A Historical Scholarly Collection of Writings on the Earth Liberation Front by Nocella II Anthony J. / Parson Sean / George Amber E. / Eccles Stephanie

Author:Nocella II, Anthony J. / Parson, Sean / George, Amber E. / Eccles, Stephanie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

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Part III: Classic Writings on Political Repression

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8. Standing Up to Corporate Greed: The Earth Liberation Front as Domestic Terrorist Target Number One

ANTHONY J. NOCELLA II AND MATTHEW J. WALTON

The current global political climate is steeped in fear of, and rhetoric about, political violence and terrorism. Scholars and practitioners must go beyond this fear and rhetoric, and instead seek a more nuanced understanding of political groups that utilize property destruction, kidnapping, assassination, armed struggle and other militant actions for political or ideological ends. Such understanding is important in order to slow down and reverse the current trend among legislative and policy-making bodies and leaders around the world, who increasingly marginalize, demonize and exclude such groups from arenas of debate, allegedly in the name of counterterrorism.

This chapter will examine the actions and philosophy of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), particularly in relation to global capitalism. We seek to explain why the ELF does what it does, and why its actions have situated it atop the FBI Domestic Terrorist list, despite the fact that ELF guidelines specifically prohibit harming any human or nonhuman animals. Our argument is that ELF actions contain a compelling critique of capitalism, which is much more of a threat to “American values” and to the consumer-driven U.S. way of life in general, than other potential threats that seek to harm humans. In other words, maintaining the dominance of corporate power and the supremacy of market capitalism is more important to the U.S. government and intelligence agencies than protecting the lives of U.S. citizens. ← 179 | 180 →

Organization

We begin our chapter by examining the development of global capitalism in the 21st century. We then move on to give some historical background on the ELF as well as the philosophical underpinnings of the organization. We examine the demand for the ELF and show some examples of state repression of ELF activists and supporters. We then dissect the notion of “ecoterrorism,” looking particularly at legislation that targets ELF-style actions. We will end by analyzing in more detail the ELF critique of capitalism, highlighting the threat that the ELF poses to this dominant economic and social paradigm.

Global Capitalism in the 21st Century

As we begin the 21st century it is useful to look back and examine the historical events and ideologies that have shaped the world we live in today. The 20th century, particularly the latter half, was characterized by industrialization, globalization, and technological development. All of these processes have been driven by one ideological agenda that has been sold to the global community as not just beneficial, but inevitable; this agenda is capitalism.

The phenomenal growth that came about as a result of the processes mentioned above could not have occurred without significant governmental influence and control over not only the economic sphere, but social relations as well. This level of control cannot be reached by any government without resorting to tactics that repress those elements of society, which seek to undermine the influence of market capitalism (Henderson, 1991).

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