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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 10/03/2003 11:52:47 AM PDT by bicycle thug
SAN DIEGO - A sabotage campaign by the nation's most radical environmental group has moved from the countryside to the doorstep of the nation's biggest cities.
The Earth Liberation Front, a movement that originated in the forests of the Pacific Northwest and has been active in Eugene, has claimed responsibility for a string of arsons in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego and Philadelphia in the past 12 months. No one has been charged in any of the attacks.
The attacks, which included the costliest act of environmental sabotage in U.S. history, have targeted luxury homes and sport-utility vehicles, the suburban status symbols that some environmentalists regard as despoilers of the Earth.
``Their actions used to be aimed at `out in the country' industries,'' said Ron Arnold of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, who has written several books criticizing the environmental movement's radical wing. ``Now they're moving from a save-the-wilderness focus to an anti-capitalist focus.''
This summer, environmentalists in Southern California turned six-figure luxury homes under construction into charred sticks of wood, destroyed an unfinished 206-unit apartment complex and firebombed brand new Hummers, the mammoth SUVs that start at $50,000.
Rod Coronado, a legendary figure in the underground movement who is serving as an ELF spokesman and has drawn scrutiny from the FBI, said the group is being transformed by a new generation of activists.
``When I got involved in the mid-'80s, tree-spiking'' - pounding spikes into trees to prevent loggers with chain saws from cutting them down - ``was a big deal,'' said Coronado, 37, who played a part in sinking two whaling ships in Iceland and served time in prison for an arson attack at a Michigan State University animal-research lab. ``What that's morphed into is a more urban environmental movement, whereby people are fighting for the last wild places in urban areas.''
ELF has made similar urban forays in Lane County, where investigators linked the group to arson fires in Eugene that caused millions in damage at a car dealership and another that damaged a police substation. But the group also has been connected to acts in the forest, when officials linked ELF to a tree-spiking incident at a logging site in the Willamette National Forest.
The arsons in Eugene included a Sept. 6, 2000, fire at the West University Police Substation and a March 30, 2001, fire at the Romania Chevrolet dealership.
The Romania truck dealership fire damaged or destroyed 35 sport utility vehicles, causing $1 million in damage.
In the substation incident, a firebomb shattered a window and blackened a brick wall at the police office west of the University of Oregon. A second firebomb that didn't ignite was found hidden in bushes nearby.
In addition to the Eugene fires, investigators contend that ELF set fires in 2001 at Glendale's Superior Lumber and near-simultaneous fires on May 21 at the Jefferson Poplar Farm near Clatskanie and the University of Washington's horticulture lab in Seattle. Just Wednesday, the University of Washington broke ground on a replacement lab.
Other acts of eco-vandalism in the region linked to ELF include a fire in 1999 at the Boise Cascade office in Monmouth that caused $1 million in damage and tree spiking at the Robinson-Scott timber harvest site in the Willamette National Forest, also that year. ELF was also connected to a four-day rash of vandalism to numerous McDonald's restaurants in Eugene, Cottage Grove, Myrtle Creek and Grants Pass as well as a Chevron gas station and the public relations office for Weyerhaeuser and Hyundai in Eugene.
No one was arrested for setting an Oct. 30, 1996, blaze that burned down the Oakridge Ranger Station. The fire came two days after vandals torched a pickup truck and spray-painted anti-logging, anarchist and Earth Liberation Front graffiti on walls at the Detroit Ranger Station east of Salem.
ELF never claimed responsibility for the Oakridge arson, and federal investigators have said they have not established a clear motive for the fire.
The FBI has identified ELF as its No. 1 domestic terrorism priority. The organization has done more than $100 million damage - but caused no deaths - since it split off from the radical environmental group Earth First! and surfaced in the United States five years ago.
ELF first took aim at urban sprawl in 2000, when it burned luxury homes and condos under construction on New York's Long Island. But Phil Celestini, the agent in charge of the FBI's domestic terrorism operations unit in Washington, noted that the San Diego fires ``are taking place in more densely populated areas than in the past.''
On Aug. 1, a fire destroyed a five-story, 206-unit apartment complex under construction in San Diego's University City neighborhood.
The damage estimate of $50 million made it ``the single largest act of property destruction ever committed by one of these groups in the history of the country,'' Celestini said. ``It's sheer dumb luck and providence that someone has not been killed. You set a fire that big, there's no way of predicting what the ultimate consequences will be.''
In the wake of the attacks, other San Diego developers have beefed up security, said Russ Valone, of the California Building Industry Association, which has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the apartment complex arson.
``Let me tell you who the other victims of this are: you and me,'' Valone said. ``Our insurance pays a price. The more claims an insurance company put out, the more they more they have to raise their premiums. So, everybody in the city, everybody in the county, everybody in the country pays in some small way for the damage created by these maniacs.''
Guidelines posted on the ELF's Web site stress the need to take ``all necessary precautions against harming life.'' But the group's message has been mixed.
In a communique issued after a U.S. Forest Service research center in Pennsylvania was attacked last year, the ELF said: ``While innocent life will never be harmed in any action we undertake, where it is necessary, we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice.''
The ELF operates in a series of anonymous cells and uses the Internet to communicate and broadcast its message. But it has little organization, no fees and no membership list, frustrating FBI efforts to penetrate the group.
The recent case of an Oregon college student serving time in prison for a firebombing in 2001 opened a window into the ELF.
Jacob Sherman, a student at Portland State University, said he fell under the spell of Michael J. Scarpitti, known as Tre Arrow, a forest activist who is now the FBI's most-wanted ``eco-terrorist.''
According to court documents, Arrow ``groomed'' Sherman and slowly introduced him to radical protesting. Sherman stopped bathing, refused to wear shoes and began eating a strict vegan diet to imitate Arrow.
Sherman was no James Bond of the forest: His father called the FBI after his son drove home reeking of gasoline the night three logging company trucks were attacked. Sherman, 19 at the time, also blabbed to his girlfriend, who in turn told her father, a deputy state fire marshal, said Sherman's attorney, Andy Bates.
In the San Diego attacks, the FBI has focused on Coronado, the ELF's self-described spokesman. Search warrants obtained by The Associated Press show FBI agents raided the homes of two local activists in a search for videotaped copies of a speech Coronado delivered in San Diego on Aug. 1 - the same day of the $50 million apartment arson.
Coronado has said he had nothing to do with the fire.
Mainstream environmental groups have taken pains to distance themselves from the ELF.
``The ELF are not environmentalists. They are arsonists,'' said Carl Pope, head of the Sierra Club.
The Register-Guard contributed to this report.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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FMCDH
The attacks, which included the costliest act of environmental sabotage in U.S. history, have targeted luxury homes and sport-utility vehicles, the suburban status symbols that some environmentalists regard as despoilers of the Earth.
Anyone want to guess why these terrorists haven't tried this nonsense in Texas? Could it have something to do with the fact that they stand a good chance of getting a severe case of immediate lead toxicity, hmmm?
FMCDH
These guys do a very good job of not actually associating with the terrorists. They supposedly receive anonymous letters, e-mail etc. from the guys who actually commit the acts. Then, the spokesmen pass it on to the media.
Probably, the cops could charge the spokesmen if they wanted to, but they're probably trying to use them to get at the actual terrorists by wiretapping phones and such.
Code for suicide by vigilante.
Now, if you want to really get scared, go to Green Anarchy's site and read real life opinions by anarchists about this and other subjects near and dear to their hearts.
I am typing up the latest article that talks of ecotage - as it is not online yet - to give you a more accurate take on current mindsets and catch words. I am a slow typist, so I will ping when I post it. I will do it in this thread.
It's title is: "Spreading Like Wildfire," by Felonious Skunk
Spreading Like Wildfireby Felonious Skunk
As the seasonal summer fires burn around the west, I contemplate incendiary "sparks" I witnessed in other bioreagions. Much like wildfires restoring nessesary nutrients to the soil, eco-anarchists are revitalizing movements long plagued with leftist and reformist tendencies, and we are getting to the roots of the problem we all face.
This year, the annual Earth First! Rendezvous was held in upstate Minnesota, near the Boundary waters along the Canadian border. The site was a beautiful spot along the shores of one of the reagion's thousands of lakes. The organizing collective (which is decided each year for the following rendezvous) was a fresh and energetic crew, mostly from the Minneapolis area. They added a much-needed change from the old-timers who seem to dwell on the "good ol' days" and promote washed-out analyses and tactics. Despite some Naivete, especially in dealing with law enforcement and media, the logistics came together relatively well.
It was smaller than usual (under a hundred people), but most were really intent on making the gathering a meaningful endeavor. There were discussions ranging from "Green Anarchy 101" and "Civilization and Patriachy" to "Backwoods Stealth Training" and a variety of direct action-oriented workshops. Lots of room was made for spontanious discussions, informal dailog, and of course swimming, canoeing, and beer drinking.
Probably the most important discussion to transpire was the "Earth First! Movement Self-Criticism." There was no consensus as to any specific direction of "the movement," but it was unanimous that Earth First! needs to recognize the problems facing the Earth and all her inhabitants run very deep, and thus require an appropriate resistance, as opposed to more of the same symbolic gestures.
Some viewed EF! as a stepping stone for more radical action, while others envisioned an EF! which embraced a diversity of tactics from tree-sits and office occupations to low level sabotage, while endorsing and explaining the need for more intense actions. My favorite vision, however wished to see EF! move closer to it's retoric (NO COMPROMISE IN THE DEFENSE OF MOTHER EARTH!) and become a vital component of a full-on eco-war, taking ALL NESSESARY action to stop the distruction of our mama, regardless of what the "mainstream" would think of it, or whether teh "movement" is in agreement. (Let's be clear, it is not Vanguardist to take the action you think is nessesary to achieve liberation for yourself and the planet.
It only becomes so, if you expect everyone else to follow your lead.) Inspiring action is nessessary to fuel the momentum we sometimes seem to have lost, but even more important are effective and meaningful actions, thosewhich actually make a significant impact in the techno-industrial infrastructure or create a substantial culture shock. If the biocentric earth-warrior myth of Earth First! is to have any relevance in the future, it needs to draw on more positive aspects of it's past, move away from it's often nostalgic and insular scenes, and develop strategies for an authentic resistence.
Currently, there seems to be a profound synthesis of the founding deep ecologist conservationists of the 80s (who were willing to sabotage the machinery of the earth distroyers), the social activists of the 90s (who connected many of the dots of how and why the earth is being killed), and the non-reformist and anti-authorian and anarchist flok of today (who comprehend the magnitude of change required.) Overall, I was impressed by what I saw this year, a radical trend I have been feeling within Eath First! for a number of years now (although not always reflected in the EF! Journal), that of Green Anarchy.
On our way to the next gathering, we stopped briefly in Madison, Wisconsin, to talk with a small crowd and show videos at the university. Dispite a low turn-out (most classes had been out for well over a month), those in attendence seemed very interested in the anti-civilization critique, and brought up many stimulating questions. We then made our way to Cleveland, Ohio, where we had an urban edible/medicinal plant walk and an informal discussion on Green Anarchy, followed by videos.
Folks here said that most of the local "activism" was either liberal or syndicalist oriented, and they were very excited about the night. They seemed to be a group who had been alienated by the "red" anarchist scene (those now producing the unenspiring and often pointless Onward anarchist publication.) They said many of the local red anarchists are hostile towards any anti-civ[ilization] ideas, but they were enthusiastic about the questions we raised. We finally made our way to the long anticipated Black and Green Gathering, an event long overdue.
We need to be strong on our own, and not depend on reformist environmentalism conferences or sectarian anarchist gatherings to get our critique out and make connections with like minded people. From the start, the organizers of the event were faced with finantial difficulties and frequently distracted by constant harrassment from local, state, and federal authorities (not to mention possible infiltrators, and wannabe pigs, much like those somethimes at work here in Eugene [Oregon].)
The location had to change in the last couple of weeks because federal agents pressured the campground to cancel the organizers' reservation. Black and Green was contacted by the campground and asked, "Why didn't you tell us you were terrorists?" Organizers were also harassed in person. Despite the difficulties, the gathering went on as planned.
The site could have been a little wilder, and the groups camping across the field - a group of Civil War re-enactors and one of young Marines - made for quite a surreal weekend. The content and enthusiasm, however, more than made up for any logistical problems, For three days, close to a hundred of us ate, played, learned, and talked. We had almost no down time as we went through basic to in-depth discussions about anarcho-primitivism, green anarchy, civilization, patriachy, political prisoners, direct action, anarchist parenting, spirituality, and much more, not to mention every afternoon had extended sessions on primitive skills like fire-starting, shelter building, foraging, and other post-industrial essentuals.
My favorite topis of discussion were "Beyond Veganism" a challenge to our often dogmatic and limited lifestyle choices, and "Hurt Where It Hurts," an evening campfire discussion on stragety and tactics aimed at crippling the techno-industrial machine.
What civilization is, what we are going to do about it, and how we can exist outside of it, were central issues to almost every discussion.
Interestingly, alcohol and drugs played almost no part (except for limited and very discrete circumstances) in this gathering, which was a pleasing change, probably vital for how much we want to accomplish in such a short time.
With lots of connections made and information shared, it was good to see a gathering of this type, especially in the northeast-the bastion of lefty politics.
Overall, I was inspired and refreshed to see the anti-civilization critique become more vibrant and widespread, especially among direct action focused and young people. The flames are continuing to grow...
I am not happy either, Carry Okie. But you already knew that.
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