🚀 go-pugleaf

> The two ideas I associate the organization with are:
>
> 1.  proposing that the entire state of Ohio be abandoned so
> that it can return to hardwood forest . . .

=o= I guess some people wouldn't know a joke if it jumped up
and bit them on the ass.

> 2. spiking trees.

=o= See the attached press release.  I've also just posted quite
a few Judi Bari articles in alt.save.the.earth, where similar
misinformation about Earth First! had been presented.

> I honestly can't remember if the bozos who botched the
> "attack" on the Arizona nuclear power station where EF!
> folks or not.

=o= There was no attack on a nuclear power station.  There was
an FBI attempt to implicate EF! founder Dave Foreman in a crime
that he could be arrested for.

=o= They couldn't exactly manage that, so an FBI agent, Michael
Fain, put together a plan to knock down some power lines, after
practicing on a ski lift pylon.  He got one person who played
folk songs at EF! meetings and two other non-EF!ers to partici-
pate in it.

=o= This was a sting operation, of course, and the three were
arrested.  Dave Foreman was also arrested for "conspiracy" --
for having written a book.
    <_Jym_>
================================================================

                         MEMORANDUM 
 
FROM:  DARRYL CHERNEY, JUDI BARI, & NORTHCOAST CALIF. EARTH FIRST!ERS 
TO:  ALL EARTH FIRST! GROUPS, CHAPTERS, INDIVIDUALS, ETC. 
RE:  TREE-SPIKING RENUNCIATION & MISSISSIPPI SUMMER IN THE CALIF. 
         REDWOODS 
 
     I'll do my best to make this brief.  At the Public Interest 
Law Conference in Eugene, OR about 20 EF!ers & millworker Gene Lawhorn 
reached unopposed concensus that tree-spiking must be 
renounced by Earth First!, at least in Northern Calif. & Southern 
Oregon.  The reason is that in these areas, Earth First! hasa been 
so successful in working & strategizing with timber workers that 
the alienation caused by tree-spiking, not to mention the danger, 
be it real or imagined, was harming our efforts to save this planet. 
     Obviously, we knew this was a radical change in our previous 
policy to neither condemn nor condone, and we knew that others who 
weren't party to this meeting might not feel the same.  So besides 
reading the statement, please note the following points that were 
addressed that might help you understand the process, which is not 
closed to further input, by the way.  Do make note that we do have an 
April 11 press conference scheduled in several locations along the coast. 
     1. While still selling Ecodefense and singing "Spike a Tree for 
Jesus," disclaimers will be inserted/and or mentioned. 
     2. The decision is not irrevokable, should the forest situation 
worsen, although it is hard to fathom how much worse it can get. 
     3. The decision is not made for all Earth First!ers, and as 
a non-organization, we are entitled to our individual opinions. 
     4. We take no responsibility for any prior spikings; our intent 
is to actively advocate not spiking trees at this point.  If  
we are charged with not having any influence over stopping spiking, 
then we can counter that we then shouldn't have any blame for  
encouraging it through our past open discussions (e.g. Dear Ned  Ludd.). 
     5. This is not a retreat, nor is it an abandonment of our neither 
condemning nor condoning monkeywrenching.  It is an advance toward 
joining No. Calif. woodworkers in the fight to save the planet.  Of 
course it will also take the wind out of the timber industry's publicity 
sails.  A congressional aid once told me, "The only thing the timber 
industry knows how to recycle is that tree spike story." 
     6. We have had overwhelming support for this change.  Yes, 
there have been exceptions, but support has been so broad we 
can only believe that a renunciation of tree-spiking does reflect 
a broad constituency within the Earth First! movement. 
     7. We will not condemn tree-spiking, unless of course it 
is a completely inappropriate spiking by anyone's standards.  It 
is completely understandable that someone would still spike trees 
especially after walking through a few clearcuts.  Our position will 
be to ask for no future spikings; not to condemn what might be  
a logical act from someone's forlorn point of view. 
     8. We will encourage this cease fire by our press conference, 
by putting an article in the EF! Journal, by talking about it at 
roadshows and tables.  In other words, we will use our influence  
as the new voices of the environmental movement to make this real. 

================================================================

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EARTH FIRST! RENOUNCES TREE SPIKING 
 
     In response to the concerns of loggers and millworkers, 
Northern California Earth First! organizers are renouncing the 
tactic of tree spiking in our area.  Through the coalitions we 
have been building with lumber workers we have learned that 
the timber corporations care no more for the lives of their 
employees than they do for the life of the forest.  Their rou- 
tine maiming and killing of millworkers is coldly calculated 
into the cost of doing business, just as the destruction of 
whole ecosystems is coldly calculated into the cost of doing 
business, just as the destruction of whole ecosystems is con- 
sidered a reasonable byproduct of lumber production.  These 
companies would think nothing of sending a spiked tree through 
a mill, and relish the anti-Earth First! publicity that an 
injury would cause. 
     Since Earth First! is not a membership organization, it is 
impossible to speak for all Earth First!ers.  But this decision 
has been widely discussed among Earth First!ers in our area, 
and the local sentiment is overwhelmingly in favor of renouncing 
tree spiking.  We hope that our influence as organizers will 
cause any potential tree-spikers to consider using a different 
method. 
     We must also point out that we are not speaking for all 
Earth First! groups in this pronouncement.  Earth First! is 
decentralized, and each group can set its own policies.  A 
similar statement to this one renouncing tree spiking is now 
being made in Southern Oregon, but not all Earth First! groups 
have reached the broad consensus we have on this issue. 
     But in our area, the loggers and millworkers are our neigh- 
bors, and they should be our allies, not our adversaries.  Their 
livelihood is being destroyed along with the forest.  The real 
conflict is not between us and the timber workers, it is between 
the timber corporations and our entire community. 
     We want to give credit for this change to local Earth First! 
policy to the rank and file timber workers who have risked their 
jobs and social relations by coming forward and talking to us. 
This includes Gene Lawhorn of Roseburg Lumber in Oregon, who 
defied threats from his union officers to appear publicly with 
Earth First! organizer Judi Bari.  It also includes the Georgia 
Pacific, Louisiana Pacific and Pacific Lumber employees who are 
members of IWW Local #1 in Northern California. 
     Equipment sabotage is a time-honored tradition among indus- 
trial workers.  It was not invented by Earth First!, and it is 
certainly not limited to Earth First!, even in our area.  But 
the target of monkeywrenching was always intended to be the  
machinery of destruction, not the workers who operate that 
machinery for $7/hour.  This renunciation of tree spiking is 
not a retreat, but rather an advance that will allow us to stop 
fighting the victims and concentrate on the corporations them- 
selves. 
                            Judi Bari, Ukiah Earth First! 
                            Darryl Cherney, Southern Humboldt EF! 
                            Mike Roselle, Co-Founder, Earth First! 
                            Rick & Kathi Cloninger, Laytonville EF! 
                            Larry Evans, Northwest CA EF! 
                            Greg King, Redwood Action Team 
                            Pam Davis, Sonoma County EF! 
                            Daphne Martin, Albion EF!