On the FBI's "Most Wanted" Vegan "Terrorist"

The FBI has announced the addition of an animal rights activist to its Most Wanted Terrorists list, a vegan animal rights activist, the FBI makes a point of stressing. And grouping an activist who's never killed or tried to kill anyone with the likes of Osama bin Laden, along with the FBI's (and subsequently, news reports on the FBI's announcement) focus on his veganism, is outrageous. I'll start off giving some of my thoughts on this (thoughts similar to what others are expressing too) and then feature some other responses.

Let's be clear about something: the vast majority of vegans are among the strongest promoters of peace and nonviolence this world has. And even the vast majority of the tiny minority who engage in illegal property destruction are known for their painstaking efforts at making sure no one is physically hurt during one of their actions--and that's why no one has ever been killed in an action taken by environmental or animal rights activists. Whether that justifies the actions is something heavily debated within the animal rights community, given that many (I'd say the majority) of us fear that someone may accidentally be hurt someday and that the actions fuel opposition to animal rights and distract from the message.

However, regardless of whether animal rights advocates support or oppose these types of property destruction in the name of animal activism, I think we all can agree that putting these activists--who act in opposition to abuse, torture, and killing and who have a policy of avoiding physical harm to both humans and nonhuman animals, in the same category as hateful people and groups who seek to harm and kill (and furthermore, simultaneously leaving hate groups and individuals who do kill and seek to kill off the list!) is outrageous and ludicrous.

Moreover, the FBI's focus on this "most wanted" activist's veganism, as if that's a part of what makes him a so-called terrorist, is shameful and enraging. Given that the FBI has a history of going after the vegan animal rights community (everyone remembers their attempts to infiltrate vegan potlucks, right?), this move perhaps shouldn't be surprising, but it's still inexcusable.

Please continue reading after the jump for a roundup of thoughtful, excellent responses--and more details on this news--from other animal rights/vegan bloggers, including Gary Francione, Erik Marcus, and others (click on the links introducing the excerpts for these bloggers' full responses):

Gary Francione of Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach:

In what appears to be an attempt to address the criticism that President Obama got when the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement and a report on right-wing extremism, the FBI has just announced that terror can come from the “left” as well: the first domestic terrorist named to the FBI’s list of “Most Wanted” terror suspects is Daniel Andreas San Diego, an animal rights activist,” “left-wing terrorist,” and “vegan.”

The first problem with this narrative is that it connects the animal rights movement with the political left. That is a problem because any such connection is an exaggeration at best. . . .

The third problem is that the narrative goes out of the way to emphasize that San Diego is a vegan. So what? Why is this even relevant? This reminds me of the number of times over the years that someone has argued to me that concern about the moral status of animals should be rejected because Hitler was a vegetarian. Putting aside that Hitler was not a vegetarian, what logical relevance would it have if he were? Stalin ate meat. Does that mean that all meat eaters are morally like Stalin? Of course not.

San Diego may or may not be guilty as charged. But even if he is guilty and even if he is a vegan, is that relevant to the morality of veganism or does it saying anything at all about vegans? No, of course not. As far as I am aware, Osama Bin Laden eats meat.

Erik Marcus of Vegan.com:

The guy’s accused of detonating three bombs at two companies that had been associated with animal testing. . . .

But — and I’m not in any way defending what he’s accused of doing — not a single person was hurt during these bombings. Which tells me that whoever detonated those bombs did so solely for purposes of property destruction, and went out of his or her way to ensure that no people would be present when the bombs exploded.

So what we’ve got is property destruction and, at the very most, reckless endangerment. Is that what we as a society want to label terrorism? They’re kidding, right?

But check out the page this guy now occupies. He’s two Brady Bunch squares away from Usama Bin Laden, and just one square from Ayman Al Zawahiri. And then when you check out his wanted page, it goes out of its way to point out the guy’s vegan. . . .

I suppose there have got to be some native born Americans who deserve a place alongside the worst Al Qaeda has to offer. But this guy, a vegan dude who apparently hasn’t spilled a drop of blood, he’s the one American who deserves to be placed alongside Bin Laden? Come on.

America has no shortage of lunatic polygamous militia sects. No shortage of anti-government Neo Nazi white power yokels who would move heaven and earth to destroy the fabric of this nation. And I’ve got to tell you, if I were some bat shit crazy white power militia guy, right now I’d be feeling a little hurt.

Now I know I’m turning all of this into a joke, but it’s really the only way to address this insanity. It’s been known for a while that the FBI has a raging hard on for vegans. And I wonder how long it may be before the FBI comes after vegans who’ve condemned all forms of property destruction and violence.

The fact that the FBI considers Daniel Andreas San Diego to be in the same league as Bin Laden ought to kick off a national debate over what sort of people the FBI has decided to target. His inclusion on the most wanted terrorist list isn’t by chance — it’s a result of carefully thought out policy. So today’s news should worry the hell out of vegans and omnivores alike.

David Cassuto of Animal Blawg:

So, a few days after the administration gets roundly criticized for suggesting that former members of the military might be susceptible to right-wing extremism, we learn today that the FBI’s Most Wanted “Domestic Terrorist” is an animal rights activist who has allegedly bombed two offices in northern California.  Nobody was hurt in either bombing.

Without excusing or condoning the bombings (indeed, even as I condemn them), I have to wonder whether this individual (who the Bureau and CNN describe as a “strict vegan”) would top the terrorism list if he had right wing politics.  Sarah Palin, for example, isn’t sure abortion clinic bombers are terrorists even though such actions kill people.  I wonder if the FBI also senses a discontinuity here.

Michael Parrish DuDell of VegDaily (and Ecorazzi):

Stories like this have a hell of a way of demonizing and generalizing entire groups of people. The caption below his mugshot reads: “Daniel Andreas San Diego is 31 years old and a ’strict vegan,’ the FBI says.”  Really? Why not say “Daniel Andreas San Diego is 31 years old and bombed the shit out of a building?” And then of course there’s this:

“Photographs of San Diego, who grew up in suburban San Francisco, California, show a well-groomed, bespectacled man.

But the computer network specialist also sports several elaborate tattoos. According to an artist’s rendering of the body art, San Diego has one in the center of his chest of a burning hillside and the words “It only takes a spark” in a typewriter-style font.”

I have two tattoos, I’m a strict vegan, I give money to animal rights organizations…I MUST BE A TERRORIST TOO!!