Elves, environmentalism, and “eco-terror”: Leaderless resistance and media coverage of the Earth Liberation Front

Abstract

Over the past decade and a half, North America has seen a rash of environmentally motivated arsons. One group in particular, the clandestine Earth Liberation Front (ELF), has targeted ski resorts, genetic research labs, SUV dealerships, and forestry buildings, leading James Jarboe of the FBI to declare the ELF the “number one” domestic terrorist threat facing the USA. This article analyses the social construction of the “ecoterrorist threat” in the pages of the New York Times. Various stakeholders—including ELF spokespersons, moderate environmentalists, corporate interests, and state agencies—have sought to influence the way that media covers the ELF. Ultimately, much to the chagrin of ELF spokespersons, discourses of ecoterrorism have normalized in mainstream media, which regularly frames the spokespersons and activists as “dangerous clowns.” In turn, this coverage has prevented the expression of the ELF’s ideology, foreclosing the potential for the mainstream media to represent as legitimate the concerns of the ELF. I argue that blame for this failure rests in part with certain implications of the ELF’s organizational strategy of “leaderless resistance,” which—unlike civil disobedience movements of the past—is predicated on having its actors remain unsympathetically faceless and nameless.