And Earth First's progeny:
The Earth Liberation Front
By 2004, ALF's environmental counterpart, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), was setting new records for property damage. Modeled after ALF, ELF consists of "autonomous groups of people" who are "anonymous not only to the public but also to one another," according to its Web site. The movement aims to "inflict economic damage on those profiting from the destruction and exploitation of the natural environment" and "to reveal and educate the public on the atrocities committed against the earth and all species that populate it." Acts of property destruction are considered by ELF to be non-violent because no human being or animals are targeted.
<A name=DaveForeman>Origins
ELF evolved out of Earth First!, an ardent environmentalist group founded, in its own words, "in response to a lethargic, compromising, and increasingly corporate environmental community." Dave Foreman, a former lobbyist for the Wilderness Society, and several other activists influenced by more militant organizations, founded Earth First! around 1980.
The group combined environmental protection with a form of spirituality called "deep ecology," popularized by a Norwegian philosopher and mountain climber, Arne Naess. Members regarded their activities as not merely political but also spiritual. During the 1980s, Earth First! activists performed direct actions ranging from tree-sitting to tree spiking - hammering a long nail that can create shrapnel injuries when cut by logging tools such as a chainsaw.
In his 1985 book Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching, Earth First! founder Foreman provided detailed instructions on how to perform various methods of sabotage - from disabling equipment to properly spiking a tree. The term "Monkeywrenching" was borrowed from Edward Abbey's 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which romanticized the efforts of four characters who destroy machinery and burn billboards across the southwest, and who unsuccessfully plan to blow up the Glen Canyon Dam. (Abbey, an outspoken critic of the development of public lands in the U.S., later contributed an introduction to Foreman's book.) In 1989, Foreman and three other members of Earth First! were arrested by the FBI on charges of conspiracy to sabotage nuclear facilities. Foreman pleaded guilty to reduced charges and did not serve any jail time. He left the group in 1990.
<A name=EarthFirst!Journal>The methods of Earth First! proved too moderate for some of its members, and in 1992 a small group met in England to form the Earth Liberation Front. Today, Earth First! continues to sponsor gatherings but operates mainly through its publication, the Earth First! Journal, which publicizes and recruits for ELF and ALF (convicted activist Rod Coronado is a member of Earth First! in Arizona and has contributed writings to the Journal). Although Earth First! remains radical, ELF now attracts activists who prefer more violent direct action.
Activities
ELF first claimed sole responsibility for an attack in the U.S. in 1997, when activists burned down a Bureau of Land Management horse corral in Oregon (previous attacks had been claimed in conjunction with ALF). The group made national headlines the following year when it claimed responsibility for the arson of a ski resort in Vail, Colorado, causing $12 million in damages - the costliest act of ecoterrorism in American history at the time. The attack included seven separate fires, which destroyed three buildings and damaged four chairlifts. In its communiqué, ELF said, "putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated….We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded [sic] areas."
Since the Vail arson, hundreds of crimes have been committed in the name of environmental protection nationwide. The most damaging occurred on August 1, 2003, when arsonists burned down a housing complex under construction in San Diego, destroying a five-story building and 100-foot-high crane; losses were estimated at $50 million. A 12-foot banner reading "If you build it, we will burn it," along with the ELF acronym, was found at the scene. (Six weeks later, ELF set fire to three other homes under construction in the area.)
These arsons typified, in an especially destructive way, ELF's ongoing battle against "urban sprawl," which it views as a wasteful and unnecessary encroachment on natural habitats. Direct actions targeting urban sprawl have occurred in different parts of the country (sometimes in clusters that suggest copycat cells), including Long Island, New York; Chico, California; and locations in Michigan.
Car dealerships and sport utility vehicles are also common targets for ELF. On August 22, 2003, approximately 40 Hummers and SUVs were destroyed or damaged in a fire at a West Covina, California, dealership, causing about $2 million in damages. "Fat Lazy Americans" and "ELF" were among slogans painted on the vehicles. The movement has taken credit for vandalizing SUVs in dozens of other cities. At an auto dealership in Erie, Pennsylvania, for instance, jugs of gasoline were ignited under three vehicles, engulfing them and a nearby car in flames. ELF said the dealership was targeted "to remove the profit motive from the killing of the natural environment."
<A name=CraigRosebraugh>Craig Rosebraugh <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD class=blue9 align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
ELF's ideological direction in recent years has been shaped by Portland area native Craig Rosebraugh. Rosebraugh became involved in the movement in the early 1990s as a member of a local animal rights group in Oregon. Also active in opposing the first Gulf war, Rosebraugh said he came to believe that "animal rights issues, environmental issues, social justice, are all related."
<A name=LeslieJamesPickering>In 1996 he and another activist, Leslie James Pickering, formed the Liberation Collective in Portland, which linked ELF's struggle to other social justice problems - all caused, Rosebraugh said, "by our main ideological structure in the country, which we continue to operate under, and in my view that is capitalism." More than any other activist, Rosebraugh was able to infuse the ecoterror movement with a strong anti-capitalist and anti-government bent, which had the effect of broadening its potential targets as well as recruits.
Rosebraugh became the movement's spokesperson in late 1997 and would go on to handle ELF messages taking credit for acts of sabotage resulting in millions of dollars in damages. Additionally, it was not uncommon for him - and other spokespersons - to receive communiqués from both ELF and ALF; the two movements declared solidarity in 1993 and members who affiliate with either movement often carry out acts on behalf of both.
In 2000, Rosebraugh and Pickering established the North American Earth Liberation Front press office in Oregon. The office operated like ALF's, receiving and posting or otherwise distributing messages from cells and handling media inquiries. According to Pickering, who served as co-spokesperson, the press office is the "public face ideologically in support of the ELF and similar acts of economic sabotage." ELF's Web site was then launched to "educate both the general public and the media on the ELF and actions that the group has taken in defense of the earth" (ELF's Web site is currently registered to ALF activist Darren Thurston in Vancouver).
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In April 2001 Rosebraugh's home was raided by agents from the FBI, ATF and Oregon State Police; he was also served with a subpoena relating to a fire that destroyed over 30 new SUVs at a car dealership in the Portland area. Although he was not charged in the investigation, the increased scrutiny may have led Rosebraugh and Pickering to resign their ELF positions in September 2001.
Later that year, Rosebraugh was subpoenaed by the House Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health to testify at a hearing on ecoterrorism in February 2002. During his testimony, Rosebraugh invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to all but a few questions. In a written explanation, he said that "in light of the events on September 11, my country has told me that I should not cooperate with terrorists. I therefore am refusing to cooperate with members of Congress who are some of the most extreme terrorists in history."
Although no longer ELF's official publicist, Rosebraugh remained influential in the movement and continued to give lectures and presentations at colleges and universities. On March 17, 2003, he issued a message addressing antiwar activists that was posted on a number of left-wing Web sites. Rosebraugh said that "the only possibility of stopping this current military action is to engage in strategies and tactics which severely disrupt the war machine, the U.S. economy, and the overall functioning of U.S. society." He recommended large scale urban riots and attacking financial and media centers, as well as U.S. military establishments.
On March 28, 2003, shortly after Rosebraugh issued this manifesto, five cars and a van at the Navy recruiting headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama, were spray-painted with anti-war slogans and a two-ton truck was set on fire. All the graffiti was signed "ELF." A few days after the attack, ELF issued a communiqué claiming responsibility for the incident, saying, "This is the first specifically anti-war action carried out by the ELF in North America."
In April 2003, Rosebraugh and Pickering launched a new organization, Arissa, aimed at linking other social movements, especially the antiwar movement, to environmentalism. In addition to serving as a forum for Rosebraugh and Pickering's anti-war proclamations, Arissa sells their books on its Web Site. Titles include Rosebraugh's The Logic of Political Violence, which says 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."
Rosebraugh's credibility was slightly undermined after he opened a natural food restaurant in Portland in January 2004 and fired workers who threatened to go on strike. Nevertheless, his influence in the movement remains high and ELF likely will continue to bundle other social concerns with its environmentalist mission. In a March 2004 television interview, Pickering underscored this ideological expansion: "Violence is a necessary element of an oppressive struggle…to overthrow an oppressive government…[ELF is] only part of a larger building revolutionary movement that won't stop until it has a successful overthrow of this country."