Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap
Boycott the Gap: WE ARE SO CLOSE!!!!!
Posted by Mary Bull (chalicenew@earthlink.net)
Wednesday, November 1, 2000
Forest Defenders and Social Justice Activists Around the Globe!
We are SO CLOSE to achieving our goals of seeing 350 square miles of ravaged
redwood forestland protected in a CONSERVATION LAND TRUST and of seeing
thousands of desperately poor sweatshop workers paid a LIVING WAGE!!!
Gap stock prices have been plummeting -- down 50% since April -- and
September same-store sales were down an average 8% from last year
(double-digit decrease for Old Navy). Many people are saying that it's the
Boycott--even the Fishers: From our inside sources, we have heard that the
Fishers themselves have admitted that the Boycott is affecting profits. Most
recently the Fishers and Gap Inc have felt the impact of our New York Times
ads (prompting Don Fisher to write a greenwashing letter to all Gap Inc
employees) and the heroic 19-day, 24x7 Vigil at Gap HQ in SF. Indeed, a few
weeks ago some Fisher go-betweens informally sounded us out about the
forestland: First they said that the Fishers were threatening to sell the
land, if we didn't stop; then they asked, "What will you settle for--what
percent subdivisions versus land trust?" Yes, they were that blatant; YES,
WE ARE THAT CLOSE!
If we ESCALATE NOW -- if we bring MAXIMUM PRESSURE to bear on Gap Inc
THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, we believe we will achieve our goals of a conservation
land trust and a living wage!!! It will be an UNPRECEDENTED VICTORY for
People and Planet Over Corporate Exploitation -- and it will be a profound
WAKE-UP CALL to all the other Corporate Exploiters! To this end, we plan to
run a THIRD AD in the NEW YORK TIMES, we are putting on a great
BUY-NOTHING-DAY GAP demo in San Francisco, and we are calling on
EVERYONE on our network to participate in solidarity actions - GREAT OR
SMALL-- from Nov thru Jan: Our goal, 100 SOLIDARITY ACTIONS (Already there
are actions planned for Houston, North Carolina, & Santa Barbara!!! Won't
you join us???)
***TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE THIS VICTORY HAPPEN!!!***
In this newsletter, call to action, and calendar of events:
-TARGET THE GAP ON BUY NOTHING DAY(11/24)!!!
-NY Times AD THREE: Call for Donations!!!
-SIERRA CLUB Canada BLASTS Forest Stewardship Council!
-Report: Fisher Deforestation of Willow Creek (1 of 28 Watersheds)!
-Calendar of Bay Area and National Actions & Events:
----Nov 1, SF: GORE meets Enviros on Marina Green 2PM Today!
----Nov 2-18, SF: Meet John WTO -- a play by Dan McHale!
----Nov 3-5, Berk: STARC Regional Conf: Great Activist Trainings!
----Nov 4, SF: Reclaiming's SPIRAL DANCE!!!
----Nov 4, Santa Barbara: Gap Action!
----Nov 7, SF: Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) Demo at HQs!
----Nov 8, Berk: EF! Benefit for Yuba Nation 9 with Utah Philips!
----Nov 11, SF: Stop the Privatization of Health Care: Teach-in!
----Nov 15, Nat'l: Day of Action Against Staples Office Supply!!!
--->URGENT: Email USPTO No Genetic Patents on Basmati Rice!!!
--->Ongoing: Endorse International Right to Know Campaign
--->Shop Green/Fair-Trade this Holiday Season: SOURCES!
TARGET THE GAP ON BUY NOTHING DAY(Nov 24)!!!
**************************************************************
When we kicked off the Gap Boycott on Buy Nothing Day, November 26, 1998,
there were solidarity actions in over 40 cities across the US, including
Alaska and Hawaii. Since then, we've had Gap actions as far away as
Amsterdam, and our UK network has been growing! This year, with victory so
close at hand, we'd like an even bigger SHOW OF FORCE: 100 Solidarity
Actions this holiday season, great or small! Already, activists are
committing!
Here in the Bay Area, many of the activists participating in the various Gap
Campaigns--Save the Redwoods - Boycott the Gap, the Gap Sweatshop Campaign
(Global Exchange, et al), the Gap Vigil (STARC, et al)--intend to demo
against Gap BIG TIME on Buy Nothing Day!!! Here's our proposal:
A really FUN, Cristo-type "Landscape" Gap action involving a GIGANTIC
CLOTHESLINE (perhaps a third of a mile or longer!) that activists
ceremoniously unfurl and run through the City, say, around UNION SQUARE,
from FLAGSHIP to FLAGSHIP, or from GAP FLAGSHIP to GAP HQ. Pinned on the
clothesline are GAP CLOTHES (or lookalikes, from the Good Will or wherever)
with LETTERS drawn or painted on them spelling out messages, such as STOP
GAP SWEATSHOPS!, SAVE REDWOODS!, BOYCOTT GAP!, etc., or entire
messages on a single item, such as a T-shirt, giving facts about Gap
sweatshops or deforestation. We can hang other items from the clothesline as
well--pictures of sewing machines, redwood trees, whatever we like! Of
course, follow up leafletting and one-on-one with shoppers is all
important!!! (We got so many people to return their purchases in years
past!)
JOIN US for this VISUALLY SPECTACULAR, FUN, & POWERFUL ACTION! Start
collecting used clothes for it NOW (Scott recommends garage sales at the end
of the day as a good source for free clothes -- or thrift stores for
rejects!) Contact chalicenew@earthlink.net 415 731-7924 to participate and drop off
clothes!!!
Other Solidarity Gap Actions thus far:
-Houston, TX. November 24, Buy Nothing Day. Contact David Hartland
houstongapprotest@earthdome.com 281-880-8802
-Santa Barbara, CA. November 4. Contact Scott Courts scourts@earthlink.net
805-898-9450
-Ashville & Raleigh, NC. Date TBA. Contact Olya Milenkaya email:
porcupine_olya@yahoo.com, omilenka@warren-wilson.edu phone: (828) 771-3930
Please let us know what SOLIDARITY GAP ACTION **you** plan between now and
the end of January (post holiday sales are huge money-makers for retailers)
and we will post them at http://www.gapsucks.org !
NY Times AD THREE: Call for Donations!!!
***********************************************
Our two New York Times ads (Aug 15 & Sep 18) have been extremely effective
at promoting the Gap Boycott and bringing Public Pressure to bear on the Gap
Fishers' Deforestation of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties--with many thanks to
Public Media Center, the brilliant and committed non-profit ad agency, who
is donating their services to this cause!!! (The ad will be posted at our
web site soon; email me for an advance copy).
We received twice the response from the second ad as we did from the first.
And ALL of us feel that the THIRD AD will be PIVOTAL in achieving our goal
of seeing these vastly depleted forestlands turned into a critically needed
fish and wildlife refuge!!!
Members of the SRBG network and the Greenwood Watershed Association paid for
the ad space in the New York Times Western Regional Edition and hard costs
of the first ad. The foundation of a great environmentalist, who prefers to
remain anonymous at this time, paid these costs for the second ad. We are
currently extremely FINANCIALLY DEPLETED from our recent VICTORIOUS LAWSUITS
against the Fishers of Gap, Inc. and the CA Dept of Forestry, so, this time,
we are asking MEMBERS AT LARGE of this network to please DONATE ANYTHING you
can toward the third ad!
ESPECIALLY if you CANNOT PARTICIPATE in a HOLIDAY
GAP ACTION, CONSIDER SENDING a tax-deductible DONATION!!!
Please make checks payable to the Greenwood Watershed Association and send
them to 252 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. THANK YOU!!!
Debunking the FSC Part One: Sierra Club Canada Blasts FSC!
**********************************************************************
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, the Gap Fishers once again applied
for Forest Stewardship Council certification this summer. The jury is still
out--but we fear that the Fishers have probably succeeded in buying a green
label this time around...
There is no question that these utterly depleted forestlands can no longer
be logged sustainably, let alone withstand the Fishers' 40,000,000 boardfoot
annual cut or their preferred methods of "silviculture": Clearcutting--80%
of their 200 plans contain all or partial clearcutting, including 75
"traditional" clearcuts (100% tree removal); Highgrading--taking the very
last pockets of big trees; Herbicide application; Old growth logging (only 4
Marbled Murrelets left in Mendocino County because their old-growth habitat
is almost all gone), and so on. (Email me for the most recent Fisher
Logging Fact Sheet.)
So, we will begin our examination of both the effectiveness and the
integrity of the Forest Stewardship Council by directing you to the
following URLs of SIERRA CLUB CANADA press releases: One expressing their
SERIOUS DOUBTS about FSC certification, and the other, a BLISTERING ATTACK
of Scientific Certification Systems in the matter of their certification of
J.D. Irving, Ltd, liquidation loggers whose methods are very similar to the
Gap Fishers. Scientific Certification Systems is the FSC for-profit company
currently in the process of certifying the Gap Fishers.
http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/media/fsc-cert-concerns-00-01-21.html
http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/media/appeal-jdi-se98.htm
In upcoming newsletters we will examine various aspects of the private
certification process and the FSC, including its corporate ties, and explain
why it is our conviction that private certification is absolutely no
substitute for public accountability and the public process!
Report From Sonoma: Further Ravaging of Willow Creek!
***************************************************************
From Pieter Myers of the Western Watershed Alliance:
Further abuse (read "rape") of Willow Creek by Gap-funded indirectly
through the Fishers Mendocino Redwood Company continues unabated and few
people know about it. You'd think that it would be hard to hide 5,000 acres
in Sonoma County. Few people know about this beautiful watershed because it
is accessed only by the marginally-maintained Willow Creek Road. And
perhaps MRC doesn't want you to know what's going on there, as they have put
up a "road closed" sign. But Willow Creek Road is a county road and it is
open, and now would be a good time to take a drive down there to see what is
happening to what almost everyone agrees should be a State Park.
Calif. Dept. of Forestry continues to approve timber harvest plans in Willow
Creek even though it is listed by the Clean Water Act as "impaired by
sediment." Coho salmon and steelhead have virtually disappeared from Willow
Creek due to the effects of 12 timber harvest plans in the past ten years.
MRC has acknowledged that their operations will add to and increase sediment
load in the creek. This is in direct violation to the Endangered Species
Act which states that you may not add impact to an already impaired
ecosystem. And guess what? MRC has been operating for three weeks without
approval of their 1603 Fish & Game stream-crossing application. All this
from a company that has just re-applied for "Green Label" certification from
the Forest Stewardship Council!
If Sandy Dean President of Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC), the company
that manages the Fishers' logging investment and MRC were really interested
in being good stewards of this watershed, they wouldn't conduct timber
operations there until they came up with a plan to restore the integrity of
the creek. But why bother with all that? The really right thing to do,
Sandy, would be to sell your property to the State Park. The money is there
and you know it!
Sincerely, Pieter S. Myers, Western Watershed Alliance P.O. Box 190,
Occidental, CA 95465. Sept. 3, 2000
Calendar of Bay Area and National Actions & Events!
************************************************************
Nov 2-18, SF: Meet John WTO, a play by Dan McHale
************************************************************
Nov 2--18 (Thur, Fri, Sat), 8pm, Noh Space, 2840 Mariposa Street, SF. What
made San Francisco local Dan McHale, mild-mannered liberal, an animator of
KFC's cartoon Colonel, go and link arms in a human barricade in front of the
Seattle Convention Center? The three week run of Dan's solo show anticipates
the November 30 anniversary of the "Battle of Seattle", historic convergence
of environmental, labor, and human rights activists against the World Trade
Organization. Tickets $9--$15. (No activist turned away for lack of funds.)
Reservations (415) 621-7978.
Nov 3--5, Berk: STARC Regional Gathering!
*************************************************
Nov 3--5. UC Berkeley Labor Center, 2521 Channing Street. Who Owns America:
The Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression STARC West Coast Regional Gathering!
Trainings on facilitation, consensus, organizing, and issues of oppression
and racism in America. Facilitated conversations aimed at identifying racism
and oppression and building solutions. Workshops on resisting corporate
power, transforming corporations, and challenging corporate globalization.
Developing a backbone for STARC on the West Coast. Attendees of all ages,
cultures, and races are encouraged to attend. "This weekend is going to be
amazing!" --Jonah Zern, founding member of Student Alliance for Corporate
Reform.
Registration: $10 (Paying more or less is OK). Most meals will be provided,
transportation scholarships available. Register until 7PM on Friday. To
register in advance or for more info, including complete line up of events
and workshops, contact baystarc@gofairtrade.net 510.869.2538 or
http://www.corpreform.org or http://www.omix.com/~mqduck/starc/
Nov 4, SF: Reclaiming's Spiral Dance!!!
*******************************************
Nov 4, 7PM, Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, SF. Witches New Year -
Spiral Dance 2000 - Samhain (pr. Sah win). A Ritual to honor our beloved
dead and dance the Spiral of rebirth. Come early to view the altars. A
Benefit for the Reclaiming Community, $16 to $50 sliding scale. Wheelchair
accessible. About the Ritual: Reclaiming events are clean and sober- No
Alcohol or Drugs please. Bring a pillow to sit on. Children are welcome at
the ritual, however there will be no childcare available. To Volunteer
please call 415-789-7674. We need altar builders, graces (ritual ushers),
dragons (ritual security). Tickets are available at Festival Pavilion on the
day of the ritual after 2pm. www.reclaiming.org for more info.
Nov 4, Santa Barbara: Gap Action!
***************************************
Nov 4. Those Santa Barbara Gaptivists are at it again! Contact Scott for
details and be part of this fun and empowering Gap action!
scourts@earthlink.net 805-898-9450. (See Scott's report of the Oct 8 SB Gap
Action under Gap Vigil at http://www.gapsucks.org
Nov 7, SF: Billionaires for Bush (or Gore) Demo at HQs!
**************************************************************
Nov 7, poll-closing time (7--8 PM?). Gore HQ, 479 10th at Harrison/Bryant,
SF. Dear Billionaires by the Bay: You are invited to celebrate our
Buy-Partisan success. (We pay for the free elections so you don't have to.)
Whoever "wins," we've already won! 33 more American Persons of at least 1000
million dollars this year- we are almost 300 $trong, & we own as much as the
Gross National Product of Great Britain! On Nov. 7, around poll-closing
time, we will gather, proper attire only, please, with champagne, at Gore HQ
(479 10th at Harrison/Bryant) & maybe move to Bush Victory 2000 HQ (1100
Taraval & 21st Ave.), ending up at Nader HQ (680 Valencia at 18th). We may
hand out cash & coupon/thank you cards to those whose votes we bought, with
appropriate signage- "Why Marry a Multi-Millionaire when you can Buy a
President?","Tinkle-Down Economics Works (for us)," "Corporations are
People, Too," "Three Political Parties is Two Too Many," "Billionaires for
Closed Debates," or whatever you can think up.... (many ideas, chants,
clothing tips at billionairesforbushorgore.com) At Ralph's, we can gloat.
If interested - whether in brainstorming, planning, or just showing up; or
in a counter-protest for Buy Nothing Day, Nov. 24- "Buy More, Think Less,"
"Off of the Streets & into the Stores;" or in future events, call
510.893.5726.
Nov 8, Berk: EF! Benefit for Yuba Nation 9 with Utah Philips!
******************************************************************
Nov 8, 7PM, Unitarian Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar at Bonita, Berkeley
(No.Berkeley BART). Earth First! presents a special appearance by UTAH
PHILLIPS in a benefit for the YUBA NATION NINE. Joining Utah will be
Northcoast singer songwriter ALICIA LITTLETREE and activists from the
campaign against Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) clearcutting in the Sierra
Nevada. Activists from this campaign, dubbed the Yuba Nation Nine, are
going on trial Nov. 14 on charges stemming from blockades, lockdowns and
other forest defense, and face up to a year in prison. This is an issue
especially dear to Utah's heart because SPI's clearcutting, and the direct
action forest defense are going on in his backyard, and these are his
neighbors. Join us for a rollicking evening! Sliding scale admission. More
Info: 510-524-6064.
Nov 11, SF: Stop the Privatization of Health Care: Teach-in!
******************************************************************
Nov 11, 10:00AM--1:00PM. Women's Building (Audre Lorde Room), 3543 18th
Street, between Valencia and Guerrero, SF (16th St. BART). When corporations
own and control healthcare services, patients, communities and health
workers pay the price!!! Come to the CISPES/CHRIA's teach-in on health care
privatization to stimulate discussion on how labor and community based
groups can effectively confront health care privatization, drawing on
concrete lessons from here and in El Salvador, as well as on building global
networks to confront corporate globalization in the health care arena.
Panelists include the following: Martha Elena de Rodríguez, Member of
STISSS, Union of Public Healthcare workers; Mayor of Soyapango, El Salvador;
Amilcar Mayen Program Director, Dolores Street Community Services; Jackie
Gough, R.N., Nurse activist and Labor Representative for California Nurses
Association, who worked with R.N.s at UCSF against the UC-Stanford merger;
Sheila Tully CHRIA member and activist. (English/Spanish translation will be
provided)
Sponsored by Committee for Health Rights in the Americas (CHRIA) (415)
431-7760 and Bay Area CISPES, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador (415) 648-8222. Endorsed by San Francisco LCLAA (Labor Council for
Latin American Advancement) and the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO as
part of the CISPES-LCLAA Cross-Border Labor Solidarity Project.
Nov 15, Nat'l: Day of Action Against Staples Office Supply!
****************************************************************
Call to action from Liz Butler, Coastal Rainforest Coalition:
Join the Coastal Rainforest Coalition, the Dogwood Alliance, Free the
Planet, the National Forest Protection Alliance, SEAC, Rainforest Action
Network, American Lands, Earth First, and others on November 15, 00 for the
launch of the Office supply campaign targeting Staples! (Do not know if
anyone' is bottomlining an action in the Bay Area--?!)
Coming after the recent successes in moving the do-it-yourself and home
building industries campaigns that forced companies to adopt forest friendly
purchasing policies, we now want to target the office supply industry for
their egregious use of our endangered forests for paper and throw away
supplies. Corporate consumers of forest products are on the defensive, and
their commitments to forest protection only further our legislative work to
protect forests. Paper is clearly one of worst uses of our forests, and the
industry must shift to all recycled and tree-free fibers immediately! As
the nation's largest office supply store, Staple's needs to hear from the
public that it is no longer acceptable to sell products made from virgin
tree pulp.
Please join us in a Day of Action against the Office Supply Industry.
Activists are encouraged to hold demonstrations at Staple's stores, engage
in civil disobedience, host a call-in or fax-in day, set up a letter
writing tables, and alert the media. Contact Liz Butler, Coastal Rainforest
Coalition, liz@coastalrainforest.org, 206.781.1107.
URGENT: Email USPTO No Genetic Patents on Basmati Rice!!!!!
************************************************************************
> Rice Tec, a company in Alvin Texas, was granted a patent on Basmati rice,
> which has been cultivated and developed for centuries in India.
> More info: www.RAFI.org www.iatp.org www.wtowatch.org
>
> The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has until November 8th to reconsider
> it's decision to grant a patent to Rice Tec on Basmati rice. Vandana Shiva
> has asked that we call and fax them using the information in the statement
> below. Please vary the statement if you want. Pass this notice to others
> who might be interested in helping. This is our last opportunity to get
> our government to change it's mind!
>
> To: The Patent Examiners, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Ref:
> Cancellation of Rice Tec's Basmati Patent number 5,663,484
>
> Email john.doll@uspto.gov, ph: 703 - 308-1123 fax: 703 308-2742
> Email paula.hutzell@uspto.gov, ph: 703 - 308-4310 fax 703 308-2742
> Email melissa.Kimball@uspto.gov, ph: 703- 305-6999 fax 703 305-3592
>
> The Basmati Patent is a blatant case of Biopiracy - the pirating
> and patenting of genetic material, biological resources and indigenous
> innovation of Third World countries.
> The evidence provided by India in the re examination of the patent
> '484' shows that not only the grain, but the seeds and plants which
> produce the grain have been bred and cultivated over centuries in India
> and Pakistan. India has freely shared the seeds with gene banks and
> breeders across the world including the Americas.
> RiceTec has withdrawn claims 4, and 15-17 related to the Basmati
> grain. In light of the evidence provided by India which was not available
> to you when the patent was granted, we call on you as patent examiner to
> cancel all claims 1 - 20 in the Basmati case. What is at stake are the
> rights of millions of families in Asia and the Americas, the biological
> and intellectual heritage of the Indian people and the integrity of the
> U.S.P.T.O.
> If the U.S.P.T.O. does not strike down the whole of the RiceTec
> patent, it will lose its credibility as an institution for identifying and
> rewarding genuine inventiveness and novelty and will acquire a reputation
> as protector of Biopirates like RiceTec. Thanking you for your careful
> reconsideration of the Basmati Patent.
Hold Corps Accountable/Endorse Internat'l Right to Know Campaign
***************************************************************************
Call for organizational endorsements from Antonia Juhasz, American Lands:
Let's show them what we are for. Together with the AFL-CIO, Amnesty
International, Friends of the Earth, and several other organizations,
American Lands has helped to create model legislation for holding U.S.
Corporations accountable for their activities overseas. Many of us have
spent the last year fighting off the Global Free Logging Agreement at the
World Trade Organization, defending forests from the policies of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and looking towards the
potential forest destruction of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Now it's time to tell the world (and the U.S. Congress) what we are
for. Rather than chasing corporations from trade venue to trade venue,
this legislation would make corporations tell us exactly what they are
doing when the operate abroad so that we can work with our partners
around the world to rein in destructive corporate behavior.
For an outline of this proposal or more information please contact David
Waskow at Friends of the Earth at mailto:dwaskow@foe.org or (202) 783-7400
x108.
Shop Green and Fair Trade this Holiday Season: SOURCES!!!
*********************************************************************
Instead of Shopping Gap for holiday gifts, suggest to the shoppers you
leaflet that they try activist Dean Walker's PANTY PARLOUR for socially and
environmentally responsible undergarments! (15% DISCOUNT TO GAPTIVISTS!)
Call for a tree-free catalog 415-482-6155 or visit their website
www.PantyParlour.com or boutique at 927A Lincoln and Fourth Street - 2nd
flr, San Rafael, CA.
There's also the CO-OP AMERICA GREEN PAGES www.coopamerica.org,
REAL GOODS, GLOBAL EXCHANGE www.globalexchange.org, and
PATAGONIA for thousands of people and planet-friendly items!***
_____________________________________________________
We're at THE CRITICAL JUNCTURE for saving these forests!
TOGETHER WE CAN DO IT!!!
Cheers and Solidarity!
Mary Bull
Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
chalicenew@earthlink.net 415-731-7924 http://www.gapsucks.org
_________________________________________
Other Contacts/Information Sources:
----------------------------
Mary Pjerrou, Redwood Coast Watersheds Alliance
707-877-3405 pirohuck@mcn.org www.elksoft.com/gwa
----------------------------
Mark Hilovsky, Builders Action Network
415-550-6850 mhilo@aol.com
----------------------------
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
510-835-6303 Listserve listproc@envirolink.org
(message text = Subscribe BACHlist,
followed by email address, then name)
----------------------------
Info on Gap Sweatshops:
http://www.globalexchange.org
leila@globalexchange.org
"God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there..."
FOR REDWOODS AND WORKERS:
BOYCOTT THE GAP, BANANA REPUBLIC, & OLD NAVY!!!
For questions and comments please e-mail us!
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