Earth First! Southwest Bio-Regional Rendezvous & Organizers Conference

For over a decade, radical environmentalism has been at best a near invisible force in the “resource rich” Southwest. But due to the continued overt destruction of our Earth through energy extraction, deforestation, and enumerable ecocidal activities, radicalism and resistance is stirring again. It’s time to organize, not compromise. It’s time to defend, not submit. It’s time to fight, to resist, to educate, to monkeywrench, to act directly against the destruction of our land bases and bio-regions. The Earth must come first.

The 2010 Southwest Bio-Regional Earth First! Rendezvous and Organizers’ Conference will be taking place August 20-22 in the beautiful San Luis Valley of Colorado. The rendezvous site is near the town of Saguache, in the Rio Grande National Forest. Exact site location and directions will be released some time in early August.

We’re seeking teachers and trainers to help facilitate workshops in direct action, civil disobedience, forest defense, eco-defense, and more. We are also seeking medics and folks skilled in conflict resolution to be present and available.

We must build the skill sets and face to face relationships of trust and affinity necessary to effectively defend our bio-regions and land bases.

The size and organization of this event will in many ways reflect our current state as a force to be reckoned with in the Southwest, which is to say that this will be a small gathering with less structure and organization than other rendezvous in bio-regions where the EF! presence is more established and experienced.

Though an informal communal kitchen will be formed, please come prepared for self-sufficiency and inclement weather. Water for filtration or other purification is available on site.

We’re encouraging folks to show up a bit early to get settled in and stay a bit longer at the end to help with clean-up.

Contact southwestearthfirst@riseup.net for more info or to get involved.

 http://southwestearthfirst.wordpress.com/

• Ride share
• Supplies list
• Workshops & trainings
• Location & directions

Bring It Down Today

By Travis C., WilderPress! Editorial Collective

I sometimes wonder what it will be like when it all comes down, when this fucking crazy machine comes to a grinding halt. I’m talking about the capitalist machine and the
industrialized addicted society that kneels to it.

I’m talking about america…

I think about what the streets will look like when the plants push up through the concrete; when the grocery store shelves empty and the only reminder of times long gone are the plastic bags blowing in the streets like sagebrush across the desert. I think about the shattered windows and broken doors—they did little to keep out the looters or the stones hurled by rioters. I think about the vulnerability of the cities when the electrical infrastructure fails and the power plants shut down—their demise a product of human’s irresponsible abuse and depletion of natural resources. I think about cars abandoned on the side of the road…left behind, forgotten, and worthless without their precious fuel…

fortunately, the oil wells have long since tapped out.

I think about the chaos and the madness and I can’t help but to welcome the collapse with open arms. Not because I enjoy the thought of pain or anguish for those involved, but because I know it is a necessary evolution that we must take, and I know it’s the only sure way the destruction will stop. I look around the world and see a level of violence towards our own species, towards other species, and towards the natural world that perils anything in human history. I am confused and disgusted at the way humans have come to carry themselves…particularly in this country and in the greater western world. america is responsible for so much destruction, so much violence…and for what? So some fucking asshole can roll down the street in an oversized truck, exhaust pipes extended out of the bed, dumping smoke into the air without a care in the world, bumper sticker reading “Mind if I have a smoke”; concerned with only themselves…”fuck the animals, fuck the people, and fuck the land,” that’s america’s credo…and she’s sticking by it.

I’ll tell you this much, I’m tired of participating in a society that carries itself in such a way…Further I see it as my responsibility, rather as our responsibility, to ensure that these destructive, violent actions are halted by any means necessary. This country kneels, quite literally, for anything it can get its greedy, blood covered hands on. Anything that will enhance wealth or power…regardless if it is at the cost of other humans, non-humans, or land. Citizens kneel to the politicians, who kneel to the corporations, who provide the affluence we are so pitifully addicted to. Let’s get real, this country has never stood for any of the bullshit that is plowed into our heads in grade school. Freedom? Liberty? Democracy? Give me a break. We live in what might be best described as a corporatist police state. Sure we have liberty and freedom…just as long as it never challenges the status quo. Just as long as you never ask any questions or make any demands…just as long as you follow their rules.

Yes’a Masta’…anything you need masta’…

Every day ancient forests fall to the teeth of chainsaws, once wild rivers are reduced to slow trickles, shackled by concrete and steel, mountains are blown apart in the relentless search for coal, and in far away lands our government commits atrocious acts of murder, all so we can continue our addiction to the black gold. The consequences of industrialism and modernized civilization have taken their toll on the planet and its inhabitance, and it is our responsibility to ensure it doesn’t last to lay siege on yet another generation. When I think of freedom or liberty what comes to mind is not the lies told to us through the declaration of independence or our constitution…and it’s not the idea of hoarding wealth, competing with my neighbor or abusing land in the name of personal gain. Rather my thoughts on freedom and liberty focus on a time and place in which the oppression of the State does not weigh so heavily on the people—when it, in fact, ceases to exist. I think of a time when the pigs stop harassing minorities, when the armed forces cease their campaign of genocide, and multinational corporations crumble, forever ending their ruthless attacks on the planet and its inhabitance.

When I think of what it ought to be like in this country I see people creating autonomous communities within their bioregion—taking care to not live outside of their means, or the means of the land. Communities that take responsibility for each other, care for their land base, and take things like food systems into their own hands. I see the border walls crumble and the line between the rich and poor following suit. Most importantly I see functioning tribes of people, devoid of centralized government and oppression—people free from the shackles of capitalism and the land healthier because of it. I see children smiling, not crying, and tanks and planes dismantled and parted out—their pieces, for the first time, being used for something productive like building a greenhouse or rain catchment system.

These are not just dreams…

Rather this is a reality that is entirely possible, and it’s possible now. I know it is because as I write these words I pick the dirt out from under my nails after a long day of gardening and drink warm tea made from the native plants I’ve collected from the forest around me. I know it’s possible because every day I am reminded that there is another way of life out there. One filled with meaning, love, and revolutionary thought…it is a life that was once led by all, but now is in practice by those of us focused on recreating a livable world where life is valued not commodified. I know it’s possible because I see it in my community, I hear it in their spoken word, I taste it in the food I grow—I feel it in the touch of a lover…see it in the depth of her eyes…

I can’t let them take these beauties away anymore…

We have to stop compromising with this system and its murderous political hacks…it’s time to create our own reality, and our own revolution—it’s time to take back our own lives and defend the lives of those who have no voice to speak out with. Freedom will come at the end of a raised fist thrust into the air and an unwillingness to allow this bullshit to continue. We should follow in the footsteps of those around the world fighting the system and pick up more rocks to hurl at the tanks…We should actively pursue the collapse of the most violent system humans have ever created—the forests, mountains and oceans depend on us.

Liberty will come in the form of homegrown food and local economic systems that no longer rely on violence to flourish. We will, again, sit down to meals grown by our own hands and share in laughter with our community…our family…our tribe.

Independence will come when we drum and dance on the ruins of capitalism…

The real question is: What are we waiting for?

Wild Roots Feral Futures: News & Updates!

Greetings from the Ute territories of occupied Turtle Island, known (for now) as the American Southwest.

The Wild Roots Feral Futures organizers collective has been hard at work preparing for this year’s event, which is shaping up to be one wild time! Many things have come together, many things continue to do so, and many thing still need to. At this time, less than one month before the gathering, we felt it was worthwhile to update you all on some of the recent developments surrounding the event, as well as provide various other random notes, thoughts, and observations. Please re-post and forward far and wide.

Ride share/discussion board:

We've set up a new discussion board (INCLUDING RIDE SHARE BOARD!) at feralfutures.proboards.com. Please utilize it!


Site Location:

The exact location and directions to Wild Roots Feral Futures, taking place in the San Juan mountains of Southwest Colorado (in National Forest), will be announced some time in early June. The site is along a river and features old growth Ponderosa Pines, natural hot springs, and much more. Close-by towns to shoot for would include Pagosa Springs, Bayfield, and Durango, Colorado. For more information, email the organizers at feralfutures@riseup.net.

Organizer’s Meetings:

Semi-public meetings for folks interested in getting involved are taking place on a weekly basis in Durango, Colorado, every Wednesday. Contact the organizers at feralfutures@riseup.net for more information.

High Country Earth First! Bioregional Rendezvous & Organizer’s Conference, June 24th & 25th at WRFF:

At the 2009 EF! Winter Rondy/OC in the Sky Island ecosystem of the Santa Rita mountains or Sonoran Arizona, several Colorado-based eco-warriors came together to (re)form a Colorado state-wide Earth First! network under the name High Country Earth First! (HC.EF!). Consisting of many relatively new and inexperienced EF!ers, many feel there is a lack of the knowledge and skills needed to defend our land bases and what remains of the wilderness. Due to the decentralized and geographically spread-out nature of the various HC.EF! regional sub-chapters, communication and collaboration has perhaps been lacking. For these reasons and more, Grand Junction and Durango-based HC.EF!ers have taken the initiative to call for a two day rendezvous and organizer’s conference on June 24th and 25th, to take place at Wild Roots Feral Futures. We invite all EF!ers and anyone interested to join us to discuss and envision the future of Earth First! in Colorado, the Southwest, and beyond.

WRFF to EF! RRR caravan: 

Many planning to attend Wild Roots Feral Futures have expressed interest in the formation of a caravan to the Earth First! Round River Rendezvous (RRR) taking place from June 29th through July 6th in the Northwoods of Maine. While this caravan is self-organizing we encourage folks to utilize our mailing list and discussion group to make plans (perhaps making contact with others interested in sharing rides and then taking the discussion to private, more secure means of communication).

Workshops:

We have many wonderful and skilled people traveling from far and wide to share with us, and we thank everyone who has committed so far!

Planned workshops, presentations, and discussions include: decolonization, radical mycology, wild food, wild medicine, radical midwivery, midwitchery, making fire, shelter building, orienteering, star navigation, evasion, stalking and tracking, wild fermentation, roadkill/animal processing, dumpster diving, composting, worm composting, guerrilla gardening, seed bombing, permaculture, independent media, and much much more! But the real question is, what can YOU provide?

We are also planning for tactical war games (like capture the flag!), so get ready for some strategic nighttime madness and fun on the run!

If you can commit to facilitating a workshop, presentation, talk, game, etc., please email us at feralfutures@riseup.net and let us know. We are also asking those who have already done so to re-commit. Also let us know if you have possibilities you are not yet fully committed to facilitating. We’d like to develop and publish a list of both. Thank you!

At this time we would like to renew our call and request for trainers, teachers, and workshop facilitators, particularly in the areas of direct action and civil disobedience, with an (non-exclusive) emphasis on eco-defense. We are calling on all direct action trainers, especially tree climbers/sitters, to join us to share their knowledge and skills. The site features old growth Ponderosa Pine perfect for climbing and tree sitting training. But we need your help!

Solstice celebration:

The temporal mid-point and center of Wild Roots Feral Futures 2010 is June 21st, the Summer Solstice. Though regular workshop time/space will take place throughout the day, much of the afternoon as well as the evening will be dedicated to revelry and celebration. We envision a feast of wild and local food, a masked and costumed masquerade ball, bonfire, music, fire spinners, performing artists, and much more! But as with the rest of this event, it will only be what YOU choose make of it.

Call for artists, performing artists, and musicians:

Wild Roots Feral Futures is a temporary autonomous zone that seeks to create an atmosphere of fun, creativity, and artistic expression. In this spirit we invite and indeed call upon all revolutionary artists, performing artists, and musicians to join us and share the creations of their hands, hearts, and minds.

Kitchen/food:

We are pleased to announce that the free communal kitchen at Wild Roots Feral Futures will be co-facilitated by Food Not Bombs chapters from Taos (thanks Keith!) and Durango, and perhaps beyond (ay yo Denver, where you at?). Please bring donations of food and money for the kitchen, and volunteer to help out! Sharing creates abundance!

Medics/Conflict Resolution and Management (CRAM):

We have many highly skilled and knowledgeable folks joining us who have expressed willingness to openly identify as medics, conflict resolution team members, or both. We are and will continue to be seeking others to do the same. Medics will have radios and a dedicated comms channel. Though many logistics will be worked out on the ground and in the woods, we encourage folks to utilize our mailing list and discussion group to get connected.

Security/lookout:

We are (and will be) seeking folks willing to identify (either in shifts or for the duration of the event) as police and media liaisons, and we will be asking for volunteers every day to sign up for four hour security shifts. Security volunteers will carry radios, have a dedicated comms channel, and be stationed at the entrance with a partner. We ask that everyone contribute and volunteer for shifts. (Note: security shifts do NOT make you a police liaison, unless you yourself make that decision. Security radios the police liaison in the event of police presence, and the police liaison talks to them.) We must be careful with each other so we can be dangerous together.

Kid’s Camp:

We seek to create child-appropriate space as well as multi-generational workshops and activities. We encourage communal child care and the formation of a children’s camp and arts and crafts station. We ask those interested to bring supplies for kid’s activities and get involved in the formation and duration of a kid’s camp.

Other notes:

Wild Roots Feral Futures is an un-permitted, completely free, and non-commercial event. We ask everyone to bring a monetary donation (aside from kitchen donations), but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. If you would like to donate ahead of time or cannot attend but would still like to pitch in, contact the organizers at feralfutures@riseup.net for a street address where well-concealed cash can be sent.

We will allow for space, near the parking, for radical groups to set up distro tables, which we recognize as internal movement self-funding, rather than for-profit commercialism (which is not welcome). There will also be space for free literature distro.

For more on Wild Roots Feral Futures, including notes on security culture, accessibility, consent, assault, substances, supplies, etc., please refer to the original invitation & call-out, particularly the camp guidelines section, reposted below for your convenience.

For more information on grassroots groups and events in Durango, check out the new local underground events listing, AnimaSubTerra.

See you in the woods!

-Wild Roots Feral Futures organizers collective
feralfutures@riseup.net

Direct Action as a way of life - blocking coal and climate change

By BMIS Collective, Slingshot #103

Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) is a volunteer-run collective, in solidarity with the Diné families and elders in Black Mesa/Big Mountain, AZ who have been resisting cultural genocide for over thirty-five years -- targeted for unjust large-scale coal mining operations and forced relocation policies of the U.S government. Throughout those thirty-five years the US government and Peabody Coal have forcefully relocated thousands of Diné people away from their ancestral homeland, the land that they belong to, in the name of greed, energy and progress. Many families and elders have refused to leave, even though they are under constant pressure to do so. Their daily lives have become a direct action to save their land base, maintain their traditional life ways, and take a stand against global warming and globalization. They are not creating a new way of sustainable living, but are struggling to live as they always have -- with the earth and not against it.

The resisting families are encouraging people to come to Black Mesa now. They request support all year long. One of the primary ways that non-native people who support the Diné live out solidarity is to honor the direct requests of these families and extend an invitation to all people interested in supporting their resistance, to come to Black Mesa, to their threatened ancestral homelands, walk with their sheep, haul water and wood, and do whatever they ask. By coming to Black Mesa, supporters can assist the elders and their families in daily chores, which helps visitors to engage with the story that they are telling, as well as to claim a more personal stake against environmental degradation, climate change, and continued legacies of colonialism and genocide. One can assist by being there so they can go to meetings, organize, weave rugs, visit family members who have been hospitalized, rest after a difficult winter and regain strength for the upcoming spring. With spring comes planting crops, shearing sheep, and lambing. Come for a month. Or longer.

Supporting these communities, whose very presence stands in the way of large-scale coal mining and further environmental degradation, is one way to work on the front lines for climate justice and against a future of climate chaos. There are also opportunities for long-term, committed supporters and organizers off the land.

BMIS is looking for Regional Coordinators to organize year-round support and work towards movement building, which would maintain and enhance communication channels between the Big Mountain resistance communities and networks that are being established to support the Big Mountain resistance, as well as other local forms of indigenous resistance, while building shared analysis, vision and movements for the liberation of all peoples and our planet. We are looking for organizers to connect to local climate justice, anti-racism, and decolonization projects, set up sheepherder send-off parties which can double as political education and fundraising events, put on screenings of "Broken Rainbow", as well as host speaking engagements, give report-backs from the land and coordinate other educational events to spread the word about the struggle. We hope to connect with folks who will organize local responses to calls to action from the land, look into and spread information about corporate and political connections to Peabody Coal, and build a local capacity to fight racism and participate in multiracial movements for justice.

Contact us for more information if you are interested in supporting this struggle, and please visit our website for a deeper analysis and more info: www.blackmesais.org blackmeasis@gmail.com, 928.773.8086,P.O. Box 23501, Flagstaff, Arizona 86002

Earth First! Journal Needs Short Term Editors

The Earth First! Journal needs short term journalistas to work on the next issue, starting in early May. As you may know, the Journal is the voice of the Earth First! movement, and stands today as THE radical environmental publication. This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of radical, independent media.

As an editor, you would take part in everything, from digging up news to editing articles to designing the Journal, itself. If that sounds exciting to you, guess what—you get paid $200 a month plus a roomy house to live in and free organic food donated from the local co-op. We also have bicycles on hand for you to explore the generous resources of Tucson: the mountains, the infoshop, the diverse community projects and more.

If you are interested, please e-mail us at lilac@earthfirstjournal.org or call us at (520) 620-6900.

Support Indigenous Resistance On Black Mesa!

At the end of an exceptionally hard winter of National Emergency status, and the beginning of a muddy spring, the Dine' (Navajo) families of Big Mountain, and surrounding communities on Black Mesa continue to stand strong on their ancestral homelands!  For nearly four decades the communities have faced the devastation of the U.S government and multinational coal mining corporations exploiting their homelands and violently fracturing their communities. Although the permit for the Black Mesa Mine expansion didn't pass, and hopefully never will, families remain --resisting the Kayenta Mine and forced relocation.


"The Big Mountain Dine' elders have endured so much since the 1970s and at the same time, they have defended and preserved that human dignity of natural survival, subsistence and religious values. They have resisted the U.S. government's genocide policies to vacate lands that Peabody Coal Company recognized as the Black Mesa coal fields.  The Big Mountain matriarchal leaders always believed that resisting forced relocation will eventually benefit all ecological systems, including the human race. Continued residency by families throughout the Big Mountain region has a significant role in the intervention to Peabody Coal's future plan for Black Mesa coal to be the major source of electrical energy, increasing everyone's dependency on fossil fuel and contributing to global warming. We will continue to fight to defend our homelands." --Bahe Keediniihii, Dine' organizer and translator.


Supporting these communities, whose very presence stands in the way of large-scale coal mining, is one way to work on the front lines for climate justice and against a future of climate chaos. There are also opportunities for long-term, committed supporters and organizers. Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) is looking for Regional Coordinators to organize year-round support and work towards movement building, which would maintain and enhance communication channels between the Big Mountain resistance communities  and networks that are being established to support the Big Mountain resistance as well as other local forms of indigenous resistance, while building shared analysis, vision and movements for the liberation of all peoples and our planet. Please contact us for more information if you are interested.

The families are encouraging people to come to Black Mesa now! Support is requested all year long!

BMIS is a grassroots, all-volunteer run collective dedicated to working with and supporting the indigenous peoples of Black Mesa in their Struggle for Life and Land who are targeted by and resisting unjust mountaintop removal coal mining operations and forced relocation policies of the U.S government. One of the primary ways that we do this is to honor the direct requests of these families to extend their invitation to all people interested in supporting their resistance, to come to Black Mesa, to their threatened ancestral homelands, walk with their sheep, haul water and wood, whatever they ask of us.  By coming to The Land, we can assist the elders and their families in daily chores, which helps us to engage with the story that they are telling as well as to claim a more personal stake against environmental degradation, climate change, and continued legacies of colonialism and genocide.  We can support by being there so they can go to meetings, organize, weave rugs, visit family members who have been hospitalized, rest after a difficult winter and regain strength for the upcoming spring. With spring comes planting crops, shearing sheep, and lambing.


COME FOR A MONTH! Or Longer!


The elders on the land are very thankful for the support of their resistance over the last three decades. We at BMIS are asking those who have come before to continue the work you have started
by coming back.


And for those of you who have never come to the land, we encourage you to start.


Deep thanks to all who made the November Caravan happen: let us continue the support through the year.


BMIS can assist you in the process of being self-sufficient on the land, which is vital. We are happy to speak with you over the phone or email and we offer important online resources like the Cultural Sensitivity and Preparedness Guidebook found on our website. Volunteers must read the guidebook and register with BMIS to ensure your safety and be accountable to the families. There are also plenty of great documents about the current and background information found on our website--one of the only on-line resources documenting this resistance.


"This land is being taken away because they've got power in Washington. We were put here with our Four Sacred Mountains ~ and we were created to live here. We know the names of the mountains and we know the names of the other sacred places. That is our power. That is how we pray and this prayer has never changed." ~Katherine Smith, Big Mountain Elder


www.blackmesais.org
blackmesais@gmail.com

PO Box 23501 Flagstaff, AZ 86002  -
928-773-8086


BMIS can send letters/packages to families, however we encourage you to be in direct communication with the families.


THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS!


Testimony from a Sheepherder:


I have just left after a four month stay on the Land. This was my 14th winter staying with Dine' families residing on the so-called HPL and resisting the relocation laws by continuing to live on the land of their grandparents of generations back. It has been an intense winter. The big snowstorm was a sight to see, and reminded the elders of storms 40 and 80 years past, when there were many more families out there, and most of the elders didn't live alone. And yes, the National Guard and US Army did come out to the families. I wondered at the irony of the hay, water, and other supplies, thinking how the families have lived under the threat of the Guard coming in to take them from their homes.


The OSM Life of Mine permit getting denied was a pleasant surprise. I had been looking at the hills, meadows and rocks that I have come to know, as becoming 'reclaimed' land through the mine expansion, and thinking of the long, hard fight to come. A second generation Black Mesa miner, and "HPL" resident stated that he was glad about the permit, and ready to see a change back to the old ways of living and away from mining.

The Supporter caravan at thanksgiving was a fast and festive, and abundant time. About 120 supporters for the week, but by the end of January there were only a few supporters on the land, and a list of families asking for a sheepherder. We were desperately calling out for people to come, and a few did, but only a few.  And I thought, this is where the real support is needed- in the long haul, the deep snow.


Back in 1997, and again in 2000 the families were living under a threatening "deadline", and there were literally hundreds of supporters on the land for months. I am grateful that there is no deadline as such now, but I do wonder what keeps us supporters from committing to coming out, or coming back. I have personally placed several hundred supporters in the last 12 years, and I marvel at how much we struggle to 'get the word out ' and 'get support to the Land'.


I am so honored and humbled by the loving hospitality I receive from the families. My sons are treated as family, and are growing up knowing the elders, kids and supporters, and about fighting for and supporting what is right. I have been raised out there myself in many ways. The Dineh people have been my teachers and mentors, my inspiration. I believe in doing all that I can to honor their request and invitation to come into the home, the land and the lives of the people indigenous to the land -what that means and what they are fighting for and against. I believe it is at the heart of the most important work today.


And I am writing this to remind us, you, that their door is open and there is a job to do- something that we are needing to understand, a connection that needs to be made and honored. It is time to come. It is time to come back. Its time to give back. Please help us do this.


--Tree,  BMIS volunteer and volunteer coordinator
Sheep shearing in May.

The Climate Movement is Dead: Long Live the Climate Movement

Rising Tide North America is pleased to announce the release of our latest publication: The Climate Movement is Dead: Long Live the Climate Movement

Download at: http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org

In the aftermath of the COP15 talks in Copenhagen, the inability of the Big Greens, governments, and market approaches to find genuine and sustainable solutions to climate change is undeniable. As author Naomi Klein so aptly observed at the end of COP15 talks, “A particular model of dealing with climate change is dying.”

In the same uncompromising spirit as Rising Tide publications such as Deal or No Deal, and Hoodwinked in the Hothouse, CMID:LLCM delivers a timely critique of the failures of this “particular model” as exemplified by the mainstream NGOs who have grown all too cozy with corporations and the political establishment. It explores the ways in which “green” capitalism,electoral politics, and market mechanisms, far from solving the climate crisis, are some of the climate movement’s biggest obstacles.

Not content with mere polemic, CMID:LLCM charts a course that diverges from the dominant discourse of the mainstream climate movement. The essay lays out a strategy of supporting and escalating frontline struggles againstdirty energy while building a new global climate movement from the ground up, based around core principles of climate justice, grassroots power, solidarity, and direct action.

The Climate Movement Is Dead: Long Live the Climate Movement is a must-read for anyone left disenchanted by the mainstream climate movement, and all who are ready to step it up and fight for climate justice.

You can download a digital copy to view online or print yourself at:
http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org

Or send us an email to contact (at) risingtidenorthamerica (dot) org with your name, address, and how many copies you would like to receive. We are happy to provide this publication for free but as an all volunteer collective we greatly appreciate donations. Also consider joining in our print run collaboration:

COLLABORATE ON OUR PRINT RUN!

Rising Tide North America is excited to announce a “Print-Run Collaboration” project for CMID:LLCM. Local groups and allies can help us raise the funds necessary for an initial print-run of several thousand copies, and in return, receive a big stack “hot-off-the-presses” at approximately the cost of printing (cheaper than photocopies!).

contact (at) risingtidenorthamerica (dot) org

The Earth First! Journal Needs Your Help To Stay in Print

For almost thirty years the Earth First! Journal has been the voice of the radical environmental movement. For those thirty years the Journal has remained independent by not compromising its values for large grants or foundation money. 


Our support comes from grassroots activists and supports from the frontlines in the battle to save what's left of our wild places. While we are often broke and in need of funds, the situation today is more dire then ever before.

The issue of the Journal that we are working on now is struggling to come up with funds to print, and unless people like you step-up and give whatever they can it may not happen. Our print date is less then two weeks away and we are completely out of funds. Zero--zip--zilch.

A break down of our finances goes something like this. We need $1250 to print the next issue. We need $500 to mail out subscriptions (many for free to our comrades behind bars). We need $1000 dollars for rent and utilities for the office (that's due at the end of the month). Lastly, we would like to pay our editorial collective that works full-time putting together the Journal. For payroll we would ideally need $1500 (for five people). Many in the collective have not yet been paid for last month either.

This is a daunting challenge for us, and for our movement. Without generous donations from people like you, the Earth First! Journal may cease to exist altogether.

There are many ways you can help the Journal. First and foremost, donations are desperately needed and can be made on our website via Pay-Pal or by snail-mail. Secondly, if you are not a subscriber, subscribe. Our website also has lots of cool patches, t-shirts, zines and books, stickers, and other cool trinkets that you can purchase that goes directly to supporting our efforts. You can also host a benefit event in your community, or table with EF! merchandise and Journals, just get in touch with us for more info and ideas. Thanks in advance for stepping up to help the Earth First! Journal.

See You In The Trees,

The Earth First! Journal Collective

Earth First! Journal
Po Box 3023
Tucson, AZ 85702
www.earthfirstjournal.org
(520) 620-5635

Wild Roots Feral Futures 2010

The 2010 Wild Roots Feral Futures will take place for a seven-day duration, a quarter moon cycle, from June 19th-26th (from the First Quarter Moon on the 19th through the Summer Solstice on the the 21st to the Full Moon on the 26th) in the foothills of the mighty and wild San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado.

We are looking for folks of all sorts to join us and help facilitate workshops, conflict resolution and management, direct action and medic trainings, wild food walks, and much more! We will be focusing on many things, including but by no means limited to anarchist theory and praxis, rewilding, ancestral skills, indigenous solidarity, direct action, forest defense, security culture, civil disobedience, hand to hand combat, survival skills, evasion tactics, green anarchism, anti-civ, post-civ, star watching and navigation, maps and orienteering, shelter building, and whatever YOU care to bring and provide. But we need everyone's help to make this as safe, positive, and productive a space as it can be. Our own knowledge, skills, and capacities are limited. We need YOUR help!

Roles we REALLY need filled:

• Kitchen! (we've reached out to Everybody's Kitchen and Seeds of Peace)
• CRAM team (conflict resolution and management: we need people of diverse gender/sexual orientations who know how to give support to survivors of sexual assault and to people with PTSD)*
• Medics! (especially WFRs, WEMTs, & EMTs of diverse gender/sexual orientations)
• Child care! (We will have a kids space and support parents in participating in communal child care)

*There is a need for both womyn (cis and trans), queers, and trans folk on both the CRAM and Medic teams because many people in our communities aren't going to trust men, cis people, or heteros with their health or to help with conflicts. We do not expect womyn (cis and trans), queers, and trans folk to do the support work, but seek to create and maintain a safe and welcoming space that allows for plenty of room for it.

We at the Wild Roots Feral Futures organizers collective feel that white dominated spaces & racism within our communities are a significant problem, & feel the need to confront that. Due to the legacy of racism within our communities of resistance we will be holding workshops on white privilege, settler privilege, & cultural appropriation.

We also feel that cis-hetero, male dominated spaces and hetropatriarchy within our communities are equally problematic, and will also be holding workshops on patriarchy and (anti)sexism.

We would like to put out a request for workshops on white privilege, hetero privilege, cis privilege, and male privilege. We recognize that it's not the job of those of us oppressed by white supremacy and heteropatriarchy to facilitate those workshops. We don't expect oppressed people to attend, but you are welcome to. While it is not the responsibility or duty of queers, POC (People of Color), and other oppressed and marginalized people to assist white, cis-hetero, and privileged people unpack, deconstruct, and confront their own privilege, these processes will be open to all.

We intend to create clinic space with some privacy provided for patient care so that the bodies of trans people (and also cis womyn) aren't on display during vulnerable moments. We will also be implementing a safe(r) space policy to keep perpetrators of sexual/physical assault out of our community and support survivors by respecting any processes of accountability they initiate.

Womyn (cis and trans), queers, and trans folk have full support of the Wild Roots Feral Futures organizers collective to establish safer spaces for themselves, including spaces that are only for people who are oppressed by sexism, people who are queer, and people who are trans. We recognize the need for those spaces because no matter how much we work on our privilege, as recovering hetropatriarchists still in the process of mental and psychological decolonization and recovery, we're still going to be bringing heteropatriarchy into the space (hopefully unconsciously and unintentionally, which does little to change its effects).

We also intend to create family/child friendly space that includes multigenerational workshops and activities appropriate (and fun!) for kids.

Call For Support From Indigenous Resistance Communities of Big Mountain, Black Mesa, AZ

Immediate Call For Support From Indigenous Resistance Communities of Big Mountain, Black Mesa, AZ in their struggle for Life, Land and Dignity. January 18, 2010

Although there’s been a recent victory against the reopening of the Black Mesa Complex, the Kayenta mine is still operating and elders on the front lines fighting the continued impacts of coal mining and forced relocation efforts are still requesting support.

We are writing with a request for direct on-land support on behalf of families of traditional resistance communities of Black Mesa, AZ.. One of the Big Mountain elder matriarchs, Blanche Wilson, the mother of Mae Tso, who hosted the 2008 caravan, passed away yesterday. Please hold her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Mae and Samuel, two of Blanche’s children, and elders themselves, are living alone at their homesite. They are in much need of support–they will need to take four days away from basic necessities and work for the traditional funeral. Additionally Mae injured her back on Christmas day and has been in pain for the last three weeks and at a limited work capacity; Samuel has been working double what he normally does. There are supporters there now until Wednesday the 20th. The funeral will be after that so, as mentioned, they really need the help at this time.