there was understandable dismay at a recent story which told of a 'growing threat from eco-terrorists'.
Police were said to be investigating the eco-movement Earth First! which, they claimed, had supporters who believed that reducing the Earth's population by four-fifths would help protect the planet. The National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit was concerned that a lone maverick might attempt a terrorist attack. It had also warned several companies they were being targeted as major polluters by the group and had offered them advice on how to withstand attack.
It's perfectly legitimate to report police security concerns, but none of the statements were substantiated. No website links were offered, no names were mentioned, no companies identified and no police source would go on the record.
The article linked Earth First! to climate camps established last summer, including one at Kingsnorth power station, Kent, and at Heathrow.
Earth First! in its early days in the US had a few population bomber types, who said sad and indefensible things. They did not however plot killings.
I am very critical of Malthusians but I don't know they are actively calling for death camps!
EF! Uk rejected the population hysteria for an anti-capitalist analysis.
Even if EF! were mad green terrorists they are not identical to the climate camp, so layer upon layer of distortion here.
If you want to know more about EF...may be have a read of my book Earth First! and the anti-roads movement. Routledge 1999.
or look at their site
Ian Bone is celebrating the Guardian U turn, he did a bit of digging on the story, so all credit to him on this one.
Not that I endorse every thing he said on the Jonathon Ross show! That though is another story...
1 comment:
How inaccurate do you think the story is though?
It didn't seem to be saying that EF! in the UK could be planning attacks, but that there was a real risk of a lone maverick connected to EF! carrying out an attack.
Sadly, the chances of that happening are not negligible - you're more likely to find potential terrorists hanging round with EF! than canvassing for the Green Party - simply because their ravings about the necessity of Anarcho-Primitivism will find a more sympathetic audience in EF!
And due to the antipathy of EF! to the authorities, it would present some EF! activists with a moral dilemma if they discovered that a guy on their fringes was plotting some kind of terrorist attack. By not informing the authorities, they could end up being an accessory.
So it makes sense for the police to focus their efforts there.
That doesn't make EF! culpable for any violence any terrorists might perpetrate. But it does perhaps give EF! members a moral responsibility to look out for the nutters in their midst.
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