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The extremist pro-Animal Liberation Front zine No Compromise recently published a lengthy tirade by animal rights terrorist Rodney Coronado. Coronado is currently serving a 57-month sentence for aiding and abetting arson and handling stolen property. Coronado helped fire-bomb a Michigan State University laboratory in East Lansing, destroying decades of research into protecting wild mink.
So what does this convicted arsonist have to say -- the government is repressing him. That’s right. In Coronado’s mind the only reason authorities wanted to jail him for arson was because ALF activities "threaten big business and the government itself." Coronado describes the federal indictment of Josh Ellerman as having a "political motivation" and complains about continuing "government harassment and prosecution" of animal rights activists.
Coronado, like other ALF activists and their supporters, believes that because ALF only firebombs buildings and automobiles that they aren’t terrorists (or even violent). This has to set a precedent for self-deception. Of course what ALF engages in is terrorism. As my dictionary defines it, terrorism is "the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence to intimidate or coerce societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."
In his tirade Coronado admits this is exactly the purpose of ALF actions, writing "when every new animal abuse enterprise must factor into their prospective budgets the possibility that they might be targeted by our less passive forces ... then and only then will they begin to see the need to change." ALF’s purpose is to intimidate laboratories and researchers into abandoning their activities. As Coronado puts it, "our opposition [will] eventually be forced to reckon with us in a civil manner."
How people are to be expected to reckon with arsonists "in a civil manner" is a subject Coronado doesn’t choose to address.
The most ironic part of Coronado’s diatribe is his complaint that law enforcement agencies are busy tracking down ALF members "rather than violent offenders targeting women, children and senior citizens." Maybe Coronado didn’t notice that every time he and his compatriots firebomb an installation or commit other acts of violence, police and fire officials have to commit large resources to solving those crimes that otherwise might be used solving other crimes. This is not, however, the fault of the police and fire officials but of Coronado and his compatriots.
In addition, while Coronado seems to be under the delusion that setting fire to an empty building causes no physical harm, in fact he and other ALF terrorists are endangering the lives of fire and police officials who must put out these blazes. Every year too many fire fighters lose their lives battling fires started by arsonists. It is only a matter of time before the animal rights terrorists add to this total.
If Coronado really wants police to stop investigating ALF arsons he should convince his fellow activists to stop setting fires in the first place. Until then, police and fire officials will continue to expend resources tracking down animal rights terrorists.
Source:
Government sanctioned repression at all time high - fight back. Rod Coronado, No Compromise, 1998.