1996 and After: Earth Liberation Front Activists Form ‘Liberation Collective,’ Brings Together Environmental Groups under Anti-Government, Anti-Capitalism Banner

A 2000 photo of Craig Rosebraugh. [Source: Doug Beghtel / The Oregonian]Earth Liberation Front (ELF—see 1997) activist Craig Rosebraugh, a Portland, Oregon, native who has long been involved in the animal rights movement as well as opposing the Gulf War, joins another activist, Leslie James Pickering, in forming the Liberation Collective in Portland. Rosebraugh says he believes that “animal rights issues, environmental issues, social justice, are all related,” and his collective is a way to bring together a variety of independently operating organizations, tied together, he says, “by our main ideological structure in the country, which we continue to operate under, and in my view that is capitalism.” Rosebraugh successfully infuses some of the various movements, particularly ELF, with a strong anti-capitalist and anti-government ideology. Rosebraugh becomes ELF’s public spokesman in late 1997, and coordinates ELF efforts with its sister organization, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF—see 1976). [Anti-Defamation League, 2005]