ECO-TERRORISM

'Eco-terrorism' is defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Domestic Terrorism Section 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." ^[1]
The term is considered to be controversial, particularly by those to whom it is applied. Many of the arguments in this respect concern what may be considered violence, and in particular whether acts which are destructive to property but avoid harm to human beings may be considered terrorism. As a pejorative term, "eco-terrorism" has also been used to describe legal forms of nonviolent protest enacted by environmentalists.
The term may 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''. Some authors have noted that the damage caused by environmentalist sabotage from 1980 to 1999 amounted to $42.8 million.^[2]
An alternative and unrelated definition of the term "eco-terrorism" has also been come into use, as articulated by Paul Watson, the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in a commentary criticizing Japanese whalers: "an act that terrorizes other species and threatens the ecological systems of the planet".^[3]

Contents

Definitions

Groups

Ecoterrorism in Fiction

References

See also

Ideologies

Individuals

Reaction

Movements

Techniques

External links

Definitions

While there is no consensus on the exact definition of "terrorism", the word is typically used to describe idealogically motivated acts of violence with the intention to intimidate governments or civilians. Acts meeting these criteria and committed ''in the name of environmental causes'' are described as "eco-terrorism" by law enforcement agencies such as the FBI.Congressional Testimony Testimony of James F. Jarboe, Domestic Terrorism Section Chief, Counterterrorism Division, FBI before the House Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health at February 12, 2002 "The Threat of Eco-Terrorism" Another term that is sometimes used is "eco-sabotage", because it involves disruption of a business or governmental operation, but is directed against things, property or machines that cannot feel terror. In contrast environmental terrorism is defined as terrorism where the target is the environment or natural resources themselves.
Acts of civil disobedience which are nonviolent in nature cannot be properly referred to as "eco-terrorism", even though they might be annoying or disruptive to others. However, some proposed laws are raising civil rights concerns 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) in Texas called the "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act", 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."^[4]
Environmentalists have argued that "eco-terrorism" should mean the opposite of its current accepted meaning. They say that persons, companies and governments engaging in ecologically irresponsible activities such as clearcutting of forests are committing "terrorism" against the environment.PM dubbed eco-terrorist This counter-definition is also sometimes used rhetorically to express the environmentalist point of view, or to justify their actions. Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki, for instance, has described the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, as an "eco-terrorist" for failing to abide by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Under any definition, "eco-terrorism" should be distinguished from "environmental terrorism", which is more properly described as attacks against, or using, the environment or natural resources for political or military objectives.^[5] At a conference on terrorism at the University of Georgia in 1997, William S. Cohen, then the U.S. Secretary of Defense, spoke of the possibility of rogue researchers developing "an eco-type of terrorism, whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes [or] volcanoes remotely, through the use of electromagnetic waves."^[6]

Groups

The organizations most commonly labeled as “eco-terrorists” within the United States are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), and sometimes Earth First! . The FBI in 2001 named the ELF as "one of the most active extremist elements in the United States", and a "terrorist threat". Some of these websites openly advocate tactics including arson, graffiti, vandalism and property destruction. Through their actions millions of dollars of homes, equipment, and research have been willfully destroyed by ALF and ELF operations, although they publicly disavow harm to humans or animals.
The American Farm Bureau alleges the existence of a financial link between People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Rodney Adam Coronado's support group ^[7].

Ecoterrorism in Fiction

★ ''Anetta'' by Capcom

★ ''Antarctica'' by Kim Stanley Robinson

★ ''Ark Angel'', by Anthony Horowitz

★ ''AVALANCHE'' in Final Fantasy VII

★ ''Blue Mars'' by Kim Stanley Robinson

★ ''Daisuke Hayami, aka Speedy Dave by Capcom

★ ''Darkwing Duck's Bushroot (Walt Disney)

★ ''Captain Planet'', by Ted Turner

★ ''CHERUB'', a series of novels by Robert Muchamore, contains a fictional eco-terrorist group named Help Earth

★ ''Concrete: Think Like a Mountain'' by Paul Chadwick

★ ''Darkness Falls'' and ''Fearful Symmetry'', 2 episodes of The X-Files

★ ''The Divide'' by Nicholas Evans

★ ''Devouring Earth'', in ''City of Heroes''

★ ''Douche and Turd'' , ''Fun with Veal'' and ''Free Willzyx'' , 3 episodes of South Park

★ ''Enrica Villablanca'' in

★ ''A Friend of the Earth'' by T. Coraghessan Boyle

★ ''Space Warriors'' in Cowboy Bebop

★ ''Hoot'' by Carl Hiaasen

★ ''Jokerman 8'', by Richard Melo

★ ''Lullaby'' by Chuck Palahniuk

★ ''Mengele Zoo'' by Gert Nygårdshaug

★ ''The Monkey Wrench Gang'' by Edward Abbey

★ ''On Deadly Ground'', a 1998 Film by and starring Steven Seagal

★ ''Poison Ivy (comics)'', from the DC comics universe.

★ ''Rainbow Six'' by Tom Clancy

★ Ra's al Ghul in Batman comics

★ ''The Sheep Look Up'', by John Brunner.

★ ''Sick Puppy'', by Carl Hiaasen.

★ ''State of Fear'' by Michael Crichton

★ ''Twelve Monkeys'', a 1995 film starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt

★ ''Zodiac'' by Neal Stephenson

★ ''

★ The events of ''28 Days Later'' are inadvertently set in motion by a group of eco-terrorists.

References

1. http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/jarboe021202.htm
2. ''Why Animal Experimentation Matters: The Use of Animals in Medical Research'' (2001), by Jeffrey Paul and Ellen Frankel Paul, p.11
3. ''Dealing with the Hypocrisy of Human Perceptions'' - Commentary by Paul Watson
4. Text of Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act
5. A New Vigilance: Identifying and Reducing the Risks of Environmental Terrorism(PDF)
6. "To Some, Katrina Was Mission Accomplished", ''New York Times,'' September 12, 2005 (login required)
7. FOCUS PETA Exposed on Eco-terrorism

See also

★ List of Environment Topics

Ideologies

★ Anarcho-primitivism

★ Green anarchism

★ Radical environmentalism

Individuals

★ Wiebo Ludwig – saboteur of petroleum mining

★ Jeff Luers

★ Edward Abbey

Reaction

★ Evan Mecham Eco-Terrorist International Conspiracy

★ Operation Backfire – FBI operation to combat eco-terrorism

★ Green Scare

Movements

★ Animal Liberation Front

★ Earth First!

★ Earth Liberation Front

★ Revolutionary Cells (RCALB)

★ Greenpeace

★ Les Dégonflés

Techniques

★ Ecotage

★ Sabotage

★ Tree spiking

External links

★ GreenIsTheNewRed.com

★ GreenScare.org