Terrorism Definitions

Love the Property Destruction Hypocrisy

Whenever a bulldozer is vandalized, an SUV is spraypainted or a children’s movie encourages compassion for endangered animals, business interests are quick to shout “TERRORIST! TERRORIST!” But property destruction out of self-interest, or purely reckless behavior, is apparently not much of a concern. Check out this recent spat in Nashville, Tenn. Rep. Rob Briley was […]

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Take the “Terrorism Quiz”

Take the quiz! From a bizarre website put up by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Hmm. I wonder how industry groups would fare. I think it’s especially interesting that the mini terrorism tutorial lists “domestic terrorists”: • White supremacists • Anti-government groups • Anarchists • Separatists • Single issue groups But animal rights […]

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Former Bush Administration Prosecutor Calls “Eco-terrorist” Label “Overreaching”

A Bush administration prosecutor recently called the labeling of environmental activists as terrorists “political” and “overreaching.” From The Eugene Weekly’s Alan Pittman, former U.S. attorney David C. Iglesias said: “It seems to me what happened here should not fit my traditional definition of what terrorism is,” he said. Charging the environmental saboteurs in Eugene with […]

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Editorial in ‘Nature’ Against Green Scare

Nature has an editorial in the latest issue against “terrorism enhancement” in the cases out West, and also more broadly against the “eco-terrorism” rhetoric we’ve been seeing in legislation like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. This is big breakthrough, especially considering the source. An excerpt: But ‘terrorist’ is a word so debased and loaded by […]

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“My Brother, The ‘Terrorist’”

Check out this oped in The L.A. Times by Caroline Paul, whose brother Jonathan is one of the defendants who faces “terrorism enhancement” penalties for environmentally-motivated property crimes: in this case, an arson against a horse slaughtering plant. An interesting sidenote is that Caroline was a San Francisco firefighter for 13 years. Here’s an excerpt: […]

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Government Seeks “Terrorism Enhancement” for Environmental Activists

They’ve been “terrorists” from day one. Since their arrest for a string of property crimes against corporations they believed were destroying the planet, a group of environmental activists from the Northwest have been relentlessly branded “eco-terrorists” and “domestic terrorists” in government press conferences, Congressional hearings and in the media. On Tuesday, though, in federal court […]

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“Terrorism Enhancement” Hearing Rally and Press Conference

Just received this, about the “terrorism enhancement” hearing for the Operation Backfire cases. Activists are also holding a rally at the same time, outside the courthouse… MEDIA ADVISORY For Immediate Release: May 10, 2007 Contacts: Lauren Regan, Civil Liberties Defense Center, Eugene, OR, 541-687-9180 Alejandro Queral, NW Constitutional Rights Center, Portland, OR, 503-295-6400, 202-491-6204 Defendants […]

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Prosecuting Ideology: Turning “Vandalism” into “Eco-Terrorism”

When environmental activists around the country were rounded up as part of “Operation Backfire,” Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told reporters, “Today’s indictment is a significant step in bringing these terrorists to justice.” And when the SHAC 7 were sentenced for “animal enterprise terrorism,” it was for “their roles in a campaign to terrorize officers, […]

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Activist Charged With Making “Terroristic Threats”

I was reading this article about the sentencing of New Jersey activists who had protested the state’s weeklong bear hunt in December, 2005. Hunters shot nearly 300 bears. The activists were arrested for disrupting the hunt, appealed, and they lost they appeal. What I had never noticed, though, is that one of the activists had […]

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The Politics of the T-Word

I just ran across this backgrounder on “American Militant Extremists” by the Council on Foreign Relations. I wanted to flag this excerpt for everyone: Not all politically motivated violence qualifies as terrorism (for instance, the FBI and some terrorism experts did not regard the Unabomber, who says his antimodern beliefs were behind a seventeen-year mail-bombing […]

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