The

Earth Liberation Front: Sabotaging a Way of Life

Malcolm Cecil-Cockwell, Foreign Correspondent

The elves are angry, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is frustrated. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is perhaps the simplest major criminal organization in terms of mandate and hierarchy in U.S. history, strictly adhering to three principles while targeting anybody who destroys nature for personal profit. Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation regards the ELF as a broken movement, the passion that once drove its members to bomb and vandalize is still whispered about in the environmentalist underground. In order to understand the ideals which drive the radicals of the ELF, I contacted John Hanna, who worked as the figurehead of the Earth Life Force (the forgotten predecessor of todays ELF)

until he was imprisoned, and asked him if he was motivated by a political or spiritual ideology when he placed incendiary bombs on crop dusters in the late 1970s. Sorry, the former ecoterrorist told me, I cant speak to that as I was an urban ecoguerrilla. The hippies were definitely a back-to-the-land mindset back then. Not me though. Just a stop fucking up the land or Ill kick your ass mindset. I posed the same question to Leslie James Pickering, one of the few recognized spokespersons for the ELF. Pickering conjured up memories of his original motivation to protect the earth, musing, I grew up with this notion that the earth was being destroyed. I knew it was because of greed and consumption, and it

seemed like something worth fixing. By how does one end up choosing the radical road as a way to end environmental degradation? The whole time I was protesting, nobody cared, Pickering explained, The whole time I was writing letters, nobody cared. The whole time I was doing civil disobedience, nobody cared except for the media. But all of a sudden, when buildings were blowing up, a lot of people cared. Despite the sensational nature of their actions, acquiring information on the ELF is a difficult enterprise. After ploughing across the internet and literary records for facts and accounts of this movement, I found that most sources are blatantly biased and make a show of either praising or denouncing the destructive actions of the underground environmentalist movement. I was dumbstruck when, after sending a draft of this article around for review, the people I interviewed informed me factual errors which had been misreported in mainstream media outlets and even commissioned studies. To avoid such bias and misinformation, I sought out information from both mainstream and underground organizations, and engaged individuals from across the activist spectrum.

My intention with this inquiry is to neither denounce nor promote the actions of the ELF. To produce yet another biased account would do nothing to bridge the gap between law enforcement agencies and activists themselves. Instead, I seek to present the facts of the structure,

intentions, and philosophy of the ELF. It is my hope that this will, in the short or long term, promote understanding and therefore the means for preventing further destructive actions. This applies to both industrial leaders and environmental extremists. The structure of the ELF

and its related organizations is essentially unique among North America activist groups. The door to membership is utterly open: Literally any activist who adheres to three simple principles can claim they act on behalf of the ELF. This allows members who have completed an action, be it with firebombs or spraypaint, to disappear back into the myriad of environmental advocacy groups in North America. Therefore, it is no surprise that the anonymously produced ELF communiqus often sign off with the claim, For freedom and wilderness! We are everywhere and nowhere and we are watching. Such a structure makes ELF activists notoriously hard to catch. James F. Jarboe, the FBIs Domestic Terrorism Chief, explained before the House Resources Committee in 2002, Groups such as the ELF present unique challenges. There is little if any hierarchical structure to such entities. Ecoterrorists are unlike traditional criminal enterprises which are often structured and organized. The ELF, in one of its many neo-Pagan manifestos, retorts, We take inspiration from the little people those mischie-

August 1975 Edward Abbey publishes The Monkey Wrench Gang

A Brief History of Ecoterrorism

2004 FBI commences Operation Backfire, in an attempt to eradicate the January 1980 extreme environmentalist movement Earth First! founded by Dave Foreman July 2006 January 1997 Most recent North American attacks claimed the ELF, Craig Rosebraugh and Leslie James both involving arson Pickering found the NAELFPO

February-December 1998 Approximately 30 attacks made by the ELF, including one destroying the U.S. Forest Industries' headquarters. Also, ELF claims responsibility for torching Vail ski resort in Colorado, May 1, 1977 causing estimated damages of $24 million. John Hanna places seven home-made napalm bombs on crop-dusters in Salinas, California. This is thought by some to be the most significant major action of the "original ELF." Hanna was arrested on November 22, 1977.

vous elves of lore. Authorities cant see us because they dont believe in elves. We are practically invisible. We have no command structure, no spokespersons, no office, just groups working separately seeking vulnerable targets and practicing our craft. Similarly, a sympathetic anarchist magazine, Do or Die, explains. The North American ELF has no central authority, no membership, no public meetings and no mailing lists. People from all walks of life are taking action as ELF activists, and this loose structure has created a network that is effective and very hard for state and industry forces to infiltrate and destroy. One ELF communiqu cheekily adds, Many elves are moving to the Pacific Northwest and other sacred areas. Some elves will leave surprises as they go. Find your family! And lets dance as make ruins of the corporate

money system. Under this anonymous structure, arson, bombings, and other forms of sabotage, have been carried out, targeting all sorts of earth rapers, as ELF literature often explains, from Monsanto to sports utility vehicle dealerships. The FBI estimates approximately 1,100 acts of ecoterrorism have been committed since 197, and 00 alone since 199, have been acknowledged by the elusive ELF as the work of their untraceable participants. Yet nobody has been killed, and no radical environmentalists have been convicted of attempted murder. Their indictments are limited to arson, conspiracy, and vandalism. Since the commencement of Operation Backfire in the late 1990s, only a few dozen activists have been arrested, with prison sentences ranging from only a few months to several decades. According to many supporters,

because no ELF cell is aware of the location or membership of another cell, there is no potential for haggling down prison sentences in return for information. Pickering, however, told me in a follow-up email, Such was true, theoretically, until the Operation Backfire indictments, which proved this was actually not the case. The Backfire indictments apparently covered more than one ELF cell, which did have membership and knowledge exchaged between them, and people were able to plea down their cases in exchange for information. In fact, many did. In spite of the fact that functioning without a hierarchy is a favourable structure for a movement facing highly organized federal security organizations, it has historically been impossible to maintain. There is no record of a leaderless movement successfully sustaining membership, let alone meeting its goals,

especially highly technical and illegal ones. But unlike the machine-destorying Luddites of the early 19th century (which collapsed after less than a decade) and the communes of the 190s, the ELF has several factors that make its leaderless existence possible. The first is a quasi-fanatic devotion to nature as it was. The focus of this devotion can be on the Luddites, who fought to maintain their agrarian, cottageindustry lifestyle, or the theory of Deep Ecology, a religious movement founded by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess in the late 1970s. Pickering told me, It is essential to understand these philosophies in order to really understand the ELF. I

wouldnt say they were universally accepted, but I would say those discussions were highly influential. The ELFs first principle is simple: To cause as much economic damage as possible to a given entity that is profiting off the destruction of the natural environment. The theory behind this reductionist mantra is that by making it too expensive for businesses and government ventures to extract natural resources, they will eventually surrender to the conservationist agenda of the ELF. Although the logic behind this principle is crude, it is easy to subscribe to the movement, unlike the complex missions of many mainstream groups.

Opposite to headlinegrabbing terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, the ELF vehemently insists all life is precious and worth protecting, even if their profits are earned by exploiting nature. This is their second principle: To take all necessary precautions against harming life. Rod Coronado, a leading figure of the ELF and its partner organization, the Animal Liberation Front, claims, For every arson attack that Ive carried out, theres probably three or four that were not carried out for fear of injuring someone. The fact that nobody was ever injured in any of the actions that Ive been accused of is not a coincidence. However, not all support-

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ers feel this way about the ELFs second guideline. Jerry Vlasak, a practicing trauma surgeon in Los Angeles, has at times indicated his support for targeting select individuals in order to save countless animal lives. Dr. Vlasak has controversially stated his belief that, For five lives, ten lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, two million, ten million nonhuman lives. I think people who torture innocent beings should be stopped. And if they wont stop when you ask them nicely, they wont stop when you demonstrate to them that what theyre doing is wrong, then they should be stopped using whatever means possible. The third and last principle is even plainer than the previous two, and is indicative of the mindset of the extreme e n v i r o n m e n t a l i s t movement: To educate the public on the atrocities committed against the environment and life. Because the ELFs relationship with mainstream environmental groups is one-sided at best and often denied by the latter its method of educating the public has been as underground as its direct action

firebombing. Nonetheless, ELF activists proudly take credit for damage done to the assets of large institutions and corporations, even when denounced by their aboveground counterparts.

Leslie James Pickering, one of founders of the North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office (NAELFPO), offered a number of reasons for why the mainstream movement tries to keep its distance from radical groups like the ELF. One reason,

he contends, is that the government urges mainstream groups to reject the underground movement. He confidently explained to me his theory of the struggles between social movements and the government: Anytime there is a movement that is threatening to succeed, the system will come down on it. Bringing together the mainstream and underground movements would make the most effective environmental movement in U.S. history, but thats why the Feds allocate resources to stop it, like in the 1990s in the Pacific Northwest. John Hanna, who renounced radical environmentalism after being released from prison, was quick to reply when I told him Pickerings view. I doubt if Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, etc., would be inclined to team up with a radical group. Why would they? They dont want their well-established and hard-fought relationship with the public and media ruined by association. On the other hand, some mainstream activists, like Bruno Marcocchio of the Sierra Club of

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Canada, have suffered not from the actions of ecoterrorists, but rather from their own governments labeling them as ecoterrorists. When diligently protesting against petroleum extraction off the coast of Nova Scotia, he was ostracized, arrested, and when released, banned from all government property, including sidewalks. The local government found it very easy to label me as an ecoterrorist because I was trying to throw out the existing order, he explained. They saw me as a deep threat to the established orderso they generated and created a very much larger than life caricature of me. Marcocchio said that over time, I turned that designation from ecoterrorist around into someone who was a defender of the public interest. When I asked if acting like an ecoterrorist would have helped him achieve his goals, he spoke with the confidence of a lifelong activist. If I had taken more extreme measures and earned the label of a terrorist, we would have lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the people. I feel the environmental movement needs a full range of activities to move along, although I dont advocate extreme actions. Ecoterror actions are not aimed at community-based actions, but are supposed to be an impediment to the industrial machine. We can debate how effective that is, although it clearly has had an effect in highlighting important environmental is-

sues. While Marcocchio is a definitively mainstream activist who has been very successful in his work with the Sierra Club, many extreme environmentalists ironically agree with him, and dont believe such an association will always be negative. Rod Coronado, founder of Earth First!, a partner organization of the ELF, claims, The ELF will never be hailed as heroes in our time. Their roles will be seen more clearly in 100 years when the ecological shortsightedness of our present government is realized. Pickering adds, when asked if the ELF will ever be accepted by the general public and mainstream movements, I can see it happening because the ELF is and was nonviolent towards living creatures. I can see people looking back one day the same way they look on other economic sabotage used by liberation movements. Think of the Boston Tea Party. Furthermore, he says, People will see one day what they now see with the Underground Railroad: That they were the only sane ones around at the time. Hanna is not so sure. He told me in an email about an incident in Rose Lodge, Oregon, which, he says, Resulted in my placing an ammonium nitrate bomb at the headquarters of Publishers Paper Company in Oregon City in 1977. Hanna was motivated by the mistreatment of peaceful protesters trying to protect forest concessions.

The paper company sprayed the protesters with herbicide from a helicopter. I have heard over the year, some former protesters became ill. I think the L.A. Times [which owned Publishers Paper at the time] needs to take responsibility for this. Hanna laments the fact that the bombing of their corporate headquarters, done to emphasize his demand that the L.A Times pay for the protestors long-term medical coverage, might have in the end cost the activists both their health coverage and their credibility. So, with no mainstream entity willing to represent them, several radical environmentalists in the late 1990s convened to form the NAELFPO. The FBI, which raided the NAELFPO several times and issued Pickering and his colleagues many subpoenas in the first few years of existence, did not smile upon their work. Pickering says that during his tenure at the NAELFPO, I knew some FBI agents on a first-name basis. While Pickering was outspoken as the director of the NAELFPO, declaring in his 2003 treatise on the ELF, To effectively fight the system, we need to know what these motherfuckers with their boots on our throats are thinking, the ELF itself worked secretively, anonymously depositing brazen communiqus accepting responsibility for direct actions and explaining their motives. The communiqus were the lifeblood of the ELF, informing groups of other

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ecoterrorists actions. Pickering remembers how seriously the FBI took the communiqus, explaining, After every ELF action theyd come around and try to have us tell them something about it, with constant threats of indictment on federal conspiracy charges. Nowadays, old communiqus can be found on the remote websites of ELF sympathizers, or in Pickerings compilation of ELF literature, Earth Liberation Front 1997 - 2003. Some communiqus are blatantly hostile, claiming, The Earth isnt dying; its being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses. No compromise in defense of our Earth! Some are ironic: To celebrate the holidays we decided on a bonfire. Unfortunately for the U.S. Forest Industries, it was at their corporate headquarters office. And still others are simply creepy: Boise Cascade has been very naughty. Early Christmas morning [of 1999] elves left coal in Boise Cascades stocking. Four buckets of diesel and gas with kitchen timer delays destroyed their regional headquarters in Monmouth, Oregon. The elves are watching. But the communiqus dont always report exclusively on the ecoterrorists actions. They often expound political and social philosophies that define the ELF and its related groups. We are the burning rage of a dying planet, states one communiqu, We have to show the enemy that we are serious about defending what is sacred. Another claims,

Forests, farms, and wetlands are being replaced with a sea of houses, green chemical lawns, blacktop, and roadkill. The time has come to decide what is more important: The planet and health of its population or the profits of those who destroy it. It is time for thepolice to realize we are but the symptoms of a corrupt society on the brink of ecological collapse. Despite the fact that the communiqus have been written by many of different people representing dozens of autonomous ELF cells, there is a degree of consistency in their message, indicating a common mindset beyond simply revering nature. For example, their political philosophy is essentially democratic, clearly left of centre, and definitely vigilante. In a communiqu issued in 2000, the ELF explains, We have no faith in the present system of electoral politics. Because there are no viable options on the [electoral] ballet, we must find another means of voting. Indeed, the attitude that the government and corporate scum are in bed together and refuse to cooperate with the legitimate demands of law-abiding citizens was consistent through my discussions with current or former ELF supporters and other radical environmentalists. James Roof, former executive director of Greenpeace and cofounder of the Ruckus Society, told me, Weve got a federal government in the U.S. that listens to the oil industry, and not the people, and

that is a fundamental definition of fascism the marriage of government corporate sectors. Look at the history of government and corporations; how trustworthy are they when their motive is their own private profit? Im amazed that people in the U.S. arent rioting! Hanna actually attributes his disillusionment with mainstream activism to an experience which led him to believe the government has become a sounding board for business, and not for the public interest. He explained in a previous interview, I felt conventional methods of civil disobedience were ineffective. An incident pushed me more over the edge of rational behaviour. One day I was driving to town and got sprayed with parathion. I went directly to the agricultural commissioners office and reported the incident. Nothing ever came of it. For several hours I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin. Parathion is an organophosphate poison that was developed by German scientists in WWII as a nerve gas. The incident served as a catalyst. The ELF was born. But Hanna now believes that there are productive and legal ways to work with government, business, and activists simultaneously. He explains, After my stint at Lompoc Federal Prison...I founded a notfor-profit organization to assist commercial growers to develop strategies for cutting back on their use of pesticides. The strategy is called Integrated Pest

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Management. In hindsight, I see that IPM has accomplished more than those seven firebombs ever did. Nonetheless, Pickering holds that the government and corporate sectors have created an opposing bloc to the mainstream environmental movement, explaining that this makes extreme environmentalism a necessity for change. He explained to me several times, Every successful social justice movement throughout history has had an element of radical activism or radical engagement. Hearing it implied, as usual, that the ELF feels a degree justification for their destructive actions, I asked Pickering if there was a need for radical environmentalism. A great need, he said. What I can see is that the mainstream movement isnt really bringing much forward by itself. Thats part of the reason Im proud to say that Ive helped promote radical environmentalism. At least the ELF is willing to take action and take risks, not getting stuck in the status quo, not allowing the problem to continue any longer. There is something very legitimate about people who are angry and willing to act now. Pickering once rhetorically asked in an essay, When faced with opposition, is it a natural reaction to write a petition, mail a letter to your representative, lobby Congress or file a lawsuit? The need described by Pickering and others involved with the ELF is, like many of

the actions of both ecoterrorists and industrial magnates, very questionable. Most people following the recent developments in North Americas corporate culture can all see that many companies are making a sincere effort to improve their industrial processes, while government officials ratify ever-stricter regulations and limits on pollution. From General Electric to Toyota, and from British Petroleum to Gazprom, firms actually appear to be competing with each other for recognition as being green. Hanna explains, in light of this, The ELF means and methods will lead nowhere. Maybe prison. We dont need more bombers and idiots like my former ELF persona, running around trying to change the world by coercion and intimidation. But regardless of Hannas qualified advice, there are radical environmentalists trying to change the world through economic sabotage, or terrorism, depending on who you ask. And according to some sources, they arent growing any less in number. Numerous groups, such as the Mackenzie Institute and Anti-Defamation League, in addition to the FBI and related agencies, have stated recently that ecoterrorism is on the rise. (On the other hand, Pickering told me, It really does seem that radical and grassroots environmentalism is really at a low point and has been for a few years, especially in the Pacific Northwest.) To combat what they re-

gard as an oncoming surge of radical activity, these groups have resorted to harsh phrases which ruin the already shaky image of extreme environmentalists. But then again, any outcry against putting ecoterrorists in the same category as al-Qaeda is at best hypocritical, considering the habit of both mainstream and radical environmentalists, who overlook the good intentions of some companies in their rush to condemn all corporations as earth rapers. To allow ourselves to be drawn into such word-play would be contrary to the intentions of this article. However, to take the time to evaluate the intentions and actions of both extreme environmentalists and their institutional opponents would be a major first step in objectively remedying the ecological harm being rendered on our planet. It is irrelevant to ponder if we are moving towards a society where radical groups like the ELF are revered, in Pickerings words, as the only sane ones around, or if our government sectors are planning in back-room discussions to squeeze every dollar out of the earths natural resources. Because by keeping our eyes open and recognizing destruction as destruction - be it of the environment by a businessman, or of business by an environmentalist - we will improve ourselves, and attain the balance between concerned citizens and profitable enterprises which until now has been impossible.

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