Eco-terrorism

The term eco-terrorism is a neologism which has been used to describe threats and acts of violence (both against people and against property), sabotage, vandalism, property damage and intimidation committed in the name of environmentalism. As a pejorative term, "eco-terrorism" has also been used inaccurately to describe legally-protected forms of nonviolent protest by environmentalists, which is generally seen as an attempt to associate this activity with other more contentious acts that can be legitimately labeled as eco-terrorism.

The term is believed to have been coined by Ron Arnold, an executive at the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise and author of Ecoterror: The Violent Agenda to Save Nature.

Definitions

While there is no consensus on the exact definition of "terrorism", the word is typically used to describe politically motivated acts of violence, threatened use of violence or the destruction of property with the intention to intimidate governments or civilians. As such, acts meeting these criteria and committed in the name of environmental causes could accurately be described as "eco-terrorism".

Consistent with this usage, the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Section defines eco-terrorism as “the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally-oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.”

Other acts which are non-violent in nature, even though they might be annoying or disruptive to others, cannot be properly referred to as "eco-terrorism". However, some definitions are raising controversy and civil rights issues by using an all-encompassing definition that could be interpreted to include virtually all environmental protests, even those that would otherwise be legal.

For example, a bill proposed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) called the Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [1] begins with the description, "An act relating to criminal offenses involving acts against certain activities involving animals or involving natural resources and to civil consequences arising from convictions of those offenses." The bill defines an “animal rights or ecological terrorist organization” as “two or more persons organized for the purpose of supporting any politically motivated activity intended to obstruct or deter any person from participating in an activity involving animals or an activity involving natural resources.”

Groups

The three organizations most commonly labeled as “eco-terrorists” within the United States are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Earth First! The websites of these organizations openly advocate tactics including arson, graffiti, and property destruction, but publicly disavow harm to humans or animals. Despite their claims of non-harm, however, millions of dollars of homes, equipment, and research (including medical research) have been willfully destroyed by ALF and ELF operations, causing indirect harm. This led the FBI in 2001 to name ELF as the United States' most serious domestic terrorist threat.

People known to be associated with these groups have also been accused of threatening acts of violence against researchers, calling into question the commitment of these groups to nonviolence. However, ALF and ELF supporters insist that those actions were unrelated to either group.

The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ([People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals|PETA]) has also been financially linked to individuals responsible for eco-terrorism [2], due to its provision of financial support to organizations such as ALF and ELF. [3] [4].

Ecoterrorism in Fiction

• Zodiac by Neal Stephenson
• Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
• A Friend of the Earth by T. Coraghessan Boyle
• The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
• Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy
• Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson
• State of Fear by Michael Crichton.
• Final Fantasy VII, a video game published by Squaresoft.

See also

• ecotage
• Animal Liberation Front
• Earth Liberation Front
• PETA
• tree spiking
• terrist

External links

• Disinfopedia:Eco-terrorism
• Eco-Violence: The Record
• Ecoterrorism: history and description of various subgroups, with additional links