Monkeywrenching

Monkeywrenching denotes nonviolent disobedience and sabotage carried out by environmental activists against those they perceive to be ecological exploiters. The term was made popular through its use by Edward Abbey in the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) and has, since about 2000, very occasionally been used to indicate other forms of anticapitalist global activism, including disruption of automobile traffic to bring attention to a concern and other forms of “culture jamming” (see Notes From Nowhere). An equivalent term is ecotage, and a contrasting term is eco-terrorism. The latter term, implying that monkeywrenching is a form of terrorism, is often a misnomer, for monkeywrenching is typically motivated by a regard for preservation of life and is ordinarily restricted to two forms: (1) nonviolent disobedience or ...