Eco-Terrorism: Radical Environmental and Animal Liberation Movements

201 Pages·2006·0.485 MB·English

by  Donald R. Liddick

Eco-Terrorism: Radical
Environmental and Animal
Liberation Movements
Donald R. Liddick
PRAEGER
Eco-Terrorism

Eco-Terrorism
Radical Environmental and
Animal Liberation Movements
DONALD R. LIDDICK
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Liddick, Don.
Eco-terrorism : radical environmental and animal liberation
movements / Donald R. Liddick.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-275-98535-0 (alk. paper)
1. Ecoterrorism—United States—History. 2. Environmentalism—
United States—History. 3. Animal rights movement—United States—
History. 4. Animal rights movement—Moral and ethical aspects—
United States. I. Title.
GE197.L53 2006
363.325'933370973—dc22 2006024499
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2006 by Donald R. Liddick
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006024499
ISBN: 0-275-98535-0
First published in 2006
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
1 Introduction: Criminality in the Environmental
and Animal Rights Movements 1
2 History and Philosophy of
Radical Environmentalism 13
3 History and Philosophy of the Animal
Rights Movement 23
4 Animal Rights Criminality 39
5 Criminality in the Radical
Environmental Movement 55
6 Structure and Modus Operandi of Radical
Movements 69
7 A Profile of Eco-Warriors and
Animal Liberationists 81
8 The Future of Eco-Terrorism and
Animal Liberation 99
Appendix A Radical Environmental and
Animal Liberation Groups 117
Appendix B Congressional Hearing Statements 121
Notes 159
Bibliography 175
Index 183

________________Chapter 1 ________________
Introduction: Criminality in the
Environmental and Animal Rights
Movements
When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock
doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often
a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the
action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were
to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
—Eric Hoffer, The True Believer
Criminality and terror stemming from radical environmentalism and
animal rights extremism is largely a modern phenomenon, developing in
the last decades of the twentieth century. It is a movement far removed
from the elite conservationist and animal welfare movements of the
nineteenth century and the mainstream environmental and animal
protection groups that emerged later. Often drawn from the same pool of
concerned individuals that comprises the memberships of groups such as
Greenpeace, the Wilderness Society, and People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA), some disaffected environmentalists and animal rights
advocates have turned from political lobbying and lawful protest to
direct action in the form of vandalism, theft, arson, and even violent
attacks against people.
The growth and severity of so-called eco-terror and animal rights crim-
inality from the 1970s to the present day is noticeable and significant.
Attacks on research facilities, farming operations, construction compa-
nies, timber companies, fishing operations, fast-food restaurants, build-
ing sites, and sport-utility vehicle dealerships are well reported through
media accounts and various Internet sites either endorsing or denouncing
these activities. An emerging trend, especially in Great Britain, is the tar-
geting of individuals. Research scientists, corporate officials, and their
families have been the subject of threats and assaults by animal rights
2 Eco-Terrorism
extremists. Law enforcement and government officials have recognized
the increasing threat: the U.S. Congress has held numerous hearings on
the subject, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation has declared these
forms of violence to be the most serious domestic terrorism threat in the
United States.1
The stated position of extremist groups such as the Earth Liberation
Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is that human beings
are never targeted or harmed. However, it is also true that their methods
of property destruction create substantial risks. In fact, the literature and
statements produced by some radicals demonstrate that human welfare is
typically viewed as secondary to the health of the planet and its non-
human inhabitants. The following quote from Dave Foreman, a
cofounder of the radical environmental movement Earth First!, embodies
the mind-set:
In everything we do, the primary consideration should be for the long-term
health and native diversity of Earth. After that, we can consider the welfare
of humans. We should be kind, compassionate, and caring with other peo-
ple, but Earth comes first.2
Unfortunately, the position that environmental and animal rights activ-
ists should be “kind, compassionate, and caring with other people” has
ostensibly fallen out of favor with some radicals. Animal rights terrorists in
particular have become more radical and violent in recent years, targeting
people for harassment and physical attacks. The Intelligence Project, a publi-
cation of the Southern Poverty Law Center, reported in its Fall 2002 issue
that employees of various companies have had their homes vandalized and
have faced death threats, firebombs, and physical assaults. In 2002 animal
rights protestors stormed the offices of Arkansas-based Stephens Inc. and
attacked workers, kicking them and breaking office equipment. Hunting-
don Life Sciences, an international company that tests pharmaceuticals on
animals, has in recent years witnessed an ongoing campaign of terror and
violence—employees have been beaten with clubs, sprayed in the face with
acid, and subjected to death threats directed at their children.3 When a Brit-
ish journalist created a documentary critical of the animal rights move-
ment, members of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) kidnapped him and
branded the letters ALF on his back.4
Neither does the stated commitment to nonviolence extend to the rhet-
oric emanating from the radical leadership. Craig Rosebraugh, a former
spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front, advocates the overthrow of
the American government and has stated that “revolution in the United
States must be comprised of a variety of strategies” and that “it cannot be
successful without the implementation of violence.”5 When the managing
director of Huntingdon Life Sciences was severely beaten by three animal
rights activists wielding baseball bats, ALF cofounder Ronnie Lee said
Criminality in the Environmental and Animal Rights Movements 3
that the victim “got off lightly.”6 Edward Abbey, who authored The Mon-
key Wrench Gang (a work of fiction that has become something of a bible
to the radical environmental movement), said: “I think we are morally
justified to resort to whatever means are necessary [emphasis added] in
order to defend our land from destruction, from invasion.”7
Extreme rhetoric is evident on the animal rights side of the fight as
well. In a 1990 book, Michael W. Fox, then vice president of the Humane
Society of the United States, held that “the life an ant and that of my child
should be granted equal consideration.”8 At other times equality of spe-
cies does not go far enough, and misanthropy reigns; Ingrid Newkirk,
president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), believes
that “humans have grown like a cancer. We’re the biggest blight on the
face of the earth.”9 In an infamous and oft-used argument, animal rights
activists liken factory farming and the use of animals for food to slavery
and the Jewish Holocaust. Even when statements like these do not explic-
itly endorse violence against humans, the effect of the moral philosophy
adopted by radical environmental and animal rights activists has not
been to extend equal consideration to the Earth and its nonhuman inhab-
itants but to devalue human life.
If the official position of these underground movements is that human
beings are not to be harmed, it is also clear that the ideological framework
for justifying human casualties has been forged. Developed by Norwe-
gian philosopher Arne Naess, deep ecology is a philosophy that stresses
biocentrism over anthropocentrism; rather than human beings enjoying
special status in the natural world, all objects in nature are viewed as hav-
ing intrinsic worth. The ideology of the radical environmentalist creates a
milieu of moral equivalence between sentient and non-sentient objects,
where humans, mountains, and protozoa all deserve equal consider-
ation.10 With the establishment of this moral equation, illicit acts, includ-
ing violent crimes, apparently become justified in the minds of some
radical environmental and animal rights activists.
The centerpiece of all radical environmental groups is that an environ-
mental apocalypse is imminent—thus the justification for immediate
direct action, including widespread property destruction. Environmental
extremists are invariably shaped by some blend of anarchistic, apocalyp-
tic, and millenarian thinking, striving to hasten the downfall of modern
civilization so as to realize a better world where man will live in harmony
with the natural world. In effect, this means that to restore and preserve
the health and diversity of the planet, a significantdecrease in the human
population is necessary.11 With this outlook, the ultimate threat from so-
called eco-terrorism becomes evident: Might not a motivated animal
rights or environmental extremist, believing the safety of the planet
demands it, use an infectious biological agent to kill thousands, perhaps
millions of people? Certain fringe elements in the mass movements dis-
cussed in this book would answer in the affirmative.