Sabotage

Categories: Activism | Crime | Military tactics | Warfare

For other uses, see Sabotage (disambiguation).

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction.

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Origin

The name derives from the early industrial age, when powered looms could be damaged by displaced weavers (proto-saboteurs) throwing their wooden shoes (known in French as sabots) into the machinery. Literally it means, "clattering in sabots". Radical trade unions, such as the IWW, have advocated sabotage as a means of self-defence and direct action against unfair working conditions. One of the tasks of security guards is therefore the prevention and detection of sabotage.

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Sabotage in war

In war, the word is used to describe the activity of an individual or group not associated with the military of the parties at war (such as a foreign agent or an indigenous supporter), in particular when actions result in the destruction or damaging of a productive or vital facility, such as equipment, factories, dams, public services, storage plants or logistic routes. Unlike acts of terrorism, acts of sabotage do not always have a primary objective of inflicting casualties. Saboteurs are usually classified as unlawful enemy combatants, and like spies may be liable to prosecution and criminal penalties instead of detention as a prisoner of war.

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Sabotage as part of a crime

Some criminals have engaged in acts of sabotage for reasons of extortion. For example, Klaus-Peter Sabotta sabotaged German railway lines in the late 1990s in an attempt to extort DM10 million from the German railway operator Deutsche Bahn. He is now serving a sentence of life imprisonment.

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Sabotage online

"Sabotages" are practical joke websites, in which the user is subjected to a scene or series of scenes, to lull the viewer into a false sense of security, only to have a scary or disturbing picture and/or screaming sound effect pop up, thus "sabotaging" them. They may also come under the name of screamers.

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References

  • Emile Pouget, Le sabotage; notes et postface de GrĂ©goire Chamayou et Mathieu Triclot, 1913; Mille et une nuit, 2004; English translation, Sabotage, paperback, 112 pp., University Press of the Pacific, 2001, ISBN 0898754593.
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See also:

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External links, Resources, and References

de:Sabotage es:Sabotaje fr:Sabotage nl:Sabotage pl:Dywersja pt:Sabotagem sv:Sabotage