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- July 27, 1992
To all TRAC people:
The Earth Firstl/Rainforest Summer Roadshow has been a huge success. We've
met our expenses and have raised money for direct actions. We have inspired
hundreds of people with the beautiful and humourous songs of Mira, Vanessa
and Dana-. We've distributed information and talked about the destruction of
our rainforests, and how people can get involved in the campaigns this
summer. And, we've received numerous positive responses to our efforts and
our literature which we've distributed on the EF! table. Too bad it was so
stressful~for the four of us on the tour.
A concerted effort by the industry and the media to smear EF! with a Coin-
telpro-like campaign of disinformation (read Agents of Repression if you
aren't familiar with Cointelpro) has had its desired effect on their tar-
gets - the organizers of local direct action groups. A campaign of hatred,
lies, fear, ignorance and marginalization has successfully influenced some
members/organizers of some of the groups in TRAC, specifically Friends of
Clayoquot Sound and Friends of the Tsitika. Fortunately, these "organizers"
are a small minority and do not represent the interests or beliefs of their
communities, despite them saying they do.
I have been told by Norleen (speaking on behalf of some of the directors of
FOCS) that Earth First! was not welcome in Tofino. I have been told the
same from Miriam (speaking on behalf of no one but herself) regarding
Denman Island. In Tofino we were greeted by local activists and residents
who had heard about the "conflict" and who wanted to make sure we knew that
the FOCS directors were not speaking for the community. One woman even said
that if we didn't set up our table, she and her friends would force us to!
("Not welcome in Tofino" meant no EFI literature table, and "Earth First!"
could not be mentioned on stage, effectively silencing us in our attempts
to disspell the media lies. We didn't obey the orders.)
One of the central issues I am hearing is that it was not known that this
was an Earth First !/Rainforest Summer Roadshow, simply a TRAC Roadshow.
This is bullshit. It is a cowardly attempt to paint me as a liar who has
tricked people. I have made it very clear from the beginning that this was
to be a combination EF!/R.S. show, from the first time I proposed the idea
at the April 10-12 TRAC meeting in Courtenay. This can be verified by many
folks who attended. Whenever I have spoken or written about the Roadshow I
have always said Earth First!
Miriam told me that when she put her name on the Roadshow sign-up sheet
passed around at the Courtenay meeting that it did not say "EF!" on it. She
said otherwise she would have not put her name down. This is also a lie and
I still have that sign-up sheet to prove it. Miriam's name, phone number
and comment "will host show on Denman Island" comes directly after Norleen's
"will host show in Tofino" comment.
After the Courtenay meeting I mailed a letter to the folks who signed up and
the first line of that April 21 letter reads: "Here's an update on the plans
for an Earth First!/Rainforest Summer Roadshow." As well, both the media
release and the poster, which were mailed on June 19, and after speaking by
phone numerous times over the previous months to local organizers, have EF!
on them. The release is actually on Vancouver EF! letterhead and states:
"Vancouver EF! in association with the member groups of the Temperate Rain-
forest Action Coalition are presenting the Rainfoest Summer Roadshow." How
could I have made it more clear?
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