Earth Liberation Front

In a world of violent attacks by terrorists including suicide bombers, hijackers, and insurgents, one group stands out above all the rest as group who has not suffered or caused a casualty in its acts. Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is an eco-terrorism group whose main goal is fighting for “all species to be free” (iii Publishing).

Earth Liberation Front’s history can be seen best in two phases, one earlier and one present day. ELF’s first terror attack happened March 16, 1977 in Santa Cruz County, California. Originalelf.com goes on the say that John Hanna, the North American founder of ELF, was arrested later that year for his actions. He got off light with probation. The group later disbanded in 1978 after severe criticism from the public.

The group reformed in the early nineties and launched the Earth First! (EF!) faction in Great Britain and transformed into the modern ELF. It has since spread to the United States and Europe. The ELF communiqué says that many people are migrating “to the Pacific Northwest and other sacred areas.” (iiipublishing) The EF! descided that if there was enough support they would change the name to Earth Liberation Front. To avoid investigations and large public disapproval, they tended to stray away from violence but instead advocated demonstrations and civil disobedience. ELF gets its leadership roles and cell figuration from Animal Liberation Front (AFL).

According to Newsweek, the first ELF incident occurrence in the United States was in 1996. “The memberless organization, which is composed of small and very secretive cells” (Newsweek) was responsible for burning down multimillion dollars condos. The secretive cells and record less members makes it difficult if not impossible to track down and persecute the attacks. Strangely though, the condos that were burnt down were built to save as much space as possible, trying to minimize urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is one of ELF’s chief enemies. When Newsweek interviewed a specialist on eco terrorism he had this to say about the logic of burning down condos and releasing toxic fumes in to the air and burning down National Forest stations: “It’s just as logical as the radical anti-abortion activists who killed abortion doctors because they’re against murder. We’re not dealing with logic; we’re dealing with emotional feelings.” This is shown in an interview of ELF’s founder, Hanna, when asked why he resorted to terrorism. Originalelf.com tells Hanna’s story about when an drop duster sprayed him when he was driving out in a field with his windows down. He went to area agricultural commissioner and complained. Nothing came of it. The chemical he was sprayed with was derived from a nerve gas founded by the Germans during the Second World War. From that point “The ELF was born.”

While ELF’s logic may be somewhat skewed, their intolerance of human harm protects them from the backlash of significant public relations damage. And that is what it mostly is, just a public relations buffer. A confession from Dave Forman says “An individual human life has no more intrinsic value than does an individual Grizzly Bear life. Human suffering resulting from drought and famine in Ethiopia is tragic, yes, but the destruction there of other creatures and habitat is even more tragic” (orginalelf.com). The article in activistcash.com goes on the say that at night the eco-terrorists would sit around camp chanting “Billions are living that should be dead. Billions are living that should be dead. Billions are living that should be dead.” In the Newsweek article covering a ELF condo burning, a expert states to question about their cause, saying they are committing crimes that have the potential to be “violent against people-even though they are not targeting people- so they say.”

The leadership of the Earth Liberation Front is nonexistent. Instead individual cells, related only in name and the principles of ELF, conduct the work. Activistcash.com has a cheat sheet of hundreds of names of different groups. Even more confusing is the mixture of Earth First! groups with Earth Liberation Front groups, all of whom claim to be a part of the same movement. The only true leader of the Earth Liberation Front is Hanna, but that was the ELF of the 1970’s, not the modern day group. The leaders of individual groups do come do attention from time to time when major arsons or destruction lead to arrests or suspects.

The Earth Liberation Front cells keep in contact and support each other through communiqués like the ones cited in this paper, and through the North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office. It states that it receives “anonymous communiqués from those taking direct action in the defense of the earth” and that it does not “know the identities of those underground who are committing actions in the defense of the earth, including members of the Earth Liberation Front.” It goes on to also state that the Press Office is totally legal and that they do not engage in illegal activities. The communiqué goes on to say that” We have no command structure, no spokespersons, no office, just many small groups working separately…” (iiipublishing.com) The Animal Liberation Front has an almost identical Press Office, showing the mutual actions and principals of the two fronts. In a part of the Press Office its states that the few eco-terrorists in prisons were not caught because of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or of police investigations, but because of “activists-turned-snitches.” This seems to be an attempt at a blame game and bickering between the cells. The website also gives tips at how to be invisible, from computer protection from investigations, to fingerprint traces and hair, and watching law enforcement surveillance. It warns to choice wisely who to work with so that they will not become informers to an investigation. A variety of handbooks are also available, from “Bugs, Taps, and Infiltrators” to “If an Agent Knocks.” So while the North American Earth Liberation Press Office is “legal” it no doubt helps the ELF perform its eco-terrorist activities.

The division of cells makes for countless types of terror, from mostly annoyances to full blown arsons. The Diary of Actions from the Press Office shows just how drastic these are: in November 2008 25 phone booths were sabotaged, while four months earlier in Sweden a villa was torched costing two million Swedish krona in damages. McDonalds has been a prime target along with urban sprawl, with a coupled burned down to the ground, and other having been spray painted with ELF slogans and their locks glued.

In the United Kingdom and the United States car dealerships have been another important target for the Earth Liberation Front. For example, a sport utility vehicle dealership was target by the ELF when they placed bombs under fourteen of the vehicles and detonated. This caused severe damage to nearby vehicles. “ELF” was found written on the windshield of one the vehicles shortly after. Likewise Land Rovers in the United Kingdom were spray painted just a short time before the Denver incident.

In most Western countries the Earth Liberation Front has been active, but with most of the people and actions taking place in the United Kingdom were it was founded and the American West Coast, another area where a branch was founded. In the United States, Indiana has had a “light” cost of damages from ELF of just over three hundred thousand dollars, while in California the number jumps to well over fifty-million dollars.

The communiqué from the Earth Liberation Front found at iiipublishing.com states some of the attacks: