Ecoterrorism :: American Government, Bush, Eco-saboteurs

Unquestionably, some of the typical targets of Eco-saboteurs are companies that use pesticides, new construction sites, SUV owners, biotech labs, and fast-food restaurants (Gale, 2006). Eco-saboteurs are members of the group called Earth Liberation Front (ELF) an Eco-terrorist group which in their ideology are protectors of the environment. They may also have been influenced by the publication of several books, including The Anarchist Cookbook (1971), by William Powell; Ecotage! (1972), edited by Sam Love and David Obst; and The Monkey Wrench Gang (1976), by Edward Abbey, a novel about four "ecoteurs" who roam the Southwestern United States blowing up bridges and vandalizing bulldozers in the name of environmental protection (Gale, 2006). The ELF group was inspired by Edward Abbey's 1975 novel, "The Monkey Wrench Gang", that was influential therefore the term "monkey wrench" has come to mean. Moreover, after September 11, 2001, many Americans were in fear and demanded a change in priorities from former President Bush. Americans showed full patriotic support for former President Bush and his counter-terrorism policies (Whipple, 2002). President Bush made instant comparisons between the ELF and Al Qaeda. The term Eco-terrorism has many complications of defining Terrorism. Eco-Terrorism can be defined by the Federal Bureau of investigation as "the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against people or property by an environmentally oriented, sub-national group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature (Long, 1998). Pursuing this further, this needs redefinition because of the term "terrorism." Terrorism is acts of terror with no remorse for human safety. Not all Eco-protestors create collateral damage which is violent acts on facilities that affect the environment negatively. Their have been many nonviolent civil disobedience's which have had an impact on American history in a positive way. For example, the Civil Rights Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, included sit-ins and illegal marches which weakened segregation in the south. Another example was the Women's Suffrage Movement that lasted from 1848 until 1920, when thousands of courageous women marched in the streets, endured hunger strikes, and submitted to arrest and jail in order to gain the right to vote. Also the Anti-war movement which were actions that have included refusal to pay for war, refusal to enlist in the military, occupation of draft centers, sit-ins, blockades, peace camps, and refusal to allow military r ecruiters on high school and college campuses (Starr, 1998).