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- control the technological forces of civilization; redistributing
the "means of destruction" is not enough.
Earth First! Tactics
Earth First! uses every tool in the tool box. This includes
but by no means is limited to "radical" tactics. Letter-writing,
slideshows, lawsuits, attending public hearings, rallies,
demonstrations, street theatre, banner hangings, sit-ins, road
blockades, treesits, and numerous other legal and illegal forms
of action are used. Monkeywrenching (ecologically-motivated
sabotage) while supported philosophically by Earth First!ers, is
not practiced by any organized Earth First! chapters;
monkeywrenching is practiced by autonomous individuals or small
groups completely independent of organized chapters in order to
prevent prosecution by the authorities. As a security precaution,
it is important never to talk about monkeywrenching tactics (and
obviously not specific exploits) at Earth First! meetings or to
anyone you've met through Earth First! - you never know who may
be an undercover investigator.
The farthest Earth First! goes as an organized group is
nonviolent civil disobedience. There are two types of civil
disobedience (CD): symbolic and direct action CD. Symbolic CD is
used in campaigns where there is much public support and is
generally only effective on a mass scale. Each arrest is made for
its political statement as opposed for its direct effect in
halting the destruction. This type of civil disobedience can
attract potentially many more participants than direct actions,
as moderate environmentalists may be driven through frustration
to peacefully stand on the road but not to lock their necks with
kryptonite to a grapple yarder.
Direct action CD, such as tree-sits, tripods, lockdowns, and
old car/debris blockades, is used to most effectively, yet non-violently,
stop environmental destruction on the spot. The basic
purpose of direct action CD is to buy time for other tactics such
as lawsuits and public pressure campaigns to kick in and legally
halt the destruction (and hopefully to permanently protect the
area). Direct action CD can also put an issue into the media
spotlight just as symbolic blockades can, but such tactics are
portrayed less favorably than symbolic CD by the media. Direct
action CD tends to draw fewer participants, as it is a
potentially riskier tactic than symbolic CD with greater
potential for violent reaction by local rednecks. Because of
this, while the direct impact of lockdowns and tripods are much
greater than symbolic tactics, the overall political impact due
to its small numbers is often less. In addition, the media's
negative portrayal of "hard-core" tactics to the public can even
backfire by increasing public hostility to environmentalist
goals.
Earth First!ers should weigh in each specific campaign which
CD style is most effective: whether the mass numbers that can be
generated by symbolic CD will exert more political pressure than
the value of temporarily stopping the destruction by direct
action CD. Earth First!, because of its very image of being hard-core
"radicals", generally has less ability to organize mass
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