ECO-XENOPHOBIA

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1) What We Know About the Discovery Channel Gunman
x AOL News Surge Desk
(Sept. 1) -- The Discovery Channel abruptly entered headlines Wednesday afternoon for an awful reason: a hostage crisis at the network's headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., involving an armed gunman, who the Web quickly identified as James Jay Lee or James Jae Lee, 43, of San Diego (hat tip: The Business Insider). After taking three hostages and negotiating with police for hours, Lee was shot and killed by officers.
Surge Desk lists what is known about Lee so far.
1. He Wrote A Lengthy, Rambling Manifesto
In the document, Lee accused humans of being the "most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around." It was posted at his website, www.savetheplanetprotest.com, which has crashed because of server overload. It can still be accessed via Google Cache.
2. He's Been Arrested Outside Discovery Channel HQ Before
In early 2008, Lee was arrested by Montgomery County Police on charges of littering and disorderly conduct for throwing money to attract a crowd outside the channel's headquarters, DCist reports. The blog also noted that "Lee appears to have spent thousands of dollars in advertising his protest plans in publications such as the Express," a free D.C.-area newspaper, "and hiring homeless people to beef up his presence."
DCist notes that a copy one of Lee's ads is available at The Silver Spring Singular. Here's another online promotion that Lee apparently put up at his own website.
3. He Went to Extraordinary Lengths to Protest the Channel
Elaborating on the DCist's claims that Lee spent significant money to stage bizarre protests in front of the network, the Maryland County Newspapers Online Gazette reported back in 2008 that:
Lee was arrested with about $21,000 in cash in the duffel bag he had with him at the protest, Meng testified. Johnson told Lee that he would get his bag of money back. Lee said he had sold several inherited properties in Maui, Hawaii, where he lived prior to moving to San Diego, to pay for the protest, including about $30,000 for full-page advertisements in newspapers. Lee said he had one property left, worth about $200,000, and had plans to give it away in a ''save the planet contest."
Here's video footage of Lee's "money toss" back in 2008, via the Village Voice:
4. He Was Allegedly Influenced by Al Gore's Film, 'An Inconvenient Truth'
Fox News anchor Shep Smith reported this afternoon that Lee experienced an "awakening" after seeing the former vice president's film about global warming.
5. He Was Allegedly Inspired by the Novel "My Ishmael"
A philosophical, eco-friendly novel about a talking ape from author Daniel Quinn.
6. He Was Sentenced to a Mental Institution
... For his previous Discovery Channel protest stunts, but never served time, instead being granted probation after 14 days in jail, TMZ reports.
7. He Has a MySpace
Under the username "Worldguardian," where he lists the following personal details:
Relationship status: Single
Here for: Networking, Friends
Orientation: Straight
Hometown: Hawaii
Body type: 5' 11" / Average
Ethnicity: Asian
Religion: Atheist
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Children: I don't want kids
Occupation: Research
Read more: http://www.myspace.com/worldguardian#ixzz0yJSfuPfP
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2) James Lee Identified As Assailant At Discovery Channel Hostage Situation
by Colby Hall September 1st, 2010
Little is known about the the current hostage situation unfolding at the Silver Spring, Maryland offices of the Discovery Channel. And while the story is still very fluid, some interesting clues have been revealed. First, a lengthy screed has been posted on a website called Save The Planet Protest that opens with “The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY.” A Whois search of the registrant of that domain is listed as James Lee. Update: Alleged Discovery Channel HQ gunman ID’d as James Jay Lee; has history of protesting outside building.
Update: Lee’s MySpace Profile includes the following:
About me:
The idea I had to save the planet is here. Go to SaveThePlanetProtest.com to see what it is.
This document will be printed in the newspaper calling for protest against the networks. This is it, it’s happening.
SaveThePlanetProtest.com/protest.htm
February 15-23, 2008, from 9am to 9pm everyday until the Discovery network gives in.
Who I’d like to meet:
Environmentalists, scientists, readers of Daniel Quinn, and people who want to work toward a real change.
The Whois result offers little data, but does include the following:
Registrant:
James Lee c/o Free Private Reg
P.O. Box 81024
Burnaby, BC V5H 4K2
CA
Domain name: SAVETHEPLANETPROTEST.COM
Administrative Contact:
Lee, James savetheplanetprotest.com@freeprivateregistration.com
P.O. Box 81024
Burnaby, BC V5H 4K2
CA
852-3594-1708
It is reasonable to conclude that if the author of the screed on Save the Planet Protest is in fact involved in the hostage situation unfolding in Silver Springs, Maryland, then the registrant of that domain is also involved – or is likely the same person. All that has been reported by TBD.com is that the gunman has been identified as an Aisan male. Perhaps James Lee?
The full screed of Save The Planet Protest below, which ends “These are the demands and sayings of Lee.”:
The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY:
1. The Discovery Channel and it’s affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn’s “My Ishmael” pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other’s inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest would be in order. Perhaps also forums of leading scientists who understand and agree with the Malthus-Darwin science and the problem of human overpopulation. Do both. Do all until something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human civilization building STOPS and is reversed! MAKE IT INTERESTING SO PEOPLE WATCH AND APPLY SOLUTIONS!!!!
2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.
3. All programs promoting War and the technology behind those must cease. There is no sense in advertising weapons of mass-destruction anymore. Instead, talk about ways to disassemble civilization and concentrate the message in finding SOLUTIONS to solving global military mechanized conflict. Again, solutions solutions instead of just repeating the same old wars with newer weapons. Also, keep out the fraudulent peace movements. They are liars and fakes and had no real intention of ending the wars. ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE! On one hand, they claim they want the wars to end, on the other, they are demanding the human population increase. World War II had 2 Billion humans and after that war, the people decided that tripling the population would assure peace. WTF??? STUPIDITY! MORE HUMANS EQUALS MORE WAR!
4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn’t, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??
5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to stop it completely and permanently. Find solutions FOR these countries so they stop sending their breeding populations to the US and the world to seek jobs and therefore breed more unwanted pollution babies. FIND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM TO STOP THEIR HUMAN GROWTH AND THE EXPORTATION OF THAT DISGUSTING FILTH! (The first world is feeding the population growth of the Third World and those human families are going to where the food is! They must stop procreating new humans looking for nonexistant jobs!)
6. Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so that people don’t build more housing pollution which destroys the environment to make way for more human filth! Find solutions so that people stop breeding as well as stopping using Oil in order to REVERSE Global warming and the destruction of the planet!
7. Develop shows that mention the Malthusian sciences about how food production leads to the overpopulation of the Human race. Talk about Evolution. Talk about Malthus and Darwin until it sinks into the stupid people’s brains until they get it!!
8. Saving the Planet means saving what’s left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies! You’re the media, you can reach enough people. It’s your resposibility because you reach so many minds!!!
9. Develop shows that will correct and dismantle the dangerous US world economy. Find solutions for their disasterous Ponzi-Casino economy before they take the world to another nuclear war.
10. Stop all shows glorifying human birthing on all your channels and on TLC. Stop Future Weapons shows or replace the dialogue condemning the people behind these developments so that the shows become exposes rather than advertisements of Arms sales and development!
11. You’re also going to find solutions for unemployment and housing. All these unemployed people makes me think the US is headed toward more war.
Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture.
For every human born, ACRES of wildlife forests must be turned into farmland in order to feed that new addition over the course of 60 to 100 YEARS of that new human’s lifespan! THIS IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOREST CREATURES!!!! All human procreation and farming must cease!
It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve the planet they live on by not breeding any more children who will continue their filthy practices. Children represent FUTURE catastrophic pollution whereas their parents are current pollution. NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis. Even one child born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times more resources than a Third World child. It’s like a couple are having 30 babies even though it’s just one! If the US goes in this direction maybe other countries will too!
Also, war must be halted. Not because it’s morally wrong, but because of the catastrophic environmental damage modern weapons cause to other creatures. FIND SOLUTIONS JUST LIKE THE BOOK SAYS! Humans are supposed to be inventive. INVENT, DAMN YOU!!
The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world. Not encouraging them to breed more environmentally harmful humans.
Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.
The humans? The planet does not need humans.
You MUST KNOW the human population is behind all the pollution and problems in the world, and YET you encourage the exact opposite instead of discouraging human growth and procreation. Surely you MUST ALREADY KNOW this!
I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it.
These are the demands and sayings of Lee.
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3) James Lee and Eco-Xenophobia
2 Sep
After protesting the Discovery Channel-US for years, James Jay Lee broke down. Entering the Discovery Channel building in Silver Springs, Maryland, and taking three hostages, Lee released a series of demands for what he believed to be true environmental solutions. He is dead now, shot by police, and his hostages have been rescued. His legacy is now the only thing that remains.
According to his demands, war is bad, immigration is bad, food production leads to starvation, human reproduction is disgusting, and it is incumbent upon the Discovery Channel to mend global warming as well as overpopulation. (Oh, and by the way, according to Demand #1: The Discovery Channel and it’s affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn’s My Ishmael pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other’s inventive ideas.”)
With regards to the anti-immigrant position of groups like Apply The Breaks, and people like James Lee who echo their rhetoric, The Earth First! Journal Collective has drafted this statement on our position.
While we agree that civilization, population and human consumption are pressing issues creating obstacles to biodiversity and environmental justice, we do not see how the anti-immigrant, pro-border solutions of keeping people and wildlife walled into divided territories and militarized borders, re-enforcing historical colonization, addresses any of those issues.
We, as a collective, and as members of a movement, share the common goal of making connections with other cultures of resistance to the many ill symptoms of industrial civilization which belittles, exploits and destroys all forms of life on this planet.
The current members of this collective are allied to movements struggling against racism, class-domination, capitalism, globalization, sexism, homophobia, urbanism, speciesism, etc. because we believe that all these struggles are inherently connected in fighting the same ills.
While we recognize the urgency of ecological crisis, We see no reason why scapegoating immigrants is anything but a distraction, and much worse, a lingering sentiment of the Manifest Destiny mindset.
For a more complete response from the Earth First! Journal to Apply The Brakes and eco-xenophobe hysteria click here (PDF) or here: (Online)
Sincerely,
Earth First! Journal Collective
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4) eco-xenophobia EF!J statement
Confronting the eco-xenophobia of Apply The Breaks, Captain Paul Watson, James Lee and the whole lot of ‘em
Statement from the Earth First! Journal collective, 9/1/2010
       Earlier this month, the Center for New Community (CNC) released a report on Apply The Brakes (ATB), a recently formed pro-border, anti-immigrant voice coming from many well-known environmentalists. While it appeared at first glance to be only the newest attempt in a long history of xenophobic environmentalists attempting to manipulating the broader ecology movement towards their own ends (as an extension of the famed John Tanton network), but there are some elements more relevant to Earth First! here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tanton)
       First, ATB includes the vocal support of several former Earth First!ers, including Dave Foreman and George Wuerthner (their website make multiple reference to EF!, including a claim that it was founded by David Brower—who they claim as a posthumous affliate of their group!).
       Second, The CNC study came at an interesting time. In the midst of debate around the report—most specifically a particular depressing, off-base exchange between CNC and Captain Paul Watson—the Discovery Channel hostage scenario hit the news. In a sad blend of courage and nonsense, James Lee manifested the fears of immigrant advocates wary of the radical ecology movement at large.
(http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2010/09/01/population-control-alarmist-attacksdiscovery-channel-headquarters/)
       Oddly, the statement that follows was written the week prior to the Discovery Channel Hostage situation as an interjection from the Earth First! Journal collective to the CNC vs. Watson debate. We felt our position as a recognized voice of radical ecology situated in the borderlands could be of value. Today, September 2, 2010, we feel that value has an even broader relevance. 
  This much we can agree on: there is a war against the Earth and we cannot stay neutral and observe passively. Where our common ground with people such as Paul Watson and Dave Foreman exists from there, it is unclear.
  We view industrial civilization as the primary aggressor of this war. The same system that dominates the planet has succeeded in dominating most people on the planet as well. Despite this general agreement among current active participants in the Earth First! movement, many among us still experience the feeling of misanthropy (and some still embrace it wholly). But even for those who view attacks on the planet stemming from the human species (rather than the systems that dominate it), we on the EF! Journal collective fail to see how that equates aligning yourself with white nationalists, right-wing nativists and border militarization rather than immigrant campesinos, refugees and the youth of undocumented families fghting to stop their parents and siblings from deportation? How does keeping people behind walls address global population?
  From Paul Watson’s letter it is diffcult to tell if he even read the report or watched the video sent to him about Apply The Brakes (ATB) by Center for New Community (CNC). Does he disagree with the documentation presented about ATB affiliations with known racists and xenophobes who are classifed as hate groups by multiple sources? Does he have some information to counter this? Or is he indifferent to it because he agrees so strongly with their strategy for urgent action—which, according to their website, entails writing generic form letters to elected offcials about population increase and immigration in the United States? Since when did Paul Watson think writing form letters to congress was the best way to get results anyway?
  And to what end? What we have seen from the loudest anti-immigrant groups have been expanded border walls through sensitive desert bioregions and indigenous land; “national security” measures which override federal environmental protection, such as REAL ID Act and Secure Borders Initiative; and legislative efforts like HR4437 in 2006 and SB 1070 in Arizona this year aimed at increasing the police state power to criminalize people for crossing arbitrary borders established through wars of colonial conquest and empire building.
  Watson’s letter states: “By the way I'm all for unrestricted immigration by wolves, bears, fsh, birds and any other non-exotic formally native species wishing to return home.”
  When’s the last time Paul was in the borderlands? Does he know that they’ve been building and expanding massive walls across the desert for almost twenty years; that Audubon and Sierra Club lawsuits against construction of the wall in sensitive areas of Texas and Arizona were thrown out of federal court for the same “national security” reasons hailed by ATB?
  The last known jaguar in the southwestern U.S. was killed last year. State biologists and other liberals say it doesn’t matter because they’ll never live here again anyway. They’re right—militarization and border wall expansion will likely ensure that a Mexican jaguar never makes it to this half of their range again.
  If you’re nor worried about jaguars, how about endangered pygmy owls and Sonoran Pronghorn antelope in Arizona; fat-tailed horned lizard and peninsular bighorn sheep in California; the grey wolf in New Mexico; Big Bend National Park, Cabeza Prieta National Refuge, Organ Pipe National Monument, the San Pedro and Rio Grande Rivers, all bisected by the borders ATB praises.
  Stephen Mumme, an expert on borderland ecology at Colorado State University says that current border policy presents an extremely high threat to biodiversity, “right up there with the most serious and long-term adverse consequences for the environment created by humankind—right up there with the worst instances of urbanization, the worst instances of damming up our rivers.”
  Desert ecologist, Daniel Patterson, with the Center for Biological Diversity, said “the only living things the walls won’t stop are people” (millions of them, who continue coming in direct relation to global economic pressures.)
  So, has anything good come of anti-immigrant bigotry masquerading as ecology or xenophobes using ecologists to their own ends? We would venture to say yes: one thing. Judging from the short CNC video of young people in New York confronting the Weeden Foundation for financing the Tanton Network (specifically the slick new image of ATB) it has mobilized a whole new generation of activists, many of whom seem to realize they are facing the latest face of Manifest Destiny. The same Manifest Destiny that cleared the vast majority of ancient forests, wiped out the buffalo and drove millions into the agricultural and industrial slavery that continues today.
  For our part, we have made a conscious decision to side with immigrant activists, many of whom come from land-based communities and know more closely the practical reality of living with the earth instead of against it.
  While we are not necessarily interested in the “economic renewal” proposed by Center for New Communities, we don’t see ATB calling for the end of industrial civilization either. In fact, the contrary—where former Earth First!ers like Dave Foreman and George Wuerthner once spoke of the need to deindustrialize the entire society, they now speak as defenders of status quo as self-described leaders of ATB. Their decision is a turncoat alliance with the system that is killing the planet.
  In years 20 past, we have increasingly parted ways with some of the prominent old guard deep ecologists over the subject of population and immigration. Today, we find much of that debate is over. There is no way to be a committed biocentrist in support of a regime of colonial borders, devastating walls through bioregions and the fortification of the police state intended to keep the current system intact.
  “One of the key concepts of bioregionalism is that modern political boundaries have no relationship to natural ecological provinces. Bioregionalists argue that human society—and therefore, politics and economics—should be based on natural ecosystems. They fnd affnity with Indian tribes and with Basque, Welsh, and Kurdish separatists, and have no sympathy with the modern nation-state, empire, or mutinational corporation.” Sound familiar? Who could have written those words but Dave Foreman himself in his 1991 hardback, Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. (Harmony Books. NYC, 1991. pp. 43)
  For those who do not have the wax too far in their ears, we ask you to refect your position on biocentrism and deep ecology in relation to your alignment with ATB.
  In our effort to form an appropriate response to end the war against the Earth, where will we search for allies—among right-wing elitist think tanks or among ground level movements of people facing off with power?
  It’s been an easy choice for us.
In solidarity with the wild & for full freedom of movement to all species!
Earth First! Journal collective
September 2, 2010
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5) What is the Anti-civilization movement?
Broadly speaking we can say that as long as civilization has existed there have been those that have opposed it. So-called “primitive” societies have always resisted falling under the yoke of civilization from the forgotten tribes of Mesopotamia, to the native peoples of North America and Africa, to the least remaining primitive societies in deepest Amazonia and Papua New Guinea. civilization has destroyed the ancient, earth-based traditions of countless societies and replaced them with a monotonous, unsustainable and oppressive system. civilization has denuded the Earth of vast forests in its ever-increasing desire for
more agricultural land and has enslaved humans, animals and plants in the process.
Slaves and primitives are not the only ones to have rebelled against civilization. The privileged classes of civilized societies have also had their rebels, including: Henry David Thoreau, Edward Carpenter, Ralph Borsodi and Sigmund Freud. Among Europeans of the era of colonization the trope of the “noble savage” became popular, due mostly to reports of the uncivilized ways of life of native Americans. The first hand accounts of the colonization of the United States are full of mentions of whites and blacks that willingly left civilized life to go live with the indians. Even today anthropologists and others feel the urge to “go native.”
As the anti-civilization tendency has built momentum in recent decades three distinct threads of anti-civilization thought have emerged. The first is that of Daniel Quinn, whose philosophy James Lee embraced. The second is the wilderness protection theory and practice of Earth First!, Earth Liberation Front and other similar groups and individuals. The third is that of the Green Anarchists. Each of these approach the problem of civilization in different ways.
Daniel Quinn
Quinn is the least radical of the three tendencies. His proposals for overcoming civilization are vague and piecemeal. His non-fiction book Beyond Civilization outlines in the most detail his concept of the New Tribal Revolution. This Revolution would be brought about by “occupational tribalism,” something like a hybrid of small business and circus troupe. These tribes would be semi-self-sufficient, exchanging goods and services with one another. An original concept, but it seems unlikely to truly challenge capitalism, let alone civilization. Quinn can be described as a reformist. The violent actions that took place at the Discovery Channel are surely not ones he would endorse. Curiously, Lee referred only specifically to a passage from Quinn's novel My Ishmael:
One: The revolution won't take place all at once. It's not going to be any sort of coup d'etat like the French or Russian revolutions.
Two: It will be achieved incrementally, by people working off each other's ideas. This is the great driving innovation of the Industrial Revolution.
Three: It will be led by no one. Like the Industrial Revolution, it will need no shepherd, no organizer, no spearhead, no pacesetter, no mastermind at the top; it will be too much for anyone to lead.
Four: It will not be the initiative of any political, governmental, or religious body — again, like the Industrial Revolution. Some will doubtless want to claim to be its supporters and protectors; there are always leaders ready to step forward once others have shown the way.
Five: It has no targeted end point. Why should it have an end point?
Six: It will proceed according to no plan. How on earth could there be a plan?
Seven: It will reward those who further the revolution with the coin of the revolution. In the Industrial Revolution, those who contributed much in the way of product wealth received much in the way of product wealth; in the New Tribal Revolution, those who contribute much in the way of support will receive much in the way of support.
The idea of building a resistance to civilization informed by the Industrial Revolution is paradoxical, but Quinn's ideas may possibly have some merit. Lee's desperate attempt to have these ideas disseminated failed utterly. He did not even include this quote in the text of his manifesto.
Population
Besides the brief reference to Daniel Quinn's work, the rest of the manifesto draws mostly from the familiar theoretical ground of human overpopulation. Lee makes several explicit references to the work of Thomas Malthus. Malthus, an 18th Century English clergyman is best remembered for his theory of human population growth. According to Malthus human population increases exponentially, while human food supply only grows incrementally. Thus, Malthus believed that inevitably humanity would be pressed into devastating wars over scarce food. Though such a catastrophe has not yet occurred, Malthusian population theory has not died out in popularity. It has had a consistent presence among ecological movements since at least the first Earth Day.
Anarchists have criticized the Malthusian population theory from its inception. It has frequently served those in power as a justification for authoritarian measures. Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren (the latter now an adviser in the Obama administration) both wrote on the subject beginning in the late seventies. Among other draconian measures they have recommended at various times are:forced sterilization and releasing birth control chemicals into drinking water. Forced sterilization is a practice familiar to native American women in the United States and women and men of various ethnicities in European dictatorships, including Nazi Germany. It is an authoritarian, sexist and racist practice that denies women their physical autonomy and family planning initiative. Garrett Hardin applied the Malthusian theory to economics and came up with the concept of the “tragedy of the commons,” a not-so-subtle defence of capitalism and privatization with an ecological veneer.
Overpopulation has become an issue of choice for many elite. Several “think tanks” have been formed in recent decades, including the Optimum Population Trust
in the United Kingdom, which offer top-down “solutions” to overpopulation. Recently Bill Gates convened a small group of the ultra-wealthy to discuss their ideas for “solutions.” Though Green Anarchists do not usually deny that human overpopulation is a concern, we are explicit in our rejection of the authoritarian measures decided upon by the global ruling classes, usually most affecting the poorest and most exploited in Third World nations. Real, sustainable tactics to addressing this problem must come from educating women in their family planning options. In those instances where women are aware of the birth control options available to them, birth rate decreases dramatically. Other tactics, currently less thought out, would involve delegitimizing ideologies that promote unsustainable human population growth such as religions (especially Catholicism, Mormonism and Islam), nationalism and racism. Further, entrenched interests in many overdeveloped nations often use the spectre of rising population as justification for authoritarian anti-immigration efforts. Attempting to limit immigration to various nation-states neither addresses the problem, nor treats already living humans with dignity. Further, as anarchists we explicitly reject the State's interfering in free human movement.
Unfortunately the first generation of Earth First!ers, most notably co-founder Dave Foreman, accepted many of these authoritarian “solutions” to the population issue. As the wilderness defence movement has developed, however, the influence of Green Anarchism has mitigated these xenophobic and misanthropic tendencies. James Lee has exhibited much in his manifesto in the way of misanthropy, referring frequently to babies as “filth,” and blaming immigrants for rising population in the United States. Needless to say the criticism applied to other eco-radicals by Green Anarchists applies also to Lee.
Green Anarchist Trajectories
James Lee's actions were those of a deluded and hopeless soul. His plan was ill-conceived, though his target was deserving of the scorn he placed upon it. The capitalist media is a propaganda behemoth. The vast majority of television programming is decaying human minds throughout the world, and should be stopped by any means necessary. It would be wonderful if it could be replaced by edifying, intellectually stimulating programming, but this is a very unlikely occurrence in the near term.
Anarchism emphatically rejects reformism. Classical anarchism rejects the common notions that capitalism and the State can be reformed to be more humane and less oppressive. All efforts at reform have only made the oppression more subtle and sneaky, such as the illusion of choice offered by capitalism, whether in the form of competing products or hundreds of television channels. Green anarchism rejects the notion that civilization in its entirety can be gainfully reformed. Given civilization's 6000+ year track record it is clear that it functions through intimidation, murder (whether mass wars or state murder, AKA “execution,” “capital punishment'), oppression of women and ethnic minorities, destruction of nature, homogenization of culture, psychological manipulation, and finally the industrial regimentation of all life.
The discussion of tactics in Green Anarchism has barely begun. Many favour tactics borrowed from Earth First!/ELF. Others have begun trying to mentally, spiritually and technically “rewild.” As the movement grows we will come up with a diversity of tactics for addressing the problem of civilization.
These tactics must, and will, be guided by the ever-evolving theoretical structure of Green Anarchism. A wealth of theoretical works are already present on the Internet and in local radical bookstores/infoshops. Two specific trajectories are already being explored and will doubtless be elaborated in the years to come. First, the Malthusian theory of population, already disreputable and highly theoretically suspect, appears ready to be replaced by better ideas about human population growth. Biological science has long accepted food supply as a major factor in the levels of animal populations, yet has almost never considered food supply in relation to human population. It appears as though the anthropocentric bias leading to such a blatant oversight is gradually being addressed. In other words, if current biology is correct, Malthusian population theory is exactly the reverse of how population really works. Thus the belief that increasing food supply will stave off starvation (as was done in the “Green Revolution” of the seventies) may actually compound future catastrophe.
The second trajectory, which will likely eclipse the first, is only beginning to take shape. Many anti-civilization thinkers, most famously Derrick Jensen, are beginning to question science itself. Heretofore most of those that oppose science have done so from a religious, and therefore uncritical, stance. As the unofficial ideology of the current globalizing civilization, science is often claimed to be the only legitimate method of knowledge. Yet, so much of the human experience does not fall under the objective, standardizable, repeatable conditions necessary for scientific enquiry. It is unclear at this early stage what critiques of science in the anti-civilization movement will look like, but they will certainly cause a bit of conceptual reorientation. Much of the ecological aspects of anti-civilization thought, concepts derived from ecological science, will need to be re-examined as these critiques develop.
Whatever the future holds, it is for us to decide. The 6000+ year crisis of civilization will ultimately be a blip in human and world history. What the Earth will be like for millions of years to come will depend, at least in part, on what we do now. Whether the future of life on this planet will be of regeneration or further decimation depends on whether we have a courage to end civilization once and for all.
An Autonomous Green Anarchist
2 September 2010
Occupied Salish Territory