Network Views: Voice Of The Movement

Sharing ideas is vital to the growth of the movement so please send letters to:

Action Update,
Lea Valley Office,
P.O. Box 2573,
London N16 6HN.

For those techno minded folk, it really helps if text is on an ASCII 3.5 disc or better still use greenet to E:mail stuff to; GN: Jtorrance.

Monkeying-Around

Violence... confrontation... extremist.. warrior class”

All labels attached to EF! by the national press, and it wont be the last time we are represented in such a way. Hopefully our actions will speak louder than their words, but my faith in the dynamics of the media do not always stretch this far.

So called 'violence to property', or monkey-wrenching provokes many a varied reaction. Destroying a bulldozer is seen by some as little but mindless vandalism, by others as the only means to stop its assault on the earth. Many journalists do not seem to understand the difference between the acts of individuals, and group actions. Are we to see the birth of the Earth Liberation Front in this country as other countries have witnessed, the nocturnal activities of crazed individuals determined to wreak vengeance on the industrial society that has spawned them?

love and grit
Bolt Cutter

Forum, or for’em

So what is it to be, this lil’ole Action Update of ours? Last 'edition', I tried to recognize the article a couple of us had written must have got scrambled in the post, had bits added, cut, that kind of stuff... A journal can be a conduit of information, a forum for discussion, a propaganda tool, many things. But for it to be open to all at grass-roots level, and not just for the few is a different question. Are you sitting comfortably, boys and girls? Let me tell you a story... There’s a newspaper in Christiania, the Danish Freetown, that includes all articles it receives, and refuses to edit. The editors coordinate the process, but in this way avoid wielding their subjective power. Can we find our own way, or will someone else do it for us? I think we should be told... No, I think we should tell ourselves.

Love and words,
Bowd L’Erize
South Downs Earth First!

The splendid resources of the AU consist of: 2 hands, a borrowed computer and a lot of waving a frayed shoestring at a sympathetic printer. In defense of Harry (name changed) last issues ed.. He had to knock it out inbetween coordinating the roadshow. Oh how I dream of a collective of objective editors while I sit here manically trying to condense this wad of articles into an AU thin enough to fit under your door (and not break the bank). So Bowd L'Erize, come lay your gentle fingers on my keyboard and together we can make your vision come true. Ed.

Consumption Hypocracy?

As a movement EF! prides itself on empowering individuals. Giving them control over their defense of the environment. We often state how different we are to the more established environmental pressure groups and indeed we are.

However on one major level we are totally the same. We do not challenge people to recognise their own part in the destruction of the planet and third world peoples. We do not challenge their consumerism. Tea, Coffee, tobacco and Peanuts (all consumed in large quantities at the recent gathering) are cash crops. In the case of peanuts their cultivation is destroying vast areas of topsoil in Africa; making the land useless for any future agricultural use. If we chose not to consume these and other third world products the land could be freed to give to the local people to grow food. Let us as a movement and as individuals strive to reduce or eliminate our consumption of cash crops. Please think about your consumption, your lifestyle. For it is these every bit as much as Governments, banks and multinationals that are destroying the Earth and causing the deaths of thousands of our fellow humans. Let's change ourselves as well as trying to change others.

Keith Johnson

Turn on, Tune in, Drop in.

Earth First! is like an 'outside-fire'.

I’m not talking about dropping a little lit match somewhere on a wet day. I don’t mean just one of those little smoke signals going up, 'cause your name ain’t Geronimo'. Cause once you get an outside-fire started you can’t control it. And you could end up with a wild-fire. And wild-fires do have a tendency to spread”.

- Millie Jackson, my guru! What is Earth First!? It is nothing if it is not something that people feel. It must throw off sparks, and spread. Sparks born simply of individual concern for the environment. Sparks that lead someone to take non-violent direction action in defence of the earth that they care for. The moral of this story you might ask? Anybody can start by getting the fire started right here. Your next-door neighbour may be entirely different from you, but the spark may be there. The only way to find out, and so see things change is to try. Try helping that fire - start an Earth First! group.

The heat is on.

Bryant May
South Downs Earth! First