Newspaper Page Text
November 20, i991
Flagpole Magazine %
Page 13
Earthworks
Monkeywrenching —
or How to be a Felon:
Inspired by our recent speaker Lone
Wolf Circles and the discussions he and I
had after his performance last Wednesday
night, I felt the urge to inform the public of
the philosophy and mechanics behind di
rect action.
So what is direct action? Direct action is
when someone — anyone — goes beyond
talking to actual physical intervention. Di
rect action is taken when all other options
are exhausted. Direct action is taken as a
last resort to bring attention to the problem
at hand. This means that direct action
does not necessarily save anything. In
fact, it rarely saves anything but rather
gets media to come on out and thus
spreads the word.
The thing to do beforedirect action is to
try to stop the bad guys through all legal
and administrative channels. This holds
true for timber sales, development, nu
clear testing, construction of parking
decks, and a nost of environmentally
destructive ideas.
So what kinds of direct actions are
there? Direct action can mean marching,
picketing, sit-ins, protests, die-ins, guerilla
theater, monkeywrenching, or placing ones
body in the path of those devilish ma
chines of destruction. The direct actions
that get talked about the most are the ones
that fall outside of the normal civil disobe
dience and are classified as mon
keywrenching. The mam thing to remem
ber about direct action is that the end
result might be arrest and/ or fining. As a
result anyone or any group that does a
direct action must plan the action out care
fully and be fully aware of the law and the
consequences. Individual monkey wrench-
ers should do the same. Some examples of
direct action: There are many brave folks in
National forests who climb trees and sit for
days (weeks) to stop a tree (and hopefully a
stand of trees) from being cut. There are
people who have been buried up to their
necks on logging roads. Earth Firsters! are
considering endorsing the "U" locks, for
their handiness in becoming attached to
gates and bulldozers. No matter what opin
ion one might have on on direct action,
these brave people have to be admired for
laying their lives on the line. Earth First!
members have been cut down out of trees,
beaten, run over, bombed and nearly killed.
So what is monkeywrenching? Mon
keywrenching is when a person illegally
destroys or disables something that is being
used to destroy the environment. This can
mean tree spiking, disaoling bulldozers or
other machinery, cutting down billboards,
altering signs or billboards, pulling up sur
vey stakes, blocking roads, and the list
grows each year with new ideas and method
for stopping the onslaught of destruction.
But don’t get me wrong. These acts are IL
LEGAL. You can become a felon for doing
these things. You can become watched,
and harassed for talking about these things.
The FBI recently had a huge, multi-million
dollar operation to target taking down well-
known EF! activists, notably Dave Fore
man (co-founder of EF!). But you see,
Earth First! is NOT an organization — it is
a movement. When you look out beyond
your back yard and see a new mall going
up and hate it, you join the Earth First!
movement. When you see the billboards
going up and hate the sight and want to
tear them down, you become an Earth
Firster! But do not run out and terminate
the first bulldozer you see! Direct action is
not to be taken lightly, nor is it for everyone
to do. If you are interested in the Earth
First! philosophy, the Earth First! Journal is
bi-monthly and available at $20 a year.
Write to :EF! PO Box 5176, Missoula, MT
59806. Also available is the guide to mon
keywrenching, co-authored by Dave Fore
man himself: Ecodefense. a Field Guide to
Monkeywrenching, published by Nedd
Ludd books and available through the
Journal.
Before condemning the philosophy of
direct action consider this quote: “It al
ways annoys me to leave anything on the
ground when we log our own land (read:
public land]... We log to infinity, because
it's out there and it's ours and we want all
of it now." — Harry Merlo, president of
Louisiana-Pacific, a major logging com
pany that destroys old-growth forests and
runs toxic paper mills and wood product
factories.
When hearing these arrogant, outra
geous words it seems at times that some
thing more is needed, and direct action
doesn’t seems so radical. All
What Jeff Heard, What Jeff Saw...
Go see VEIN
MAN IS A PENT-UP THING
First, let me reiterate: Go see VEIN Next, I want to say a few
words about the TRIP SHAKESPEARE show at the Watt and the
double bill teaming FLAP and HAMMERBOX at The Downstairs
(all of whom are from out of town; the former hailing from the evil
twin-city empire of Minneapolis, the latter calling Atlanta and
Seattle home respectively). I only saw part of Trip’s show, and
even though I was just not in the mood for it at all (what with the
dreary, dnzzty weather and various such bullshit), I have to say
that they are first-class creative people who put on a startlingly
demanding display brimming with energy, fun, excitement, and
dark good humor. Flap: Interesting instrumental outfit, I enjoyed
their set quite a bit, found it very relaxing and lulling in its jazzy,
understated sort of free-form minimalism. And then there was
Hammerbox Chalk another one up for the Northwestern scene,
kids: In the fine tradition of such bands as Coffin Break and The
Dharma Bums, Hammerbox joins the roster of Seattle-based
groups who are passing through this area via small venues and
proving that all that talk about the Pacific Invasion isn’t just a lot of
hot wind As a general rule, the rock from the region tends to be
somewhat hard and heavy, not unlike the frequent rainfall. Ham
merbox has that grungy guitar kick we’ve come to expect from the
natives, but I must say that they’re fairly unique otherwise as a part
of the local phenomenon, being relatively jazzy and almost big-
bandish in the playful openness of their flair for invention. Loved the
reedy lilts belted out by the intriguing lead vocalist, and the quick
witted self-depracation of the lead guitarist's between-songs banter
with the enthusiastic audience...
Speaking of which — at the risk of pissing off competing
musicians, here are my picks for the best bets among in-town
shows this pre-holiday week. Wednesday the 20th: Hot-shot
acoustic loner MARLEE MACLEOD opens for the ever-irascible
LENNY in a Downstairs double-feature guaranteed to please you
and make you smile. Thursday, the underground cafe plays host
again when North Carolina’s SECOND SKIN graces our fair city
with their refined mischief in the form of restrained experimental-
ism, offbeat combinations of instrumentals, and gorgeous harmo
nies (not to mention some damn good lyrics of the poetic order).
Friday at the 40 Watt, it's the not-to-be-missed swan song for the
legendary PYLON — creating something akin to a spontaneous
windstorm on the dance floor when Vanessa’s seanngly intense
vocals and the thunderous instrumental beat started up during
their eariy shows And then Saturday, also at the Watt, it’s the one-
and-only JODY GRIND. Finally, on Sunday evening back at the
Downstairs, Boston’s wildly frenetic funkomatic monster answer
ing to DOGZILLA draws the quarter’s pre-feast Athenian festivities
to a close on our hit list of iavorites-in-performance.
THE PIXIES! It was a short show at the GATH, wasn't it? Missing
were the classic numbers “Bone Machine” and “Hey”, as well as
some other favorites .. but “Debaser", “Monkey Gone to Heaven"
and even “Jose Jones" (along with some others) never sounded
better Doolittle is my all-time favorite album. To paraphrase Grace
Braun of Dairy Queen Empire, it’s on a groove inside my brain. So
you better believe I was psyched for this one — I rarely get all
bunged up in eager anticipation of a show. From the special effects
thunderstorm opening (complete with baying hounds) right down
to the reprise encore: This concert was a winner; and. indeed, the
Show of the Year. Black Francis and Kim Deal are the High Priest
and Priestess of rock as far as I’m concerned. They could've
stepped out of the timeless f ifties with melody intact and added a
jolt of bad attitude, for all I know. , u n
1 ’ Jeff Payne
P S Go see Vein
Globe
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