his training guide the Seven Deadly Sins of Urban Guerrilla Warfare:1

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