Craig Rosebraugh

Craig Rosebraugh is a writer and political activist who has been associated with the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and who has served as a spokesman for both groups' press offices.

Activism
A political activist since the early 1990s when he opposed the first Gulf War, Rosebraugh is best known for his role as the spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front. From 1997-2001, he received anonymous communiques from the ELF and forwarded them on to news media internationally. In 2000, Rosebraugh co-formed the North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office (NAELFPO), where he continued to forward communiques, conduct international press interviews, and nationwide informational lectures on the ideology of the ELF movement.

Since 1997, Rosebraugh has received eight subpoenas to appear before federal grand juries to discuss his sources, but he has said he has no knowledge of them and refused to cooperate with the proceedings. The New York Times Magazine dubbed him the "Face of Ecoterrorism" in 1998. In 2002 he appeared, under power of subpoena, in front of the U.S. Congress in a House Resources Subcommittee hearing on eco-terrorism. During the hearing, Rosebraugh took the Fifth Amendment to 54 of 56 questions asked by Congress, effectively stonewalling the proceeding. He did issue Congress an eleven page written testimony charging the U.S. government with being "one of the most horrific terrorist organizations in planetary history."

Rosebraugh later resigned his position as spokesman for the organizations, believing that more direct pressure needed to be placed against the U.S. government itself. In the sentencing for Chelsea Dawn Gerlach however, it was stated that Rosebraugh resigned after a disagreement between himself and members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) cell responsible for the Jefferson Poplar Farm arson. The cell believed genetic engineering research was being done and wrote the communique to Rosebraugh claiming that justification. Rosebraugh's research showed that the farm had recently changed ownership and no genetic engineering was being done at the time of the arson so Rosebraugh edited the communique and removed that justification. This angered the cell and through this disagreement, Rosebraugh resigned his role.

Despite the seizure of his computer equipment; searches of his business, person, and home; grand jury investigations; FBI and ATF questioning; and hundreds of death threats; he did not reveal the identities of members of the movements.

Restaurant owner
In January 2004, with the financial backing of his parents, Rosebraugh opened Calendula, then Portland's only all-vegan and organic restaurant. He was criticized in the local press for his treatment of his employees and for failing to adhere to principles he had espoused. Employees that he fired joined the Wobblies union which organized a boycott of the restaurant. Rosebraugh spent $3,000 to defend himself in ads in the local alternative press. He closed the restaurant in September 2004, and reopened it for a short time in December of that year.

Writings

 * Burning Rage of a Dying Planet: Speaking for the Earth Liberation Front (Lantern Books, 2004). ISBN 1-59056-064-7
 * The Logic of Political Violence: Lessons in Reform and Revolution (Arissa Media Group, 2003).