Activism
A political activist since the early 1990s when he opposed the first Gulf War, Rosebraugh has been involved in a variety of human rights, environmental and animal protection campaigns. In 1996, he co-formed the Liberation Collective organization, a nonprofit group based in Portland, Oregon that worked to bring together commonalities in various justice struggles. The same year he took part in a protest against the Seattle Fur Exchange, and was one of five people arrested for non-violent civil disobedience after blocking the entrance. In May the same year Rosebraugh was one of four people who blockaded the entrance to the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center in protest of primate experimentation. In 1997, Rosebraugh co-organized the 1997 Primate Tour, a series of vigils at the then seven regional primate research facilities in the United States. The same year, he took part in a national protest against the California Regional Primate Research Center at the University of California Davis and was one of thirty-two people arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. In 1997, Rosebraugh also began acting as a spokesperson for the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. In 1998, he wrote the essay, Arguments Against The Use Of Nonhuman Animals In Biomedical And Scientific Experimentation, where he seeks to examine the ethical implications of the experimentation on animals and refute its supposed contribution to the medical research for human health. The following year, Rosebraugh was a co-founder of the Coalition to End Primate Experimentation (CEPE) and served as the National Organizer for the 1999 Primate Freedom Tour, a four-month long protest tour of the primary primate research facilities in the United States. In October 1999, during a protest in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Portland Police broke Rosebraugh's arm and arrested him for disorderly conduct and tampering with a police horse. Rosebraugh was found not guilty on all charges and sued the City of Portland, winning an out-of-court settlement.
From 1997 to 2001, Rosebraugh served as a spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front receiving anonymous communiques from the ELF and forwarding them on to news media internationally. In 1999, Rosebraugh co-formed the North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office (NAELFPO) with Leslie James Pickering, where he continued to forward communiques, conduct international press interviews, and nationwide informational lectures on the ideology of the ELF movement. Between 1997 and 2006, Rosebraugh 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 resigned his position as spokesperson on September 5, 2001, believing that a refocusing of strategies and tactics needed to occur to fully promote justice in the United States. 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; facing years in prison and hundreds of death threats; he did not reveal the identities of members of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front movements.
Rosebraugh's first book, "The Logic of Political Violence: Lessons in Reform and Revolution" was published in 2003 and is a comparison study between the use of non-violence and politically motivated violence in historical justice struggles. His second book, "Burning Rage of a Dying Planet: Speaking for the Earth Liberation Front" was published in 2004 and is a memoir of his time speaking on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front. In 2009, Rosebraugh was the contributing editor of the book, "This Country Must Change: Essays on the Necessity of Revolution in the U.S.A.," a compilation of essays from prominent political prisoners and activists in the United States.
In the Summer of 2009, the first issue of his magazine, Resistance: Journal of the Earth Liberation Movement, was released. The magazine covers the actions and discusses the philosophy and tactics of earth liberation groups, such as the ELF and ALF.
Also in 2009, Rosebraugh co-formed Responsible Education and Media (R.E.M.), a non-profit organization in Los Angeles combining art and entertainment with a factual analysis of social and political issues impacting the global community to promote global justice. The group's projects have included full-page information advertisements in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona newspapers railing against the use of ammonia in the nation's meat supply and Arizona Senate Bill 1070, the controversial immigration law.
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