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SUGGESTIONS FOR EARTH FIRST!ERS
From FC
Earth First! Wants t0 eliminate the industrial form of society. This is clearly a revolutionary goal. Yet it seems that many or most Earth First!ers still think and act like reformers, not like revolutionaries.
This is illustrated by Darryl Cherney’s response to the bombing in which we assassinated the president of the California Forestry Association. According to newspaper reports Cherney was upset by the bombing because he was afraid that there would be retaliatory attacks on Earth First!ers. Now we respect (with certain qualifications) the nonviolent principles of Earth First! (even though we don’t think it would be practical for everyone to abide by them) and if any Earth First!ers get beaten up in retaliation for our bombing we certainly sympathize with them. But Cherney’s reaction shows that his mentality is that of a reformer, not a revolutionary.
To a revolutionary, what is important is not the short-term goal of saving this or that bit of wilderness or securing some grudging tolerance from timer industry sympathizers. What is important is the long-term goal of weakening and destabilizing industrial society so that a revolution against it may become possible. From this point of xx view it is DESIRABLE that timber industry sympathizers should make physical attacks on Earth First!ers, because such behavior tends to increase the social stresses in industrial society and helps to turn people against the system.
It is important to distinguish between what the industrial system “wants” and what certain people who claim to represent the system may want or may do. By what the system “wants” we mean that which helps to assure the survival and growth of the industrial system. This corresponds approximately with what is desired by the most rational, self-restrained and “responsible” members of the system’s controlling elite. But people who believe in ways that are harmful to the system and thus serve as unwitting allies of those who want to overthrow the system.
Take police brutality as an example. The most rational and “responsible” members of the system’s elite are against police brutality. They want the police to use just enough force (and no more than just enough) to insure public order and obedience to the system’s rules, because they know that police brutality increases social stresses and tends to break down respect for the system. Bad cops (or timber industry goons) who beat people up regard themselves as pro-system and hate those who are against the system, but the behavior of such cops actually helps to undermine the system. Thus police brutality is not really part of the system, but is a kind of disease of the system.
Similarly, the irresponsible politicians who are currently repealing environmental laws may be acting as unwitting allies of revolutionaries. If their actions lead to a few more cases like Love Canal and the Exxon Valdez oil spill, they will be helping to destroy respect for the system. Morover the actions of these politicians help to…
APPENDIX
__ by Mira Goldberg that appeard in the EarthFirst! Jour
February 2, 1995) will help us to illustrate the leftist
__December 21, 1994 issue of Earth First!, David Orton
article, “Rethinking Environmental – First Nations Relat_
in which he criticized SOME “First Nations” (i.e. Indian)
collaborating in destructive economic exploitation of the
and some environmentalist for uncritically accepted as
…mands made by Indians. In her article, “Toward Alliances: A response to “Rethinking Environmental –First relationships.” Goldberg ansers Orton, and in doing so she .. typical examples of leftist thinking.
_ Shows the leftist trait of intense identification with victims that we )FC) mention in paragraphs 13, 299, 232 Of and coupled with this the trait of hypersensitivity that in paragraphs 11, 12. Orton’s article was reasonable and .. made it clear that he was criticizing only SOME Indians.. acting with environmentally destructive policies, and he .. the opinion that there were more “good” Indians than.. environmentalist” “Suck native “biocentrists” (he wrote) .. stronger minority within the mainstream movement are.” .. responds to Orton’s article as if it were a nasty Indians. She even implies that Orton’s thinking .. (last paragraph of her article). She seems to think for white people ever to criticize any Indians (tenth.. her article.)
Grudgingly admits that not all Indians are perfect – there collaborators” but then (in the eleventh to thirteenth .. of her article) she tries to find excuses for them and .. bad actions on the insufficiently subservient attitudes environmentalist. Compares paragraphs 12, 225 oe oue (FC’s)
For a leftist, Goldberg is fond of certain catch-words. 229 of FCs article ). In her brief article she uses capitalism once, “genocide” twice and XXXXXx (neo) colonialist” or “(neo-) colonialism” thirteen.. claims that “genocide (against Indians)” is currently and . This is absurd. The word “genocide” was originally describe the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis. The reasonably be applied to some nineteenth century events in .. of the Indians by the white; for example. To cases in tribes were relocated through forced marches in which the was extremely high. But to apply the word “genocide” to .. of Indians by whites to compare it to the treat __ Jews by the Nazis, and that is ridiculous in the eyes of..”
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