Profit Or A Future?

       It is amazing to think that activists were fighting to save the forests in the 1990's, and here we are in 2020 and watching probably the biggest forest on the planet being logged and burnt. We seem to have learnt nothing, the corporate parasite class are still plundering and destroying the planet for no other reason than greed for profit. It is obvious that this would not be able to continue without the blessing of the various states involved. The state and the corporate body are two sides of the same coin, and dialogue and negotiations seem to have failed to stop their plundering and destruction. It will take organisation, solidarity and direct action by the majority of the people to crush this system and bring this murder of the planet and killing of the human species to an end.
     I personally have never been at ease with the policy of spiking trees, however I wasn't there fighting that particular battle, perhaps if I had been, my opinions might have been different.

       The following article is from It's Going Down:  

      This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the bombing of Earth First! organizers Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney.

      The 30th anniversary of the bombing of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney is May 24, 2020. Usually, Judi’s comrades in the Bay Area commemorate that event every year by going to the place where the bomb exploded under Judi’s car seat as she drove through Oakland, to mark the moment, as well as bringing people together for discussions of radical activism and solidarity. This year will be different in the time of the pandemic. But the date will be marked, nonetheless, as a memory against forgetting.

Judi Bari said, many years ago:

Starting from the very reasonable, but unfortunately, revolutionary concept that social practices which threaten the continuation of life on Earth must be changed, we need a theory of revolutionary ecology that will encompass social and biological issues, class struggle, and a recognition of the role of global corporate capitalism in the oppression of peoples and the destruction of nature.

I believe we already have such a theory. It’s called deep ecology, and it is the core belief of the radical environmental movement.

      Her perspective and analysis shed light on why she was considered dangerous to the corporate status quo and targeted. On May 24, 1990, a pipe bomb planted in the car of Earth First! activist Judi Bari exploded, sending her and fellow activist Darryl Cherney to the hospital in Oakland—Judi with life-threatening injuries, since the bomb had been hidden directly under her driver’s seat. Judi and Darryl were on their way to a roadshow event, organizing for Earth First! Redwood Summer. That explosion, and the subsequent attack on Earth First! as well as Judi and Darryl, by the FBI and Oakland police would forever change the face of forest activism in the redwoods and elsewhere. The bomber was never found, partly because the FBI never conducted a serious investigation, choosing instead to blame and harass Earth First! activists, attempting to frame Bari and Cherney for bombing themselves. A lawsuit filed by Judi and Darryl against the FBI and OPD for violation of Constitutional rights was ultimately successful in 2002, vindicating Darryl and Judi, but coming five years after Judi’s untimely death from breast cancer at the age of 47.

       Redwood Summer was a mass mobilization of students and others who came from across the U.S. to protest the deforestation of the redwood region in Northern California, being decimated by the corporate chain saw. It was modeled after civil rights mobilizations in the south in the 1960s. The summer of civil disobedience and protest in the forests did proceed, in spite of the monumental disruption caused by the bombing and attempts to frame and tear apart Earth First!, and changed the face of direct action organizing at the time.

         There was a planned exhibit dedicated to Judi at the Mendocino County Museum that would put the bombed car and other artifacts of the time on display, to have opened May 1. The pandemic has postponed all of that, but we encourage people to watch the feature-length film, Who Bombed Judi Bari? on YouTube. It tells the story of the bombing, Redwood Summer, Earth First! and much more.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Losing Battle.

     We have all sorts of theories on this pandemic, but we can be sure that human activity is causing dramatic changes in our planets ecosystem, the results of which we don't fully understand and can't possible predict accurately. What we can be sure of is that we are, by human greed and blind ideology, creating a world vastly different from the one we inhabit at present. Habitats and species disappear, new forms of bacteria and viruses emerge and we have no idea how they will affect us as a species.

      By the illusion of ever increasing growth, we are opening a Pandora's box of complexities, and few are in our favour. Covid19 could be just another new pattern emerging in natures fight for survival against human plundering and destruction of its delicate balance. What we can be very sure of is, in any battle of humans against nature, nature will prevail and the human species will fall. We work with nature as part of it, or we fall as a damaging parasite, sadly we may take millions of innocent species with us.  

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Trees Or Tarmac??

 

       The destruction of the Hambach Forest continues, vast areas of rich forest land are being clear to create profit for RWE energy and construction company. This has been going on for some considerable time, but has been slowed down by persistent and determined opposition from locals and supporters from further afield. There is always a call for support to toughen and prolong the resistance to save what they can of this vast important wild habitat. Its destruction would be an ecological disaster, not just to the area, but would be another massive step in the deforestation of our planet. To survive on this planet we need more trees, not more concrete and tarmac. The corporate world will relentlessly devour all natural habitats, denuding our planet of green, and turning into a useless tarmac lifeless ball, all in the quest for profit. An insanity that only we, in our solidarity, can stop.

Dueren, Germany: 
Call from the Hambach Forest: We need all of you!

      From the 21st of November onwards we need all of you to help stop the cutting season this year!
      In three weeks there is going to be a trial concerning the lawsuit of BUND against RWE’s planned destruction of the Hambacher Wald this cutting season. The court published a “verdict” that already shows what kind of result we can expect: a piece of the forest that is not even in the existing cutting zone shall be protected. We expect RWE to try to start the destruction as soon as the trial on the 21st of November finishes. This year RWE plans to cut the oldest parts of the forest and all of the tree house villages.
      We have already constructed tree houses on many strategic points and more are planned. Now we need the voices and actions of as many people as possible to save the forest.
     We are going to demonstrate that this kind of exploitation of habitats for the purpose of profit can not happen without massive resistance. The struggle here is concerning everyone. One third of the German CO2 emissions are caused by lignite mining and the resulting damages to the climate are causing death, destruction, and forcing people from their homes worldwide.
     Get ready to come protect the forest in the middle of November. Organize yourselves in affinity groups in advance. Put your mobile numbers on the eviction list and spread our call to allies and friends.
    Everyone can support us in whatever way they feel comfortable. The tree houses are well equipped, open for everyone, and serve as safe spaces. We share the burdens of repression together. We have organized Out of Action places all over Germany. If you can’t come to the forest you can support us from your city through actions of solidarity and other means.
      We will keep the cutting zone squatted till the end of the cutting season. We will bring so much life to the forest RWE will not be able to carry out its plans this year. We will spread what happens during the cutting season with the help of diverse media coverage so that the whole world knows what crimes RWE is committing in the name of profit.
       In case of a widespread eviction we will reoccupy the forest on the forth weekend after day X with your help. Stay informed and spread the news to family, friends and allies. Solidarity is our strongest weapon.
        Together we will stop this crucial cutting season. Turn your theory into practice and live resistance.
       In the Hambach Forest and everywhere.
      Find more information about the cutting season and how to prepare: hambachforest.org/cutting-season-17
       All means to contact us: hambachforest.org/contact/

Useful information from a previous call for support:

       We have put together a call to action and translated it into different languages. Please help us spread it!
         We do not only want people to come, but we want everyone to be able to be active in the best way possible. That’s why we put together a plan and hope we’ll be able to realise it together with you

October onwards

        Beginning in October and continuing to the end of the cutting season, we will bring life to the area designated for deforestation to such an extent that RWE won’t be able to cut. To achieve this, we want to occupy as many trees as possible, so that they first have to evict the entire area before starting to cut. We will accompany any evictions with our own media channels. We will show the world that RWE wants to profit from destruction at every price. Our strongest weapon is, that we take care of each other. Everyone should only do actions with which they feel comfortable. The large tree houses should be accessible for everyone and be used as spaces for relax and take a break. We will try to carry repressions communally. We have organised out of action spaces throughout Germany.
       We believe that we can stop deforestation as a group! Turn theory into praxis and live a life of resistance! In Hambach and everywhere else.

Pack list
       If you want to come by during the cutting season, the following things might come in handy:
Any medicine you need to take
Water tight shoes, even better if you’ve got two pairs, in case one needs to dry…
Rain clothes
Sleeping bag
(Air) matress
Camouflage clothing (trousers, jacket, balaclava)
Knife
Head torch
Lighter
Toothbrush
If you’ve got one, a tent, otherwise we’ll find a place for you to sleep
If you have allergies, food that is suitable for you
small book for personal notes
sturdy, robust clothing
harness, if you’ve got one. There are some communal ones in the forest
Working gloves

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Solution, Class Struggle Against The Ultra-Wealthy.

       I always believe that bare brutal blunt facts can hit home in people's minds more than theoretical explanations. There is lots of discussion about climate change, from both deniers and accepters, but usually in argumentative point scoring debates. Fancy schemes are banded about on how to fix the problem, but the root cause is usually removed from the debating platform. The arguments are usually couched in terms of us all being responsible for this nasty mess. However, the truth is that it is the capitalist system that is carrying out the genocide of entire species, with our species, the humans, being somewhere along that trajectory. It is capitalism that is rapidly clearing forests and killing of the ecosystems that go with the forests. It is capitalism that is polluting our rivers killing off large and small species alike. It is capitalism the is poisoning our seas and oceans putting an end to the rich and varied life that lives in them. It is capitalism and its obscenely wealthy moguls that is driving this suicidal policy by its insane greed driven belief in perpetual growth or die.

 Some brutal blunt facts in an article by Dan Fischer, from It's Going Down:

 “The solution, then, must involve class struggle against the ultra-wealthy.”

         Half of all wild animals on Earth have been wiped out. You may have missed the news. It came from a scientific study mentioned on page 5 of last Wednesday’s New York Times. You had to flip past the usual stories of Trump regime scandals, four jewelry advertisements, and an ode to a slain officer from the New York Police Department.
        “’Biological Annihilation’ Said to Be Underway.” The article took up only as much space as a Sootheby’s ad on the same page announcing jewelry sales in New York City.
         While “biological annihilation” sounds like an evil plot thought up by a Bond villain, the term actually comes from a peer-reviewed study in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The authors Gerardo Ceballos, Paul Ehrlich, and Rodolfo Dirzo use it to describe the ongoing destruction of local populations within different species.
         Due to the pressures of habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change, species are going extinct at 100 times the rate they normally would. The PNAS study shows that populations within species are disappearing much, much faster.

Billions of Genocides
        The authors take data on 27,600 land-dwelling species and map it onto a grid with 22,000 boxes, each representing 10,000 square-kilometer area. They define a “population” as the number of individuals of a given species living in one of those areas.
         They discover that wildlife numbers have declined by “as much as 50%” since 1900. The direct killers are “habitat conversion, climate disruption, overexploitation, toxification, species invasions, [and] disease.”
         “[B]illions of populations” are “already gone,” they report. In other words, there have been billions of genocides, in an endless mass murder of wild animal communities over the last century. In most of the world, the researchers find, mammal populations have decreased by 70 percent.
          Graveyards and graveyards could be filled with all the packs of wolves, colonies of bats, sloths of bears, and herds of giraffes slaughtered by the death machine of capitalism. Lion populations have declined by more than 40 percent since the 1990s. The number of cheetahs in the world has gone down to just 7,000. These dramatic results reinforce the findings of the 2016 Living Planet Index report, which said 60 percent of wildlife has been destroyed since 1970.
         It is not just nonhumans facing extinctions. The authors write, “Humanity will eventually pay a very high price for the decimation of the only assemblage of life that we know of in the universe.” On this topic, it is worth turning to a New York article everyone seems to be sharing.

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