History Main / YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' has this as the main plot as Cap is framed for supposedly [[spoiler: killing Nick Fury]] and branded a criminal as such. [[spoiler: It became quite literal at the end when it's found out HYDRA is behind everything and manipulating events from within S.H.I.E.L.D so they can take over the world.]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Fructose Riboflavin tries using this as a defense [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/374 at his trial.]] It doesn't go over very well.

* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', in the story "That Which Redeems", [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] [[TheLegionsOfHell invade]] an alternative dimension populated by ridiculously PerfectPacifistPeople. [[TheHero Torg]] and a handful of others try to form a [[LaResistance resistance movement]]. Since the demons move from conquest of arms to more subtle tactics and propaganda (while still tormenting and killing the humans [[AlwaysChaoticEvil because, well, they're demons]]), and because the locals are willing to accept anything no matter how ridiculous if it seems to reduce the appearance of conflict, and they abhor the least bit of violence as much as the worst of it, the resistance is labeled in the media as "a bunch of pro-violence bozos working against the demonic visions of peace."
* ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'': "If my terrorist is your freedom fighter, I hope the next thing he wants to be free of isn't you."
* ''Webcomic/QuantumVibe'' has the {{Space Pirate|s}} Jesus Hernandez raids Mercorp ships to fund a revolution on Io, and holds [[http://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=725 trials]] for the crews and passengers, with "penalties" that include [[ThrownOutTheAirlock airlocking]] or cutting off tongues.
* ''Webcomic/{{Clockwork}}'': The terrorists responsible for the "bombings" in Mercia. They openly surrender to Mercian authorities in the name of the Arcadian kingdom.

* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' has this in season 12, with the civil war between the Rebels and the Federal Army on the planet Chorus. Noticeably, ''both'' sides are actually pretty good deep down and several ceasefires and peace treaties have been attempted, but every time they get close someone on one side crashes it (usually with explosions) and they go back to fighting. [[spoiler:That's because the mercenaries both sides hired are working for a third party to [[RunningBothSides keep the war going]] and eventually KillEmAll so they can get the alien technology on the planet unopposed. Once the Reds and Blues reveal this, the two sides join up to fight the true enemy.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has this in season 12, with the civil war between the Rebels and the Federal Army on the planet Chorus. Noticeably, ''both'' sides are actually pretty good deep down and several ceasefires and peace treaties have been attempted, but every time they get close someone on one side crashes it (usually with explosions) and they go back to fighting. [[spoiler:That's because the mercenaries both sides hired are working for a third party to [[RunningBothSides keep the war going]] and eventually KillEmAll so they can get the alien technology on the planet unopposed. Once the Reds and Blues reveal this, the two sides join up to fight the true enemy.]]

While "terrorist" and "freedom fighter" are both relatively modern terms, and the idea that "terrorists" are necessarily the bad guys only appears after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the basic argument of whether unofficial or unlicensed combatants have the same legal protections as officially sanctioned soldiers has actually been around for a while. During the age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, people would have been familiar with the idea that "Your {{Pirate}}s Are Our {{Privateer}}s." Originally, the term "terrorist" was embraced by the real life BombThrowingAnarchists, who used those bombs to destroy property and did everything they could not to kill people because "I'm a terrorist, not a murderer". The past really is a foreign country.

* Scar in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' downplays this trope. Ed and most Amestrians call him a serial killer in no uncertain terms, but he is also one of the last survivors of a a genocide perpetrated by the Amestrian government, and he is specifically targeting the soldiers who did the majority of the killing. However, he also tries to kill Edward Elric, who is a state alchemist, but far too young to have served during the genocide, and even other Ishvalans accuse him of only acting for revenge.

* ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The basic view of the world in Season 9, with Slayers being seen as terrorists persecuting vampires who are now beloved. Simone does not help, her appearance in the first issue even invoking that she is a domestic terrorist.

* ''ComicBook/{{Freedom Fighters|DC}}'' uses this as a recurring theme with the team usually viewed in a negative light. Their earliest stories featured them as the only heroes on a world controlled underneath Nazi rule, which makes this trope very obvious. More recently they are antagonists of the black-ops government organization S.H.A.D.E. which leads to [[CaptainPatriotic Uncle Sam]], the living embodiment and spirit of the United States, being declared a threat to national security and put on their most wanted list.

** The Kenshiki Faction is the worst of the lot. A group of zealots led by a foreigner hating bigot and an EntitledBastard who are willing to kill hundreds of civilians, even their fellow Japanese, to get their way. They attack a hospital and kill everyone inside as a ''distraction'' for an assassination attempt on Lelouch, [[spoiler:and they later blow up a ''school'' just to get at Euphemia.]] The above resistance groups abhor their methods--Kallen is enraged by what the Kenshiki did [[spoiler:to her school]] and the JLF refuse to take the pragmatic route of coordinating their attacks with the Kenshiki's in a pincer move since they don't want to be associated with the Kenshiki. Even an ''arms dealer'' hates them. Lelouch classifies the Kenshiki as terrorists that must be exterminated with extreme prejudice.

* ''Fanfic/ACertainUnknownLevel0'': MINUS is basically a mixture of Skill-Out and, then unknown to the creator, Deadlock. Similar to Skill-Out they were a group created by Level 0s who felt they were being oppressed by the higher level espers and Academy City as a whole for not having any abilities and latched on to the legend of the Unknown Level 0 as symbol of being able to defeat the Level 5s along with Shiage. Like Deadlock, they are not just made up Level 0s, with even Level 4s being part of the group. It should be noted that they are treated a serious threat to Academy City with Anti-Skill and Judgement performing multiple raids on their hideouts.

** However it is subverted; they really are terrorists (who plan to blow up the entire city), their claims are just to encourage the anarchy, and their liberation amounts to letting mob rule take over, as long as it doesn't interfere with them and their plans.

* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': Captain Nemo is an early example: he adopts the Ocean as his new homeland and finances the Cretan rebellion because he hates despots. However, [[CoolShip the Nautilus]] permits him destroy any of {{the Empire}}'s ships with total impunity (no Nation could chase him in the bottom of the sea). His superior technology means that even the military is as helpless as ordinary civilians.

** The Audubon Ballroom is the galaxy's most notorious band of terrorists, or freedom fighters, depending on how you feel about the Manpower Corporation, and genetic slavery.

** A whole host of groups show up in the later novels, mostly single world movements in the Talbott Cluster violently skeptical of coming under the Manticoran imperial umbrella or looking to overthrow client governments of the Solarian League. They ranged from a group that primarily focused on damaging property (to the point where, by the time they were finally dealt with, they hadn't killed or even seriously injured ''anybody'') to groups that deliberately bomb crowded civilian areas, and then have secondary bombs planted for the purpose of killing the first responders.

* As befitting the series, ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has a few examples. The [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores Brotherhood Without Banners]], for instance, began as an army meant to bring Gregor Clegane to justice for [[RapePillageAndBurn raping and pillaging the Riverlands]]. Then the one who set them to their task fell out of power, while those to whom Clegane owes allegiance gained it and promptly declared them outlaws. The Brotherhood then shifts goals to protecting the peasantry at large, which puts them at odds with those in power, who desire the aforementioned RapePillageAndBurn to continue indiscriminately. After the war is over, several nobles are noted to be utterly clueless why the smallfolk protect and collaborate with the Brotherhood, rarely or never acknowledging the horrendous crimes afflicted against the defenseless lower classes.

* ''Literature/WraithKnight'': The Army of Free Peasants and the all Fir Bolg Golden Horn straddle this line. Both of them have legitimate grievances with the former being oppressed workers held under the aristocracy for millennia while the latter have been subject to extreme fantastic racism. Both have demands that they're willing to kill indiscrinately to achieve. Jacob Riverson, the protagonist, is having none of it.

* ''Series/NoughtsAndCrosses'': The Liberation Militia fight to end the racist oppression of Albion, but do so using tactics like bombing hospitals. Many Noughts view them as heroes, but naturally they're called terrorists by the government.

** The Interplanetary Comintern, an organisation founded by Leon Trotsky before his death wishes to spread communism to the oppressed of the solar system. Thing is its been hijacked by Stalin.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Avalanche is labeled a terrorist group. ''They're the heroes.'' Not that hard to understand, as your first objective in the game is a bombing mission on a power reactor, with the group planning to bomb the others. Towards the end of the game, you even get called out on it.

* In the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series, Solid Snake and Otacon's ''Philanthropy'' is an illegal combatant organization at the very best, and it might have been a plain terrorist organization if they had let civilians appear in the game.

** All of the ''Star Wars'' flight sims, and their companion comics and novels, play with this trope in regard to capital ship names. Those stories told from the Rebel perspective are likely to include Alliance ships named after ideals--"Independence," "Liberty," "Freedom"--while enemy ships have names with definite negative connotations--"Inquisitor," for example, or even "Eviscerator." If, however, the protagonists fly for the Empire, suddenly all the Star Destroyers have names like "Protector" or "Stalwart", while the ships of their Rebel opponents have non-evocative names like "Gopher" or "Yander".

* The Anti-Nationalism Influence United faction in ''VideoGame/AceOnline'' is this to a T. For its supporters, it's the Last, Best Hope for [[strike: Humanity]] Decaians, Philonites and Vatalluses. To the reigning Bygeniou City United, they're pesky terrorists. Both sides regularly commit KickTheDog moments with one of the pre-set character avatars' history hinting to the ones done by the ANI faction.

** For the {{Civil War}} factions, supporters of the Stormcloaks, [[HornyVikings Nord]] secessionists, see them as heroes fighting for a Skyrim free of the [[VestigialEmpire declining Empire]] who came out of the [[GreatOffscreenWar Great War]] looking weak and dishonorable for accepting the humiliating terms of the White-Gold Concordat with the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]]-led [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri]] [[GreaterScopeVillain Dominion]], which included a ban on [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Talos]] worship, a [[RealMenLoveJesus beloved deity]] and [[TheParagon cultural hero]] to the Nords. The Stormcloaks believe a united Skyrim, free of the Empire's [[ObstructiveBureaucrat crippling bureaucracy]] and [[InadequateInheritor weak leadership]], stands a better chance against the Dominion. Supporters of the Empire instead see the Stormcloaks as short-sighted traitors and dissidents, putting HonorBeforeReason. (Yes, the terms of the Concordant are lousy, but the Empire doesn't really bother to enforce the ban on Talos worship and it bought the Empire time to recover for the inevitable second Great War.) Additionally, they feel the Stormcloaks cross the FantasticRacism line with their "Skyrim is for the Nords" rhetoric and HumanityIsSuperior beliefs. Further, [[NoTrueScotsman no "true" Nord]] would abandon a long-time ally like the Empire (which was ''founded'' by Talos) just because the going has gotten tough. To Imperial-supporters, a united Skyrim ''backing'' the Empire has the best chance to defeat the Dominion.

* ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad'': During the first two episodes, the PowersThatBe are eager to present Arc and his [[TrueCompanions companions]] as some sort of magically powered polytheistic Al Quaeda. Considering Arc and co.'s deeds during Arc 2 (blowing up landmarks built in the middle of densely populated metropolis with little regard for the collateral damages, blowing up religious buildings preaching against them, even slaughtering [[spoiler: kidnapped orphans, some of them genocide survivors…]]) most people in the world believe them.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Oddworld}} Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus]]'', the villains label Abe as a terrorist multiple times. Ironically, their accusations are actually accurate, as Abe's actions result in a lot of casualties and property damage, and he gets multiple companies shut down. His actions are only justified because the villains are mass murdering, slave taking lunatics, and getting the good ending in the games to require rescuing getting the innocents out of the facilities before shutting them down.

* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': The ''Vox Populi'', a working-class resistance led by Daisy Fitzroy, have ''extremely'' legitimate grievances against Comstock and the other Founders that form the ruling class of Columbia and run their society by the worst excesses of Gilded-Age America. However, once the revolution starts and the Vox fights their way into the upper-class neighborhoods, they begin gleefully murdering civilians begging for their lives, showing that the abuse they've endured has barbarized them so much all they want now is blind revenge. [[spoiler: Muddying the waters even further is the reveal from Burial At Sea that shows at least some of Fitzroy's worst excesses were committed at the behest of the Lucretes as part of their plan to erase all alternate versions of Comstock from the multiverse, which required teaching Elizabeth the necessity of killing.]]

* The eponymous "Freedom Fighters" of ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' are unquestionably fighting for a good cause since Dr. Robotnik overthrew the benevolent Mobius government via a coup that no one but himself was backing, but because they are fighting a tyrannical empire that has eyes everywhere, they must resort to sabotage and other methods of guerrilla warfare that would likely be labeled a terroristic act by an outsider. At least all their targets are mechanical so no living creature is being hurt and contrasted against Robotink indiscriminately capturing and enslaving Mobians as transformed machines.

* In ''Film/{{Che}}'' Steven Soderbergh's two-part series about the real-life Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Che (played by Benicio del Toro) is mostly shown as a freedom fighter in Part 1. In Part 2, his revolutionary movement doesn't catch on and he's seen as a terrorist.

* In Steven Soderbergh's two-part series about the real-life Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Che (played by Benicio del Toro) is mostly shown as a freedom fighter in Part 1. In Part 2, his revolutionary movement doesn't catch on and he's seen as a terrorist.

While "terrorist" and "freedom fighter" are both relatively modern terms, and the idea that "terrorists" are necessarily the bad guys only appears after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the basic argument of whether unofficial or unlicensed combatants have the same legal protections as officially sanctioned soldiers has actually been around for a while. During the age of WoodenShipsAndIronMen, people would have been familiar with the idea that "Your {{Pirate}}s Are Our {{Privateer}}s."

** Despite Mayfield's apparent cynicism, it turns out that he left the Imperial Remnant due to moral concerns (they got his men killed while slaughtering civilians), and [[spoiler:he's the one who screws up the mission by killing an officer who proclaims that they will continue to do so]]. The unstated lesson is that everyone has their own reasons for doing things, [[EveryoneHasStandards eventually you have to draw a line in the sand]]. The only people left in the Remnant are either the criminally ignorant or the maliciously vile.

---> '''Mayfeld''': [S]omewhere someone in this galaxy is ruling and others are being ruled. I mean, look at your race. Do you think all those people that died in wars fought by Mandalorians actually had a choice? So how are they any different than the Empire? [[CultureClash If you were born on Mandalore, you believe one thing, if you’re born on Alderaan, you believe somethin’ else]]. But guess what? Neither one of ’em exist anymore. ... [[FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow Everybody’s got their lines they don’t cross until things get messy]]. As far as I’m concerned, [[EveryoneHasStandards if you can make it through your day and still sleep at night]], you’re doin’ better than most.

* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': The Wizard expounds on this idea in "Wonderful".

-->It's all in which label is able to persist!

'''Dee:''' He's a butcher.

* In ''Film/TotalRecall'' when we first see the rebel group on Mars, they're depicted as BombThrowingAnarchists responsible for regular acts of death and destruction on Mars. Once we get there, we see that the rebels are actually the good guys fighting against the oppressive Dictator, [[BigBad Vilos Cohaagen.]] [[AmbiguousSituation That is,]] [[MindScrew if it's actually happening.]]

* The Al-Qalata faction of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019'' style themselves as freedom fighters trying to liberate Urzikstan from occupying Russians but everyone, including people ''actually'' trying to free Urzikstan the right way (the Urzikstan Liberation Front), just see them as remorseless savages because they act without mercy and also attack targets outside Urzikstan (the Russians themselves label ''all'' Urzikstanis as terrorists, including civilians who haven't harmed anyone). This trope also gets turned on its head partway through the story when [[spoiler:Farah's ULF forces also get labeled as terrorists by the United States when Farah's brother Hadir reveals he was responsible for stealing a stock of nerve agent and uses it against the Russians, causing the US to pull all support for the ULF even though the ULF as a whole did nothing wrong]].

* {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'' by Long John Silver during the IAmSong "Professional Pirate," who notes that whether a pirate is considered a hero or villain depends on who tells the tale, offering the English and the Spanish's differing opinions on Sir Francis Drake. (Rember "Your pirates are our privateers" from above.)

* In ''Film/VForVendetta'', V is labeled a terrorist by the fascistic government of Great Britain he is trying to overthrow, and even calls ''himself'' a terrorist in the original comic. The question the comic is asking is essentially "is a good cause corrupted when reprehensible methods are used to achieve it?" Even the author, Creator/AlanMoore, an outspoken proponent of anarchy, says that the anarchistic V is not supposed to be a clear-cut, definite hero, and Moore's main issue with the movie was that the film painted V as [[AdaptationalHeroism unquestionably being a freedom fighter and the hero of the story.]]

* {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'' by Long John Silver during the IAmSong "Professional Pirate," who notes that whether a pirate is considered a hero or villain depends on who tells the tale, offering the English and the Spanish's differing opinions on Sir Francis Drake.

The word "terrorist" doesn't have a single, universally-accepted definition. The most commonly accepted definition is "a person who uses violence to achieve a political end," but that label is enormously problematic; by that definition, any people who engage in a war could be accurately described as terrorists.[[note]]Some people try to qualify it by stating that terrorism is ''unsanctioned'' violence to achieve a political end, but then you start getting into questions of "Sanctioned ''by whom''?" and then you're back at square one. Many terrorist groups are "sanctioned" by governments in any case (e.g. Hezbollah), yet their violence remains unacceptable to others, naturally.[[/note]]

The word "terrorist" doesn't have a single, universally-accepted definition. The most commonly accepted definition is "a person who uses violence to achieve a political end," but that label is enormously problematic; by that definition, any people who engage in a war could be accurately described as terrorists.[[note]]Some people try to qualify it by stating that terrorism is ''unsanctioned'' violence to achieve a political end, but then you start getting into questions of "Sanctioned ''by whom''?" and then you're back at square one. Many terrorist groups are "sanctioned" by governments in any case, yet their violence remains unacceptable to others, naturally.[[/note]]