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- EF! Nationally coordinates actions as well, such as the country-wide demonstrations against
Burger King (that stopped their importation of rainforest beef), the annual "Day of 9Utrage"
against the U.S. Forest Dis-Service, give us a chance to increase our clout, and are announced to
the various regional contacts. .
The annual EF! Round River Rendezvous, as well as regular regional rendezvous, offer the tribe
a chance to brainstorm new campaigns while they party hearty!
MEETINGS: It's true. Meetings are the bane of civilization, the low benchmark of
environmental "organizations." EF! does it differently. Call them parties with a focus! We
gather for potlucks, ceremonial sweats (a mustl), hikes-c1imbs-swims-floats. Yet we meet
around one purpose only: the ACTIONS that follow!
TACTICS: EF! is open to all forms of nonviolent direct action. What we share is an undiluted
passion, a belief in the sacred intrinsic value of all life, and a willingness to ACT! Although
known through the sensationalist media for our arrest scenarios and advocacy of ecotage, EF!
activists use all of the following tactics, and more:
-EDUCATION, informational handouts, press releases, articles in
periodicals, presentations to elementary schools and universities,
going to Forest Dis-Service meetings to fill them in on their own
data, radio interviews...
-PUBLIC INPUT, letter-writing (so we don't lose one by default),
petitions...
-LITGATION, timber-sale appeals (write the Journal for a generic
how-to form), requests for restraining orders, lawsuits based on
clean-air I clean waterI endangered species acts...(Also contact the
Biodiversity Task Force, listed in the back of the Journal).
-DEMONSTRATIONS & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, are what got women the
vote, blacks their freedom, and the U.s. military-industrial machine
out of Vietnam (next, we need to get it out of North America). The
quickest and surest way to get a new EF! group goin' is to
immediately do a fun, nervy action! Show how much you care!
Issues the media would never write about end up on the opinion-changing front cover as a result
of creative, colorful demos. For a full discussion, see "Pulling Off Dynamic Actions" (available
free through the Journal).
NOTE ON ECOTAGE: "Monkeywrenching", as coined by Cactus Ed Abbey, is a last-ditch effort
to protect remnant wildlands and continuous evolution by decommissioning the machinery of the
destroyers. It is a tactic that hits the multi-national corporations the only way they feel it - in
the pocketbook. Property is held more sacred than life in this monoculture of greed, making
ecotage a risky venture. Unlike civil-disobedience, where your deliberate arrest is part of the
success of your action, monkeywrenchers are only successful if they get away. Ecotage, by
definition, includes tree-spiking (mineral supplements for bothersome mill-saw blades), road
de-construction, and various methods of heavy equipment maintenance (such as silicon carbide
in the crankcase). Monkeywrenching is best done by those not openly associated with EF! or any
other legal group, for everyone's sake. It is not the "official" tactic of EF!, but it falls within
our definition of uncompromised nonviolent action, is an integral part of our tribal lore.
Personal disavowal of this tactic is acceptable, but no group worthy of calling itself Earth
First! would publicly denounce its practice. For further reading, see the EF! Journal, and Dave
Foreman's classic book, "Ecodefense."
EARTH FIRST! is a verb. It is spirit manifested as action! We feel the joy and humor as well
as the pain and anguish. We are a warrior society deeply in love with the Earth of which we
are apart. We all have different skills, different tactics. We each recognize that to any less
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