The threat is the ecological crisis, not radical environmentalism
- Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO/Birdlife and WWF have sent letters to the state attorney general and the ombudsman requesting the elimination of the term “radical environmentalism” in the “Terrorism” section of the Prosecutor's Annual Report .
- Environmental organizations consider that this represents the discrediting and criminalization of the environmental movement, at a time when it is more necessary than ever to reverse the environmental crisis that threatens the entire population, especially the most vulnerable people.
On the occasion of the publication of the latest Annual Report of the State Attorney General's Office, the main Spanish environmental organizations—Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Greenpeace, SEO/BirdLife and WWF—have written letters to the state attorney general, Álvaro García Ortiz, and the ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo Pujol, to denounce the inclusion of “radical environmentalism” in the “Terrorism” section, with express mention of the environmental organizations Extinction Rebellion (Rebellion or Extinction) and Futuro Vegetal.
In the opinion of the five organizations, including “radical environmentalism” within a section on terrorism sends a negative message to society about environmentalism and represents an important leap in scale in the criminalization and discrediting of this movement. At a time, furthermore, when environmental activism is more necessary than ever, given the worrying ecological crisis that threatens human societies, to which it is already generating enormous stress and suffering, especially to the most vulnerable population.
The Prosecutor's Office report states that environmental groups “have notably increased their activity,” which is a product of the serious consequences of the ecological crisis. However, as the report also states, environmental action is limited to non-violent civil disobedience, including the aforementioned Rebellion or Extinction and Plant Future. In fact, in the statements of Tuesday, September 12 after the publication of the Report, sources from the Prosecutor's Office admit that the environmental groups mentioned are in no way a terrorist threat. And they add that there is no open case against this, which shows that the inclusion of radical environmentalism in the terrorism section is not correct.
Environmental groups emphasize in their letters that non-violent civil disobedience is precisely the opposite of terrorism: it is explicitly recognized by the UN as a legitimate form of protest and has a long history that validates its form of action, both at the international level (as the civil rights movement in the United States) as well as national (such as the conscientious objection movement). They also remember that those who branded these non-violent movements as terrorists made a historic mistake. Time has proven right and has elevated those who opted for this form of peaceful protest, such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela or Wangari Maathai.
The five environmental groups have cited the words of the first United Nations special rapporteur for environmental defenders, Michael Forst, when he denounced that "more and more politicians treat environmental defenders who resort to civil disobedience as 'ecoterrorists'." ”, who are precisely the most threatened activists in the world. They consider that the Prosecutor's Office Report results in this tendency to discredit and criminalize those who defend a more habitable territory for all people.
Given that unfoundedly pointing out the environmental movement as a terrorist threat represents a serious impediment to the fight against the ecological crisis and an attack on the right to protest - fundamental for the development of democracy - environmental organizations have requested the Attorney General of the State and to the Ombudsman to carry out a review of the section on “terrorism” of the Annual Report of the Prosecutor's Office and eliminate “radical environmentalism” definitively from this block, as well as the mention of the groups Extinction or Rebellion and Future Vegetable of this one.
