Great idea, and a great post. I don’t mean to get all serious on your design analysis, but I think your disclaimer blows:

“So if it turns out one of these groups is an actual army or a legitimate non-violent organization, don’t blame me.”

There are times, I think, when you want to be certain about facts. One of those times is when you’re identifying terrorists.

After all, throwing around the term ‘terrorist’ is a common tactic for fear-mongerers all over the world.

You’re obviously not trying to foster fear, but I don’t think you can absolve yourself of responsibility this easily. Either own the ‘best guess’ that these are terrorist organizations (and accept blame you if you get it wrong), or do the (difficult, tricky) research to verify the claim.

You forgot the White HOuse
http://www.whitehouse.gov/imgs/wh_banner.jpg

One of the things that makes me wonder with this kind of imagery is the choice of the weapon used.

Some use stylized images and other use weapons that are unknown enough to be “neutral”.

But AK’s and M16’s are quite recognizable and carry a very strong evocative meaning, they can be almost considered symbols.

Seeing M16’s crossed above al aqsa martyr’s logo makes me wonder if they chose them for any particular reason or if it was something more randon and then, why they did choose to use that specific image.

M

Coincidentally, just last night I watched this interesting video clip on Slate, which talks about the logo, color and dress preferences of various Palestinian militant groups:

Explainer: Where Do Militants Get Their Ski Masks?

Nice piece, lots of red used and lots of stars used. I would have included more secular terrorist organizations but whatever floats the boat of the masses.

“The Creativity Movement is an United States-based racialist White-supremacist organization that advocates a whites-only religion called Creativity.”

So W for white.

I cackled when I saw the ‘Weather Underground’ in your list of terrorist organizations. Rouge weather nerds releasing grainy weather reports with masked faces, false high wind advisories, counterfit rain guage trafficking. http://www.wunderground.com seemed innocent enough, these guys must be really good at hiding their horrible acts.

But then I saw this page and ruined my fun: http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/weather.htm

You do realize that the subgroup you list as “stars” are all the communist groups, right? A star and the color red are the universal symbols of communism.

You ought to consider adding the MEChA Organization’s logo to your list. While not actively blowing things up, these MEChA individuals advocate the takeover of the Western U.S. by Mexico. They will somehow or other get rid of all the Mexicans of European descent who currently run Mexico, and replace them with Mestizo or Indian People who will forever reign in the mythical Chicano homeland of Aztlan. I’m not making this up.

Hey where is the Al Qaeda logo?

The “W” in the logo labeled “Creativity Movement” stands for “World”. They used to label themselves the “World Church of the Creator”. An extreme fundamentalist Christian group formed by Matthew Hale who is now in prison for solicitation of murder.

Actually, I looked but couldn’t find an Al Qaeda logo. Anyone know? -David

You asked about the purpose behind the logos. Many—if not all—terrorist groups consider themselves legitimate. As such, logos are a normal part of a legitimate government authority, uniting the group under a single symbol or banner.

The term terrorist is rarely self-applied. “Terrorists” frequently become labeled as such by the groups who are the target of their violent activities. From the perspective of the group being attacked, the attackers are “terrorists;” from the perspective of the attackers, they are liberators, defenders of a just cause, etc., while the target of the attacks are occupiers, an illegitimate government, etc.

Assuming success on the part of the attackers, the logo would transition into a symbol for the newly installed government.

You forgot to list the logo of two largest Terrorist groups of the world, America and Israel!

You obviously didn’t look too hard for the al qaeda logo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda

Well you would figure that the jew made this document would exclude jewish extremist groups and israel’s allies.

in regard to darren’s comment.

that kind of blind labeling of enemies is what got us into this violent present in the first place.

i find it highly unlikely that you are fully elucidated to the sociopolitical histories of the various cultures that formed these entities, nor am i, nor is the author of this page, and therefore he is wise to disclaim that stance.

while i believe that it is abhorrent for violence to be used for political change, that violence is equally wicked whether it is perpetuated by ‘terrorists’ or states.

the holocaust was a state sponsored crime. 9/11 pales in comparison. don’t forget that.

Interesting article, It would seem the task of designing the “Army of God“‘s logo fell to the member most familiar with clip art.

very funny and nicely done. Where is the French Slow Food revolution’s flag? Perhaps someone could create. Crossed bagettes?

Not all of those organizations are terrorist groups. Like the Kosovo Liberation Army. How do I know, because America personally armed them to fight the Serbian forces that were committing war crimes during the war in Kosovo. Actually, just a couple of days ago Kosovo gained its independence , thanks to the KLA, the US, and the United Nations.

“Jihad of Sweden”!!! WH-A-A-T!!!!

Ya, I’m Mustafah Olefson, ya!! yer, all going to die, after I finish making this batch of home made Vodka, and take my Suana, ya! Praise Alla Ya!

I don`t think UÇK (KLA) belongs here.
They weren`t terrorists.If they were UN wouldn`t let them transform to TMK (Kosovo Protction Troops).

Hey Fuckhead, UÇK (Kosovo Liberation Army) is not a terrorist organization. Its legit and recognized worldwide… What the fuck, go check your fact sheet dumbasss. Fuck.

Where are the IRA, UDF, UVF,ETA, Al Qaeda and Taliban (to name a few) ones??

Interesting though - thanks

A a bit racist or one-sided perhaps?
The majority of the groups you mention are located in the Middle-East. I hear no mention of terrorist groups from other countries (I can think of many many more, such as the IRA or UDA’s logos in N.Ireland)

My name is Kojshia. I am a retard. I should not have posted that earlier comment because I actually forgot to read the disclaimer abobe that states these logos were lifted from a list on wikipedia and that the guy that wrote this article acknowledged that they might not all be correct. It is ok though. I am going to go back to my shithole 3rd world of Kosovo and fuck my mother and sisters in the ass, and then let all of my other terrorist friends lick poop off of my dick while we claim to be nice people.

Where is the logo for the IDF? Funny - left out by accident?

Just a note, the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) mostly releases bunnies and spraypaints graffiti, and they’ve never killed anybody, which I’d say makes them a pretty pussy terrorist organization.

OOOh, please save me from teh evil Animal Liberation Front!

There is nothing surprising about the existence of “Jihad of Sweden.” ALL western countries have experienced increasing levels of Muslim immigration, and a portion of these immigrants are militant wackos. In the spring of 2006, Sweden’s largest Muslim organization demanded in a public letter, signed by its leader Mahmoud Aldebe, that Sweden should introduce separate laws for Muslims. The letter included several pages of aggressive demands: separate family laws for Muslims, regulating marriage and divorce, that public schools should employ imams to teach homogeneous classes of Muslims children in their religion and the language of their original homeland, etc. No surprise. In 1999, Aldebe proposed that sharia (Islamic law) should replace current Swedish law.

Maybe it’s just me, or the people I’ve met, but I’m getting sick of all the ignorant people who are anti-Isreal just because of some hearsay and/or because it’s the “hip, cool, edgy” thing to be.

And hey, quit bitchin about “you forgot theses guys, this is a racsist list, what about IRA” etc. He did say that disclaimer, and like it or not, that disclaimer means he can pretty much say whatever he wants.

Good job, thanks for the blog, was an interesting read.

You can´t put a pussy white power group in the same page as the FARC militias!

And where are the rest of the REAL terrorists groups? IRA? ETA? MRTA? Shining Path? Montoneros? Comando Vermelho? Tupamaros?

Hey dude, Kosovo Liberation Army(KLA) doesn’t belong up there, you racist, do a little research first before posting something like this, not just searching google Images.

Couldnt help but notice the Saul Bass inspiration in the last 3 “One Gun” groups. Remember the poster for Exodus??
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/images/hh0252s.jpg

Hey dude, Kosovo Liberation Army is a terrorist organization, but successful one. Even then it remains a terrorist organization… do your internet search properly and honestly…

some of it is just stupid ? weapons crossed ? Look at the Saudi Flag. For stars look at China and Pakistan Phillipines to name a few. Terror-Wrist, should be your best option .. Weather Underground Party ? Animal Front ?? LOLOL

If you don’t like his list, make your own. Don’t be an ass.

Here’s another flag - http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/z/za%7Danc.gif
The ANC was considered a terrorist group by the Apartheid Government in South Africa before it gained control and now all previous “terrorist” members are considered “freedom” fighters, which they indeed are.

So when some whiny twits complain that the KLA isn’t a terrorist group, well they are recognized as a terrorist group by some, it’s all about the time period and who was in control.

I love this “Not all of those organizations are terrorist groups. Like the Kosovo Liberation Army. How do I know, because America personally armed them to fight the Serbian forces that were committing war crimes during the war in Kosovo.” And America also armed The Mojahedin (who are Al Qaeda and the Taliban), guess wtf happened there numb-nuts, they became the most widely known terrorist organization due to 9/11 Twin Towers attack in NYC & Pentagon.

Might as well put the French Resistance (http://www.new-enlightenment.com/frresistance.jpg) from WWII up on there aswell, I’d love to see a long comphrensive list with their flags.

What is a terrorist group?

- A terrorist organization: a political movement that uses terror as a weapon to achieve its goals

- A terrorist organisation is an organisation that engages in terrorist tactics, they are also (perhaps more neutrally) referred to as militant organisations

I would most definitely consider the US Government a terrorist organization under that definition. We sell weapons, we kill off opposing governments, conduct covert operations in order to benefit our stance in the world, and most of our population is too interested in the iPhone to worry about child labor etc…. And now, under the Patriot Act, I could be arrested, not charged with a crime and be incarcerated for an indefinite amount of time for what I’ve just said. Freedom is a lie, suck it bitch.

LOL at all the people saying the KLA isnt/wasn’t a terrorist organization. Even Clinton’s envoy to Kosovo said the KLA “without a doubt, is a terrorist organization” prior to the NATO bombings. It just shows how one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. Fact is, even the wikipedia entry on the KLA has numerous references on the matter from reputable news sources. The people calling for the person who made this page should to do some research should do a bit of research themselves.

Al Qqeda’s logo is missing. Or don’t they have a logo? From what I understand, their name means database or filing cabinet. What I’m driving at is that a lot of people suspect that they did not exist as a group before 9/11—only after that point did bin Laden use the name, after all. It’s a name that originated within the US intelligence circles, as I understand. Quite a load of horse shit.

I am pretty sure the organisation who came up with that logo created more terror than any other:

http://www.dhs.gov/threat_level/current_new.gif

Where is logo of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), a terrorist organization in Sri Lanka that began in 1970 as a student protest over the limited university access for Tamil students; currently seeks to establish an independent Tamil state called Eelam; relies on guerilla strategy including terrorist tactics that target key government and military personnel; “the Tamil Tigers perfected suicide bombing as a weapon of war”.

To everyone who said “Where is the US” or “Where is Israel” etc.

An armed organization which is under the control of a country is an organized army. An armed organization that does not answer to a country is what you might call a militant group. A militant group which performs violent acts against *civilians* (rather then against military targets only) is a terrorist group. From my limited knowledge of the subject matter I would say the French resistance was a militant organization, not terrorist.

It is as simple as that. Since the US army and the IDF are under the command of recognized nations, they are not terrorist organizations, even if you don’t agree with their actions (in which case you should take it against the governments that control them). Likewise, a terrorist group like Hamas is a terrorist group even if its goals are “good”.

I can’t believe you didn’t get every logo of the world’s terrorist groups.

Interesting post.

Hezbollah is not officially a terrorist organization.

Add one more…
http://www.rsu.edu/faculty/phatley/US_Seal.jpg

Great, for my collection of logos!

According to Wikipedia, this is the flag of al-Qaeda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_al-Qaeda.svg

Half of this is fake, and one side racsist list.

You invade someone else home, and call them terrorists when they have their rights to defend their homes, land, and themselves! this list is BS.

Someone astutely pointed out the symbolism of stars and the color red relating to Communism. Similarly, Islam’s official symbolic color is green.

This points to an important, but overlooked fact, which is that regardless of what list you find these organizations on, whether it is Wikipedia or the State Department, very few of these organizations actually consider themselves to be “terrorist organizations.” So their choice of logo and symbolism reflects an attempt to legitimate their organization by linking it to broader societal issues, or what many consider to be worthwhile goals.

There is also a lot of disagreement over the definition of “terrorism” or “terrorist” and the UN has not been able to decide for the last 10 years. There are many examples that most would agree on, but also some outliers. The US and its allies would like to restrict the definition of terrorism to armed groups that attack civilian populations or state institutions, but which are not states or armies themselves. But much of the rest of the world sees that as inadequate. Why should Israel and the US, or any other army for that matter not be labeled terrorist if they also attack and kill civilians?

In any case… the point is to keep the perspective of the organization in mind when analyzing their logo. The designation “terrorist” has absolutely nothing to do with their choice of logo, symbol, or color, because that isn’t how they see themselves. If you put aside the “terrorist” designation altogether, you would find that liberation organizations or other nationalist moviements have similar logos worldwide, with guns and swords symbolizing military might or militancy, that communists use red, and that Muslims use green and other Islamic symbols like pictures of mosques, but never physical representations of people or animals.

There, within the society, religion, or ideology of each group, lies the key to their symbols, regardless of what the US and its allies want to call them to slander their cause.

As someone else said above, the star logos are those of communist organizations.

“The guns, the blades, the maps of Israel, and other elements in these logos do effectively communicate with painful clarity what some of these groups intend”.

Some would say those are maps of Palestine. And would also say that the israeli army logo has a sword in it, communicating with painful clarity what they intend.

You guys need to chill out. There were many orgs left of the list and some that shouldn’t be there. Instead of attacking the poster, say something like:
“I don’t believe the KLA should be up there, and here is why” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Liberation_Army

or
“I think the (P)IRA should be up there, here is a link to info about them, and a separate link to their current logo”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army
(can’t find a unified logo for them)

Becoming angry and/or abusive seldom achieves what you are hoping for.

i think like david star logo is like state terrorist too, why you not drop or put that logo?? hoho…this is seriously make me you not objective people..ssshhhh

I lived in the Philippines in the 1970s when all Americans feared getting kidnapped by the New Peoples Army. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Good times.

what the fuck did u say about UCK?!?!… thats not a terrorist organisation asshole
check again

I’m going to translate this post to portuguese and put on my blog, ok? I’ll give the credits and link to you.

Thanks,
http://tradutorium.wordpress.com

Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK - KLA)WAS not a terrorist oranisation and it does not exist anymore!!!

ummm…if your looking for Al Qaeda logo…just use thier parent organisation…the CIA

Where is the logo for Cobra, nemesis of the G.I. Joe Team?

you forgot to classify the “stars and stripes” ones!

Well, this is a link where you can find the logos of ETA http://users.skynet.be/terrorism/html/spain_eta.htm

The second one pretend to be a snake rounding an axe (ETA stands for Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna meaning Basque Country and Freedom). The words “Bietan jarrai” means “to be in the two” (ways, political and criminal)

On the other hand: good job! I’d like to read it.

And yes, it IS a terrorist organization, more than 900 deaths, last 2 in december 2006

@ Chris:
> Just a note, the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) mostly releases bunnies and spraypaints graffiti, and they’ve never killed anybody, which I’d say makes them a pretty pussy terrorist organization.

Aside from nail bombs in chip shops and digging up dead grannies. It’s not all fluffy bunnies.

Well some people here said that a terrorist organization is an organization that does terror that means kills civilians. UCK didnt kill any civilian. They fought against Serbian army and they were only people defending their homes. They werent even organized. They were people who had guns and waited in their homes for the army to come.
I would add this flag too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Serbia.svg and also this one: http://www.epier.com/stores/outpostflags/images/fchetnik.jpg

Bye bye now.

Arguably, there isn’t an Al Quaeda logo as Al Quaeda doesn’t exist as an organisation in the same sense as most of the organisations with logos shown here. The governments of the West need it as a shorthand for a set of beliefs which leads people to act in its name. There was article in the Fortean Times a few years ago that suggested that Al Quaeda was like Asimov’s Foundation: the governments would prefer you to think it was like Stephen King’s Langoliers.

Good job. Interesting collection and breakdown of different ways of treating identities for “organizations”.

PEOPLE! Look at the list for what it is. A list of logos!

Lesson learned: terrorists don’t have a sense of style. All of these logos (except those of the CCC and RAF) suck, both from an aestethic point of view, as well as in terms of rememberability and recognizability.

Al Qaeda doesn’t have a logo as far as I know. Makes sense, since it was a CIA project to begin with and most CIA-projects carry (code-)names, not logos. You could say Osama Bin Laden has develloped into some kind of icon though, in a Ronald Mc-Donald way.

As for the creativity movement, the W and crown can either be white catholic supremacy (creationism rather than creativity) or a reference to the Weimar Republic of Germany before and during the first world war, with the crowned W standing for both Weimar and Wilhelm.

You forgot a number of “terrorist” organisations.

LTTE
MILF
MNLF
NDF

Good subject well tackled.

That Communist Combatant Cells logo was clearly an inspiration for the logo of late-eighties one-hit-wonders Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

See nasty modern 3D version here: http://www.sputnikworld.com/
The original (on my 7” copy of ‘Love Missile F111’) was flat red on white.

SSS were apparently named not after a terrorist group, but a Moscow street gang.

The Army of God one looks very clip art to me.

Try this resource—I use it at work: http://www.nctc.gov/docs/ct_calendar_2007.pdf. There is a section at the end with terrorist organizations and their logos.

What about a logo for the United Front of Judea? Or United Judean Front?

Where’s the CIA logo?

thanks for the list of logos. its an interesting discussion on design elements.

i’m disappointed at the level of discourse on here though. Its impossible to construct an objective basis for the terrorist label, hence the conflicts we’re having here.

Its a matter of where you find power to be legitimate so for example when the IDF massacres civilians vs when Hamas
massacres civilians. Im not equivocating but the point is who is the terrorist. Or is it in the act rather than the label. Is a state actor more legitimate to kill and exhort than a clandestine organization? the acts are the same…
anyway my two cents.

and MECHA not a terror organization (what planet are you from dude?)

Terrorist logos are not so much designed as they are adopted. A terrorist group will take on symbols used by others.

Everything in a “terrorist” group’s logo is a piece of information that informs potential friends and enemies what their philosophy is and who their allegiance is to. For instance, the star logos you provide are for Communist and Maoist groups. If you are an offshoot of Hezbollah or desire their support you’re going to signal that by adopting a logo similar to Hezbollah’s.

The ALF is not a “terrorist” group, but you’ll notice that their logo incorporates the Anarchy A, which lets you know they have an anarchist worldview. Etc.

I think you’d appease some of these asshats if you just called the logos political organizations and let whoever felt “left out” connect their own dots. Really, you do a creative, amusing thing here, and there will always be critics…but who knew they’d be so well read on terror groups throughout history? It was an interesting idea. You should explore more of it, if a few comments haven’t put you off. Say hello to ‘Cynic Sans’ for me.


PS: Don’t entirely trust Wikipedia, but they have other lists if you want them. Oddly (or not), the ‘CIA Factbook’ isn’t as candid.

Wow. A lot of these comments are horrendously ignorant. I wrote a large comment on terrorists vs. guerilla fighters vs. freedom fighters on my blog (which I won’t reproduce here).

“You forgot the White HOuse”

Comments like this–what a shock. Never saw them coming.

Military logos in general are not well-designed. Lotta shit going on in each one.

But I am surprised that no mention was made of possibly the simplest, most recognized, yet evilest of terrorist group logos:

The swastika.

Yipe. Touchy subject. I’d remove some of the more offensive comments if I were you, especially if you wish this article to remain about logo design.

u.s.a. terrorist

Well at the very least the article shows how many people just look at the pictures and skip the actual text.

Thank you for this interesting post. And respect to you, that you dont delete comments… some of them are really insulting, but very interesting to read.

The Creativity Movement has an anti-Christian stance and is certainly not a terrorist group.

The Israeli flag is a very clean design, it doesn’t have any guns or knives.

Thanks for the info.
Unfortunately, I don’t know (Most of them) in what country they exist.
It’ll be better if you write the country origin under every logo.

The Kosovan Liberation Army was ‘personally’ armed by the US? Oh, well I guess those guys must be cool then. Like the Muhajudeen or whatever.

Makethelogobigger:

OMG you are totally right,I mean just think of all those evil Hindus and Buddhists squatting in the wilderness and plotting the downfall of civilisation.

The Nazi party committed atrocities, but as a government, not a terrorist organisation. Characterising the swastika (which is the name for the religious symbol - the nazi term was ‘Hakenkreuz’ or ‘hook-cross’) as evil in nature is not very smart or culturally sensitive.

In Britain the skinheads couldn’t understand why the Indian shopkeepers didn’t get upset when they sprayed the shops with red swastikas…

-The ex-UCK wasn’t terorist organisation and it has been trnsformed into a regular KPC(Kosova Protection Corp),succesfully cooperating with UNMIK.This a good reason to take off UCK from the content of this article.

This is very poorly done and extremely biased.

Aha apparently i was making wrong assumptions about both Al Qaeda and the Creativity Movement. The crowned W wàs the symbol of pre-nazi Germany though. And still, to this day, I have never seen an official communication by Al Qaeda that carried a logo. As for the Creativity Movement: what do you call a fundamentalist catholic white supremacy group that engages in violent acts to enforce its ideas on society, if not terrorists?

The comment on Weather Underground above contains equally uninformed assumptions.
WU did not just ‘make fake weather reports’. They were a full blown terrorist organisation.

The same goes for Joels comment. Rambling on about buddhists and hindus does not wipe out the meaning attributed to the swastika today. Wether or not the attribution is ‘fair’, it’s there. The swastika is a hate symbol now, and we have the nazi’s to thank for it. Shooting the messenger won’t make that go away.

The trouble with this site is a lack of distinction between terrorist groups, liberation groups, rebel movements, illegal armies etc. and an overall lack of solid information on the organisations behind the logos.

UCK is a terrorist group. They tortured and killed many civilians in Macedonia. And are also the biggest mafia in Europe and wider, dealing with drugs, arms and prostitution. They raised guns to achieve something that can be done trough democratic processes. I think it’s bullshit that whenever Albanians have problems, they take the guns. Thats terrorism. Even now, when they have all of the rights they wanted, they still threaten to take violent actions if their demands are not met. Fuck em’. Learn to use the brains in a good way please. Do not use guns. Its retarded. sheesh

The main difference between governments and terrorists is that terrorists are usually intellectuals while members of government are usually lawyers. And Terrorists don’t print their own currency.

Will you all just shut the fuck up and stop with the endless complaints in the comments? Go post about what constitutes terrorism versus governments versus whose dick is bigger on some other site - perhaps a political one, or maybe start your own blog to discuss those points. MAYBE those with complaints should go to Wikipedia.com and edit the public information there? Everything that needed to be said about this being a lighthearted look at the relatively crappy design of fuckhead terrorist organizations as listed on Wikipedia is in the disclaimer.

The Symbionese Liberation Army was not really a terrorist group. They were criminals posing as idealists. See here: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msymbionese.html

Oh and ‘Pete’: if you don’t like to read the comments, then don’t.

this is just a sneaky way from the government to see who is commenting …
he Bush , up yours you silly old bat!

why dont you add to list PKK (Kurdish Terrorist Group)many years they killed many kurd and turk people in TURKİYE

Please ad (The Jamatt Al Muslimeen) Posing as a legit organization here in Trinidad & Tobago W.I. They are a Terrorist Group who continue to terrorize our beautiful twin Islands even after their 1990 faild Coupe attempt.

>You forgot a number of “terrorist” organisations.
>
>LTTE
>MILF
>MNLF
>NDF

MILF? Really?

Who designed their flag, General Garcia?

The SNAFU will get you for this, Sasha. Maybe they’ll franchise the job to the TGIF, but get you they will. Victory to the JPEG!

A small tip for all those people here asking “Why didn’t you put up the logo of this or that?”: find the logo of the group you’re missing and post a link to the image here, or better yet, include the logo in a mail to the maker of this page and ask that it be added. A helpful hint from your friends at the WYSIWYG headquarters, burried deep in the mountains of TCIP-IP.

This article is interesting and funny, but not a tenth as funny as the idiotic comments on all sides that followed it. Good show. :)