Firebugs

[phantom power]

"Ecoterrorists" are treated differently.

In 2001, Eugene, Oregon activist Jeff Luers was sentenced to an astonishing 23 years in prison for torching three pickup trucks -- because, Luers said, they emitted too much pollution. In the two decades in which environmental activists have been engaging in property destruction, it was the longest sentence ever given. In handing down the sentence, the judge specifically cited Luers' political motivations and the judge's desire to set a precedent that would dissuade other activists from similar acts. Needless to say, someone out for a bit of malicious vandalism would have gotten a fraction of Luers' sentence.

The same fate, on a much grander scale, awaits 11 activists indicted on Jan. 19 by an Oregon grand jury on a 65-count indictment of conspiracy and other charges, based on a series of 17 fires set across the U.S. West between 1996 and 2001. Most of the indicted have ties to Eugene. The fires targeted research labs, ranger stations, lumber companies, a high-tension power line, a horse slaughterhouse, a horticulture center, and, most famously, a Vail, Colo. ski area. The government estimates $100 million in damage from the fires. Press releases at the time attributed the fires to either the Earth Liberation Front or the Animal Liberation Front, two related movements that are more an ideology than actual organizations.

If the hyperbole from U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is any guide, if found guilty the activists will be in prison for much, much longer than any arsonist motivated by an insurance scam, revenge, or pyromania. Unlike the Bangor demonstrators, they will be punished much more aggressively specifically because their motives were political.

Why? Because it's very, very useful for the government to label these folks "domestic terrorists" or "ecoterrorists," rather than crediting them as what they are: activists whose fanaticism and frustration with the political process led them to carry out actions that didn't physically injure anyone, didn't truly "terrorize" anyone (or change any behavior), but, as with any arson, inconvenienced, saddened, and enraged the people connected to the torched buildings. Don't make these folks out as more than what they are. Their actions didn't resemble a holy war so much as a sustained, destructive tantrum.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=20272

[thoughtanarchist]

1. Those activists should carry a case of beer with them at all times...

to ensure the ability to claim the "yahoo" defense...

"we were having some beers and one thing led to another..."

:evilgrin:

[phantom power]

2. Yeah. Or just tell them it was insurance fraud :-)

Strange world we live in. "I was torching that building to save the planet, but I plead down to greedy sociopath."