On the Radical Cusp: Ecoterrorism in the United States, 1998-2005 (original) (raw)

Bitter Green: The Strategy of Ecotage

2009

This paper examines the strategy of environmental sabotage, or ecotage. Looking at the historical development and evolution of this strategy and discussing when its application could be successful.

Antiglobalization and Radical Environmentalism: An Exchange on Ethical Grounds

Ethics in Progress, 2014

Since 1992, clandestine radical environmentalist cells, calling themselves the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), have carried out arson attacks in an effort to punish corporations for environmentally deleterious practices. I examine the radical environmental movement and find that its recent rise to prominence and notoriety is part and parcel of the larger development of the more general anti-globalization/anti-capitalist movement. Specifically, I examine how, despite its libertarian conservative origins, the ideology of Earth First! changed after an influx of new members with anti-state, anarchist sympathies. Finally, I assess the applicability of three major criticisms of “globalization from below” to the case of the ELF, namely: a) that its preoccupation with the transnational sphere and abandonment of electoral politics is misguided, b) that direct actions such as property destruction are counterproductive to the wider aims of the movement, and, c) that its strategies of contention are too episodic, and do very little to encourage practical, inclusive, local, and sustained action in the service of global justice

[2017] “Eco-Terrorism”: An Incident-Driven History of Attack (1973-2010)

Journal for the Study of Radicalism, 2017

Loadenthal, Michael. “‘Eco-Terrorism’: An Incident-Driven History of Attack (1973-2010).” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 11, no. 2 (Fall 2017): 1–106. Abstract: The animal and earth liberation movements (i.e. “eco-terrorists”), are characterized by autonomous cells of activists utilizing a diverse tactical array to cause financial disruption and damage to businesses, governments and individuals seen to be contributing to animal exploitation and ecological degradation. Though the movement has produced an extremely limited amount of “violence,” and despite its strong tendency to target property, authoritative labeling has termed such actions terrorism. This study adds to the discourse concerning the political violence of “eco-terrorism” by examining the movement’s historical timeline through a statistical analysis of more than 27,000 events drawn from nearly three hundred sources including movement ephemera, government reports, academic articles and books, media accounts, and security briefings produced by besieged industries. This historical analysis demonstrates the atypicality of violent attacks qualifying as terrorism, and establishes that “eco-terrorism” is far more frequently a defamatory political label applied to small-scale criminal acts targeting property that present no risk to human life. This incident-based historical analysis, attempts to correct methodological flaws grounded in incomplete datasets which serve to skew findings through an over representation of attacks involving arson and explosives.

Where are the Animals in Environmental Education Curricula? A Discursive Analysis

Although the Environmental Education curriculum would seem to be one of the most obvious places where junior high students (7th-9th graders) learn about animals, a discourse analysis of the program of studies demonstrates that learning objectives are largely anthropocentric. There are three main areas that could be further developed in the Alberta Learning Environmental Education curriculum: discussions about non-human animals, how food choice impacts the environment, and the ethics surrounding human communities when environments are destroyed. This analysis calls into question the broader implications of Western systems of schooling that are still highly influenced by a scientific and industrial paradigm.

[2018] Contemporary Questions on Eco-terrorism with Michael Loadenthal

Fletcher Security Review, 2018

This article, conducted in an interview format, seeks to delve into my scholarship focused on 'eco-terrorism'; to explore its contemporary relevancy, methodological strategy, and the role this plays in understanding security from a critical perspective. CITATION: Loadenthal, Michael. 2018. “Contemporary Questions on Eco-Terrorism with Michael Loadenthal.” Fletcher Security Review, Security Studies Journal of the Fletcher School, Tufts University, 5 (1): 95–102.

[2016] Activism, Terrorism, and Social Movements: The “Green Scare” as Monarchical Power

Volume editor: Landon E. Hancock, Series editor: Dr Patrick G. Coy, 2016

This paper explores the relationship between social movement protest, economic sabotage, state capitalism, the “Green Scare,” and public forms of political repression. Through a quantitative analysis of direct action activism highlighting the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, the discourse surrounding mechanisms of social change and their impact on state power and capitalist accumulation will be examined. The analyses examines the earth and animal liberation movements, utilizing a Marxist-anarchist lens to illustrate how these non-state actors provide powerful critiques of capital and the state. Specifically, the discussion examines how state-sanctioned violence against these movements represents a return to Foucauldian Monarchical power. A quantitative-qualitative history will be used to argue that the movements’ actions fail to qualify as “terrorism,” and to examine the performance of power between the radical left and the state. State repression demonstrates not only the capitalist allegiances between government and industry, but also a sense of capital’s desperation hoping to counter a movement that has produced demonstrable victories by the means of bankrupting and isolating corporations. The government is taking such unconstitutional measures as a “talk back” between the revolutionary potential of these movements’ ideology as well as the challenge they present to state capitalism.

[2018] Leftist Political Violence: From Terrorism to Social Protest

Terrorism in America, 2018

Loadenthal, Michael. “Leftist Political Violence: From Terrorism to Social Protest.” In Terrorism in America, edited by Kevin Borgeson and Robin Valeri, 36–74. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. --------------------- • Terrorism is a difficult to define label, and its application controlled by state authorities (e.g. Executive, courts, legislature, police, military). It is typically used to denote forms of political contestation that challenge the government in symbolic, rhetoric, and practical terms. Because of this patterned application, terrorism fails to adequately describe acts, and instead is a means of defaming a particular tactic, strategy, organization, ideology or individual. • The labeling of leftist violence and rightist violence is done irregularly with leftists frequently labeled and prosecuted as terrorists and rightists typically described and framed through other discourses such as extremism. • The first wave of global terrorism is often associated with the rise of individual anarchists targeting heads of state in the 19th century, and while this era saw kings and presidents slain by leftists, it promotion of propaganda of the deed declined by World War II. • The 1960s saw a landmark rise in networks and organizations of Marxist-Leninist and other leftists adopting violent means (e.g. bombing, armed robbery)—frequently labeled as terrorism—in their opposition to the War in Vietnam, national liberation (e.g. Puerto Rico), and the larger socio-political environment framed as US-led imperialism. • In the 1980s, when the Marxist-Leninist vanguards declined, they was replaced by a rising tide of clandestine animal liberation networks, and by the 1990s, the addition of environmental campaigns of sabotage, vandalism and arson—labeled by the government as “eco-terrorism.” Though these networks did not employ lethal means, due to the frequency of their attacks and their large financial cost, they were quickly cast as domestic terrorists and a premier target for further criminalization through the rhetoric of terrorism. • Around the millennium, the left engaged in a series of large-scale counter-summit street protests. Following the attacks of 9/11, these leftist tactics were further criminalized through a rhetorical association with terrorism, and thus a movement on the rise was quickly curtailed. • Following the discursive shift equating civil disobedience and disruptive protestors as “terrorists” occurring after 9/11, in the early months of 2017, legislative and policing practices have demonstrated a renewed desire to recast demonstrators as an existential danger to the state and national security—this time by framing “demonstrators” as “rioters” if property destruction occurs within the demonstration.

If a Tree Falls: Business Students Learning Active Citizenship from Environmentalists

Education Sciences, 2019

This article presents and discusses student assignments reflecting on the documentary film If a Tree Falls, written as part of the Business Ethics and Sustainability course at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This article follows two lines of inquiry. First, it challenges mainstream environmental education, supporting critical pedagogy and ecopedagogy. These pedagogies, which advocate pedagogy for radical change, offer a distinct and valuable contribution to sustainability education, enabling students to critically examine normative assumptions, and learn about ethical relativity, and citizenship engagement from environmentalists. The discussion of "lessons of radical environmentalism" is pertinent to the question of what types of actions are likely to achieve the widely acceptable long-term societal change. While this article focuses on student reflection on a film about radical environmentalism, this article also discusses many forms of activism and raises the question of what can be considered effective activism and active citizenship in the context of the philosophy of (environmental or sustainability) education in connection didactics and curriculum studies. Second, this article argues for the need for reformed democracy and inclusive pluralism that recognizes the needs of nonhuman species, ecocentrism, and deep ecology. The connection between these two purposes is expressed in the design of the student assignment: It is described as a case study, which employs critical pedagogy and ecopedagogy.