Total Liberation - The Power and Promise of Animal Rights and the Radical Earth by David Naguib Pellow

Author:David Naguib Pellow [Pellow, David Naguib]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Radicalism, Environmentalism, Animal rights movement, Animal rights, activism, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy
ISBN: 9781452943046
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: 2014-09-14T22:00:00+00:00

Policy and Legislation Directed at

“Ecoterrorists” in Historical Perspective

Legislation such as the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) of 2006 declared it “terrorism” to harm the profits of an industry whose products are primarily based on the use of animals. This can include boycotting, picketing, and many other forms of protest that lead to a decline in revenue for industries like furriers, circuses, animal research testing laboratories, and farms. Civil liberties advocates have cried foul at this law as a breach of constitutional rights, but several activists have already been indicted, charged, or imprisoned under the AETA. They join the many other earth and animal liberation activists who have served time in federal penitentiaries and are commonly viewed as political prisoners by movement participants, attorneys, and scholars. Bruce Friedrich of PETA described the AETA as basically hate crimes legislation for people who are compassionate toward animals. . . . What this literally means is if you’re standing on KFC’s property with a sign, and in an act of time-honored tradition of civil disobedience, you refuse to leave when told to leave . . . you can be charged with terrorism. A federal felony for standing with a sign.15

This legislation reflects a long legal history in the United States that defines property destruction as “terrorism” and links such acts to persons who are defined as outsiders because of their citizenship from other nations or because of the nature of their political ideas and affiliations. Some scholars argue that that AETA (and its predecessor, the Animal Enterprise Protection Act) and related laws are not actually about the crimes, but about the political stance and thought behind the crimes. Numerous laws already address trespassing, harassment, arson, vandalism, and property destruction; the passage of specific legislation around “ecoterrorism” reveals the criminalization of political thought.16 Animal liberation activist-scholar Steven Best remarks: “According to an official FBI definition ‘Eco-terrorism is a crime committed to save nature.’ It speaks volumes about capitalist society and its dominionist mindset that actions to ‘save nature’ are classified as criminal actions while those that destroy nature are sanctified by God and Flag.”17

The broader discourse of “ecoterrorism” and its application via the USA PATRIOT Act have been devastating to these movements. Why would the state label earth and animal liberation activists “terrorists,” and what is the social and political significance of that legal designation?

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