|
Edited on Thu Sep-25-03 07:06 PM by arissa
"First Arissa, I commend you for being the first to step up when challenged on this issue. Your peers in the "liberation fronts" have remained silent to this point after every post I have made on the topics."
What peers are you speaking of? I doubt hardly anyone who visits DU regularly is very passionate about the issue. I happen to be the exception, so I'm not sure why you seem to be "challenging" the ELF arsonists who spend their free time posting on DU, as I doubt any spend much time here, and if they did, and they were smart, they would absolutely NOT speak up about it because it could lead authorities right to them.
I however, not being someone who sets fires, am free to speak my mind in support of the Earth warriors who do, since I am not afraid of being targetted by authorities, since I haven't committed such acts.
So let's just forget about the grandstanding on both sides, anyone who did these things would be a fool to speak out about them on the internet.
"It is not message I disagree with."
Just to be clear, I was posting the message for our friend slackmaster, who seemed to think that there was no message, stating that they were 25 years too late. I was pointing out that it's never too late.
"Criminal acts especially these fires and animal liberations are dangerous to those who purpotrate them"
I'm sure that anyone who goes through the preparations for something like this is far more aware of the dangers and how to prevent accidents than you are, no offense, but I know this for a fact. These aren't a bunch of teenagers running around drunk and having fun.
"and to the responders who control them."
This is an unfortunate risk. Thankfully, the responders are well-trained professionals and know how to handle themselves. Personally, I think global capitalist imperialism run amock and the death of our Mother Earth are far more dangerous to far more people than a fire. Maybe I'm crazy but the health of the planet, of it's inhabitants, is of far more consequence to me. Nothing comes without risks, no matter how righteous the cause.
Slave uprisings in the South killed many innocent people and put countless others in danger, but risks have to be taken if liberation is to be achieved. History is full of examples of this, and I think your outrage over this comes no from the innocent people put in danger but from your framing the issue different personally - you simply don't see the liberation of the Earth from the death-grasp choking Her to death as important as other struggles throughout history - I happen to disagree.
"Secondly, they scare people away from our side."
Again, I disagree. Sure, the upper-middle-class white yuppies in the suburbs are all in a huff about it. You know, the type who give $20 a year to the Sierra Club and stick the "Save ANWR!" sticker on their Expedition. Who gives a shit about them, they're part of the problem even more than the rabid conservative who hates environmentalists because these idiots actually believe they're NOT part of the problem, at least a conservative can admit it/doesn't give a shit - which is far less dangerous.
Another excerpt from the EF!J:
"Following the fire, a small, hand-printed sign was left near the construction site: 'Thank-You E.L.F. Burn, baby, burn.'
Tad Simmons of Carlsbad said that as an environmentalist he had mixed feelings about the fire. 'Part of me thinks it's kind of cool that somebody had the guts to stand for something like this-a cause, and that nobody ever gets hurt.'"
These actions get headlines, they draw attention to environmental issues, and they make people think. Their will always be people who claim to be turned off by them - most of those people would never lift a finger to help the Earth in any REAL way anyway. Their mind was made up beforehand, and personally I couldn't care less what they think.
In the end, it boils down this - NOTHING else has worked - end of story. The mainstream groups are a buncha sellout wannabe-enviros who sit in offices and cut deals to make themselves feel good. Depending on politicians has got us nowhere - our environmental protections are pathetic and broken everyday by corporations who buy off the authorities. The Earth is dying, and NOTHING we have depending on in the past has worked.
We can only sit around waiting for someone in Washington to do something about it for so long. Pretty soon, it'll be too late. There are only two problems with ELF/ALF actions: 1) They took too long to start, they should have started decades ago and never let up. 2) They don't happen often enough.
When will it be "ok" to take matters into our own hands and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to save the Earth from death? Will it be "ok" to fight back when another 500 species of plants and animals are extinct, gone forever? Will it be "ok" to fight back when the icecaps and glaciers finish (I say finish because they're already well on their way) melting and change the global jetstreams, which in turn wipes out tropical regions into deserts and turns temperate regions into wastelands? Will it be "ok" to fight back when another billion people die of preventable disease? Will it be "ok" to fight back when the last old-growth Redwood in Cascadia is about to be cut? When? When will it be "ok"? I say the line was crossed centuries ago.
|