Tag Archives: EarthFirst

In Defense of Western Civilization

123

Christopher Manes (1985)

The American Indian lost the war of rifles but won by default the war of symbols. To the generations distracted by modernity, Native American culture has come to represent the simple, profound life this land proffered before technology botched everything. So many aspiring poets, graduate students of anthropology, and even a few sensible people have been making pilgrimages to medicine men that Indians now talk about a new tribe: The Wannabees. I imagine a good many environmentalists are also in the ranks, and that’s fine. When the ideals of passionate people begin to come of age, aspects of history get reinterpreted, re-emphasized, romanticized. And that’s fine too: romanticizing nature indicates a metaphysical disorientation, but romanticizing people is probably inevitable and suggests a healthy outlook on life (didn’t somebody call Earth First! a romance novel?). My experience is that only very stingy people dislike heroes.

Continue reading In Defense of Western Civilization

Judi Bari Day is May 24!

Judi Bari gives the raised fist salute outside the Oakland Federal Courthouse after winning a round in her lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland Police. March 3, 1995, Photo by Xiang Xing Zhou, first published by the San Francisco Daily Journal.
Judi Bari gives the raised fist salute outside the Oakland Federal Courthouse after winning a round in her lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland Police. March 3, 1995, Photo by Xiang Xing Zhou, first published by the San Francisco Daily Journal.

May 24, 2015 is the 25th anniversary of the attack on Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney by car bomb in Oakland in 1990 as Redwood Summer dawned.

The Judi Bari Day event at the Berkeley U-U Fellowship Hall (1924 Cedar at Bonita) will feature special guest performer LAURIE LEWIS, legendary songwriter, fiddler and vocalist.
Continue reading Judi Bari Day is May 24!

No System but the Ecosystem: Earth First! and Anarchism

machorka7654321

Panagioti Tsolkas

There is a clear case to be made for the connection between ecology and anarchism. [1] Many philosophers, academics, and radicals have elaborated this over the past two centuries [2]. But reviewing the history of this theoretical relationship is not the goal here. The movement surrounding anarchism in the past 200 years has certainly included its fair share of theory, yet what has rooted anarchist ideas so deeply in human society is the prioritization of action. It is this action-based relationship between the ecological movement and anarchism that we explore.

Continue reading No System but the Ecosystem: Earth First! and Anarchism