Perspectives on Ecoterrorism: Catalysts, Conflations, and Casualties

Abstract

The invocation of the label ‘terrorist’ has been deployed with increasing frequency and to such an extent that it blunts effective dialogue on important cultural and political issues. In particular, the burgeoning category of ‘ecoterrorism’ has emerged as the leading domestic threat, according to officials. It has increasingly been invoked as a method of discrediting and investigating mainstream environmental groups that employ strategies of longstanding, acceptable, democratic behavior. The prospects for meaningful dissent are becoming tenuous at best, drawing parallels with US history wherein acts that would now be called terrorism were justified on the grounds that nonviolent petitions for redress had been rendered to no avail. In this sense, the terrorism talisman becomes something of a self‐fulfilling prophecy, since clamping down on legitimate peaceful dissent tends to foster the appearance of more confrontational, even violent, methods. This cycle is not without its casualties, and the personal toll it can take is often omitted in the analysis.

Keywords:

• Terrorism
• Ecoterrorism
• Patriot Act, Environmentalism
• Animal Rights
• Social Movements

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Randall Amster

Randall Amster is a professor of peace studies at Prescott College.