Federal authorities in December disrupted an alleged plot to carry out a series of ideologically motivated bombings across California on New Year’s Eve. Four individuals were arrested and indicted on terrorism charges, with three pleading not guilty as of mid-January 2026.
The suspects are said to be members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, a far-left extremist group advocating for “liberation through decolonization and tribal sovereignty.” According to an FBI affidavit, the group “publicly posts content that advocates for violence against United States officials,” calls “for the working class to rise up and fight back against capitalism,” and believes “that liberalism and peaceful protest will be the downfall of those who believe it is enough…that ‘direct action is the only way.’”
While the terrorism allegations set this group apart, the term “Turtle Island” has become widely used among activists critical of both American and Israeli state legitimacy. The phrase originates from traditional Native American mythology referring to North America but has been adopted by some left-wing activists who challenge the legitimacy of so-called settler-colonialist states.
Academic institutions have played a role in promoting these ideas. University of Minnesota professor Melanie Yazzie told The Atlantic, “the goal is to dismantle the settler project that is the United States… we want U.S. out of everywhere. We want U.S. out of Palestine. We want U.S. out of Turtle Island.” She described the United States as “the greatest predator empire that has ever existed.” These remarks were made at an event hosted by The Red Nation, which argues that “for our Earth to live, capitalism and colonialism must die.”
Nick Estes, co-founder of The Red Nation and also a University of Minnesota professor, stated that the United States “sits atop stolen Native lands” and discussed critiques challenging American state sovereignty: “After all, conquest is considered an illegitimate form of government.” Estes further linked U.S. actions abroad with domestic history: he claimed that Nicolas Maduro was targeted because he resisted what Estes called a white supremacist American empire. He also attempted to justify Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by asking rhetorically: “Did you expect the oppressed would hold hands and hug the murder out of their oppressors?” Later writings accused Israel’s policies toward Palestinians as having roots in Turtle Island.
Estes received a $250,000 Freedom Scholar award from the Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2020 for his activism. In 2024, another Freedom Scholar prize went to Nadine Naber at University of Illinois Chicago for her work on “decolonial abolition” spanning “Turtle Island to Palestine.” Naber wrote that “the existence of the U.S. nation-state is based on colonialism, empire-building, war-making and enslavement,” advocating for abolishing several foundational structures including capitalism and international borders.
Nonprofit advocacy groups have also incorporated “Turtle Island” into their language or missions. The Indigenous Environmental Network previously operated under a legal name referencing Turtle Island; its logo still features a turtle with North America depicted on its shell while supporting eco-socialist policies from a Native perspective.
NDN Collective focuses its grantmaking geographically on Turtle Island (North America) and has called for closing Mount Rushmore National Memorial—describing it as a symbol of colonization—and returning Black Hills land to Lakota people.
Other organizations use “Turtle Island” more broadly in anti-American or anti-Israel contexts. Code Pink includes it in manifestos against U.S. imperialism; Jewish Voice for Peace drew parallels between colonization in North America and Palestine during Independence Day 2024; Democratic Socialists’ Twin Cities chapter referenced it after Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
Honor the Earth—a public charity founded in 1993—links indigenous struggles globally:
“From Palestine to Turtle Island, Indigenous struggles for sovereignty, land, and basic human dignity are intertwined. Our peoples both face violent settler-colonial regimes… These regimes – so-called ‘Israel’ and…‘United States’ – share strategies…to enforce global dominance over Indigenous peoples.”
The organization historically focused on environmental issues but shifted toward pro-Palestinian activism under new leadership after founder Winona LaDuke resigned amid scandal in 2023.
Honor the Earth reported $3.65 million revenue in its 2024 tax filings—a decrease from $6.2 million in 2023—with major funders including WESPAC Foundation ($1 million earmarked for Palestinian Youth Movement), ImpactAssets ($534,500), Freedom Together Foundation ($500,000), Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors ($250,000), California Endowment ($100,000), Groundswell Fund ($100,000), and Possibility Labs ($100,000).
Land acknowledgements—statements recognizing indigenous peoples’ historical presence—are increasingly common at universities such as Brown University or Columbia Law School:
“The Lenni-Lenape and Wappinger people lived on this land before…colonization…We recognize these Indigenous people…their displacement…and continued presence.”
Some acknowledgements explicitly reference Turtle Island using strong language about colonial violence—as seen at Loyola University Maryland:
“Across Turtle Island…the racist violence of settler colonialism past and present has led to traumatization…This acknowledgment is a small step toward correcting racist narrative[s]…”
Activist nonprofits sometimes perform similar acknowledgements or recommend voluntary contributions like Oakland’s Shuumi Land Tax—paid to Sogorea Te’ Land Trust—to support rematriation efforts for Ohlone people.
In one example from 2024: Bay Area Legal Aid received about $28 million (90 percent) from government grants yet publicly disputes federal authority over its operations by asserting its offices are located on unceded land harmed by colonizers.
California State University professor Brian Levin compared recent allegations against Turtle Island Liberation Front with historic groups like Weather Underground—a radical offshoot known for bombing campaigns during protests against Vietnam War-era policies.
Levin observed similarities between fringe groups emerging from broader ideological environments marked by hostility toward U.S. influence—though most remain nonviolent even if some embrace direct action tactics.
The article notes: “Speech is not violence, and violence is not speech.” It suggests responsibility for illegal acts lies solely with perpetrators but raises questions about whether inflammatory rhetoric contributes morally—even if not legally—to extremism or violence within activist circles.
