I can't know for sure the motives behind the particular tactic, but my first guess is that folks banging the shit out of big vehicles on an open lot is probably a lot more likely to result in arrests or worse, than if folks set a fire and get moving.
It's ridiculously easy to break a car if you know how they work,
Yes. But it is noisy and you can only do one at a time.
Or...I don't know, do something a bit less individualized and symbolic and that won't result in the owner just buying another brand new vehicle.
Well, as far as I know they generally target sales lots, rather than individually owned vehicles (meaning a major loss to the company rather than a small loss to one consumer). But the vast majority of activism is symbolic, nearly all of it. The symbolism can have value, depending on what you do to follow through.
As far as individualization... if that's a fair critique, we can pretty much count out the possibility of any kind of direct action of that magnitude. How do you expect people to organize actions like this and survive infiltration and counterintelligence, without acting in decentralized affinity groups?
What would you propose as an alternative strategy for ELF, that would not be individualized or symbolic, and would be, at the very least, as effective?
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Date: 2005-11-24 09:07 pm (UTC)Yes. But it is noisy and you can only do one at a time.
Well, as far as I know they generally target sales lots, rather than individually owned vehicles (meaning a major loss to the company rather than a small loss to one consumer). But the vast majority of activism is symbolic, nearly all of it. The symbolism can have value, depending on what you do to follow through.
As far as individualization... if that's a fair critique, we can pretty much count out the possibility of any kind of direct action of that magnitude. How do you expect people to organize actions like this and survive infiltration and counterintelligence, without acting in decentralized affinity groups?
What would you propose as an alternative strategy for ELF, that would not be individualized or symbolic, and would be, at the very least, as effective?