Blurring the Lines Between Environmental Activism and Terrorism
There can be no doubt of the strides the Green Movement has made in 2019. As seen through the efforts of individuals such as Greta Thunberg and popularity of movements including the Extinction Rebellion, recent displays of activism have forced policy makers to reevaluate their stance on climate change. However, with the emergence of new-wave environmental activism, there has developed an increase in instances of ecoterrorism.
A concept as ambiguous as it is contentious, ecoterrorism has proven to be a theoretical departure from contemporary understandings of terrorism, and a rising threat to international and domestic security. As defined by Eagan, ecoterrorism is ‘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’. Typically conducted by white, middle class males, ecoterrorism stems from these organisations’ belief that by committing acts of violence, they fight the sins of capitalism and consumerism.
Despite the radicalness of ecoterrorist groups, there have been increasing displays of support by the general populace for these organisations’ objectives. Sharing the common goal of preventing ecocide and expressing mutual frustration over the pace of legislation, radical and often violent actions perpetuated by ecoterrorists have become a normalised if not accepted form of insurrection within the broader movement.
Unlike Islamic terrorists, ecoterrorists “want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead.”. As the target of ecoterrorist attacks are typically properties, and action such as arson and sabotage are not conducted in high volume areas, ecoterrorism does not fulfil the public’s perception of what constitutes terrorism after 9/11. This lack of understanding has allowed the populace to discredit the very notion of ecoterrorism. Many environmentalists instead place blame on governments, citing the hesitancy of states to enact meaningful environmental policy as the primary motivation behind the involvement of law enforcement. The threat of ecoterrorism, however, is very real.
In 2004, John Lewis, deputy assistant director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division, declared in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee: “the FBI’s investigation of animal rights extremists and ecoterrorism matters is our highest domestic terrorism investigative priority”. Exposing the many challenges governments face in persecuting those conducting acts of ecoterrorism, the ingenuity of ecoterrorist groups in the United States serves as a disturbing precedent.
The Earth Liberation Front, also known as ELF, are believed responsible for some 600 criminal acts over the past 6 years and some $43 million USD (approximately £33 million) in damages. Having committed themselves to direct action, ELF is representative of one the fundamental hindrances to ecoterrorism prevention: these groups’ lack of discernible organisational structure. As they rely on members to take action on their own initiative, identifying and prosecuting these terrorists has been rendered impossible, and allows for repeat offences and escalations.
Similarly, Earth First has waged guerrilla warfare against developers and those in the lumber, oil, and electricity industries. Conducting regular paramilitary training camps, Earth First has continually sought to foster militarism within its ranks. With past and planned attacks including stringing garrotting wire across motor-cross race trails to behead participants and advertising in San Francisco for terminally ill volunteers to undertake kamikaze-style high-explosive attacks on dams in the Rocky Mountains, these acts expose the violent and anarchical nature of what has been promulgated as a purely activistic group.
The threat posed by ecoterrorist organisations is predicted by analysts such as Badolato to increase in the coming years. While such groups are yet to enact attacks on a truly global scale, it is understood that it is only a matter of time before they gain the capability to do so. Recent reports suggest some ecoterrorist organisations are focusing their efforts on the electric power infrastructure and power transmission lines, while other organisations such as ELF have begun to express interest in shifting to nuclear targets.
A movement that has the potential to do innumerable good, the Green Agenda has been increasingly weaponised by radical groups seeking the fulfilment of anarchical goals. While a contentious subject due to its lack of a fixed definition, methods of enacting terror, and association with the discretisation of the movement, ecoterrorism has proven difficult to not only address, but prevent. Posing a serious threat to both domestic and international security, ecoterrorism can only be stopped when it is firmly denounced by and separated from the Green Movement.
