Monkeywrenching
From Free net encyclopedia
Monkeywrenching is economic warfare by sabotage, by whatever means necessary, to slow down or halt activities which the monkeywrencher percieves as destructive corporate activities.
History of the term
What monkey wrenches have to do with monkeys is unknown. The term for a wrench with an adjustable jaw dates to the early 19th century and is originally British, although now is chiefly North American in usage. It has been suggested that the monkey is an alteration (folk etymology) of the inventor's name, but this explanation lacks supporting evidence.
The phrase to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery dates to 1918, although the metaphorical sense of throwing a monkey wrench, meaning an obstacle or hindrance, is a bit older. On 30 July, 1907, the Chicago Tribune published the following:
It should look to them as if he were throwing a monkeywrench into the only market by visiting that Cincinnati circus upon the devoted heads of Kentucky's best customers.
The British version of this phrase, to throw a spanner into the works, dates to 1934.
(Source: Oxford English Dictionary Online)
The term "monkeywrenching" also received a public boost from Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang. "Ecodefense," by Dave Foreman, is one of the so called "Monkeywrencher's Bibles", offering practical tips and techniques for creative field repair and night work. Also included in these monkeywrencher's bibles is the extremely controversial Anarchist Cookbook and the much more comprehensive and up to date Recipies for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook.
The term monkeywrench was also used in a more general sense, not specifically related to the environment, in the book 101 Things To Do 'Til the Revolution by Claire Wolfe. Wolfe used monkeywrenching to mean practical jokes and sabotage of what she saw as oppressive government agencies and policies in the United States, especially the IRS, BATF, gun politics, and the war on drugs. Although not herself sympathetic to the environmental movement, Claire Wolfe recommended Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang in her book as a reference for ideas which could be applied to any issue.