Earth At Risk 2014 report-back

Will Falk attended the 2014 Earth At Risk conference as a representative of the Vancouver Island Community Forest Action Network and of Deep Green Resistance. So many great speakers and panels were involved that Falk can only give summaries, but his report back captures the excitement and energy of seeing how the various social justice and environmental topics are all linked together, with huge potential for building alliances.

If you weren't able to attend the event, read Will Falk's Earth at Risk 2014: The Proper Diagnosis to get some idea of what you missed. Hopefully videos of much or all of the conference will become available at some point!

Anti-Racist Rednecks With Guns

One of the ironies of contemporary politics is the identification of poor whites with the Republican party, even more opposed to working class interests than the Democrat party. Taken to the extreme by the Tea Party, this cooptation takes energy which might challenge the capitalist class structure and redirects it against other poor and working class people who have different skin color.

Dave Strano has worked for years against this counter-productive racism, in Kansas and Missouri as part of the John Brown Gun Club distributing anti-racist literature at gun shows, and more recently in Colorado as Redneck Revolt. In an excellent interview, Strano points out how the left, even the radical community, often practices classism subtle and overt, leaving a large segment of potential allies as easy recruits for racist elements of the conservative movement. He describes organizing within this culture to restore traditional values of opposition to exploitation:

Today, the term redneck has taken on a demeaning connotation, primarily among upper class urban liberals who have gone out of their way to dehumanize white working class and poor people. Terms like “white trash” have come to signify the view among these same upper class liberals of poor and rural whites.

To us, the term redneck is a term that signifies a pride in our class as well as a pride in resistance to bosses, politicians, and all those that protect domination and tyranny.

We're very upfront about our position of being not only opposed to white supremacy, but to the shared culture of whiteness being one that has only been defined by being an oppressor race. What unites white skinned people currently is a shared history of being the footsoldiers of oppression. We want to ensure that as many whites as possible reject this commonly understood idea of whiteness and instead join in a common struggle with workers of all skin colors in a struggle for total and real liberation.

The whole interview is an important privilege check for middle- and upper-class liberals and radicals alike, as we work to build as broad-based a culture of resistance as possible. Read the whole article: Rednecks With Guns and Other Anti-Racist Stories and Strategies

Gorilla Radio interviews: Will Falk and Vanessa Gray on the Unis'tot'en Camp

Liz McArthur of Victoria BC is creating a radio documentary on the Unis'tot'en Camp pipeline blockade. She interviewed two fellow volunteers who participated in the summer caravan to the Camp, and a third activist involved with defense of the Sacred Headwaters. The interviews aired on the August 4, 2014 episode of Gorilla Radio.

McArthur interviews:

• Will Falk of Deep Green Resistance and Victoria Forest Action Network, on his environmental activism with the Camp and other efforts. He discusses the importance of supporting indigenous struggles, and what members of settler culture need to understand and how they should approach such solidarity work.
• Vanessa Gray, a member of the Amjiwnaang nation in the Chemical Valley of Southern Ontario, describing the horrific conditions of living in close proximity to 63 oil and gas facilities, including pipelines, refineries, and loading docks. Gray describes the incredibly high rates of health problems brought on by this policy of environmental racism towards the indigenous. Gray brought youth to the Camp to show them that places still exist with clean water and air, and to inspire them to fight against the dominant culture of monetary profit at the sacrifice of people and land.
• John Mowat Stephen briefly talks about activism with the Tahltan First Nation around the Sacred Headwaters in northern BC.

Listen to the interview to learn more about the front line struggles in BC against the fossil fuel industry, and how you can help:

Browse all DGR member appearances.

On the Side of the Living: DGR documentary in progress

Deep Green Resistance just completed a $10,000 fundraising campaign to create a feature length documentary on the need for organized resistance to the dominant system of industrial civilization: On the Side of the Living. Thank you to all who contributed money or helped spread the word!

Two videos that give an idea of what the documentary will address:

The Deep Green Resistance Strategy gives a good introduction to our general approach to strategic activism.

Exclusive interview with Doug Zachary of Veterans for Peace.

"Concrete" by the filthy politicians

A call to dig underneath the distractions and lies imposed on us by civilization, "Concrete" urges us to decolonize and join the side of the living. As always, the filthy politicians, joined on this Modern Man track by Drew Wadden, blend engaging rythm and melody with meaningful lyrics to draw listeners into a culture of resistance.

Listen to this track and read the lyrics below, and hear more songs at the filthy politicians on bandcamp and at the filthy politicians on soundcloud.

won't tell you to put your hands up in the air
won't tell you to put em anywhere
cuz you can put em up or down
all that really matters is you listen to the sound
and let it sink in get to thinkin
look reality in the eye without blinkin

don't think that i don't realize
that today if you want to reach the hearts and the minds
of these people that you need a beat to sweep them right off their feet
to reach deep underneath these sheets of concrete
that they been layin since you were playin in plastic sheets
and runnin through creeks now filled with chemical leaks
now tears are runnin down our chemical cheeks
cuz we don't wanna go outside without makeup on
we can't have fun without jager bombs
and this ain't the way it's supposed to be
ain't supposed to lose somebody so close to me
in a car accident we shouldn't have cars
but we're all so used to all these scars
we build our own prison but we don't see the bars
it shouldn't be so hard at night to see the stars

won't tell you to put your hands up in the air
won't tell you to put em anywhere
cuz you can put em up or down
all that really matters is you listen to the sound
and let it sink in get to thinkin
look reality in the eye without blinkin

these days we're taught conscious thought ain't hot
your brain might be sayin tpain i am not
so i'm already workin against the fence
you might be sittin on but if you're not then just pretend
we can take a thought and follow it to its end
just take a look around, what the fuck is happenin?
we shop til we drop for things that got made
half way around the motherfuckin world by slaves
if you got eyes to see take a look around
if you got ears to hear listen to the sound
of isolation, domestication
to the natural world we're an alienation
and we sold the soul for the sweet sedation
of lonely sex robots on tv stations
it shouldn't take flobots to show these bourgeois
the new boss is just like the old boss

won't tell you to put your hands up in the air
won't tell you to put em anywhere
cuz you can put em up or down
all that really matters is you listen to the sound
and let it sink in get to thinkin
look reality in the eye without blinkin

so if you got a breath of life left
and somethin inside you that's more human than machine to guide you
then you just gotta dig it up listen to it an we'll do it
you just gotta set it free then we can get to it
cuz the real enemy is all around
everyday they're the ones that are holdin us down
cuz they know as long as we don't know anything else
that we won't know what it's like to think for ourselves
and that's half the problem is every debate
is framed to accept the existence of the state
with this history they write, the lies they tell
so we identify and we don't rebel
we just eat the food and we watch the shows and
we consume exactly what they want us to know
but before we were consumin we were human at birth
gotta find our way back cuz we're killin this earth

won't tell you to put your hands up in the air
won't tell you to put em anywhere
cuz you can put em up or down
all that really matters is you listen to the sound
and let it sink in get to thinkin
look reality in the eye without blinkin

Chris Matera on biofuels and other excuses for clearcuts

Chris Matera founded and works in his spare time for Massachusetts Forest Watch, fighting against destruction of New England forests. Derrick Jensen interviewed him for the November 30 episode of Resistance Radio, discussing the many forces pushing for logging.

As expected, the timber industry puts out carefully crafted propaganda designed to confuse well meaning but ignorant people. Companies claim clearcutting will counteract stressors, correct forest imbalances, and otherwise improve forest health. They claim clearcutting will improve habitat for cute animals (already overabundant because of past logging), not mentioning the threatened species who will suffer further harm. They claim they need to clearcut trees now to prevent future hurricanes from knocking them down.

Less immediately transparent is the propaganda around biofuels, billed as clean and green, but really just another excuse to clearcut forests. Matera says that burning green trees is 50% more carbon polluting than burning coal, and has a similar impact on air quality. He warns people to critically examine claims of energy sustainability, usually heavily based on this habitat destruction and pollution even worse than coal.

Perhaps most surprisingly for many listeners, Jensen and Matera reveal big green NGOs such as The Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, and The Nature Conservancy as more of a problem than a help. Time and time again, grassroots activists have clashed with such NGOs backing environmentally destructive practices like biofuels via deforesting. Jensen and Matera discuss the dynamics and details of this serious obstacle to environmentalism.

Listen to this free ranging discussion below, play the interview at the Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel, or visit Massachusetts Forest Watch. And please share this interview with friends and family to promote a better understanding of what the hype around biofuels really means for the earth.

Browse all of Derrick Jensen's Resistance Radio episodes.

Standing on Sacred Ground film series

Deep Green Resistance stands with indigenous peoples in defense of their land, for both ethical and practical reasons. It's simply the right thing to do when people are threatened with theft of their traditional land base. It's also a highly effective way to preserve what's left of biodiversity and a living planet. Like any long-term member of a community, humans who know they depend on their land for sustenance and life foster its health to the benefit of everyone there.

The World Bank calculates that although indigenous people comprise just 4% of the global human population and live on just 12% of the land surface, their territory encompasses 80% of planetary biodiversity. Clearly they're doing a better job of fostering life than has any civilized culture. We can be most strategic in supporting these people in protection of this remaining biodiversity on their traditional lands.

The film series Standing on Sacred Ground explores these dynamics and looks at specific cultures and places in 4 DVDs. You can see multiple excerpts on Youtube, including "Sacred Sites and Biodiversity" featuring clips from Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Ethiopia.

(Not) Making Sense of Ferguson

Deep Green Resistance member Will Falk has written a piece exploring the inevitability of the decision not to indict the Ferguson police officer who recently killed an unarmed black youth. As described in Operation Ghetto Storm, such killings are tragically routine, as is the failure to hold executioners accountable.

Falk examines the question of reform vs revolution: are these incidents mistakes that can be corrected within the system, or is it all working precisely how it's meant to? Drawing on authors and researchers Derrick Jensen, Michelle Alexander, and Omaha Samuel Walker, and on his own experience as a public defender, Falk argues convincingly that the entire policing and "justice" system must be dismantled for us to achieve the rest of our goals as environmental and social justice activists.

I do not write this to undermine, in any way, the justifiable rage being expressed around the country. I write this in the hopes that we can accurately diagnose the cancer characterized by the symptoms we have seen - symptoms like the death of another young black man at the hands of a white policeman, the failure of a grand jury to indict that policeman, and a mainstream media determined to paint acts taken in retaliation as somehow too extreme. Once we have accurately diagnosed the cancer, I want us to locate the tumors and remove them.

Read Will Falk's entire article at Deep Green Resistance Southwest Coalition

Green Tech FAQs page added to DGR website

We've added a new page to the Deep Green Resistance website debunking the myths of green technology and renewable energy. Please read it, share it, and refer those still hoping for techno-fixes of fundamental problems with civilization.

hu-MAN Up project to end rape culture

hu-MAN Up is working to end rape culture, starting by challenging it through billboards, bus signs, and theater. They're currently fundraising to place their ads. See the hu-MAN Up website for more information and to support them.

Burnaby Mountain fight against tar sands pipeline heats up

From Zoe Blunt at the Vancouver Island Community Forest Action Network

Right now across North America, groups of land defenders are doing their damnedest to block tarsands oil from coming to the coasts. Big oil and the Conservative government are insisting on pipelines from Alberta to the Pacific to feed the Asian export market. But thousands of locals are pledging to put their freedom on the line to stop them.

In Burnaby BC, the front has shifted from street rallies to blocking pipeline workers from drilling through Burnaby Mountain. Hundreds of native and non-native environmentalists have joined forces to occupy a conservation area in a last-ditch effort to stop Kinder Morgan and protect the Salish Sea and the traditional territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, which has launched a court challenge against the tarsands pipeline.

But now Kinder Morgan has filed its own lawsuit naming the land defenders. And on Friday Nov 14, the judge granted the pipeline company's request for an injunction and ordered resisters to leave or face arrest.

Many are not leaving. Those who feel called to defend the coast, please join these brave people. Come to bear witness and follow your conscience. I know I can't stand aside and allow these machines to override the will of the people and open up a wilderness park and the whole south coast to toxic oil spills.

How to join:

• Come for a day or two or a week. Bring a friend if you can.
• Be prepared to camp. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag, rain gear, food and a water bottle.
• Call Zoe to get connected to a team, and to check your gear: 250-813-3569
• Directions: 300 Centennial Way, at the east end of Hastings St in Burnaby. Take the #135 bus from Waterfront Skytrain station.

There are several groups on the mountain, from tight affinity groups to community coalitions, and they are making different plans. There may be people going in different directions, so please follow your heart, or call Zoe to connect to a network.

This is where the game gets interesting. We're playing for high stakes, and we could see a quick reversal if our side's challenges to Kinder Morgan are heard and upheld in court.

The Tseil-Waututh Nation is joined by 150 other First Nations, dozens of community groups, and Burnaby's mayor and council. Support these community groups on Indiegogo.

A spill of any kind – like the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill in Alaska in 1987 - would devastate the wild coast of British Columbia, including the Great Bear Rainforest, Haida Gwaii, salmon runs, wildlife habitat, and the livelihoods and culture of thousands of native people who depend on the sea. A pipeline blowout or a tanker collision would demolish coastal tourism. We can't even estimate the cost.

Those who love this coast are pledged to defend it.

---

Come to the Solidarity House in Sooke and get skilled up

I'm happy to announce that the Solidarity House is now open for land defense training. On Sundays, starting on Nov 23, we're offering the opportunity to support the frontlines and observe first-hand as BC moves to a new phase of land defense.

Join us to talk about strategy, solidarity, and specific skills like backcountry work, mapping, and fundraising. Lend your good energy to an inspiring grassroots movement led by incredibly resilient activists.

Call 250-813-3569 or email zoe@wildcoast.ca for the address and details.

Derrick Jensen's Resistance Radio on youtube and archive page

Almost every Sunday, Derrick Jensen interviews an activist, biophile scientist, land restorationist, or other person similarly engaged in building a culture of resistance. The interviews are always worth listening to, packed with interesting information and insights drawn out by Jensen's experienced questions.

The interviews are available as mp3 downloads or audio streams from our Resistance Radio archive page, and we've now made them available on Youtube as audio with a still image of the interviewee, accessible to those who prefer to browse Youtube or want to add the episodes into playlists. We'll keep adding new interviews as they're released. See them all at the Deep Green Resistance Youtube channel, and please share these important conversations widely!

Will Falk's DIY Resistance series

Will Falk of Deep Green Resistance San Diego has been writing prolifically this year on various resistance topics, notably about his time at the Unis'tot'en Camp. More recently, he has published an ongoing series of essays on the theme of "Do-It-Yourself Resistance." We'll keep this post updated with new additions, and here are all his excellent pieces so far:

• August 5: Fall in Love
• August 12: Recover Empathy
• August 19: Beat the Grief
• August 26: Develop a Sense of Urgency
• September 18: Find Rock Bottom
• September 23: Post-Modern Robin Hoods
• September 29: Resistance is Sexy
• October 15: I Love You, Dad
• October 31: Grasp Things at the Root

DIY Resistance: Grasp Things at the Root

Will Falk of Deep Green Resistance San Diego recently wrote an excellent piece on our dire situation, the ineffective and thus unrealistic solutions proposed by "experts", and what it will really take for us to address the interlocking problems of ecocide, genocide, and other oppressions. His essay is a clear call to and explanation of the necessity of direct action, for those who can be on the front lines and for those who can play an invaluable supporting role.

We are not going to stop the destruction of the world by voting. We are not going to stop the destruction of the world by shopping. We are not going to stop the destruction of the world by opening our hearts to the reality of our connection to everything. We are going to stop the destruction of the world by stopping the destruction of the world.

You read that correctly. It’s a simple idea, but it’s true. Stopping the destruction means literally stopping the physical forces that are destroying the planet. This is not something we can wish away, pray away, write away, or vote away. Chainsaws need gas or electricity to run. Take away the gas and electricity and they cannot cut down trees. Mining companies need bridges and roads to access mines. Block the bridges and the roads and they cannot mine.

Read and share this important article: DIY Resistance: Grasp Things at the Root

River's Song: A Poem

Calliope Braintree is the protagonist of two novels by Anne Pyterek, whose work explores rape culture from both the personal and planetary perspective. The poem River's Song was "written" by Calliope as a tribute to the Chicago River, poisoned and channeled by industrial humans but still living a life of her own.

I am the Atoms and the Space in between, the Unmanifested heard, felt, smelt, tasted and seen I am Anger and Forgiveness all in one stream. For I am the Source,

I am the Dream... I am the scent of holy things, the sound of shadowy, unseen wings... ominous... foretelling black endarkenings. I flow slowly, ever to the Sea.

I am Wildness, Authenticity.

Download the whole 40-page narrative poem for free: River's Song: A Poem.

Blockade of Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline in Burnaby BC

Last week, Kinder Morgan pipeline company began clearing brush to drill boreholes for a new pipeline from the tar sands to their marine tanker terminal east of Vancouver. Local residents and allies took over the borehole sites and set up camps in a small wilderness park next to Simon Fraser University. This week, KM served the organizers with a civil lawsuit and injunction application. The hearing is set for Wed Nov 5. The resisters are not backing down. They are calling for reinforcements at the camp and in the courthouse.

Overview of the struggle

Burnaby Mountain is in the traditional territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, who are now challenging Kinder Morgan in court.

Other Coast Salish Nations stand with them in this struggle, united against the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline.

Over 70% of the people in Burnaby are opposed to Kinder Morgan. Many are prepared to take direct action to stop tar sands exports. The mayor and the city council are unanimously opposed to the expansion after the existing, aging pipeline burst in a residential neighbourhood over a decade ago.

Kinder Morgan is fighting back hard, going to court to stop pipeline protesters.

A camp was set up on Burnaby Mountain and people have been patrolling to keep the company from cutting any more trees or surveying for their proposed route through Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area and under Burnaby Mountain. There are frequent rallies and actions.

Get involved

Visit the Stop Kinder Morgan on Burnaby Mtn Facebook page for the latest updates.

Sign up for a free training in civil disobedience for mountain defenders on November 9.

Sign up to join the camp and help protect Burnaby Mountain. They will contact you in a day or two. Be prepared to be self-sufficient. Being able to move fast through wet brush is a big help.

This is just one part of a much larger struggle. Over 150 First Nations have signed the Save the Fraser Declaration opposing tar sands pipelines. They are allied with community groups, environmental and labour organizations and thousands of people across BC.

Questions? Call the hotline: 250-813-3569 or email zoe@wildcoast.ca

Robert Newman's History of Oil

Geopolitical history, though critically important to understanding real life today, is generally pretty boring. Stand-up comedy, though highly enjoyable when done well, is generally pretty meaningless. Robert Newman's genius is in combining the best of both worlds on the subject of oil: "the terrifying 100-year history brought to life."

In a scant 45 minutes, Newman covers a lot of ground. He starts by highlighting British and US adventurism, interference, and warmongering from WWI, through the 1953 CIA replacement of Iran's democratic government with a dictator friendly to the US, to the present occupation of Iraq (sold by governments and corporate media to the public with a straight face and no apparent shame as "bringing democracy to the middle east.)

He also touches on peak oil, its implications on our food production, and the fact that "there is no way out." His coverage of the problem is good, though he concludes with a plea for society to pursue widespread implementation of green technologies and renewable energy. (See the Deep Green Resistance presentation "False Solutions of Green Energy" to understand the problems with that as a solution.) It'd be great to see him instead work the strategy of Decisive Ecological Warfare into his pitch.

Though you may already know some or much of what Newman presents, he probably has some surprises for you, too. This is a very pleasant way to brush up on history, even for those who consider themselves apolitical and normally uninterested in this sort of thing. Share with your friends and family!

the filthy politicians: I Don't Think We're Smart

This track from the Modern Man album by the filthy politicians echoes much of the wisdom expressed in the recently featured video Earth: Land Is Life. The song argues that our modern notions of "progress" have led us far off track from relationships with the human and non-human animals around us. It ends in a call to fight on the side of life and resist civilization and its destruction. Truly music for a culture of resistance.

Listen to this track and read the lyrics below, and hear more songs at the filthy politicians on bandcamp and at the filthy politicians on soundcloud.

we think we're so smart it's funny
not much wisdom but damn we got money
we're just animals like everybody else
but we've learned to like to destroy ourselves
so if i could i would trade it all
fuck science let the chips fall
where they may - control is an illusion
toaster ovens and nuclear fusion
don't get us anywhere but further away
from livin life in a natural way
we're relatively new to the forest
gotta learn from the ones here before us
we're the younger brother of all the other species
but we quit listenin and now it's easy
to see how far off the track we are
gotta get back there's a map in the stars
so we'll start by tearin down the street lights
let bright days turn into bright nights
take old wrongs make new rights
as we dance on the grave of the ways of our old life
cuz right now we take and we don't give back
if you want to survive then you can't do that
you can't pollute, poison an plunder
cuz if you bring lightning you're gonna get thunder
and right now we're flailing, about to go under
alarms are wailing and it makes you wonder
how we don't hear it?
maybe it's cuz now it's too loud
and the waves are crashing down all around
so we can't decipher the sounds anymore
i don't think we're smart
because we found new ways now to tear the earth apart
it's gettin bigger but it ain't gettin better
the writing's on the wall in bright red letters
big dump trucks, sky scrapers
chemical factories, all earth rapers
agriculture means fightin nature
imposin our will like a legislature
we've wiped out the ones who were content
to live with the earth the way that we were meant to
so we gotta look back if we wanna learn new
ways to relate to the earth that we've burned through
it's time for restoration
of the earth and our human relations
cuz we ain't happy here in hierarchy
we're better as equals i ain't lyin b
but we've been chasin a ghost
ignoring the things that we need the most
like clean air, water, and community
civilization has enjoyed immunity
while all these kings and queens
get off scott free as we eat the memes
that you better not resist this just go along
they got armies and guns they're too strong
but fuck that i'm learning
can't sit back, won't be a good german
and watch this holocaust any longer
choose life and we'll all be stronger
cuz right now we're slaves diggin our own graves
the earth we need's the earth we pave
so we gotta wake up, wake up, wake up
then we gotta take up, take up, take up
the war of our ancestors and end it
so we can save our descendants

Myths of Biofuels presentation by David Fridley

In 2007, David Fridley of Lawrence Berkeley Labs and San Francisco Oil Awareness presented a well researched and thorough debunking of the idea that biofuels are sustainable, environmentally friendly, good for farmers, or a path to energy independence. Fridley and his audience approach the issue from an industrial-human-centric standpoint concerned about peak oil, rather than from a holistic earth-centric and anti-civilization perspective, but his presentation is excellent for what it is. This is a great way to get up to speed on the dramatic, across the board problems and limitations of biofuels.

Radical analysis of the war in Iraq

The March 25, 2013 episode of Liberation Radio focused on the war in Iraq, in commemoration of the 10 year anniversary of the US invasion. Alla Baker shares her perspective moving from Iraq to the US and feeling shocked by the ignorance people displayed of conditions in Iraq, and especially of the effects of US imperialism in other countries. Kevin Baker (no relation) describes some of the horrific aftermath in Iraq, and presents the March Forward campaign to help active service members resist deployment.

Mike Prysner, a veteran of the initial 2003 invasion, provides an outstanding analysis of the war. He begins by recapping the lies, now well known, about the US mission in Iraq, fed to young service members and citizens in general to justify the invasion. Less often heard is the story of radicalization of soldiers on the ground. The reality of serving on a violent occupation force and the daily contradictions with the official US story led Prysner and others to the understanding that Iraqi resistance is fully justified. From there, they came to realise that this invasion was not a mistake led by a specific administration gone mad, but that the entire system of capitalism depends on such wars, and that the US soldiers sent to secure foreign resources and markets for American interests have more in common with the Iraqi people than they do with those who direct and profit from the invasions.

Though this is an old episode, it has a lot of value in its retrospective analysis. Listen below, or browse all Liberation Radio episodes.

Con Slobodchikoff on prarie dogs & animal language

In a thematic follow-up to the interview with Culum Brown, Derrick Jensen's August 17 Resistance Radio episode features Con Slobodchikoff. Slobodchikoff studies Gunnison's Prairie Dogs as a model for understanding animal language, and shares some delightful and amazing observations on the complexity of their relationships and communication. For example, the prairie dogs can tell each other the equivalent of "Here is a tall thin human walking slowly wearing a blue shirt coming towards us."

Jensen and Slobodchikoff discuss the reasons for mass die-offs, habitat destruction, and ongoing intentional eradication of prairie dogs, a topic especially heartbreaking (but important) in light of their intelligence and highly developed social structure. They also examine their role improving pastures and prairies as a keystone species in their landbases, a great bonus to their being just plain cute.

The conversation touches on many other subjects, including language in other species, what actually constitutes language, the assumptions and inherent values of science (Slobodchikoff was pressured to deafen young prairie dogs to see how it affected their language development; he refused), and the many ways science and other institutions of civilization reinforce the arrogant myths of human supremacism.

Listen to this important and enjoyable interview below, play the interview at the Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel, or visit the website for Con Slobodchikoff's book Chasing Dr. Doolittle: Learning the Language of Animals.

Browse all of Derrick Jensen's Resistance Radio episodes.

Blockading pipelines works, revisited

We posted back in June that pipeline blockades, limiting overall pipeline capacity, have a real effect in driving up costs and causing potential tar sands projects to be suspended or canceled. We got more evidence this past week that blockading pipelines works: Statoil Just Shelved Its Multi-Billion-Dollar Tar Sands Project. While the article focuses on the Keystone XL pipeline, which has seen a lot of symbolic protest, even more important may be the direct action blockades such as the Unis'tot'en Camp, physically disallowing construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline.
The article correctly states that, though this is a big victory for environmentalists, it's just a drop in the bucket compared to the entirety of fossil fuel emissions we need to halt. Aboveground activists should certainly keep applying strategic pressure to shut down projects where possible, but we still need to encourage and support the formation of an underground which can be much more effective with asymmetric tactics, as described in the Deep Green Resistance Decisive Ecological Warfare strategy.

Guy McPherson on climate chaos - Chicago March 2014

Guy McPherson: not an optimist, not a pessimist, but a realist

Dr. Guy McPherson spoke on climate change to a Chicago audience in March, from the basics to the complexities of our current predicament. He looks at the history of mainstream, conservative projections of global temperature change, the pattern of increasingly worse expectations every year, and the dozens of positive feedback loops not even taken into account in the models generating these predictions. The scientific consensus is that we must limit global temperature rise to 1°C above the predindustrial baseline to avoid triggering those feedback loops and thus catastrophic runaway climate chaos. We're at .85°C right now and have already triggered many of these loops. This .85°C increase is the result of emissions up to 40 years ago; due to the lag time between release of carbon dioxide and its effect on temperature, we're not yet experiencing the exponentially increasing emissions of the 1980s and 1990s, or of this century. The political target of 2°C maximum increase doubles the maximum change considered "safe" by scientists and is not being taken seriously by politicians anyway.

A study of the cooling effect of the atmospheric sulphates continually produced by industrial activity suggests that if all activity stopped today, within three days when all the sulphates have dropped out of the atmosphere, we would reach a 2°C increase. So although shutting down the industrial economy immediately is our only hope of minimizing catastrophic change, doing so would already leave us at a dangerous level of change. In short, we're in huge trouble.

McPherson expects massive habitat die-off, as animals and especially plants are unable to adapt or migrate fast enough to cope with temperature changing ten times faster than ever experienced in the last 65 million years. Setting aside urban illusions of food coming from grocery stores and water from a tap, humans are animals dependent on this habitat, and he expects human extinction within a few decades.

Though McPherson thinks we're already triggered too many feedback loops to avoid massive die-off of all humans and most other species, he still advocates resisting industrial civilization, fighting back, and doing our best to stop it. He points out, for example, the potential of sabotaging electrical transformers to terminate the US electrical grid. Though we know the situation is dire and that this massive die-off is in fact inevitable if civilization is allowed to carry out its endgame, we can't fully predict the restorative potential of the earth. Life wants to live, and science does not and can not understand and foresee how the earth may recover if we can take off the pressure of further destruction and greenhouse gas release.

Watch this video, seriously contemplate our predicament, and consider how you can respond with effectiveness proportionate to the reality we face. McPherson quotes Edward Abbey: "Action is the antidote to despair," and urges us to act. The Deep Green Resistance strategy of Decisive Ecological Warfare, and the entire Deep Green Resistance book are excellent starting points for formulating a plan.

There are many introductions by attendees; Guy's presentation starts at 17:20.

Cathy Brennan interviewed on radical feminism and "transphobia"

Cathy Brennan is a long-time radical feminist lesbian activist working for equal rights for gay people, trans people, and women. Mark Angelo Cummings (FTM transman) and Jessica Lynn Cummings (MTF transwoman) interviewed Brennan for the July 24 episode of Transition Radio TV. Despite her work in the real world to protect trans rights and end male violence against women, children, and gender noncomforming people, Brennan has become a popular target of what the hosts term "keyboard warriors" who attack and tear down potential allies. These "transactivists" have threatened to rape and to kill Brennan and many other radical feminists expressing their analysis of gender. Brennan and the Cummings explore this radical feminist analysis that one can not simply "identify" out of this oppressive caste system, and the irony of heterosexual men who identify as women bullying and threatening actual women with whom they disagree.

Brennan speaks with clarity on the history of gay, lesbian, and queer culture; ongoing homophobia and male violence; why the interests of lesbians don't always align with the goals of others in the GLBTQ movement, which she says has become a men's-rights movement; and why women need women-only space to meet and organize.

The interview is an excellent antidote to the smears across the internet about Cathy Brennan and her supposed "hate speech" or "transphobia." Brennan's long-time experience with queer culture and human rights activism, and her resultant wisdom, is a breath of fresh air if you've ever wallowed through the trans hostility online.

By giving Brennan a platform to discuss these important issues, and by calling out abusive individuals and behavior within the trans community, the Cummings model what we all need to do in in our various environmental and social justice circles. We can't build a healthy movement while being undermined by aggressive or mentally ill individuals sabotaging relationships by fostering horizontal hostility. We need to identify and expel such people from our communities, with zero tolerance for abusive behavior. Besides damaging our internal dynamics, such individuals make our movement look childish and non-serious to outside observers, potentially discrediting the goals towards which we work.

Watch the video interview below, and check out the recently featured Meghan Murphy interview for more on how horizontal hostility and labels like "transphobic" are used to silence women.

Culum Brown on fish intelligence

For the August 10th episode of Resistance Radio, Derrick Jensen interviewed Culum Brown, an Australian scientist. Brown has specialized in the behavioral ecology of fishes, with a focus on their ability to learn and remember things like environmental hazards, specific places of danger, and the social behavior and trustworthiness of other individual fishes (within the same species and across different species.)

With a combination of fascinating anecdotes and scientifically researched conclusions, Brown counters the popular notions that fish are stupid, can't learn or remember, and can't feel pain. (In fact, he says pain receptors in humans evolved and are nearly indistinguishable from those of fish; the only reason we can feel pain is because they can.) Jensen and Brown also explore the question of whether fish feel emotions, and if so, which ones. The interview debunks some assumed foundations of human supremicism and ethically demands that we change how industrial civilization treats fish.

Listen to this enjoyable and unique interview below, or play the interview at the Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel.

Browse all of Derrick Jensen's Resistance Radio episodes.

Video: The False Solutions of Green Energy

Max Wilbert of Deep Green Resistance Great Basin and Cameron Foley (no chapter affiliation) presented at the 2014 PIELC (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference) on "The False Solutions of Green Energy." Together they debunk some of the myths of "green" energy. Wilbert details the earth destruction required to manufacture, install, and dispose of wind turbines and solar panels, showing their inherent unsustainability as they still rely on large-scale mining, global trade, and global exploitation. Foley discusses the problem of mainstream environmentalism fixating on the illusion of green energy as a techno-fix for the very real problems we face, dangerously diverting us from pursuing real solutions. Environmentalists are really faced with the question of whether we want to find slightly less harmful alternatives to business as usual, or if we want to stop causing harm altogether and even start healing the earth.

Wilbert concludes by describing the strengths and weaknesses of other approaches to addressing the environmental crises, from ecosocialism to permaculture to radical aboveground action such as nonviolent civil disobedience. He makes a strong case for the necessity of adding strategic underground attacks on critical infrastructure to our range of tactics, summarizing the Deep Green Resistance strategy of Decisive Ecological Warfare.

This presentation is an important antidote to the misinformation and misdirection spread by corporations, governments, and mainstream environmental groups. Watch below or read the text transcript, share with your environmentally minded friends, and visit the Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel or Deep Green Resistance member appearances page to view and hear more DGR and general resistance video and audio:

Transcript

[Cameron:] This is Max, and we've been doing environmental activism for at least five years now. Green energy is a topic that's been really important to us, because in trying to find effective solutions, a really genuine response to the environmental crisis, green energy has come up as an obstacle. We've talked about it always on the side; we've never really come at it head-on so we thought for this year for PIELC it's something we should do.

We're probably going to talk for about 40 minutes, and then we'll do a little Q & A and then we'll call it a day. I'm going to pass it over to Max.

[Max:] Thanks everyone for coming. It's an honor to be here again. Today we’re going to introduce you to some ideas that you're probably familiar with already as environmentalists. But we might also be talking about some things that are surprising or even shocking to some of you.

An Open Letter to the UK Environmental Movement

Earlier this year, Deep Green Resistance UK published an open letter to the UK environmental movement, asking folks passionate about stopping ecocide to evaluate the environmental movement to date, and to think and act strategically. The letter describes DGR's strategy and approach, acknowledges that not everyone will agree with all aspects of DGR's analysis, and asks each reader to make up his or her own mind as to which resistance options to support and pursue.

Our culture currently rewards behaviour that benefits the individual at the expense of the group. Acquisitive and insane behaviour such as denuding the landbase of living systems makes powerful individuals rich, and this is the behaviour we see from those in power. This will continue while there is still money to be made, in other words the destruction will continue until there are no more living systems left to exploit. A number of respected scientists are coming to similar conclusions.

Solutions which make no attempt to destroy this culture, or which postpone action until the distant future, are worryingly misguided. The current system is one of arrogance, sadism, stupidity and denial. It will not change of its own accord. The British government’s stance on fracking, despite massive public opposition, is a testament to this and an example of this culture’s insatiable appetite.

[...]

What we propose is that people in the UK environmental movement begin to consider whether their activism- be it community, political or radical- is effective and commensurate with the scale of the problems we face. Community gardens and anti-fracking protests are all part of this resistance movement, but unless they are linked to a larger political struggle, those efforts will fail. Regardless of what our differences might be, we need to start working in tandem.

Read the entire Open Letter to the UK Environmental Movement from Deep Green Resistance UK

Earth: Land is Life video

An important view into indigenous ways of thinking and living, Earth: Land is Life centers on the 7th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2008, with interviews of delegates from around the world. The many representatives of many cultures speak eloquently on the importance of returning to a balanced way of life, protecting the earth, and resisting destruction and disruption by the dominant culture.

Unlike many hope-based documentaries, the film conveys the widely held sense of doubt that any material change will come about from the effort and time nearly 3000 indigenous representatives put into traveling and speaking. Though corporations, governments, and their associated institutions routinely put on shows of participatory democracy, the only language they really hear is that of force.

Watch this video, and contemplate how you can get involved in effectively stopping civilization's relentless assault on the lands and lives of indigenous peoples.

Dahr Jamail interview for Resistance Radio

For the July 20 episode of Resistance Radio, Derrick Jensen interviewed Dahr Jamail, an award winning reporter for truthout.org. He began his career driven by the obvious lies surrounding the invasion of Iraq, not understanding the apathy of Americans all around him, but compelled to spend his small savings on a laptop, camera and a plane ticket to the middle east. Since then, he has continued to write about US imperialism, including oppposition to it by veterans; and about environmental issues from the BP oil spill to fracking to his current focus on anthropogenic climate disruption (climate change.)

Jamail and Jensen discuss important facts on how quickly climate disruption is advancing, its current and predicted impacts, and how official assessments consistently underestimate the harm in general caused by industrial civilization. They address the interplay of multiple aspects of ecocide and the insane lack of appropriate response by most civilized humans. The interview is an excellent fact-based reality check on our dire situation, and also inspiring as an example of one person finding his way to an appropriate response. As Jensen says, "The big distinction is not between those who believe we need militant resistance and those who believe that militant resistance isn't necessary. I've always thought that the big distinction is between those who do something and those who do nothing."

Learn more and get inspired by listening to this interview below, playing the interview at the Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel, or reading Dahr Jamail's writings.

Browse all of Derrick Jensen's Resistance Radio episodes.

the filthy politicians: 200 Species Every Day

The song "200 Species Every Day" by the filthy politicians is a fictional scene straight out of the Decisive Ecological Warfare strategy advocated by Deep Green Resistance: a pair of activists carrying out well-planned and strategic attacks on infrastructure, in this case combining arson of a power station with raids on corporate offices to trash their crucial data.

As the filthy politicians ask in the preamble, "Why the fuck hasn't this happened yet?"

Listen to this track and read the lyrics below, and hear more songs at the filthy politicians on bandcamp and at the filthy politicians on soundcloud.

yeah she said look at it now it's like
everything is always spinnin around
and what's hard to believe with your feet on the ground
is that we're flyin through space not makin a sound
yeah, let me tell you about a ride and a journey
a small town girl on a midnight train
goin anywhere with a city boy destroyin
everything so they can breath again
cuz life don't fit in a cubicle
lookin out the window damn that's beautiful
fuck that we ain't goin back said sally
take my hand we'll take the back alley
we'll take it all back from the peak to the valley
i wanna burn it all down, shall we
but i don't wanna knock off gas stations
no we're goin for the corporations
there'a power station we could blow
nobody's out there, no one's gonna know
until we're in the next town down the road
where i know a safe place that we can lay low
she said just two people could cut the power
to the whole city for 38 hours
then dress up like police officers
then we got access to every office
her smile was so bright and life was such a mess
that he couldn't think of anything else
and the word that he heard himself say was yes

yeah, she knew him long enough to trust him
but didn't wanna risk it if they got busted
so she kept the network to herself
cuz what he didn't know, yo he couldn't tell
so they planned it out, got it all together
to the decimal everything down to the weather
no cell phones, no booze, shaved heads
no DNA, no trace for the feds
wasn't hard to cop a cop uniform
the gangs were on that one long before
they got timed charges for the transformers
with a little dynamite for the corners
all sourced out yo paid in cash
it's not that hard to build a stash
in a land where everyone has a gun
america manufactured his own crash
so they stole a car from a rich family
that was on vacation
on a beach at a resort in some starving
so called third world nation
then they drove out to the hills
satellites the cloudy night killed
they rehearsed enough, didn't have to think
they cut the fence, just plain chain link
it only took them half an hour
then they were on their way
back to the city where she put on a wig
and they slipped on the costumes of the pig
they strolled out of that parking garage
left one last charge in the trunk of the dodge
they watched the fire as it rose up in the hills
then came the darkness and they both got chills

she waited for the look in his eyes when
he saw another fire on the other horizon
he knew she hadn't told him for the right reasons
about the others, but he couldn't believe it
so he asked her how many?
she said just enough to stand a chance, if any
but lets get in there, get what we came for
hard drives smashed all over the floor
then back out, on to the next one
darkness had never been this fun
they came to call it the great resetting
in an effort to address the great forgetting
life was under attack for so long
they had to fight back before it was gone
status quo had to go
everybody knew it deep down in their bones
so you better get ready for shit to go down
they're on their way they're in the next town
ya you better get ready for shit to go down
they're on their way, they're in the next town

Stephanie McMillan poster: Affirmations for Revolutionary Proletarian Militants

Support Stephanie McMillan's work, and stay motivated to fight to change the world, with her new poster with 20 inspirational messages!

$19 — FREE shipping in US (international shipping is an ADDITIONAL amount; please add it from Stephanie McMillan's shop)

Captions:

1. Contentment is for people in denial. I do not accept social injustice, exploitation, or ecocide.
2. My purpose is not for petty gains, but for radical social transformation.
3. I’m committed to the struggle for the long haul. It isn’t a game or hobby; it’s my life.
4. When I face a choice, I decide what to do based on the interests of the revolution.
5. I take every opportunity to help people understand the nature of the system and to join the struggle.
6. I don’t engage in self-destructive habits. I remain strong and alert for the struggle.
7. I am willing to listen to constructive criticism, so I can rectify my errors.
8. I avoid distractions and focus on my fundamental goal.
9. The problem is not me; it is the global capitalist/imperialist system.
10. I don’t blame individuals for social problems. Yet it is our responsibility for ending the system that causes them.
11. Everyone has a skill, talent, experience or insight that can contribute to the struggle.
12. I surround myself with sincere people who share common goals of ending exploitation and domination.
13. We will never be satisfied with reforms to the existing system. Our goal is nothing less than a classless and sustainable society.
14. Even when I’m alone, I stand up for what I understand to be true.
15. I do not avoid struggle; it is how people and history advance.
16. I don’t argue for argument’s sake. Instead I engage in political struggle so as to better understand reality.
17. Our nature is cooperative. If we work collectively, we can overcome the system that is crushing us.
18. I don’t jump to premature conclusions. Before making a judgment I investigate a matter fully.
19. I realize my loved ones are ideologically dominated, and have compassion for them as I struggle with them.
20. As I face each day, I determine my priorities, based on my long-term goal of proletarian revolution.

Videos recommended by Deep Green Resistance

We've compiled lists of videos we recommend to those learning about radical history and resistance, from presentations by DGR members to fictional films. We have two sets of lists. Enjoy!

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Deep Green Resistance Youtube Channel features resistance videos with Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Aric McBay, and other DGR members. You'll also find non-DGR films and music videos with anti-civ analysis and themes of resistance.

• Trailers for upcoming DGR films
• DGR Workshop Presentations
• DGR Presentations at PIELC (Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, OR)
• DGR Authors (Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Aric McBay) giving various presentations
• Other DGR members on various speaking tours
• Radical Feminism
• Resistance & Anti-civilization Films
  • Resistance - Contemporary
  • Fictional Resistance & Anti-Civ
  • Resistance - Historical
  • Indigeneity
  • Civilization: The Problem
• Resistance Radio: audio interviews by Derrick Jensen
• Music videos

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We also have a set of Deep Green Resistance IMDB lists. These don't include any actual video clips, but do provide more information on the films, including reviews by other people.

• The Problem of Civilization - Big Picture
• The Problem of Civilization - Specific Issues
• Resistance - Contemporary
• Resistance - Historical
• Resistance - World War II
• Resistance - Fictional
• Indigeneity
• Feminism
• Historical & Political Documentaries
• Restoration & Nature Documentaries
• Animal Rights
• Fictional anti-civilization films

Zack de la Rouda: environmental/conscious hip-hop

Zack de la Rouda, a "Poet, singer, songwriter, rhapsodist, activist, rewilder, homesteader-in-training", has released several albums plus miscellaneous tracks, full of rewilding and anti-civ sentiments with hip-hop beats. Explore his music, most downloadable for free, at Zack de la Rouda at Bandcamp.

To get you started, here's "(Live Like) We're Dying", with a chorus advising:

we gotta start looking at the hands on the time we been given
if this is all we got then we gotta start thinking that
every second counts on a clock that's ticking
we need to live like we're dying
we only got 86,400 seconds in the day
to turn it all around or to throw it all away
gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say
we need to live like we're dying

Operation Ghetto Storm: police killings of blacks in the US

"Operation Ghetto Storm" details how every 28 hours someone inside the United States, employed or protected by the U.S. government, kills a Black child, woman or man. These state-sanctioned killings are the casualties of what the Committee calls "Operation Ghetto Storm", a perpetual war to invade, occupy and pacify Black communities ― much like the U.S. invades and occupies the Middle East. This report clearly lays out a horrifying aspect of the domestic half of civilization, which anthropologist Stanley Diamond says "originates in conquest abroad and repression at home."

Going beyond a compilation of raw statistics and details of killings from 2012-2013, the report, written by Arlene Eisen and with a preface by Kali Akuno, gives important background context and analysis of how racism manifests throughout US society.

Download the Operation Ghetto Storm report, or visit the report's publisher, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, for more information. Then participate in and support anti-racist organizing and trainings in your area.

Stephanie McMillan: Art Is a Weapon in the Battle of Ideas

Grassroots organizer Stephanie McMillan does important anti-capitalism work with One Struggle, and uses political cartoons as one vehicle towards social and environmental justice. You can watch a video of her from a recent event, in which she presents a very general overview and polemic about political art, the relationship of culture and politics, and the need for explicitly revolutionary art as a vital component of a revolutionary movement.

How does culture advance political aims? How do we use our art to challenge capitalism/imperialism? Why does the bourgeoisie love abstract expressionism?

These were some of the questions I addressed a couple weeks ago at a One Struggle event in Fort Lauderdale, in a slideshow presentation called "Art is a Weapon in the Battle of Ideas."

Also see Stephanie McMillan's upcoming events, including a presentation in Florida, conference calls, and this year's Earth At Risk in San Francisco.

Deep Green Resistance book audio excerpts

We recently updated the Deep Green Resistance book page of our main website to link to audio excerpts read by DGR members. We have excerpts from the Preface and from Chapters 1, 4, 5, 12, 14, and 15: "The Problem", "Culture of Resistance", "Other Plans", "Introduction to Strategy", "Decisive Ecological Warfare" (entire chapter!), and "Our Best Hope." Look for the audio icons next to some of the chapters in the table of contents.

(Originally broadcast in 2012 on RAGE Radio, a great podcast series.)

But I'm an anarchist! How can I be sexist?

"Going to Places That Scare Me: Personal Reflections on Challenging Male Supremacy"

Chris Crass, author of the book Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy, devotes one chapter to detailing his personal experience becoming aware of his own sexism and that of his fellow male activists. After accepting the reality of his privilege, he began the lifelong process of uprooting blatant and subtle manifestations within himself, challenging it within male comrades as indivduals, and helping structure activist groups to counteract sexist defaults and biases.

This is an essay for other people raised male who identify as men and who, like me, are Left/anarchist organizers with privilege struggling to build movements for collective liberation. It is written for men in the movement who have been challenged on their sexism and male privilege and are looking for support. I'm focusing here on the emotional aspects of my own experience of dealing with issues of sexism and anti-sexism.

More and more, gender-privileged men in the movement are working to challenge male supremacy. Thousands of us recognize that patriarchy exists; that we have material and psychological privileges as a result; that sexism undermines movements; that women, transgender, and genderqueer people have explained it over and over again and said "you all need to talk with each other, challenge each other, and figure out what you're all going to do." However, a far greater number of men in the movement agree that sexism exists in society, perhaps even in the movement, but deny their personal participation in it.

Deep Green Resistance takes very seriously the need for those with any kind of privilege to examine and disarm it within their own lives and relationships, but more importantly to use it to dismantle the larger systemic institutions that uphold that privilege. Crass' journey touches on many important aspects of anti-sexism work, and gives an excellent entry point for men with interest in facing the problems of patriarchy. He shares personal revelations that many of us might be ashamed to admit:

Learning in a community of largely women and people of color also deeply impacted because it was the first time that I'd ever been in situations where I was a numerical minority on the basis of race or gender. Suddenly, race and gender weren't just other issues among many, but central aspects of how others experienced and understood the world. The question I sometimes thought silently to myself - "Why do you always have to talk about race and gender?" - was flipped on its head: "How can you not think about race and gender all the time?"

The whole piece is important for men to read, as undoing sexism is a process that requires work and has no easy answers. But it's also valuable to keep in mind concrete steps men must take to challenge male supremacy, such as these laid out by a friend of the author:

"Gender-privileged people can offer to take notes in meetings, make phone calls, find meeting locations, do childcare, make copies and other less glamorous work. They can encourage women and gender oppressed people in a group to take on roles men often dominate (e.g. strategic leadership in actions, MCing an event, media spokespeople). You can ask specific women if they want to do it, and explain why you think they would be good, as oppose to tokenizing just to get a woman to do it. Pay attention to who you listen to and check yourself on power-tripping."

Read the entire chapter by Chris Crass: Going to Places That Scare Me: Personal Reflections on Challenging Male Supremacy.

George Jackson: Specialize in something to help the war effort

George Jackson, imprisoned for years and radicalized by the experience, clearly saw the need to develop a black culture of resistance to white supremacy. He wrote early on that "I know now that the most damaging thing a people in a colonial situation can do is to allow their children to attend any educational facility organized by the dominant enemy culture." Yet he recognized the need to grapple with, compromise with, and ultimately leverage the systems and institutions over which we have little individual power. He wrote to his younger brother Jonathan, giving advice applicable to any young person passionately motivated to fight civilization or any of its many problems:

I hope you are involved in the academic program at your school, but knowing what I know about this country's schooling methods, they are not really directing you to any specialized line of study. They have not tried to ascertain what fits your character and disposition and to direct you accordingly. So you must do this yourself. Decide now what you would like to specialize in, one thing that you will drive at. Do you get it? Decide now. There are several things that we as a group, a revolutionary group, need badly: chemists, electronic engineers, surgeons, etc. Choose one and give it special attention at a certain time each day. Establish a certain time to give over to your specialty and let [our father] know indirectly what you are doing. Then it only remains for you to get your A's on the little simple unnecessary subjects that the school requires. This is no real problem. It can be accomplished with just a little attention and study. But you must now start on your specialty, the thing that you plan to carry through this war of life. You must specialize in something. Just let it be something that will help the war effort.

From Soledad Brother, page 195

What are your interests? What's your calling? What are your skills? What specialty can you develop? Decide now, give it special attention, and let it be something in service of the earth and social justice.

• Take Action
• Volunteer for Deep Green Resistance
• Join Deep Green Resistance

Active resistance: The Decision to Die, The Decision to Kill

In this new essay, Will Falk of DGR San Diego explores the extreme possibilities of violence: choosing to die, and choosing to kill. He asks how these decisions relate to the ongoing violence of civilization and asks what we need to do, and what we're willing to do in response:

It is becoming increasingly clear the dominant culture must be stopped. The more effective we become at resisting, the more violence will be visited upon us. Will we be strong enough to decide to die for a better world? Will we be strong enough to decide to kill for a better world? If this sounds too extreme, then I ask you what decisions were faced by Tecumseh, Nat Turner, Crazy Horse, Denmark Vesey, and Padráic Pearse when they picked up rifles and hatchets to meet bullets and swords?

Falk grapples with the question of how to justify violent resistance to violent abusers, drawing on his participation recently in a group discussion of tree spiking:

When I imagine this logging operation and listen to people urging advocates of direct action tactics like tree spiking to think of the loggers that may be hurt or to disregard any option that involves violence, I cannot help but ask: What about the trees? What about the mycelia networks living in mutual relationship with tree roots? What about the chicks living in the treetops?

These are important questions for individuals and organizations to ask themselves and address. Violence is already happening all around us, for our immediate benefit but probably leading to our premature deaths. Will we face this honestly and make active decisions about whether to die, whether to kill?

Read the entire essay: Will Falk - The Decision to Die, the Decision to Kill.

Interview of Meghan Murphy

Ernesto Aguilar, a former DGR member, interviewed Meghan Murphy of Feminist Current for Women's History Month in March 2013. Murphy presents a clear and articulate analysis of the current state of online feminism – strengths and weaknesses, successes and works in progress, allies and backlash. She spoke extensively on the destructive tendency of online discussions to turn into horizontal hostility, and the ongoing pattern of silencing women:

I don't think that attacking and harassing feminists online counts as activism, or as supporting women, even if you kind of pretend you're doing it on behalf of women. Regardless of how you frame it, it's still about woman-hating, and it's about anti-feminism, and that's not progressive. If you're a man and you're harassing or silencing women, you can't pretend to be a progressive person or a person who cares about liberty or human rights or women's lives or the well being of women. That's not what allies do.

Later in the interview, she gets specific about a prominent silencing mechanism:

There's this thing that's become popular in the feminist blogosphere, and that's this overuse of the phobia language. I think that's a big problem. It's become common practice to label any [feminist] critique as a phobia. You hear things like "kink phobia", or "whore phobia", "transphobia", on and on and on. And I've personally been accused of all of these things, and I don't hate or fear prostituted women or trans people or kinky people.

What I want to have is conversations, and this is just another way to shut down conversation, and it's a part of the bullying that goes on in some parts of online feminism. It's about keeping people in line, and it's about keeping conversations restricted within narrow boundaries. If you don't like what someone says, you can call them some version of "phobic" and you can call someone a bigot and everyone shuts up. These are kind of the magic words that put fear in every feminist's heart, because they know that if they're called one of these things – some kind of "phobic" – that no one will stick up for them, because everyone else is afraid of being labeled by association. Everyone's afraid to have real conversations, because they see what happens, and they see what happens to other feminists, and they don't want that to happen to them.

Listen to the entire interview embedded below (originally posted at Feminist Current). And for elaboration on the tactic of shutting down feminist discourse by threatening to apply vague but powerful labels, see the latest article at Feminist Current: "How ‘TERF’ works", by Sarah Ditum.

What Is a Woman? - New Yorker article

The New Yorker just published "What Is a Woman? – The dispute between radical feminism and transgenderism" by Michelle Goldberg. Her piece provides a good summary of the differences in political analysis between radical feminsts and liberal transgenderists, from their different views on gender and whether "girl brains" exist to the real-world effects on women. Having interviewed Lierre Keith and Rachel of DGR, other radical feminists veteran and new, and prominent transactivists, Goldberg provides a useful introduction to this decades-old debate.

The article makes clear the need for women to have women-only safe spaces for meeting, organizing, and letting down their guard. Goldberg describes the pattern of threats against and silencing of women who question queer theory, from deplatforming to cancelation of venues to straight-up death threats. (The article does not attempt to cover transactivists' pattern of physically assaulting women who disagree with them.) The article quotes Sandy Stone, a man who identifies as a woman: "I am going to have to say [to women who want women-only spaces], It’s your place to stay out of spaces where transgender male-to-female people go. It’s not our job to avoid you." Sandy's statement perfectly illustrates the male entitlement behavior radical feminists are working so hard to dismantle.

Read the whole article to better understand radical feminism & transgenderism, and accusations of transphobia against Deep Green Resistance

For more information, see:

• Summary of and videos from Radfems Respond, an event mentioned in the article.
• Deep Green Resistance Radical Feminism FAQs
• Rachel's video presentation The End of Gender: Revolution, Not Reform

Short reflection on Unis'tot'en Camp by Justin Ellenbecker

Justin Ellenbecker, one of the DGR members who joined the July caravan to the Unis'tot'en Camp, reports back on his experience:

I've had many opportunities over recent years to attend some of the best training in theoretical concepts and workshops. This action camp provided that and something deeper: a chance to join with those on the front lines, to be a part of actively resisting, guided by people who understand the need to militantly respond to the threats facing the living world. I personally witnessed before my eyes people undergoing radical changes as they saw the material needs for a true resistance as more important than their ideological purity. I spent hours on security, construction, and permaculture tasks where for once the work was more important than group affiliation or rumor mongering. Conversations always took a path towards how the environmental movement needs to start winning offensive battles, crippling the means for those in power to destroy living ecosystems. People new and veteran to this type of work were tossing away the shells of symbolic dogmatism they had long sheltered themselves in, and craving more concrete ways to challenge the dominant culture. I dare say I found a place where my pessimism and extreme caution weren't a necessary facet of negotiating the world of activism.

This is a place to get work done, and there is much work left to do. If you think you can possibly make it to the area, directly support the camp. If you can't make it in person, donations of money and materials are always needed, and there may be ways to volunteer from afar. Please get in touch!

Will Falk series on Unis'tot'en Camp

DGR member Will Falk has been writing a regular series on his experiences at the Unis'tot'en Camp blockade of proposed pipeline construction. We've highlighted some of them here already, but thought it would be useful to link to the whole series of thoughtful essays on what it takes to build a true culture of resistance, and for members of settler culture to ally with indigenous peoples on the front lines:

• May 1, 2014: Giving Up on Home and Heading to Unist’ot’en Camp
• May 4: The Unist’ot’en Camp – Preparation: Home, Language, Self
• May 19: From Unist’ot’en Camp: Responsibility, Not Rights
• May 22: From Unist’ot’en Camp: Think About Your Future
• June 9: From Unist’ot’en Camp: No Word for Good-Bye
• June 19: Reflecting on Unist’ot’en Camp: Living with Death
• June 29: Lessons from Unist’ot’en Camp: Is Your Integrity Intact?
• July 24: From Unist’ot’en Camp: What Does Solidarity Look Like?
• January 17, 2015: Reflections on Despair: Walking the Trapline at Unist’ot’en Camp

Why Deep Green Resistance?

Listen to DGR members explain why they find the strategy laid out by the book so compelling and why they joined Deep Green Resistance.

Originally broadcast in 2012 on RAGE Radio, a great podcast series.

WoLF: Women's Liberation Front

Women's Liberation Front is a radical feminist organization dedicated to the total liberation of women. With several DGR members involved, they fight to end male violence, regain reproductive sovereignty, and ultimately dismantle the gender-caste system. They put on the recent Radfems Respond event and are actively seeking new members and new chapters to expand their activity.

To learn more, make donations, or join their efforts, visit the Women's Liberation Front website.

Robert Jensen: Some Basic Propositions About Sex, Gender and Patriarchy

Robert Jensen, a radical activist and professor in Austin, TX, wrote an article last month on the debate within feminism on transgenderism. His piece clearly presents the disagreements between radical feminists, who view gender as a patriarchy-enforcing social construct to be abolished; and the transgender movement, with a more liberal approach of encouraging individuals to choose their own gender roles without challenging the larger system.

The goal of radical feminism is a world without hierarchy, in which males and females would be free to explore the range of human experiences—especially experiences of love, whether sexual or not—in an egalitarian context.

[...]

Nothing in a radical feminist analysis minimizes the social and/or psychological struggles of—nor provides support for violence against—people who identify as transgender or people who do not conform to patriarchal gender norms but do not identify as transgender. Radical feminism is not the cause of those struggles or the source of that violence but rather advocates for an egalitarian society with maximal freedom without violence.

Read the whole article: Some Basic Propositions About Sex, Gender and Patriarchy. You can also listen to Robert Jensen on RAGE Radio: "Community, Collapse, and Despair", on Derrick Jensen's Resistance Radio, and in the video "Talking Radical in a Mainstream World."

What We Leave Behind audio excerpt

Listen to a few pages of the chapter "Legacy" from What We Leave Behind, the book by Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay. The passage is read by Seymour Lyphe, originally aired on his show RAGE Radio: Resistance Against Global Ecocide.

Security Culture training slides

Here are some role play slides for practicing language we suggest you use in police interaction. These are fun to try out with a friend. Enjoy!

And a flowchart of legal scenarios: