Monkeywrenching is economic warfare by sabotage with the intent to slow down or halt activities which the monkeywrencher perceives as destructive corporate activities.

History of the term

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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" received a public boost from Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, and later on, Ecodefense by Dave Foreman.

The term monkeywrenching 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 developing ideas which could be applied to any issue.

See also

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• Hacktivism
• Monkey wrench
• Hayduke Speaks: essays and fiction in the Abbey tradition

Activism