(IN): A Climate For Green Terror

[Guest guest]

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http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2009/04/10/ArticleHtmls/10_04_2009_011_007.s\

html?Mode=1

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*A Climate For Green Terror*

 

By cracking down on dissent, we are inviting a violent backlash

 

JAY MAZOOMDAAR

 

The shattered windows of the Royal Bank of Scotland, the target of a section

of protesters during the G-20 summit at London, did not tell even half the

story. The Metropolitan Police managed to “kettle” (pin down to a location)

thousands of protesters for hours and claimed that they successfully

“minimised the damage”. But the claim did not take into account the cost of

tackling the protest itself. The damage to the exchequer was £7.5 million –

astounding, considering it took less than £19 million to host the grand

summit.

 

Now, consider the psychological fallout. The kettling of thousands of

protestors outside the Bank of England for so long turned the area into a

stinking public lavatory. Each and every protester was photographed and

identified, in effect, treated like a criminal. At least one British daily

put it bluntly: “The thing about kettles is that they do have a tendency to

come to the boil.”

 

In 2005, the famed wetland of Bharatpur’s Keoladeo National Park that gets

flooded post-monsoon and hosts thousands of migratory birds in the winter,

became stone dry and desolate. Under pressure from farmers who depended on a

dam upstream, the state had refused to release water to the park for the

second consecutive year. Petitions and protests made no difference and the

wetland ecology was on the verge of irreversible damage.

 

Sitting in an empty hotel lobby in a ghost town which usually bristled with

birds and bird-lovers, I could sense the mounting frustration among a few

local activists who had joined me. Suddenly, one of them stood up, angry,

his eyes glistening, and asked me if I could help him procure a few dynamite

sticks. “How many do we need to blast a crack in that damn dam to flood the

park?”

 

To my surprise, he immediately had others backing his idea. No, I did not

encourage the plan but, honestly, at that moment, it did not sound too

outrageous. Fortunately, a bumper monsoon saved Keoladeo that year. But the

term “green terrorism” had come into existence, at least in FBI files, long

before 2005.

 

A *CBS 60Minutes* show in 2005 brought the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) into

the public domain but the “Elves” – as ELF activists are known – were

classified as the top domestic terror threat by the FBI as early as in 2001

for causing ecotage (economic sabotage to stop the destruction of the

environment). The Animal Liberation Front, ELF’s big brother, was active

even in the 80s and together, they have caused damages worth billions of

dollars so far.

 

The ELF first hit the headlines in 1998 when it burnt down a ski resort in

Vail for refusing to shelve an expansion plan that would have destroyed the

last lynx habitat in Colorado. Since then, the group has burnt down dozens

of SUVs and luxury housings and targeted universities for their research in

genetic engineering. A gasoline bomb caused the Michigan State University

$1.1 million in damages. The University of Washington suffered $7 million in

damages when the Elves destroyed its laboratories and archives.

 

A number of ELF activists have been sentenced, some under terror laws, to

jail terms exceeding 10 years but that hasn’t stopped others. Last year, the

Elves planted explosive devices to set fire to four multi-million dollar

homes in Washington’s Echo Lake.

 

If a handful of radicals could inflict such damage, imagine the implication

of pushing so many thousands towards a doctrine of violence. And this is not

just about methods of protest management during mega summits. Our

general response

to dissent has become confrontational, if not outright brutal. A couple of

weeks before this G-20 meet, Greenpeace activists were ruthlessly thrashed

by security guards outside the headquarters of Indonesia's biggest logging

and palm oil company, the Sinar Mas Group, in Jakarta.

 

At Chevron’s Parabe offshore facility in 1998, security officers flew in

Nigerian military to open fire on villagers peacefully protesting Chevron's

destruction of environment and traditional fishing and farming practices.

Two protesters were killed, a few seriously wounded and many detained and

tortured for refusing to sign false confessions.

 

In 2004, Indonesian environmental activist Bestari Raden was convicted and

jailed on charges of separatism, rebellion and inciting acts of violence for

opposing the construction of a highway through virgin rainforest. *In April

2006, Filipino environmental activist Elpidio de la Victoria was shot,

allegedly by a senior police officer, for spearheading a *campaign to

protect the Visayan Sea.

 

In India, one doesn’t need to travel to the hinterland to look for such

stories. Sumaira Abduali, a member of Bombay Environmental Action Group, was

beaten up by the dredging mafia for trying to stop illegal sand mining at

the Kihim beach. More recently, Challa Krishnamurthy of Karnataka, a green

activist and advocate of organic farming, was shot dead by hired gunmen for

trying to expose how local companies dumped untreated waste on farmland near

Bangalore.

 

But this is not just about law-and-order issues or denial of democratic

rights. While atrocities committed by the state or business conglomerates

may act as a trigger, the ground for violence is being prepared by a gradual

loss of faith.

 

But when even the best documented cases, presented on foundations of

science, fail to defeat ill-conceived projects and policies, can activism be

blamed for losing faith in the power of reason? For example, if mining

continues against all scientific, economic and ecological rationale in some

of the world’s most pristine forests, do we expect green activists to give

up the fight because they have exhausted all legal and civil options?

 

States and masters of global economy have done little to assure the green

lobby that they are genuinely interested in dialogue. As a result, protests

are already seeking unorthodox expression. If we miss these early signals,

green terrorism might soon become much more than FBI jargon. If that

happens, it will be a lose-all endgame between the earth and the economy.

 

*(The author is an independent journalist and filmmaker.

mazoomdaar)*

 

http://sariskastory.blogspot.com

http://truthofthetiger.blogspot.com

http://mazoomdaar.blogspot.com

 

 

 

--

http://www.stopelephantpolo.com

http://www.freewebs.com/azamsiddiqui

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Great article Azam, thx... but it seems to me that the war is already on,

and not waiting for a climate change. That's why there is a plan ahoof to

retrofit the remaining Nepali Rhino horns here with RPGs, and Rhesus are

being trained to handle sidearms. Of course it would be unethical to take up

loaded arms against one's own race, but using CIA-approved tactics of arming

a clandestine insurgency outside one's own society seems fair enough, and if

anything is willing to protect Gaia, that would be all creatures non-human.

So my one comment for Jay Masoomdaar would be perhaps a re-titling or

rethink about the idea of a " climate " of green terror, as it's already

become an underlying institution, and like the Confliker worm, it's just

waiting for it's day in the sun.

Jigs in Nepal.

 

 

On 4/10/09 2:46 PM, " AZAM SIDDIQUI " <azam24x7 wrote:

 

> *

> http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2009/04/10/ArticleHtmls/10_04_2009_011_007

> .shtml?Mode=1

> *

>

> **

>

> *A Climate For Green Terror*

>

> By cracking down on dissent, we are inviting a violent backlash

>

> JAY MAZOOMDAAR

>

> The shattered windows of the Royal Bank of Scotland, the target of a section

> of protesters during the G-20 summit at London, did not tell even half the

> story. The Metropolitan Police managed to „kettle‰ (pin down to a

location)

> thousands of protesters for hours and claimed that they successfully

> „minimised the damage‰. But the claim did not take into account the cost

of

> tackling the protest itself. The damage to the exchequer was £7.5 million ˆ

> astounding, considering it took less than £19 million to host the grand

> summit.

>

> Now, consider the psychological fallout. The kettling of thousands of

> protestors outside the Bank of England for so long turned the area into a

> stinking public lavatory. Each and every protester was photographed and

> identified, in effect, treated like a criminal. At least one British daily

> put it bluntly: „The thing about kettles is that they do have a tendency to

> come to the boil.‰

>

> In 2005, the famed wetland of Bharatpur‚s Keoladeo National Park that gets

> flooded post-monsoon and hosts thousands of migratory birds in the winter,

> became stone dry and desolate. Under pressure from farmers who depended on a

> dam upstream, the state had refused to release water to the park for the

> second consecutive year. Petitions and protests made no difference and the

> wetland ecology was on the verge of irreversible damage.

>

> Sitting in an empty hotel lobby in a ghost town which usually bristled with

> birds and bird-lovers, I could sense the mounting frustration among a few

> local activists who had joined me. Suddenly, one of them stood up, angry,

> his eyes glistening, and asked me if I could help him procure a few dynamite

> sticks. „How many do we need to blast a crack in that damn dam to flood the

> park?‰

>

> To my surprise, he immediately had others backing his idea. No, I did not

> encourage the plan but, honestly, at that moment, it did not sound too

> outrageous. Fortunately, a bumper monsoon saved Keoladeo that year. But the

> term „green terrorism‰ had come into existence, at least in FBI files,

long

> before 2005.

>

> A *CBS 60Minutes* show in 2005 brought the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) into

> the public domain but the „Elves‰ ˆ as ELF activists are known ˆ were

> classified as the top domestic terror threat by the FBI as early as in 2001

> for causing ecotage (economic sabotage to stop the destruction of the

> environment). The Animal Liberation Front, ELF‚s big brother, was active

> even in the 80s and together, they have caused damages worth billions of

> dollars so far.

>

> The ELF first hit the headlines in 1998 when it burnt down a ski resort in

> Vail for refusing to shelve an expansion plan that would have destroyed the

> last lynx habitat in Colorado. Since then, the group has burnt down dozens

> of SUVs and luxury housings and targeted universities for their research in

> genetic engineering. A gasoline bomb caused the Michigan State University

> $1.1 million in damages. The University of Washington suffered $7 million in

> damages when the Elves destroyed its laboratories and archives.

>

> A number of ELF activists have been sentenced, some under terror laws, to

> jail terms exceeding 10 years but that hasn‚t stopped others. Last year, the

> Elves planted explosive devices to set fire to four multi-million dollar

> homes in Washington‚s Echo Lake.

>

> If a handful of radicals could inflict such damage, imagine the implication

> of pushing so many thousands towards a doctrine of violence. And this is not

> just about methods of protest management during mega summits. Our

> general response

> to dissent has become confrontational, if not outright brutal. A couple of

> weeks before this G-20 meet, Greenpeace activists were ruthlessly thrashed

> by security guards outside the headquarters of Indonesia's biggest logging

> and palm oil company, the Sinar Mas Group, in Jakarta.

>

> At Chevron‚s Parabe offshore facility in 1998, security officers flew in

> Nigerian military to open fire on villagers peacefully protesting Chevron's

> destruction of environment and traditional fishing and farming practices.

> Two protesters were killed, a few seriously wounded and many detained and

> tortured for refusing to sign false confessions.

>

> In 2004, Indonesian environmental activist Bestari Raden was convicted and

> jailed on charges of separatism, rebellion and inciting acts of violence for

> opposing the construction of a highway through virgin rainforest. *In April

> 2006, Filipino environmental activist Elpidio de la Victoria was shot,

> allegedly by a senior police officer, for spearheading a *campaign to

> protect the Visayan Sea.

>

> In India, one doesn‚t need to travel to the hinterland to look for such

> stories. Sumaira Abduali, a member of Bombay Environmental Action Group, was

> beaten up by the dredging mafia for trying to stop illegal sand mining at

> the Kihim beach. More recently, Challa Krishnamurthy of Karnataka, a green

> activist and advocate of organic farming, was shot dead by hired gunmen for

> trying to expose how local companies dumped untreated waste on farmland near

> Bangalore.

>

> But this is not just about law-and-order issues or denial of democratic

> rights. While atrocities committed by the state or business conglomerates

> may act as a trigger, the ground for violence is being prepared by a gradual

> loss of faith.

>

> But when even the best documented cases, presented on foundations of

> science, fail to defeat ill-conceived projects and policies, can activism be

> blamed for losing faith in the power of reason? For example, if mining

> continues against all scientific, economic and ecological rationale in some

> of the world‚s most pristine forests, do we expect green activists to give

> up the fight because they have exhausted all legal and civil options?

>

> States and masters of global economy have done little to assure the green

> lobby that they are genuinely interested in dialogue. As a result, protests

> are already seeking unorthodox expression. If we miss these early signals,

> green terrorism might soon become much more than FBI jargon. If that

> happens, it will be a lose-all endgame between the earth and the economy.

>

> *(The author is an independent journalist and filmmaker.

> mazoomdaar)*

>

> http://sariskastory.blogspot.com

> http://truthofthetiger.blogspot.com

> http://mazoomdaar.blogspot.com

>

>