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During AETA trial, new Santa Cruz sabotage violates ALF principles against human targets
This is an 'breaking news' repost of a Santa Cruz Sentinel article about the brakes of a UCSC researcher's auto being cut this weekend. The FBI, naturally, has been called in to investigate. This falls during a series of court dates for the AETA 4 group (covered elsewhere on indybay) who are being charged for passing out flyers about cellular biology and environmental health professors at the university.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has historically emphasized a principle of supporting only property sabotage, while tolerating no actions putting humans and other animals at risk. This ethic supposedly developed for a couple of reasons: first, consistency with the value of all animal life, and secondly, for the tactical reason of avoiding attempted murder charges and increased heat and scrutiny which would be placed on the broader community. Therefore, we may deduce that the brake clippers were not members of ALF. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/ALFPrime.htm
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has historically emphasized a principle of supporting only property sabotage, while tolerating no actions putting humans and other animals at risk. This ethic supposedly developed for a couple of reasons: first, consistency with the value of all animal life, and secondly, for the tactical reason of avoiding attempted murder charges and increased heat and scrutiny which would be placed on the broader community. Therefore, we may deduce that the brake clippers were not members of ALF. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/ALFPrime.htm
Some may wish to the sequence of events during the Brianna Waters trial last year. This woman was the last person indicted for the arson of the University of Washington horticultural building (where the ELF members had taken great pains to make sure no humans were near the building, and pets had been removed from offices). Several other convicted participants said that she hadn't been there, or that they didn't even know her as the girlfriend of someone in the circle, but she was testified against by two others as part of a plea bargaining agreement. During this trial, a suspicious ELF arson of some unselling mansion homes broke out and made a big splash in the news. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004256586_webdreamsfire03m.html
SANTA CRUZ - A vandal cut the brake lines on the vehicle of a UC Santa Cruz researcher late Saturday or early Sunday, and the Police Department has called in the FBI to help investigate.
About seven FBI agents were at the researcher's Westside home on Monday. Some agents peered under the sport utility vehicle to inspect the damage, while others canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses.
The researcher, who wasn't identified, called police around 11 a.m. Sunday to report vandalism to the SUV, which was parked in front of the researcher's house on the 1200 block of Laurent Street, according to Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Rick Martinez.
"It's not something we see every day. Why was this one vehicle specifically targeted?"
FBI agents recover evidence from the undercarriage of an Acura MDX at the Laurent Street home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher on Monday. (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel)
Martinez said. "... Was this to injure the driver? Was it to send a message? Was it a threat? These are all questions we're trying to sort out right now."
The scientist's research did not involve animals, according to Martinez. He declined to identify the researcher or the department at UCSC where he or she works.
UCSC researchers whose work includes testing on animals have been targeted in recent years.
In February 2008, demonstrators protesting in front of a researcher's house tried to force their way into the home and attacked the researcher's husband while the family held a child's birthday party inside. A federal grand jury indicted four animal rights activists under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act a year later.
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Their case is pending in U.S. District Court.
The homes of two other UCSC researcher, who also works with animals, was firebombed in August 2008. In one incident, the researcher and his family had to jump to safety. No one has been arrested in connection with the firebombing incidents.
Martinez said the prior incidents pushed police to draw on the FBI for help early in the current investigation.
"It had a violating civil rights tone to it," Martinez said. "Our concern is it may be related to his employment as a researcher and it maybe be related to an extremist group."
But Martinez declined to say why police believed the vandalism was linked to the researcher's work at the university and said the investigation is at a preliminary stage.
The researcher had not received threats prior to the brake lines being cut, according to police.
The vehicle damaged is the one the researcher normally drives, but his or her spouse was going to take the SUV out Sunday morning when the damage was discovered. When brake lines are cut, they drain fluid. Martinez said that's what caught the spouse's attention. No one drove the SUV.
The brake lines and cables to the emergency braking system on the victim's vehicle had been cut, making the braking system inoperable, police reported.
"It's obviously very unsafe to get into a vehicle that has no working brakes," Martinez said.
SANTA CRUZ - A vandal cut the brake lines on the vehicle of a UC Santa Cruz researcher late Saturday or early Sunday, and the Police Department has called in the FBI to help investigate.
About seven FBI agents were at the researcher's Westside home on Monday. Some agents peered under the sport utility vehicle to inspect the damage, while others canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses.
The researcher, who wasn't identified, called police around 11 a.m. Sunday to report vandalism to the SUV, which was parked in front of the researcher's house on the 1200 block of Laurent Street, according to Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Rick Martinez.
"It's not something we see every day. Why was this one vehicle specifically targeted?"
FBI agents recover evidence from the undercarriage of an Acura MDX at the Laurent Street home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher on Monday. (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel)
Martinez said. "... Was this to injure the driver? Was it to send a message? Was it a threat? These are all questions we're trying to sort out right now."
The scientist's research did not involve animals, according to Martinez. He declined to identify the researcher or the department at UCSC where he or she works.
UCSC researchers whose work includes testing on animals have been targeted in recent years.
In February 2008, demonstrators protesting in front of a researcher's house tried to force their way into the home and attacked the researcher's husband while the family held a child's birthday party inside. A federal grand jury indicted four animal rights activists under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act a year later.
Advertisement
Their case is pending in U.S. District Court.
The homes of two other UCSC researcher, who also works with animals, was firebombed in August 2008. In one incident, the researcher and his family had to jump to safety. No one has been arrested in connection with the firebombing incidents.
Martinez said the prior incidents pushed police to draw on the FBI for help early in the current investigation.
"It had a violating civil rights tone to it," Martinez said. "Our concern is it may be related to his employment as a researcher and it maybe be related to an extremist group."
But Martinez declined to say why police believed the vandalism was linked to the researcher's work at the university and said the investigation is at a preliminary stage.
The researcher had not received threats prior to the brake lines being cut, according to police.
The vehicle damaged is the one the researcher normally drives, but his or her spouse was going to take the SUV out Sunday morning when the damage was discovered. When brake lines are cut, they drain fluid. Martinez said that's what caught the spouse's attention. No one drove the SUV.
The brake lines and cables to the emergency braking system on the victim's vehicle had been cut, making the braking system inoperable, police reported.
"It's obviously very unsafe to get into a vehicle that has no working brakes," Martinez said.
For more information:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews...
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I realized I had a serious brake fluid leak.. i did not contact the police who didn't contact the FBI.
I am a known bigmouthed activist in town (in my own narcissistic mind) and I considered that the
police or the FBI may have sabotaged my car. Realizing that if they had then I'd no one to contact for help. This is often the case of the poor, wrong skinned, or bigmouthed. It is unfortunate that this latest sabotage victim is a researcher because now the militant police and FBI can stitch together all kinds of possible meanings of what is probably just a leaking brakeline. I also can do some stitching and I see the local paper, tvnews and police department connecting waaaay too many dots on events that happen around here. Want to end gang violence? Stop targeting non-whites and sending them to gang training camp (jail/prison). Put more money into the poor neighborhoods (beachflats community center needs to reopenned). Yes I can connect dots and when I see the police dept. get a fresh cool $1,000,000 million in these tough economic times, it becomes very clear what the real game is. And if you are a member of the police dept., FBI or other militant organization I have a message for you. Fuck you for cutting my brakelines.
This is no way to sabotage a modern car. The second the car is started A BIG RED LIGHT goes on if something as simple as the brake fluid is low, no less zero pressure in the brake lines... The warning light goes on for uneven pressure distribution outside the norm, or the brake lines need bleeding.
Laughable, and sophomoric. The feds will be aware of this too.
It is simply a ruse, and not even an effective one.
All too suspicious, just like the "May 1st Riots."
Again, no communique was released--in fact, until this post, the sentinel was the only place to read about this. suspicious. it's also really impressive that someone was able to notice that the brake lines were cut. I really should pay such good attention to my car.
As a mechanic, I'm really, really impressed that they managed brake lines and the emergency brake. They must be experts.
Also, just like the supposed "fire bombings" during the summer of 08', as you point out, human life would have been in jeopardy, clearly violating the tenets of ALF.
Can we start calling this as it is? FBI.
As a great side note, today was the 20 year anniversary of the FBI blowing up Earth First members' car while they were in it, permanently disabling them, and then trying to charge them with the explosion. Read more here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/25/headlines#15
People who think that the govmt doesn't do things like this only have to look in their history books.
"The next story relates to something happening in my hometown, Santa Cruz California, right now.
Activists Mark 20th Anniversary of Earth First Car Bombing
And in Oakland, environmental activists gathered on Monday to mark the twentieth anniversary of the car bombing of Earth First members Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. Bari and Cherney nearly died when a bomb exploded in their vehicle. They were in the midst of organizing a major Redwood Summer action that brought thousands of activists to California to protest destructive logging practices. In what many saw as a deliberate smear campaign, the FBI arrested the two and accused them of being victims of their own misfired bombs. Bari and Cherney later sued the FBI and won over $4 million in damages. Bari died before receiving justice in the case — the attack had left her nearly crippled, and she lived in constant pain before dying in 1997 of breast cancer. [In Full]
The Santa Cruz Connection...
In Full: http://www.archive.org/details/tth_100526
Oh yeah, the commentary topic for the day:
May 26 2010 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Taking Their Orders From The 'Top'... Or Whoever's In Charge - What Has Become Of The 'National Guard' And 'State Militias'