One of the classes I took this semester was Environmental Communication, a rhetoric class focusing on environmental issues. Our final assignment, which we worked on for about half of the semester, was to write a final paper focusing on a specific topic. Because of my interest in radical activism, I chose to write about "ecoterrorism," looking at how that word had evolved to refer to acts of environmentally-motivated property destruction and sabotage.
A lot of my research involved reading court documents, the Congressional Record, FBI reports and laws like the USA PATRIOT Act. Over the course of this research, I realized just how repressive, insidious and relatively unknown a lot of these policies are. And it's with that in mind that I'd like to share my paper with more people.
Regardless of your opinion on the legitimacy of environmentally-motivated sabotage as a tactic, or your thoughts on the ethics of taking illegal action, the ways in which the U.S. government has responded to these actions is profoundly repressive and should concern anyone with a vested interest in activism, protest and true democracy.
You can read and download the paper here (pdf).
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