Earth Liberation Front

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".

The ELF was founded in Brighton in the United Kingdom in 1992,Best & Nocella 2006 p. 49. and spread to the rest of Europe by 1994. The ELF acronym derived from the original ELF guerilla group, the Environmental Life Force, that was founded in 1977 in Santa Cruz, California by activist John Clark Hanna. The Earth Liberation Front is now an international organization with actions reported in 17 countriesBest & Nocella 2006 p. 19, 52 & 53.Diary of Earth Liberation Actions 2006–2008
''Earth Liberation Front Press Office'', 2006–2008. and is widely regarded as descending from Animal Liberation Front because of the relationship and cooperation between the two movements. Using the same leaderless resistance model, as well as similar guidelines to the ALF, sympathizers say that it is an eco-defense group dedicated to taking the profit motive out of environmental destruction by causing economic damage to businesses through the use of property damage.

The ELF was classified as the top "domestic terror" threat in the United States by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in February 2001, and its members classified as eco-terrorists. Despite the lack of deaths from ELF attacks, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism has said, "I think we're lucky. Once you set one of these fires they can go way out of control.""FBI, ATF address domestic terrorism"
CNN, May 19, 2005. The name came to public prominence when they were featured on the television show ''60 Minutes'' in 2005. The group was further highlighted in the 2011 Academy Award–nominated documentary '' If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front''.

Structure and aims

ELF " monkeywrenching" is carried out against facilities and companies involved in logging, genetic engineering, GMO crops, deforestation, sport utility vehicle (SUV) sales, urban sprawl, rural cluster and developments with larger homes, energy production and distribution, and a wide variety of other activities, all charged by the ELF with exploiting the Earth, its environment and inhabitants.Best & Nocella 2006 p. 54.

The Earth Liberation Front has no formal leadership, hierarchy, membership or official spokesperson and is entirely decentralized; instead consisting of individuals or cells who choose the term as a banner to use. Individuals are commonly known to work in affinity groups, known as cells, and are usually self-funded.

Techniques involve destruction of property, by either using tools to disable or the use of arson to destroy what activists believe is being used to injure animals, people or the environment. These actions are sometimes called ''ecotage'' and there are marked differences between their actions in the United States and the United Kingdom.

With many different reasons why ELF activists carry out economic sabotage, a communique to the press claiming the responsibility for arson against urban sprawl in December 2000, described the reason a cell took an action. As Elves usually do, they claimed that burning down the house was non-violent because it was searched for any living creatures; an issue which is much debated within the environmental movement.

Some of the most common and notable attacks are against the development of multimillion-dollar houses, a frequent target in the ELF campaign. In a communique to the press from the group's "above-ground spokesperson", Craig Rosebraugh, that was later published in '' The Environmental Magazine'', the group said in November 2000:

Press office

The North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office (''NAELFPO'' or ''ELFPO'') was relaunched in October 2008, receiving anonymous communiques from activists, for distributing to the press and public, to discuss the motives, ideologies and history behind such actions.

Craig Rosebraugh served as an unofficial spokesperson for the ELF Press Office in North America from 1997 to early September 2001. Doubts have been raised about whether Rosebraugh or other unofficial spokespeople have ties to the cells involved, although the press office claim they do not know the identities of ELF members.

Support networks

Prisoner support networks support ELF prisoners, such as ''Spirit of Freedom ( ELPSN)'', an English website listing all Earth Liberation prisoners, as well as a variety of other ''prisoners of conscience''. There are also ELF support networks in Belgium, Italy, North America, and Poland, which collectively coordinate the support of prisoners, as well as websites for specific prisoners, such as for; Rod Coronado, Jeff "Free" Luers, Daniel McGowan, Briana Waters and Tre Arrow. The networks distribute literature written by those in prison, to their supporters and other support groups, and sometimes raise funds for those who require financial aid in their cases.

Philosophy

Earth liberationists, are a diverse group of individuals with a variety of different ideologies and theories. These include; animal liberationists, anti-capitalists, green anarchists, deep ecologists, eco-feminists, and anti-globalisationists.Manes, Christopher, 1990. ''Green Rage: Radical Environmentalism and the Unmaking of Civilization'', Boston: Little, Brown and Co.

Elves argue that direct action is required to aid the earth liberation movement, also referred to as ''eco-resistance movement'', and a part of the radical environmental movement. The ELF claim that it would be similar to how the ALF has projected forward the animal liberation movement. There was also the intention that in the same way animal liberationists "help out" with legal campaigns, earth liberationists would aid above-ground environmental organizations, notably Earth First!, by acts of ecotage.Best & Nocella 2006 p. 50 & 51.

Origin

United Kingdom

The Earth Liberation Front was founded in 1992 in Brighton, England by members of the Earth First! (EF!) environmental movement at the first-ever national meeting. At the time, EF! had become very popular, so people's concerns were based on maintaining this popularity and by doing so not associating with overt law-breaking. There was no universal agreement over this, but it was accepted amongst the movement that British EF! would instead continue to advocate and focus on civil disobedience and mass demonstrations. If people wanted to participate in acts of ecotage, the new name "Earth Liberation Front" would be used, with its name and guidelines derived from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), another movement that uses direct action to liberate animals or sabotage companies using them. It was understood that the simplicity of the guidelines was a crucial factor to engage as many people as possible to the new cause, with the intention that the ELF would quickly become as popular as the ALF.

Earth Night

The very first ELF action is unknown, or undocumented, but one of the first and most notable actions was on April Fool's Earth Night 1992, a night organized by activists to carry out ecotage and also one of the first of them. The Elves, as they were also known, targeted Fisons, a peat company accused of destroying the peat bogs causing £50,000–70,000 worth of damage. Pumps, trucks and other machinery belonging to the company were destroyed after legal campaigners, Friends of the Earth, spent two years advocating a boycott of the company. '' Green Anarchist'' magazine publicized the communique with the demands from the ELF:

EF! Journal

In the September–October 1993 issue of the ''Earth First! Journal'', an anonymous article announced the creation of the ELF in England. It said the ELF is a movement of independently operating eco-saboteurs that split from the British EF! movement, which has focused directly on public direct actions. The author noted that unlike the ALF which seeks publicity: "ELF cells, for security reasons, work without informing the press and do not claim responsibility for actions."

Development of the ELF abroad

Europe

The ELF quickly spread across to Europe by 1994, with actions first occurring in the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Spain, France and Finland, and the name starting to be used across the globe.ELF actions have been reported in; Australia, Canada, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States. The Earth Liberation Front is widely regarded as the Animal Liberation Front's younger sibling, because of the relationship and cooperation between the two movements. It is believed that cells rapidly established themselves in new countries because of the global outreach of Earth First! and the connection between the two groups.Best & Nocella 2006 p. 47. British Elves were also making contact with like-minded activists, informing them about the ELF and its tactics, with missionaries targeting specifically France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Within two years, McDonald's had been vandalized in Germany and Poland, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol had been sabotaged, and high-emission vehicles had been destroyed. Hunting towers were torn down in the Netherlands and Germany, which was presumably inspired by similar actions against hunting by the ALF.Best & Nocella 2006 p. 52.

North America

Canadian ELA

The first time it was known that an earth liberation action had happened in North America, was in 1995, in Canada, by a group calling itself the Earth Liberation Army (ELA). They were considered by the European Elves at the time to be "transatlantic cousins". On 19 June 1995, the ELA burned down a wildlife museum and damaged a hunting lodge in British Columbia.

United States

On Columbus Day 1996, activists spraypainted "504 years of genocide" and "ELF" on the walls of a public relations office, as well as a McDonald's restaurant in Oregon, the actions were the very first by the ELF in the United States. The same restaurant then had its locks glued and spraypainted again, but this time in support of the British McLibel Two, two activists who had distributed anti-McDonald's leaflets. The next day, it was reported that another two McDonald's restaurants, again in Oregon, had their locks glued by ELF activists. The only other reported action of the year was on Christmas Day, when a fur farm was raided in Michigan and 150 mink released into the wild by the Great Lakes ELF.Best & Nocella 2006 p. 56.

The Fox, a Chicago area Fox River environmental activist, began ELF style operations in the early 1970s and continued into the 1980s, while the peak number of ELF actions occurred in the early 1990s.

ELF activities declined in the United States after 2003, and by 2012 there were next to none.

Mexico

In late November 2008, a group calling itself Eco-Anarquista Por El Ataque Directo (Eco-anarchist cell supporting direct attack) claimed responsibility for several recent actions, including half a dozen Molotov cocktails thrown at tren férreo (metro rail) in Mexico City, incendiary sabotage against Telmex, and a Molotov cocktail thrown at a Banamex ATM. The group claimed that these attacks were a form of protest against the construction of a new rail line (line 12), in Mexico City (D.F.) and Mexico State. The construction had caused deforestation and the eviction of many families.

Soon after this initial group of actions, the Frente de Liberación de la Tierra (Earth Liberation Front) claimed responsibility for a number of actions including the sabotage of a construction machine on December 30, 2008, arson at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the March 22nd, 2009 burning of construction equipment in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

South America

Argentina

Over the first months of 2012, several car arson cases in Buenos Aires were claimed by the "Frente de Liberacion de la Tierra", stating that "... we propose to destroy property from the bourgeoise class from Palermo to Villa Devoto who are sure that everything will stay the same, but some individuals are tired of this and pretend to continue with this initiative to expand the daily riots..."

Notable attacks: 1998–2009

1996–1999

The ELF gained state attention in the state of Oregon in 1996 when they burned down the Oakridge Ranger Station.
The ELF gained national attention for a series of actions which earned them the label of eco-terrorists, and one of the top domestic terror threats in the United States.Earth Liberation Front is now FBI's No. 1: Mainstream media finally pick up on the concern of ecoterrorism
''Property Rights Foundation of America, Inc'', March 2001. This came after the burning of a ski resort in Vail, Colorado, on October 19, costing $12 million.Eco-Terror Incictments: 'Operation Backfire' Nets 11
, ''FBI'', 20 January 2006. In a communique to the press, the ELF said:

Actions also included sabotaging power lines, the burning of an SUV dealership, and the burning down of a logging headquarters causing $1 million in damages. The Elves wrote to the local paper "Let this be a lesson to all greedy multinational corporations who don't respect their ecosystems," with most actions taking place in Oregon. The defendants in the case were later charged in the FBI's " Operation Backfire", which included 17 acts of property destruction.

The ELF then set fire to Michigan State University on New Year's Eve, using a gasoline bomb to cause $1.1 million in damages, because of a program to provide GMO plants to African farmers. ELF spokesmen claimed Monsanto had been a major contributor to funding the program; however, the only funding from Monsanto Corp. was a one-time sum of $2,000 to send five African students to a conference on biotechnology. The next day, commercial logging equipment was set on fire, with "ELF" and "Go Log in Hell" spraypainted on a truck. In March 2008, four activists were charged for both the arsons.4 linked to radical group indicted in MSU arson
''Detroit Free Press'', March 11, 2008.

2000

On November 27, in Colorado, the ELF burned the Legend Ridge mansion and sent a message to the ''Boulder Weekly'' saying "Viva la revolution!" Damages were estimated at $2.5 million.ELF
, ''Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise''.

2001

In March, a total of thirty SUVs were torched, belonging to Joe Romania's dealership, in Oregon, with damages estimated at $1 million. The action was claimed in support of Jeff "Free" Luers, who targeted the very same dealership and was in court for the charges at the time. He was then sentenced to twenty-two years in jail, later revised to ten.

On May 21, a fire destroyed laboratories, offices, and archives at the Center for Urban Horticulture, University of Washington, causing a total of $7 million in damages. The arson destroyed 20 years of research and plant and book collections. The ELF claimed responsibility based upon the incorrect belief that the University was involved in genetic engineering of poplar trees. No genetic engineering was being conducted. In the wake of the attack, an FBI spokeswoman in Portland, Oregon said "I don't think there's any doubt the ELF is upping the ante".

On November 7, ELF member Ian Wallace planted incendiary devices outside of two buildings on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan during the early morning hours. The devices failed, and on March 21, 2009, Wallace was sentenced to three years in prison for the incident by Judge Robert Holmes Bell, who said Wallace "didn't intend to hurt anybody, (but) this is a serious offense."
Said Wallace after his conviction, "I have been consumed by shame for what I have done," Wallace said. "My greatest blessing is that no one got hurt."

2003

On January 1, in Girard, Pennsylvania, jugs of gasoline were set under three vehicles at Bob Ferrando Ford Lincoln Mercury and set ablaze. Two pickup trucks, one Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and a car were destroyed causing $90,000 in damages. Steve Dartnell of Fairview claimed responsibility for the attack.

On August 1, a 206-unit condominium in San Diego was destroyed, with a banner left at the scene saying "If you build it, we will burn it", signed "The E.L.F.s are mad". The damages totaled $20 million after flames reached an estimated in the air, as over a hundred firefighters attempted to put out the fire. The destruction was the movement's most financially damaging action against a target, with a local preservation group calling the action pointless, noting that "You can go and burn something down, but it's just going to get built again."Militant group suspected of torching condo project
, ''Sign On San Diego'', August 2, 2003. Exactly three weeks later, 125 SUVs and Hummers were torched in Los Angeles costing a total of $3.5 million, with "I love pollution" spray-painted at the scene, and a month later, homes being built in San Diego were targeted again, this time costing an estimated $450,000 in damages.

2006

The FBI's most recent report stated that there had been over 1,200 "criminal incidents", within January 2006. A nearly completed house, worth $3 million, was burnt to the ground in Washington. It was reported that a bed-sheet was draped across the front gate, with a message reading "Built Green? Nope black. McMansions and RCDs r not green," a reference to rural cluster developments.

2008

One of the latest ELF arsons was reported on the morning of March 3, when explosive devices set fire to four multimillion-dollar homes from the 2007 Seattle Street of Dreams in Echo Lake, Washington, causing $7 million in damage. Authorities described the act as "domestic terrorism" after finding "ELF" spray-painted in red letters, mocking claims that the homes were environmentally friendly: "Built Green? Nope black! McMansions in RCDs r not green. ELF."

2009

On March 23, the ELF claimed the burning of an excavator in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. In one of many recent anonymous communiques, the ELF reported to ''Bite Back