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Constructing the Earth Liberation Front ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE RHETORIC OF ECO-REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVISM: CONSTRUCTING THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT Jade Olson, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017 Directed by: Professor James F. Klumpp and Professor Shawn J. Parry-Giles Department of Communication In the mid-1990s, a new voice of environmental protest emerged in the United States. Frustrated by the failures of both mainstream and radical environmental activism to protect the Earth from the catastrophic effects of industrial capitalism, a small group of clandestine activists identifying as the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) utilized vandalism, arson, and other means of property destruction to articulate a rhetoric of revolutionary environmental resistance. An unlikely coalition of voices from industry, government, and the established environmental movement emerged to oppose ELF, painting the activists as dangerous eco-terrorists. This study examines the dialectical contest to provide the dominant public account of ELF’s enigmatic protest rhetoric. This rhetoric is referred to in the study as eco-revolutionary activism, for it rejected even the radical discourses of its ideological predecessors such as Earth First!, embracing instead a holistic critique of capitalism, the state, and contemporary civilization. The study traces the dialectic that unfolded through a series of key moments in the rise and fall of ELF in the public imaginary. ELF made national headlines in 1998 when affiliated activists set fire to seven buildings at a Colorado ski resort as a protest against the resort’s planned expansion into ecologically fragile habitat. In the years that followed, ELF activists went on to commit more than 100 protest actions, causing millions of dollars in economic damage and prompting foundational questions about the meaning of violence, the limits of protest, and the responsibility of individuals to combat harmful systems. Anti-ELF rhetors publicly condemned ELF activists as eco-terrorists, taking advantage of cultural anxieties about terrorism that emerged in the wake of events such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. By early 2006, the rhetoric of terror had successfully trumped ELF’s eco-revolutionary rhetoric, functionally ending the public dialectic on ELF. The study finds that, while ELF’s eco-revolutionary voice was compelling and innovative, its flaws made it susceptible to the more powerful rhetoric of terror. THE RHETORIC OF ECO-REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVISM: CONSTRUCTING THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT by Jade Olson Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Advisory Committee: Professor James F. Klumpp, Dissertation Chair and Co-chair of the Advisory Committee Professor Shawn J. Parry-Giles, Co-chair of the Advisory Committee Professor Elizabeth Toth Professor Michelle Murray Yang Professor Thomas Zeller © Copyright by Jade Olson 2017 DEDICATION To Dr. Nathaniel I. “Nacho” Córdova 1964 – 2011 “The temple bell stops, but the sound keeps coming out of the flowers.” – Basho ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful for the support of a great many individuals, without whom I would have been unable to complete this project. First and foremost is this project’s director and my co-advisor, James F. Klumpp. Dr. Klumpp, you have been a steadfast advocate, coach, mentor, and teacher to me for nearly a decade. I am profoundly appreciative of your guidance, and words cannot express what your support has meant to me as I have completed the most difficult and rewarding experience of my life so far. It took eight years, but you finally taught me to write a coherent thesis. You inspire me to keep improving—to be a better writer, a better critic, and a better teacher. I hope that as your final advisee, I will make you proud. To my co-advisor, Shawn J. Parry-Giles, thank you for your mentorship as a scholar and a professional. I have sought your advice on everything from the dissertation to the job market to publishing and more, and you always find a way to make time for answering my many, many questions. Your responsiveness and encouragement have meant the world to me. I am most appreciative of the many contributions of my dissertation committee members. Michelle Murray Yang, thank you for helping me think about activism and the media in new ways, and for modeling excellence in teaching the rhetoric of social movements to undergraduate students. Elizabeth Toth, thank you for sharing your incisive and much-needed insights on the project from a public relations perspective. Tom Zeller, thank you for dramatically broadening my horizons by introducing me to a world of scholarly thought about environmental history. iii My sincere gratitude goes to my colleagues on the Oral Communication Program team: Lindsey, Chris, Cassondra, Rowie, Devin, Rowena, and Kun. Although it was difficult to complete this project while working full time, you all made me want to come to work. You added a richness to my professional life that energized me to keep writing. Special thanks to all the Oral Communication Center peer consultants, who confirm my decision to be a professional educator every single day. Y’all are the dream team. I am deeply thankful to the friends and colleagues who helped me in myriad ways as I stumbled my way through this project. Your feedback, support, and camaraderie were absolutely essential. I cherish the hours I spent writing with you in coffee shops and cabins, on weekends and holidays, at the same table or thousands of miles away on video chat. Thanks especially to Alyssa, Elizabeth, Janna, Jessica, Katie, Morgan, Nora, Sean, Terri, Tiffany, Thomas, and Yvonne. Thanks to my therapist, Laurie, for giving me the tools to approach this endeavor mindfully and with self-compassion. To my parents, Rod and Maggi, thank you for your unwavering belief in my ability to succeed. When I thought I couldn’t do it, you convinced me to keep going. The folks listed above taught me a lot about rhetoric and academia, but you taught me my first and most important lesson: to be kind. Finally, my deepest gratitude is reserved for my partner, Taylor. You are a bottomless well of empathy, patience, and encouragement. You are the smartest and funniest person I know. Thank you for believing in me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................... v CHAPTER ONE The Earth Liberation Front: Transforming Environmentalist Rhetorics ............................................ 1 The Scholarly Context for the Study ........................................................................................... 5 Critical Process .......................................................................................................................... 16 The Rise and Fall of ELF: A Dramatic Dialectic ...................................................................... 22 CHAPTER TWO Competing Forces in the Dialectic on ELF’s Eco-Revolutionary Activism ......................................... 26 Tracing the Historical Roots of ELF Rhetorics ......................................................................... 27 The Emergence of Anti-ELF Rhetorics ..................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER THREE Inventing ELF: Mediating Eco-Terrorism on Vail Mountain .............................................................. 64 Blue Sky Basin and the Elusive Canada Lynx .......................................................................... 66 Inventing ELF in News Mediations of the Vail Fires ............................................................... 70 Imaging and Imagining ELF: The Two Elk Lodge Photograph’s Rhetorical Force ................. 99 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 116 CHAPTER FOUR Dissociating Violence: Rhetorical Strategies of the Boise Cascade Fire ............................................ 119 The Rhetorical Form of Violence ............................................................................................ 124 The Possibility and Actuality of Slow Violence ..................................................................... 148 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 163 CHAPTER FIVE Legislating Eco-Terror: ELF in U.S. Congressional Rhetorics .......................................................... 165 Political Influence in Congress ................................................................................................ 167 Exploiting ELF: Legislators Target Eco-Revolutionary Activism .......................................... 191 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 231 v CHAPTER SIX Operation Backfire: Spectacle, Catharsis, and the End of the Earth Liberation Front .................. 239 Background: Operation Backfire ............................................................................................
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