Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap
Boycott the Gap: Gap Campaign 2001!!!
Posted by Mary Bull (chalicenew@earthlink.net)
Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Greetings, Forest Defenders & Social Justice Activists Across the Land!
In lieu of our February newsletter, this Special Edition outlines the key
points of Gap Campaign 2001--the strategy we hammered out at three
intensives last month and from the suggestions of the great activists on
this network--a strategy that is going to WIN for REDWOODS & WORKERS
THIS YEAR--a victory that will be unprecedented for People and Planet over
Corporate Exploitation!!! WE NEED YOU TO HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!
Here are the components of our strategy (we elaborate on them below); choose
the ones that appeal to you, and ACT NOW:
-INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST GAP: Dec 1, 2001!!!
-Regional Months of Action Against Gap: Apr--Nov, SIGN UP NOW!!!
-Volunteer for Outreach: Free CRAP CAP to Winner of March Drive!!!
-Register ALL Your Gap Actions at Gapsucks: Find Out Why!!!
-CRAP Gear for One & All: Email Your Orders Now!!!
-Debunking the Fishers' "Green Label" and the FSC!!!
-Timber Harvest Plan Review & Ground-truthing!!!
-Coalition Building on the Global, State, and Local Levels:
---->Stopping the Free Trade Area of the Americas: JOIN US!!!
---->Demanding Public Power Now in California: JOIN US!!!
---->Stopping Environmental Racism in the Bay Area: JOIN US!!!
---->Calendar Highlights of Upcoming Actions & Events:
-------Feb 20, SF: Stop FTAA General Organizing Meeting!
-------Feb 21, SF: Bay Area Stop FTAA Kick-off Propmaking!
-------Feb 23, SF: ***Stop-FTAA Kick-off / Zapatista Solidarity!!!***
-------Feb 24, SF: ***Mass March and Rally Against Utility Rate Hikes!!!***
-------Feb 26, SF: Campaign for Public Power Organizing Meeting!
-------Mar 1, Oak: ***Demo Against the IES Incinerator!***
-------Mar 2--4, Richmond, VA: Starhawk Teaches Magic and Activism!
-------Mar 3, Fresno: GAP ACTION - Fashion Fair!!!
-------Mar 4, SF: Stop FTAA Teach-in!!!
-------Mar 5, national: Citibank Phone Blockade!
-------Mar 11, SF: Memorial Service for People Who Died Homeless
-------Mar 9, SF: International Women's Day GAP ACTION!!!
-------Mar 16, Palo Alto: Candlelight vigil for the Colombian U'wa people!
-------Mar 20, Berk: Stop FTAA Teach-in!!!
***If you want to cut to the chase on Gap Campaign 2001, just go to our web
site: http://www.gapsucks.org for a sneak preview -- the rest will be there
by March 1!***
At the Heart of our plan is MASSIVE OUTREACH to all the GOOD PEOPLE who
still don't know about the Boycott--a TIDAL WAVE of OUTREACH that will come
CRASHING DOWN on the FISHERS and GAP INC, if they do not make their ravaged
redwood holdings into a wildlife refuge and pay their desperately poor
contract workers a living wage!
Gap Inc is on the skids financially, with profits down 12% from last year
and NO HOPE OF RECOVERY till the holiday shopping season this December. OUR
MANDATE & MESSAGE to the Fishers: GAP INC ***WILL NOT RECOVER*** until you
do right by forest and worker!!!
***NEWS FLASH: Fourteen-year-old Karlen is taking Cincinnati by storm RIGHT
NOW...while Christian is launching the Gap Boycott in Toledo RIGHT NOW...
and seventeen-year-old Jim got Minnesotans to return their purchases to Gap
in 5-degree wind chill and is talking with his Congresspeople about the Gap
RIGHT NOW...and Eric is preparing to instill some environmental awareness in
Gap shoppers in Sheldon, TX, RIGHT NOW: THREE MIGHTY CHEERS for these
DAUNTLESS GAPTIVISTS!!!***
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST GAP: Dec 1, 2001!!!
***************************************************************************
Our entire Campaign this year centers around the ***International Day of
Action Against the Gap*** and the BUILD TO IT! On this day we plan to have
at least one leafleter in front of EVERY Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy
store ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH (about 3000)! It's an ambitious goal, but a
GREAT, FUN one to reach for--and we'll need your help to make it happen!
The date is Saturday, December 1st, 2001, when we will be commemorating the
THIRD ANNIVERSARY of the GAP BOYCOTT and launching Gap Holiday Campaign
2001! On this day, we will tell the Fishers once and for all to make their
forestland a wildlife preserve and pay their workers a living
wage!
***HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN: SIGN UP at our web site http://www.gapsucks.org
for an action--and get every activist or conscientious consumer you know to
leaflet in front of a Gap, Banana Republic, or Old Navy store in your town,
until ALL of them are covered--and then let the MEDIA know what you have in
store and why!!!***
***Our ACTION PACKET --with everything you need to know to leaflet or demo
the Gap-- will be available at the Gapsucks site on March 1!***
Regional Months of Action Against Gap: Apr--Nov, SIGN UP NOW!!!
***************************************************************************
Every month we want to see a different region LIGHT UP with Gap Actions!
Here's the line up:
Apr -- California!
May -- East Coast!
Jun -- Mid-west!
Jul -- Canada & Alaska!
Aug -- Pacific Northwest!
Sep -- UK & Europe!
Oct -- Southwest & Hawaii!
Nov -- Southern States
To achieve this, we plan to do DEEP OUTREACH in each region prior to the
target month. So, from now through March we will be calling every
environmental, human rights, and activist group in every community, college
campus, high school, church, and synagogue throughout the state of
California -- turning them on to the Gap Boycott and getting them to commit
to leafleting and other forms of outreach during the month of April!
Please plan to SIGN UP at www.gapsucks.org for a minimum of two hours of
leafletting during your Month of Action and encourage other concerned people
in your region to do the same! But don't wait for your month to get
started--there's nothing as empowering as leafletting a Gap store, and
turning people on to being consumers with conscience! Be Sure To Register
All Your Gap Actions at http://www.gapsucks.org (see below)!
***Our ACTION PACKET will be available for downloading from our web site on
March 1st. If you need leaflets or other materials, information, or advice
before then, email chalicenew@earthlink.net .***
Volunteer for Outreach: Free CRAP CAP to Winner of March Drive!!!
****************************************************************************
THIS IS WHERE WE NEED YOU MOST!!! Please volunteer to do
outreach--bridgebuilding--to environmental, human rights, and activist
organizations in your communities and beyond: on campuses, at high schools,
churches, and so on.
Let the groups and individuals you contact know about the Regional Months of
Action, the International Day of Action, and why Gap is a great corporate
target for 2001!!! Encourage people to start leafletting NOW and to escalate
the pressure during their Month of Action! Try to get a commitment for THREE
leafletting and/or petition-signature-gathering actions in front of Gap
stores: one ASAP--such as on International Women's Day--March 10 (Lucy
Bailey in Glasgow Scotland is leafletting the Gap on this day!!!) or on
Earth Day in April, one during the Regional Month of Action, and one on the
International Day of Action! And be sure to register all actions at the
gapsucks web site!
***Our OUTREACH PACKET--talking points, fact sheet, and so on--will be
available for downloading on March 1st!***
***MARCH ACTION DRIVE: On March 31, the activist who has gotten the most
organizations and/or individuals to commit to leafletting (or equivalent
action-- e.g., running an ad or article in their local paper or newsletter)
in April will get a FREE CRAP CAP--in addition to the satisfaction of
helping in a major way to save 350 square miles--28 watersheds!--of redwood
forestland and to end sweatshop exploitation (if Gap caves in, the rest will
follow)!!!***
On March 31, email the list of organizations (or individuals), their contact
info, and what they have pledged to do, to chalicenew@earthlink.net . The activist
with the most signed-up for April (or sooner) actions will receive a free
CRAP CAP!
REGISTER ALL Your Gap Actions at Gapsucks: Here's Why!
********************************************************************
You don't need to wait for your Month of Action to leaflet or demo at a Gap,
Banana Republic, or Old Navy store! People are doing Gap actions on their
own ALL THE TIME--we often don't find out about them till long after the
fact! It makes us wonder how many actions have happened that we have never
heard about -- THOUSANDS hopefully!!! But here are two really good reasons
to REGISTER each of your ACTIONS at the gapsucks web site:
-->The Gap Fishers regularly peruse this site and just seeing the scope of
resistance to their exploitative policies in forest and factory will
demoralize them and propel us toward victory!!!
-->Other activists will see what the rest of us are doing and get inspired!
This is how we will BUILD MOMENTUM & WIN!!!
***So, WHENEVER you're planning an action, be sure to register it at
www.gapsucks.org***
CRAP Gear for One & All: Email Your Orders Now!!!
***********************************************************
By popular demand from this network, we are putting a major effort into
making Crap Gear--t-shirts & caps--available for mail-ordering from the
gapsucks web site. People feel that these clothes go a long way toward
communicating to Gap shoppers--especially teens and pre-teens--that shopping
Gap is VERY UNCOOL.
For those of you who don't know what Crap Gear is, check it out at the web
site http://www.gapsucks.org ! This stuff is very popular, and orders will
be processed on a first come, first served basis--so submit your orders now
(chalicenew@earthlink.net or order at the site after March 1). They will not be
available for at least another month, however.
Debunking the Fishers' "Green Label" and the FSC!!!
**********************************************************
At this point, many key forest defense organizers no longer need convincing
that the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an organization that sells "green
labels" to timber companies--including notorious liquidation loggers like
the Gap Fishers and J.D.Irving, Ltd, IS BAD. For us the question now is,
What can we do about it? (We invite others who are still swayed by the
seductive PR of this wolf in sheep's clothing, to visit our web site.)
At our forest strategy sessions these past several weeks, including the
state-wide Forest Strategy Conference last weekend in Mendocino, California,
there was much discussion about the FSC, and whether it can be salvaged and
reformed or whether it must be scrapped altogether.
SRBG has concluded that unless the FSC 1.) adopts hard and fast RULES that
prohibit damaging logging practices (as opposed to loose and
meaningless"guidelines" that allow old-growth logging, herbicide use,
clearcutting, etc.) and include the state of the entire watershed in the
assessment, 2.) includes a PUBLIC OVERSIGHT component in their currently
private and largely secret process, AND, 3.) DISCLOSES the MONEY that has
exchanged hands among the APPLICANT (timber company), the Certifying Groups,
the FSC, and all its member groups (nobody's telling!), REFORM IS
IMPOSSIBLE.
With the help of our advisors, such as Public Media Center, the SRBG
Core Group, Mendocino Core Group, and the activists on this network, we have
devised a Five-Point Plan to debunk the Fisher "certification."
You can help by contacting the misguided, mis-informed, and in some cases
shamelessly pro-corporate environmental organizations that "acknowledged"
the Fisher certification and tell them they made a mistake. Activists on
this network have already withdrawn their membership from these
organizations, such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund, and told them
why. We will have a comprehensive list of these organizations, their contact
info, and a sample letter posted at our web site soon.
Timber Harvest Plan Review & Ground-truthing!!!
******************************************************
Essential to all our work to save the redwood forest from the Fishers of
Gap, Inc, (and other corporate despoilers) are the facts about Fisher
logging and the state of their holdings. All of our activism is based on
fact. These facts are gleaned from reading and analyzing public documents
required by law, such as timber harvest plans, sustained yield plans, and
other documents, and from "ground-truthing." Ground-truthing is re-conning
on foot the timber harvest sites first-hand to determine what it is they are
actually logging and when, where, and how they have violated the law. We
have also witnessed and gathered evidence numerous times by plane, which is
an excellent way to grasp first-hand the degree to which this redwood
forestland has been devastated by overlogging.
To participate in the Mendocino Ground-truthing Project, contact Ed or Terry
at edwin@pacific.net .
***FOUR STARS -- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!***
Coalition Building on the Global, State, and Local Levels!!!
****************************************************************
Campaigns do not function in a vacuum: We recognize the pattern of
exploitation at work in the world, based on the subjugation of the
environment and the people--especially poor people of color. The perps are
Big Money, the Global North, Corporate Capital, which puts the profits of a
relatively few investors above the integrity of the earth and the well-being
of the vast majority of human beings living here. This year, SRBG will not
only continue to work in coalition with other groups, but will broaden and
escalate those efforts. We encourage all the members of this network to work
for the common good, true democracy, an end to racism, and for social and
environmental justice at the global, state, and local levels!!!
Stopping the Free Trade Area of the Americas: JOIN US!!!
*****************************************************************
The Gap is the largest clothing retailer in the US and the second largest in
the world. Donald Fisher helped draft GATT, NAFTA, and WTO trade policy
rules that laid the groundwork for the proliferation of sweatshops
worldwide. On the global level, SRBG protested the WTO in Seattle, the IMF &
World Bank in D.C., and corporate control of public policy at the Democratic
National Convention in L.A. We are currently working to stop the Free Trade
Area of the Americas--a trade agreement being developed in secret without
public or congressional oversight, that is far worse than NAFTA and that
will optimize corporate control of people and natural resources in the
entire western hemisphere! A FREE LOGGING AGREEMENT--that would abolish
tariffs on wood products and thus significantly increase logging--is the
first thing on the agendum, and it must be stopped!
Please check out www.stopftaa.org for information about this agreement and
how you can plug into the growing resistance to it, including MASS PROTESTS
scheduled for April 21 in QUEBEC CITY at the Summit of the Americas, and
along the US/Canada and US/Mexico borders, such as in BUFFALO, New York,
VERMONT, TIJUANA (the US/Mexico border in California), Texas, and so on!!!
This Campaign has a LEGISLATIVE COMPONENT as well at all levels of
government: get your Councilmembers/Supes to pass a resolution against the
FTAA; likewise, at the State level; get your US representatives to take a
stand against this agreement and tell them that you want them to block the
"FAST TRACKing" of this agreement (i.e., you do not want them to turn
congressional authority over this agreement to the Executive Branch!!!).
***In, the Bay Area, Join a Committee! ***
Action: Mike D. 510-834-8129 mfrancisdolan@yahoo.com
Outreach: Stephanie 415-731-4142 wscispes@igc.org
Education: Antonia 415-229-935 ajuhasz@ifg.org
Border Action (US/Tijuana): Mike Madaster@aol.com
Web site: Aaron 415-401-6890 tomas@slac.stanford.edu
***Join the listserve: send email to with the
following command in the body of the message: subscribe stop-ftaa. For more
information, check out www.stopftaa.org ***
(See the Calendar of Events below for upcoming actions in the Bay Area, such
as Feb 23, SF: Bay Area Kickoff Action to Stop the FTAA, 4:30 PM, Market and
2nd Street, outside Dianne Feinstein's office.)
Demanding Public Power Now in California: JOIN US!!!
*************************************************************
In California, the Public's struggle to wrest power generation and
distribution facilities from private enterprise is gaining momentum! This
display of Public Power can be a BEACON to the rest of the country and the
world, as we witness the privatization, commodification, and co-opting of
natural and public resources, such as water, air, earth, power, forests, air
waves, education, parks, services... Please join this campaign!
***To join the thousands who have signed the Pledge Not To Pay the Rate
Hike, click .***
***To join the listserve, send an email to
publicpower-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ***
***To join a Bay Area committee...***
-Events: Todd ChretienTodd@aol.com, 510-595-7675
-Lobbying: Barbara bgwem@igc.org 510-528-5104
-Literature: Brian (acting) bcblknp@pacbell.net, 415-695-7992
-Outreach: George: 650-758-2209, YORGOSVR@aol.com
-MUDS: Richard Knee (CLUB) 415-441-0375
***For general Info call 415-789-8344 or Medea Benjamin at 415-255-7296.***
(See Calendar below for upcoming Bay Area Events!)
Stopping Environmental Racism in the Bay Area: JOIN US!!!
******************************************************************
Members of our network have expressed the desire that we get more actively
involved in stopping environmental racism: Corporations and the State
allowing toxic waste, such as in dump sites and incinerators, to exist in
poor neighborhoods, because they think they can get away with it. In the Bay
Area, the IES medical waste incinerator spewing dioxins in East Oakland, the
Chevron refinery polluting Richmond, the US Navy dump site leaking poisons
in San Francisco's Hunter's Point, the PG&E chemical leakage polluting SF's
Visitation Valley, the open sewage around the maquiladoras (the sweatshops
and factories proliferating along the US/Mexico border), the dumping of
nuclear waste on Native American land--these are all examples of
environmental racism.
There are several groups in the Bay Area working to stop this--including
community-based activists groups in Richmond and Hunter's Point. Greenaction
is taking a lead in stopping the IES incinerator in Oakland. For more
information about this campaign, check out <
http://www.greenaction.org/pueblo/pr112200.shtml >
TAKE ACTION: Email or write Ellen Garvey, Air Pollution Control Officer of
the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and ask her to deny the Title
V Clean Air Act permit for IES. Email: egarvey@baaqmd.gov
Sample Email to Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Ellen Garvey
Air Pollution Control Officer
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
939 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
Dear Ms. Garvey,
The USEPA has confirmed that dioxin causes cancer in humans and is more
toxic than previously thought. The Air District continues to allow the IES
incinerators to emit dioxin and mercury into our air. I demand that the Air
District deny IES a new Title V Clean Air Act permit for these incinerators
due to continued violations of their current permits - and violations of
environmental justice. Please notify me in writing of any and all
opportunities for public comment on IES.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Street Address, Town/City, and Zip Code
(see below for upcoming demo!!!)
Calendar Highlights of Upcoming Bay Area Actions and Events
*********************************************************************
-Tues, Feb 20, SF: Stop FTAA General Organizing Meeting! 6:30 PM--9 PM.
Centro Del Pueblo auditorium. 474 Valencia at 16th Street. 45 organizers at
our last meeting--and growing! Come--get energized!!! Near Mission & 16th
BART. (These meetings happen every other Tuesday, same time, same place!
JOIN US!!!)
-Weds, Feb 21, SF: Final prop-making/program development session for the Bay
Area Stop FTAA kick-off action Feb 23 (see below). We Need Your Creative
Energy!!! 6--10 PM. Redstone Building, 16th and Capp. Near Mission & 16th
BART
-Fri, Feb 23, SF: ***Stop-FTAA Kick-off / Zapatista Solidarity!!!!***Join
the Bay Area Coalition to Stop the FTAA and SF Zapatista Committee in the
kick-off of the Bay Area mobilization to stop the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA). This event will include putting our elected officials on
notice--delegates from the Coalition will meet with aides in Feinstein's
office from 4:30--5:30, while we dance, drum, make music, engage in street
theater with puppets, and perform spoken word in the street outside! The
action will be capped by a lively and colorful procession/corporate tour of
shame along Market Street to the Flood Building at Powell, home of the
Mexican Consulate, where we will celebrate our solidarity with the heroic
Zapatistas who will be marching on Mexico City on Feb 25. 4:30: Market and
Post (2nd St), outside Senator Feinstein's office (near Montgomery Street
BART). 5:30: Procession. More info: www.stopftaa.org 415-731-7924
chalicenew@earthlink.net
-Sat, Feb 24, SF: Mass March and Rally Against Utility Rate Hikes! Join the
Campaign for Public Power Now--a broad coalition of rate payers, community
groups, and concerned citizens--in a display of public power! Our message:
No PG&E Bail Out! No Rate Hikes! No Layoffs! Public Power Now! Assemble at
12 noon, Mission and 16th BART station plaza, San Francisco, for speeches
and street theater; then march to the 21st Street PG&E Payment Station to
say, "No to Rate Hikes!" Then on to Dolores Park for music, dance, food, and
a celebration of clean, affordable, public power for the people!
-Mon, Feb. 26, SF: Campaign for Public Power Now - General Organizing
Meeting! 7 PM, City Blend Cafe on 16th Street between Valencia and Mission.
Call to confirm place and time: 415-789-8344.
-Thurs, March 1, Oak. DEMO Against the IES Incinerator! 5:30 PM 499 High
Street, Oakland. a 15 minute walk from Fruitvale BART.
-Mar 2--4, Richmond, VA: Starhawk will be teaching magic and activism in and
around Richmond. Contact Yarrow yarrow@egg-in-the-hollow.com 804.355.5135
for details!
-Sat, Mar 3, Fresno: Meet at Fashion Fair at 12 noon for leafletting! Contact Mike Rhodes, Labor/Community Alliance (559) 233-3978 clr2@igc.org http://www.fresnoalliance.com/home/
-Sun, Mar 4, SF: Stop FTAA Teach-in!!! Theater, Speakers, Interactive
Break-out Sessions! Learn what the corporate raiders have in store for
North, Central and South America, Canada and the Caribbean--and what you can
do about it! 3--5 PM. Cell Space at 2050 Bryant Street near 19th Street
Brisk walk from Mission & 16th BART. For more information contact Dorrit
Geshuri (415) 504-8254 or visit www.stopftaa.org.
-Mon Mar 5, national: Citibank Phone Blockade. Call Citibank stockbrokers
Salomon Smith Barney at 1-800-284-1575. Insist on speaking to a stock
broker, ask for information about investments, and stay on the phone for 15
minutes. Our goal is to have 500 Volunteers call Salomon Smith Barney from
6:30 a.m. in the morning until 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon Monday through
Friday when the stock market is open and they are busy trading.That will
give Salomon Smith Barney an extra $20,000 dollar a day phone bill. It will
begin to tie up the 40 to 50 stockbrokers at the firm. And it will begin to
cut off investors and disrupt trading. More info or to sign on: Marc Keyser
916-429-1212 Marc-Keyser@2xtreme.net www.citibanksucks.org
-Fri, Mar 9, SF: International Women's Day -- Gap Action!!! Meet at Montgomery and Second Street. 5 PM. More info: 510-434-1304
-Sun, Mar 11. Religious Witness' Memorial Service for People Who Died
Homeless in San Francisco. 3 PM. Civic Center Plaza.
-Fri, Mar 16, Palo Alto: Candlelight vigil for the Colombian U'wa people,
outside of Fidelity Investments on University Ave in Palo Alto. 4 PM--8
PM.More info: (650) 854-2686
-Tues, Mar 20, Berk: Stop FTAA Teach-in!!! Theater, Speakers, Interactive
Break-out Sessions! Learn what the corporate raiders have in store for
North, Central and South America, Canada and the Caribbean--and what you can
do about it! 7 PM --10:30 PM. La Peņa Cultural Center at 3105 Shattuck
Avenue. Near Ashby BART. For more information contact Dorrit Geshuri (415)
504-8254 or visit www.stopftaa.org.
______________________________________
***Let's WIN for REDWOODS and WORKERS in 2001!!!***
***SIGN UP for a leafleting action!!!***
***VOLUNTEER to do outreach!!!***
Cheers and many thanks!
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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