Freedom fighter

A freedom fighter is a person who thinks their native ethnic group is not free, and is working to have freedom for their group. Most often this means that a freedom fighter wants their people to have own nation and independence and/or get rid of oppressors. People who think like this are said to think in a nationalist way.

Freedom fighter is a relativistic term - this means a person decides by his or her point of view if he call some persons or groups freedom fighters or not. Freedom fighter is a positive term - this means that he or she calls a person "freedom fighter" only if he or she supports the goals of the freedom fighter. If people do not support his goals, they probably use more negative terms like insurgent, terrorist, rebel or criminal.

Freedom fighters are often called terrorists by their opponents if they hurt civilians. However, not all freedom fighters hurt civilians. Some freedom fighters damage the opposing military. Some freedom fighters damage property - this is called sabotage. There are also freedom fighters who do not use violence at all. For example, Mahatma Gandhi and Dalai Lama.

 Groups 
These are examples of groups who call themselves freedom fighters.
 The African National Congress, c.f. Alfred Nzo's Address to the British Trades Union Congress at its Presentation of a Gold Medal to Nelson Mandela , 1988.
 Al-Qaeda
 Aryan Nations
 Babbar Khalsa (Sikh separatists)
 CNRT Conselho Nacional de Resistência Timorense
 The Continuity Irish Republican Army
 Earth Liberation Front
 ETA Euskadi Ta Askatasuna - Basque nationalist organization
 GAM Gerakan Aceh Merdeka
 Hamas
 Hezbollah
 Hizbul Mujahideen - Kashmiri separatists
 The Irish National Liberation Army
 The Irish People's Liberation Organisation
 The Irish Republican Army
 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Separatists)
 Mahdi Army a militia force created by and loyal to the Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
 The New Peoples' Army
 The National Liberation Front of Algeria (FLN)
 The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
 The Real Irish Republican Army
 The Scottish National Liberation Army
 The Ulster Defence Regiment
 The Ulster Freedom Fighters
 The Ulster Volunteer Force

Other examples 
 The Dalai Lama: "We are freedom fighters unique in our peaceful approach to liberation."
 Sitting Bull
 Nelson Mandela
 Mahatma Gandhi
 Michael Collins (Irish leader)
 Red Cloud
 William the Silent
 George Washington
 Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

In public media
•Assassin's Creed is based around a group of freedom fighters.

•The Hunger Games is set in a dystopia that later features freedom fighters.

 References 

Category:Human rights
Category:Freedom