What is the FBI doing here?
A number of people in Olympia have recently been questioned by the FBI in connection with some expensive acts of so-called "eco-terrorism". When the government talks about "eco-terrorism" they are not talking about acts of mass violence to the life of our eco-system, as the word sort of implies. Au contraire. They are talking about acts of destruction to property, in defense of the ecosystem.
Whether or not you think property destruction is an acceptable means of citizen action, I think that calling it terrorism is a bit extreme. In fact, I think its offensive. The concept that property has "sanctity of life" is an insult to real people who have lived through or died in horrible crimes like the bombing of the World Trade Center. The term terrorism is being hijacked (no pun intended) for political purposes because of its powerful historical connotation.
Drew Hendricks has compiled a history of the FBI's targeting of political groups for the Olympia Copwatch website. If you have any doubts that the FBI organizes against groups for political reasons, please investigate this history. You might also want to check out the Olympia Civil Liberties site, which has been set up as a response to the recent FBI surveillance and Grand Jury subpoenas.
Whether or not you think property destruction is an acceptable means of citizen action, I think that calling it terrorism is a bit extreme. In fact, I think its offensive. The concept that property has "sanctity of life" is an insult to real people who have lived through or died in horrible crimes like the bombing of the World Trade Center. The term terrorism is being hijacked (no pun intended) for political purposes because of its powerful historical connotation.
Drew Hendricks has compiled a history of the FBI's targeting of political groups for the Olympia Copwatch website. If you have any doubts that the FBI organizes against groups for political reasons, please investigate this history. You might also want to check out the Olympia Civil Liberties site, which has been set up as a response to the recent FBI surveillance and Grand Jury subpoenas.
posted by Jade at 10:58 AM
2 Comments:
Rob,
I think you are oversimplifying. Do you consider it "violence" when cowboys smash mailboxes? How about when kids spray paint on walls? If the message is political, does that then make it terrorism?
I am drawing a distinction between crimes against objects, and crimes against human beings' bodies. To me, breaking or destroying things may be wrong, but it is not violence.
Where are all the pro-life terroists?
What really erks me is the fact that i've never once seen those individuals who protest abortions reffered to as terroists....Yet i know some of them have destroyed property and some of them may have even harmed other people in the name of there cause.
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