Jamming the Gears

'"On October 16, 1997, my Eureka, California District Office was rocked by what sounded like a thunderous explosion. In fact, the sound was that of a 500-pound tree stump being dumped off a truck onto the office foyer floor. Upon responding to the horrific sound, my two female staff members were greeted by the visage of several Earth First! terrorists, one wearing a black ski mask, and another wearing dark goggles and a hood. The masked marauders--wearing combat boots and dressed in black from head to toe--and their cohorts, after the initial 'stump drop,' then dumped four large garbage bags of sawdust, pine needles and leaves all over the congressional office, over computers, desks and the floor."


This excerpt from the testimony of Representative Frank D. Riggs (R-CA) before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime describes a typical encounter with "eco-commandos." Not all such actions stop at the basically symbolic, as did the congressman's relatively innocuous encounter. Nor are they often as public: most are clandestine nocturnal forays. Examples include animal liberation raids, which disrupt scientific research and cause damage to factory farms; business and academic sabotage, sometimes including bomb detonations; and "monkey-wrenching," aimed at stopping logging and construction projects by ruining tools and vehicles.

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