| Transcript |
- Another point of contention we have faced is that the local organizer who
I was dealing with did not make the EF! connection clear to their local
groups. I have heard this from Howard in Gabriola, Norleen in Tofino, and
Susan in Courtenay for the Denman show. (Susan took over from Miriam to
deal specifically with the Roadshow aspect in their Starhawk show.) First of
all, it isn't my responsibility to ensure communication between local orga-
nizers and their groups, and secondly, like I have previously stated, the
EF! connection was quite clear from the start.
A major fear of local groups, given the recent media hysteria over EF!, is
the connection to so-called "violence" that their groups will have to face.
No where more probable would this be than in Tofino, and sure enough, the
SCARE group invited BCTV and CBC to the show to make that dastardly connect-
ion! After the show was over, after the aggressive interviewing of Norleen
and Dana by the press, the media aired their reports. I have not seen them
but every person we spoke to in Tofino the next day said the coverage was
good, balanced, and was in fact the most positive coverage they've received
regarding the whole EF! scare hype!
In another approach to attempt to silence us, Miriam said that she thought
Starhawk would not support E!I and would not want EF! to be visible at her
show. Miriam wanted to talk to Starhawk first, believing their position on
EF! similar, and nicely passing the responsibility for censoring us off of
herself. Mira then informed Miriam that she had read an article written by
Starhawk several years ago in which she clearly states her support for EF!
(And what witch wouldn't I have to ask..) This plan doomed to failure,
Miriam reverses and says that now it really doesn't matter what Starhawk
thinks; Miriam needs to take back control of her show. This to me is a clear
indication of the attempted imposition of one person's personal politics on
a whole community; one person deciding what is right and what is wrong; what
can and cannot be read. This is disgusting. It is amazing that at a show
featuring perhaps the most "famous" witch, organized locally by so-called
witches, that I feel a persecution so strongly it reminds me of what a witch
hunt might be like. (Obviously this is nowhere near the level of the Inqui-
sition, but it is still a persecution based on fear and ignorance.)
More so-called justification for censoring Earth First!: the EF! connection
will damage relations with forestry workers and First Nations people. Again,
this is showing an ignorance of the EF! movement, buying the shit the media
and industry spews out. EF! has made strong alliances with forestry workers
in Northern California, Illinois and elsewhere, setting up EF!/IWW chapters
in some areas. We have also forged alliances with Native peoples across N.
America in numerous places, including BC. Terra Primal have launched actions
recently with the consent and blessing of Peter Knighton of Carmanah (who,
incidentally, also "respects" tree spikers) and I, with several other EF!ers
have made strong relationships with the hereditary chief o( the Laich-Kwil-
Tach nation, Russell Kwasistala. It is a sick irony that the information of
forestry worker and Native alliances with EFl is regularly contained in the
EF! Journal, the very information that these "organizers" are trying to
censor.
We've been told basically "we'll take the music but not the literature and
not EF!" This is nothing less than blatant censorship. We believe in the
freedom of people to choose for themselves what they want to read, and we
believe that people have enough intelligence to make up their own minds
about EF!,If we are denied the ability to distribute EF! information, than
the organizers/censors are reinforcing the lies and disinformation fed from
the industry and media, and collaborating in the efforts to divide the
environmental movement.
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