Center in the News
April 28 , 2003
Burgers make McDonalds target for ecoterrorists
The Associated Press - CHICO, Calif.
Meat is murder, activists from the Animal Liberation Front scrawled on a
McDonalds restaurant here last month.
Two crude incendiary devices failed to ignite, but a second McDonalds in this Sacramento Valley college town was damaged a week later by burning debris. A day later, two Albuquerque, N.M., McDonalds and an Arbys were firebombed, with police suggesting similar ties to the nations most active, destructive domestic terrorists.
The Golden Arches have been hit abroad as a symbol of the United States corporate dominance and encroaching lifestyle. But the fire bombings of the ubiquitous hamburger restaurants at home have hit a jarring note with company officials and law enforcement nationwide.
An Earth Liberation Front promotional video called Igniting the Revolution features McDonalds among its corporate targets. The FBI labels the elusive, loosely knit shadow organizations the nations most active and destructive domestic terror groups, responsible for more than $43 million in damage in more than 600 attacks since 1996.
Theyre going after the wrong people, because we have an exemplary record when it comes to animal welfare, said McDonalds Corp. spokeswoman Lisa Howard.
McDonalds launched a public relations effort in response, erecting racks of brochures at its restaurants and information on its Web site touting its social and environmental stewardship.
Thats not good enough for ALF and ELF, said Rodney Coronado, a former ALF member who spent more than four years in prison for a 1992 fire bombing of animal research laboratories at Michigan State University.
Wherever they are, McDonalds are a legitimate target for people who want to protect the earth, Coronado said. McDonalds is a symbol of international animal abuse and environmental destruction.
Coronado demonstrated a device similar to that used in the Chico attack at a January conference at Washington, D.C.s American University. Directions on building the devices also are on ALFs and ELFs Web sites, enabling activists to encourage copycat arsons without having direct knowledge of the crimes.
Its a way we can insulate ourselves _ theres no signature device. Its a crude, inexpensive device that can be very effective, Coronado said, though the ones in Chico fizzled.
Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise in Bellevue, Wash., said the elusive attacks leave McDonalds Corp. in a state of denial as it juggles more than 30,000 restaurants in 118 countries serving 46 million customers a day.
It downplays attacks for fear of frightening customers and shareholders, said Arnold, author of EcoTerror: The Violent Agenda to Save Nature-the World of the Unabomber.
David Martosko, research director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Consumer Freedom, said McDonalds attacks that get publicity are literally the tip of the iceberg.
I think McDonalds has made itself vulnerable in a certain way by its history of capitulating to aboveground animal rights groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said Martosko, whose organization represents restaurants and food manufacturers.
PETA has embarrassed several fast-food chains into altering their practices, but McDonalds was really the first to respond by saying, OK, well do things your way, Martosko said. To my mind, that sends a message to the entire social movement that you can be pushed around here.
Factory farms, slaughterhouses and animal research facilities all might be closer to animal cruelty, and all have been targeted by animal rights groups.
But people identify far more with their local McDonalds, said Gary Perlstein, a professor emeritus at Oregons Portland State University and board member of the watchdog group Stop Eco-Violence.
A terrorist group is always going to attack the symbol, Perlstein said. McDonalds will be a target until they only sell vegetable sandwiches.
ALF and ELF are closely affiliated and brag about their attacks through aboveground intermediaries like Coronado. Yet the groups frustrate investigators who say they have no structure, operating in anonymous cells that commit copycat crimes and then disappear.
Two weeks before the Chico attacks, Coronado appeared at a conference for radical activists at California State University, Fresno, 230 miles south of Chico.
He now divides his time between Tucson, Ariz., and Northern California, and plans to be back in Fresno next week giving a seminar to prospective tree-sitters who want to protest logging by Pacific Lumber Co. along Californias North Coast. His involvement in those protests has enabled Pacific Lumber to suggest the pacifist protesters there are allied with ecoterrorists.
While Coronado encouraged property damage aimed at corporations, he emphasized ALFs and ELFs credo of avoiding injuries or death to humans or animals. He denounced as aberrations recent violent statements by ELF and former ELF spokesman Craig Rosebraugh that law enforcement officials fear may signal a change in the groups philosophy.
We as a movement are brought up to be nonviolent, Coronado said. We know the repression that awaits people who use physical violence.
Regardless of intent, law enforcement officials said its only a matter of time before someone is hurt or killed, perhaps fighting one of the groups arson fires.
Yet the groups distinction between damaging property and harming people has helped make them successful, particularly in university environments where they flourish, said Perlstein.
Because a lot of people agree with the goal _ the protection of animals _ they have a hard time agreeing that the activities of ALF or ELF are terrorism, Perlstein said. They just refuse to put the same label on this as they do al-Qaida.
Animal rights groups attacks on McDonalds, at-a-glance
The Associated Press -
Heres a look at attacks on McDonalds restaurants for which animal rights groups claim credit:
Oct. 14 1996, Eugene, Ore.: The Earth Liberation Front glues locks and spray-paints graffiti at a McDonalds.
June 29, 1997, Crystal City, Va.: Police in riot-gear use pepper spray to disperse about 200 animal rights activists who harass customers and employees at a McDonalds restaurant and block the restaurants driveway for more than two hours. Eighteen activists are arrested on criminal trespass charges, and three face additional vandalism charges for throwing food.
Feb. 15, 1997, Troy, Mich.: The Animal Liberation Front leaves a foul-smelling chemical in a McDonalds and spray-paints McS---, McMurder, McDeath on the bathroom walls.
1998, Belgium: ALF claims responsibility for nine attacks against McDonalds and another fast-food chain.
Aug. 16, 1997, West Jordan, Utah: ALF burns a McDonalds restaurant to the ground, causing $400,000 in damage.
August 12, 1999, Antwerp, Belgium: ALF claims credit for burning down a McDonalds, causing damage estimated at $809,000.
Aug. 31, 1999, Fulton County, Ga.: ALF torches a McDonalds restaurant.
Oct. 16, 1999, Nassau, Long Island, N.Y.: ALF smashes windows and spray-paints graffiti at four McDonalds, causing more than $23,000 in damage.
Dec. 7, 2000, Long Island, N.Y.: ELF and ALF smash windows and spray-paint anti-meat slogans at McDonalds offices.
June 2001, Detroit: ELF vandalizes a McDonalds.
Sept. 8, 2001, Tucson, Ariz.: ALF and the affiliated Earth Liberation Front claim joint credit for a $500,000 arson of a McDonalds restaurant they say is meant as a warning to corporations worldwide.
March 3, 2003, Chico, Calif.: ALF activists spray-paint Meat is Murder and Species Equality, along with the groups name, on a McDonalds. Two crude incendiary devices fail to ignite.
March 10, 2003, Chico, Calif.: A second McDonalds is damaged by burning debris. Liberation and ALF are spray-painted on the walls.
Sources: Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, Fur Commission USA, news accounts.
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