The Change Mariner

Rise of Life Style Terrorism

NYT:
It has been a busy year for what you might call lifestyle terrorism. S.U.V.'s were blown up, set ablaze and otherwise vandalized in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Texas. A homemade incendiary device was found at a spring-water pumping station in western Michigan — a comment, the group claiming responsibility said, on the commodification of water.

More recently, activists with statements to make on topics from urban sprawl and animal rights to gas-guzzling recreational vehicles set fire to a condominium complex under construction in San Diego, fire-bombed a Hummer dealership east of Los Angeles, exploded homemade bombs at biotech and cosmetics companies, and vandalized the home of a famous chef known for his foie gras, to protest the force-feeding of ducks.

Things have gone way beyond trees.

Although the frequency of such acts has ebbed and flowed for years, experts who track extremist activity regard the recent surge as a potentially ominous upping of the ante. This suggests, they say, that at least some part of the eco-fringe is being driven, rather than inhibited, by the post-Sept. 11 vigilance against any kind of political crime, even if it is directed against property, not people. The attacks have legislative wheels turning and mainstream environmentalists alarmed about possible damage to their causes.

"In the last two years the movement seems to be gaining momentum," said Gary A. Ackerman, senior research associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif., whose two-year study of environmental extremism will be published in a coming issue of the journal Terrorism and Political Violence. "The ideology of viewing humans as no more important than animals or the environment leaves open the possibility of making bigger statements," he said. "They're not the devil incarnate, but they're not benign either."