Special Interest Terrorism
SPECIAL INTEREST terrorism differs from traditional right-wing and left-wing terrorism in that extremist special interest groups seek to influnce specific issues, rather than effect widespread political change. Special interest extremists conduct acts of politically motivated violence to force segments of society, including the general public, to change attitudes about issues considered important to their causes. These groups occupy the extreme fringes of animal rights, pro-life, environmental, antinuclear, and other movements.
Analysis of the terrorist threat posed by special interest extremism can be complicated by the nature of activities in which special interest extremists engage. For example, the assaults and murders of doctors who perform abortions
fall under the parameters of guidelines for hate crimes, rather than terrorism, investigations. Likewise, some tactics being employed by radical environmental activists –such as “treespiking” and mailing parcels rigged with razor blades to perceived adversaries of the environment–generally are not formally designated as acts of terrorism, though they are clearly intended to intimidate. The overall threat posed by special interest extremism appears to be rising. The increasing level of violent and threatening activity perpetrated by extremists within the animal rights and environmental movements, in particular, appears to be increasing, not only in the United States, but also in Canada and especially throughout Europe. In fact, a growing number of movements, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), are international in scope and exploit the nearly universal communication opportunities of the Internet to disseminate propaganda, coordinate activities, and issue claims of responsibility for extremist activities.
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