🚀 go-pugleaf

__  Attached here is a very interesting article by Judi Bari.
The _San_Francisco_Examiner_ ran an absurd story about Earth
First!, and Judi Bari sent in an Op-Ed piece about the story.
The _Examiner_ made some curious edits to her Op-Ed piece, and
the whole shebang is attached below.  Read, enjoy (?), and pass
this along -- this info has not been spread as far and wide as
the absurd news story it refers to!
    <_Jym_>
================================================================
      [From the April 24, 1991 issue of _Anderson_Valley_Advertiser_]

      Why I Hate the Corporate Press
      by Judi Bari

      Last Sunday the _San_Francisco_Examiner_ printed an Op-Ed
      article by me in answer to the outrageous ``ex-CIA agent''
      attack on Earth First! that they ran the week before.
      Basically the article came through as I wrote it.  But the
      editors couldn't just let it be.  The made subtle and not-
      so-subtle changes that brought the words printed >> under
      my byline << more in compliance with their own biases.
      Here is the article, with the changes marked:

      _San_Francisco_Examiner_Op-Ed_Page,_4/21/19_

      `Tabloid attack' on Earth First
      By Judi Bari

      When I looked at my Sunday paper last week, I thought I had
      accidentally picked up the National Enquirer.  But no, it really
      was The Examiner, running a supermarket tabloid-style article
      called ``Tale of a Plot to Rid Earth of Humankind.''

      ``It's a strange story,'' the article begins.  And indeed it is.
      Apparently an ex-CIA agent claims that Earth First has ``small
      organized clandestine cells'' of highly educated scientists
      working to develop a virus that will wipe out the human race
      while sparing other species.

      Not only is this claim preposterous, it is also unsupported by
      any evidence.  The ex-CIA agent who is the source of the story
      offers no details or proof.  The best the author of the article
      can come up with is an anonymous letter-to-the-editor from a
      1984 edition of the Earth First Journal, carefully excerpted for
      maximum shock value.

      The Examiner does not take responsibility for the views of
      every screwball who writes a letter to the editor, and neither
      does Earth First.  Did the article's author pore over 10 years
      of tiny print in the journal's letters column to find this
      ``gem,'' or did the ex-CIA agent point it out as his own source?

      Lacking evidence to support the ``mad-scientist'' theory,
      this article then goes on to try to discredit Earth First
      by associating us with violence.  It says Earth First
      co-founder Dave Foreman is under federal charges of
      conspiracy to ``blow up'' power lines.

      This is false.  Earth First doesn't advocate use of explosives.
      >> It has never been involved in their use -- except as a target
      in the car bomb attempt on my life last year. <<  [See note 1
      below.]

      The charges against Foreman stem from a $2 million FBI program
      to infiltrate and disrupt Earth First.  In May 1989, >> three
      people led by admitted FBI provocateur Michael Fain [Note 2] <<
      were arrested for supposedly trying to cut down, not blow up,
      a power-line tower in Arizona.  >> That was allegedly part of
      a plot to sabotage lines from nuclear plants.  [Note 3.] <<
      Foreman was arrested for conspiracy, but there's no real case
      against him.

      The view of Earth First as isolated and violent flies in the
      face of reality.  We have actually been in the forefront of the
      environmental movement, seeking to protect the Earth from the
      ravages of this destructive society.  This doesn't mean we want
      to eliminate humans, but we feel that we must drastically change
      the way we live or we will destroy the ecosystems that support
      all life.

      Who needs a virus to kill humans when the real mad scientists
      have given us nuclear holocaust, toxic waste, deforestation,
      ozone holes and the greenhouse effect?

      The real reason Earth First is being targeted by ex-CIA agents
      and FBI provocateurs is that we are effective.

      >> Earth First is involved in a political struggle for logging
      reform.  [Note 4.] <<  It was Earth First that identified,
      mapped, named and made an issue of Headwaters, which Gov. Wilson
      now cites as a top priority for preservation.  We brought
      thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the north coast for
      Redwood Summer last year, and made a national and international
      issue of redwood destruction.  The forestry reforms now being
      proposed by both the timber industry and the mainstream groups
      follow our activism.

      Several spokespersons for Earth First are based in Northern
      California.  The Examiner knows us and knows how to get in
      touch with us.  Why is it buying crackpot articles about us
      from second-rate news services?

      This would be no more than an annoyance if it weren't for the
      intensity of the struggle.  Tales of secret plots to wipe out
      humans may sound like a joke but people in the rural timber-
      dependent areas are being led deliberately to believe they're
      in danger from Earth First.  The more marginal we can be made
      to appear, the easier it is to incite hatred against us.  And,
      as I certainly know, this hatred often translates into violence.

      Note 1:  I wrote ``except as a >> victim << in a car-bomb
      >> assassination attempt << on me last year.''  (Assassinations
      are political, attempts on peoples' lives don't have to be.)

      Note 2:  I wrote ``three people, >> not including Foreman, <<
      led by admitted FBI provocateur Michael Fain . . .''

      Note 3:  I did not write this sentence!!!  The inserted
      it without my knowledge.  I would never say such a thing,
      because there was no ``plot to sabotage power liens from
      nuclear plants.''  That's an FBI lie, and I don't repeat
      FBI lies, even with the word ``alleged'' in front of them.
      How dare the Examiner put their words in my Op-Ed.

      Note 4:  I wrote ``Earth First! is involved in a >> legit-
      imate << political struggle for logging reform.''

      And by the way, our name is Earth First! with an !, and the
      Examiner's refusal to print the ! is petty and prejudicial.
      The ! is there to convey the urgency of the situation, and
      the fact that we are a direct action group, not a lunch-
      with-the-bureaucrats group.

      Last Thursday about 20 people picketed the Examiner offices to
      protest the printing of the ex-CIA article.  As a result, some
      of them are now meeting with the Examiner's editors to discuss
      these problems, including the changing of my Op-Ed piece.  I
      must admit that, looking back over last summer's clippings, the
      Examiner slandered me less than most ``mainstream'' press, and
      I hope they will make some amends now.  But, as [_AVA_ editor
      and publisher] Bruce [Anderson] and [editorial assistant and
      columnist] Rob [Anderson] keep saying, there's no such thing
      as objectivity of the press, and we will never get our messages
      out by filtering it through the lens of the corporations.