Protesters Slash Tires in Wisconsin and They Call It Eco-Terrorism

In Wisconsin protesters entered a site that a mining company hopes to turn into the largest open pit mine in the world. Compared to the destruction of mountaintop removal, the mine would cover 22,000 acres, the same area as Manhattan Island, and could potentially dump millions of tons of rock removed from the mine into the headwaters of the Bad River, which flows through a state park and an Indian reservation before emptying into Lake Superior.

            The protesters slashed tires and allegedly assaulted a female mine employee before fleeing. A spokesman for the mining company, Bob Seitz, had this to say about the incident:

"This is eco-terrorism," Seitz said. "There is no doubt it is eco-terrorism when your head is wrapped like Al Qaida and people are yelling things at people and threatening them."

Once again you have someone mislabeling vandalism and, in this case, assault as a type of terrorism. Already going overboard with his rhetoric, Seitz brings in Al Qaida, as though this crime compares to the deadly intent of Osama bin Laden’s network. The news report says nothing about the protester’s dress. Were they masquerading as some sort of T.E. Lawrence lead band of raiders? We don’t know.

            What is baffling about these attempts to tar these protesters is that Seitz could have easily condemned the actions of this group of vandals. What they did was criminal. That’s all he has to say. But there is probably more to this. Seitz is not going to say anything that is not approved by those higher up in the mining company’s power structure. Mining companies and other organizations have probably calculated that pushing this meme is in their long-term interest.

UPDATE: 6/17/13

Right-wing blogs and news have picked up this story and are pushing the "eco-terrorism" meme. In a post by Brian Fraley, a Wisconsinite who has worked for ALEC, an organization that supports big business, has a post Video: Masked Eco Terrorists Target Wisconsin Mine Site. The video shows a couple young gals confronting a member of the mine crew. Watch the video for yourself. You can judge if the gals behind the masks are threatening or not. To me, it seems to be the farthest stretch of the imagination to think of these two protesters as terrorists. Fraley expounds further over at the website RedStates. Patti Breigam-Wenzel also chimes in on the eco-terrorism theme at the Right Wisconsin website.