Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap
Boycott-the-Gap Quickie: Campaign Update + Invitation to Join Anti-War Network!
Posted by Mary Bull (chalicenew@earthlink.net)
Friday, February 21, 2003
Greetings, Earth Defenders & Social Justice Activists Around the Globe!!!
As many of you have noticed, we still have not gotten out the quarterly
newsletter--it's coming, delayed primarily by the mobilization to stop the
war against Iraq, which has been awesome!!! 2002 was a knock-out year of Gap
Campaign Activism, with TWO CROSS-COUNTRY ROADSHOWS, a major action at the
G8 Summit in Calgary, dazzling media coverage, among many other highlights
(full report is coming, along with updates and calls-to-action on critical
related campaigns, such as Earth First! in Humboldt & Jackson State Forest in
Mendo)! Meanwhile, we have been working hard on a number of fronts to stop
Gap/Fisher abuses!!! Here's a quick update--and a special invitation to Northern
Californians to join our anti-war affinity group & direct action network (plus antiwar organizing sources for people in other regions):
--CHALLENGING THE FISHERS' BRIGHT GREEN SMILEY FACE!!!
We are working on a challenge to the Fishers' Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC) certification, and have made strong allies in the process, including:
GREENPEACE and RAINFOREST FOUNDATION-UK (the kick-ass non-profit
funded by rock star Sting that put out a 156-page expose on the FSC last Nov:
Download this awesome report, which gives you a crash course in the state
of the Earth's forests and the FSC's massive certification failures, including evidence that the FSC's certification consultants often facilitate forest destruction, rather than preventing it, and ignore and undermine the work of grass roots groups, just as they have done here in California: http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org).
--STOPPING THE LICENSE TO KILL!!! We have launched a letter-writing campaign
to stop the federal and state governments from issuing a License to Kill
Endangered Species (the Reagan-era exemption to the Endangered Species Act)
to the Fishers, who formally applied for one on June 6, 2002, but had been
negotiating with the agencies before they had even bought their phony green
label (such Good Stewards!). If you haven't used our automated
letter-writing facility, go to our home page http://www.gapsucks.org and do so!!! It's easy!!! Also, AWESOME MENDOCINO ACTIVISTS, such as Mary Pjerrou and Linda Perkins, have been making public comment deadlines in this process, so that our right to sue the government will be protected!!!
--BUMPER STICKERS-Gap Campaign Outreach!!! Bay Area Core Group activists
Chad and Nick are going on a 12-city, cross-country tour with the rock group
PHISH starting next week. They will be leafletting, petition circulating,
and distributing BUMPER STICKERS for the Gap Boycott Campaign at each
stop!!! WHOOPEE!!!! And many, many thanks to Chad and Nick for
volunteering!!! We are targeting APRIL 2003--EARTH MONTH for a big push to
get the word out about boycotting Gap. If you are up for TABLING,
distributing bumper stickers, petition gathering, or leafletting, please let
us know!!! We can get you everything you need!!!
****NEWS FLASH: Last fall, AP reported that Indonesian sweatshop workers
called for an international boycott of the Gap!!! Contact me for details!!!****
--UPCOMING DEMOS!!! We are planning Bay Area demos in the spring to coincide
with the formal kick-off of our challenge to the FSC certification, and
various milestones in the License-to-Kill process. We plan to do special
songs and skits mocking the Greenwashing process, exposing the lie of the
Fishers' green label, and the critical flaws of the Forest Stewardship
Council!!!Turn-out will be critical--we'll keep you posted!!!
--LOGGING LAWSUITS!!! We were in Court this week fighting three new Fisher
timber harvest plans (THPs) that defy court rulings won in February 2000
(all of the Fisher THPs defy these rulings, but the way the courts/public
process is stacked against the public, we can only file suit on a limited
number, alas!) The awesome teamwork that went into challenging these THPs,
from Watershed to Courtroom was amazing to behold!!! Outcome is
pending. By the way, the plans state that the areas are dominated by
hardwoods and that the purpose of the plans is to thin these hardwoods
(non-commercial tanoak and manzanita) so that conifers (commercial redwood
and Doug fir) can grow. Why then are they logging so many conifers?
Four local residents, who have observed the logging plans, say the
areas are not hardwood dominated. The purpose of the cut is to take
90% of the mature (2--4.5 feet in diameter) second-growth and scattered
old growth conifers (they found two over 200 years old)--the usual lies, but
now with a big bright green FSC smiley face on them!
--WE WON THE WATER WAR!!! Yes, thanks to awesome solidarity, Mendocino
County activists and residents and the state legislature heaped on the
pressure to stop the corporate water grab from the Gualala and Albion
Rivers!!! People and Planet Triumphed--at least temporarily--Over the Greedy
and Unscrupulous! Alaska Water Exports withdrew their application to take
"excess water" from these rivers and sell it for profit elsewhere. The
VICTORY PARTY was Sunday, Feb 9, in ELK, Mendocino County (Hwy 1, 4
miles south of Hwy 128), at the Community Center, starting at 2 PM and going
into the evening, with food, music, etc.
--WE WON ROUND ONE of our CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT!!! Nine activists were
arrested at a momentous Board of Forestry hearing March 14, 2000. A civil
rights class-action lawsuit against the Sacramento County Jail ensued as a
result of our incarceration. In December, to spectacular media coverage, a
superior court judge ruled strongly in our favor: no more illegal strip
searches at the Sacramento County Jail!!! This will potentially cost the
Sheriff's Department MILLIONS --tens of thousands of people have been
humiliated, their rights and dignity trampled, by the oppressors at this
infamous jail-house (each is entitled to at least $1000 in damages). Our
suit has been a resounding wake-up call to these arrogant would-be SS
officers, who think they are above the law, routinely treating detainees
with harrowing cruelty and contempt.
--CLONING REDWOOD TREES IN NEW ZEALAND!!! The Fishers' latest
gig in the logging field... According to their partner in this venture, Soper-Wheeler, the NZ government views property rights "the way we did 50 years ago" (i.e., no environmental regulation). Sopper-Wheeler says they are "fed up with
protracted environmental battles over logging North Coast redwoods."
The Fisher spokesman, head forester Mike Jani, agrees that Soper-Wheeler's
concerns about environmental regulation are legitimate. He says, "We, too,
know it isn't going to get easier to grow and harvest redwoods in Northern California." So they're experimenting with cloned redwoods, choosing among the best tree attributes, and growing them in New Zealand. (Redwoods are not native
to New Zealand). (Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 2/8/03)
--INVITATION TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIANS TO JOIN OUR ANTI-WAR
AFFINITY GROUP & DIRECT ACTION NETWORK!!!! To all others: Please
check out http://www.unitedforpeace.org or http://www.codepink4peace.org
for peace actions nearest you--FEBRUARY 15 (2/16 in San Francisco) is the
next mass march and rally to stop the war against Iraq!!!
Bay Area & North Coast Activists:
Please join the Mourning Mothers affinity group (see description below)--or
form an affinity group of your own, and join Direct Action to Stop the War,
a Bay Area direct-action anti-war network launched in early October. This network has grown by leaps and bounds since then, and we have put on some stunning actions, which have helped to foment the spectacular groundswell of public opinion against this war!!! To find out more about the network, meeting schedule, upcoming actions, and to get on the listserve, go to http://www.actagainstwar.org
Members of the Boycott-the-Gap Campaign, along with a variety of other Bay
Area peace activists, recently formed the Mourning Mothers affinity group.
This group is part of Direct Action to Stop the War (see above). Both men
and women are part of the group, whose focus is on creating GIANT MASKS of Mourning Iraqi Mothers wearing black and carrying life-size, blood-&-dirt-stained rag-doll children.... This was inspired by a very powerful Bread & Puppet theater piece that some of us saw at the Washington DC peace march on Sep 29, 2002, after the IMF/World Bank protests. B&P gave us their permission to run with the idea. (Email me for photos).
The Mourning Mothers created a sensation during San Francisco's peace march on Sunday, February 16, where upwards of 200,000 people rallied for peace!!! People wept at the sight of them, and they were featured on the front page of the SF Chronicle on Monday morning.
Please RSVP if you want to join the Mourning Mothers affinity group!
For Peace, Global Ecology, and Global Justice!!!
Mary Bull
252 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
415-731-7924 chalicenew@earthlink.net
FOR REDWOODS & WORKERS,
BOYCOTT GAP, BANANA REPUBLIC, & OLD NAVY! http://www.gapsucks.org
TO STOP THE WAR & RECLAIM DEMOCRACY,
TAKE DIRECT ACTION TO STOP THE WAR! http://www.actagainstwar.org
TO END INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM,
DISMANTLE THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! http://www.booksnotbars.org
FOR GLOBAL ECOLOGY & GLOBAL JUSTICE,
***END CORPORATE RULE!!!*** http://www.citizen.org http://www.ifg.org http://www.canadians.org
For questions and comments please e-mail us!
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