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Judi Bari, Ten Years Gone: Her Work and Warnings Prove True
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the day Judi Bari died on March 2nd in 1997 from cancer. On May 24, 1990, Judi was severely injured by a motion-triggered pipe bomb which exploded on the floor directly under the driver's seat of her car as she and fellow Earth Firster Darryl Cherney traveled through Oakland, California, on an organizing tour for Redwood Summer, a campaign of nonviolent protests focused on saving old growth redwood forests in northern California. I first met Judi in San Francisco at a rally against Pacific Lumber; now know as Maxxam in 1989. She was a dedicated lefty labor activist, not the usual type of organizer who goes up against the timber industry over logging in a small economically depressed logging town. Yet she worked tirelessly until her death on behalf of both the workers and the forest. At the time of the bombing she was attempting to break the deadlock that had developed in Humboldt County over the fate of California's last large stand of unprotected Redwood trees. The situation was dire, and local activists had exhausted every avenue to keep Maxxam from liquidating the ancient forests to service the debt Charles Horowitz had acquired during a hostile takeover of the venerable Pacific Lumber Company, which had been locally owned and operated for over a century.
Judi's idea was an organizing campaign based on Freedom Summer, the Mississippi Civil Rights campaign that brought in activists from across the country to break the deadlock on voting rights for African Americans in the South. After hundreds of arrests, demonstrations and the death of several activists, the civil rights workers of Mississippi were exhausted, and put out a call for outside help. Three of those who chose to answer the call were later found buried in an earthen dam in rural Mississippi. The uproar over these brutal killings helped galvanize support for the eventual passing of the Voting Rights Act in Congress in 1965. As in Mississippi, Judi understood that this campaign would have to be nonviolent, but that did not mean it would not be dangerous.
The night before Judi and Daryl were bombed, I was at a meeting with them at the Seeds of Peace house in Oakland. Seeds had volunteered to help with, among other things, the logistics of the campaign, primarily the care and feeding of the hundreds of expected activists who would arrive that summer. The meeting went late into the night, and I left early for my home in Berkeley. I had a river trip planed on the Wallowa River with Mike Howell the next day, and we had to drive north early in the morning. We stopped in Chico to see Michelle Miller, another organizer on the campaign, who had also been receiving death threats from various anti-environmental groups over the last few months.
More
http://www.counterpunch.org/roselle03062007.html
The night before Judi and Daryl were bombed, I was at a meeting with them at the Seeds of Peace house in Oakland. Seeds had volunteered to help with, among other things, the logistics of the campaign, primarily the care and feeding of the hundreds of expected activists who would arrive that summer. The meeting went late into the night, and I left early for my home in Berkeley. I had a river trip planed on the Wallowa River with Mike Howell the next day, and we had to drive north early in the morning. We stopped in Chico to see Michelle Miller, another organizer on the campaign, who had also been receiving death threats from various anti-environmental groups over the last few months.
More
http://www.counterpunch.org/roselle03062007.html
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Gene Lawhorn asked that this reply be distributed.
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007
From: Gene Lawhorn
Subject: Judi Bari
To: editor [at] lowbagger.org
Mike,
I read your piece on Judi. I must say I was very disappointed. You
should have given her more credit for creating relationships with labor
than you did. In fact it was that relationship that lead her to and
other Earth First!ers to renounce tree spiking. Another point you
failed to mention in your piece.
I came to be good friends with Judi and grew to love her. I can tell you
she would NOT be pleased with your article. I personally know may union
carpenters who have been inspired with Judi's work. People who you can
never have a connection with living in your isolated world. I am often
approached by co-workers who hearing a program about Judi on the radio
who ask questions and share their thoughts with me about Judi and her
work.
As I recall you flip flopped like a pancake on the tree spiking issue,
I also recall Judi's angry words about your flip flop. Mike you got to
take a stand, then fucking stand against whatever winds blow your way.
Sometime ya get blow down hard... and ya wonder what the hell your
doing, but ya get back up and stand again. I know cause I take my
stand and I get blown down a lot with the bureaucracy of my union.
I've been blacklisted, and lost a good labor history teaching job
because of my environmental activism in the past as well as my
struggle for internal democracy within the union that I fight for in
my current activism. I am always inspired by my relationship with
Judi. And I miss her, I miss calling and sharing my trials,
tribulations, and my small victories with her. I Miss her
encouragement and uplifting advice when I get down, and burned out.
She was a pillar a strength for me, and I am sure for many others.
I would hope that if your gonna write about Judi Bari in the future
you give her credit for actually creating and building relationships
with workers. That you have the courage to talk about the tree
spiking issue, and the incredible aftermath... the Bombing Mike...the
bombing happen after the tree spiking renouncing. This was proof that
she was building relationships with workers. Talk about the reaction
of the timber industry and the labor bureaucrats who did not embrace
the renouncing but denounced it as a ploy, as a ruse to fool the
public, as a public relation tactic.
Mike, another thing you should consider is this fact, many of the
UBC, (United Brotherhood of Carpenters) staff, organizers, and
business reps have been told by one of the Vice presidents of the UBC
that I was a Earth First! activist that spiked trees, and advocated
the spiking of tree to isolate any support I may get for my activism.
I know this because one of them came to me and apologized to me for
his hatred of me after he read my articles arguing against tree
spiking on the Internet. He tole me what he was told by the BC vice
president, and as a former mill worker he held that against me for
years.
The winds continues to blow, and I continue to stand. I get blown
down...I get back up! I am labor, and Judi Bari was one of my greatest
inspirations. Never underestimate the work Judi has done, and
continues to do beyond the grave.
Gene Lawhorn Vice President Carpenter's Local 247 Portland, Or.
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007
From: Gene Lawhorn
Subject: Judi Bari
To: editor [at] lowbagger.org
Mike,
I read your piece on Judi. I must say I was very disappointed. You
should have given her more credit for creating relationships with labor
than you did. In fact it was that relationship that lead her to and
other Earth First!ers to renounce tree spiking. Another point you
failed to mention in your piece.
I came to be good friends with Judi and grew to love her. I can tell you
she would NOT be pleased with your article. I personally know may union
carpenters who have been inspired with Judi's work. People who you can
never have a connection with living in your isolated world. I am often
approached by co-workers who hearing a program about Judi on the radio
who ask questions and share their thoughts with me about Judi and her
work.
As I recall you flip flopped like a pancake on the tree spiking issue,
I also recall Judi's angry words about your flip flop. Mike you got to
take a stand, then fucking stand against whatever winds blow your way.
Sometime ya get blow down hard... and ya wonder what the hell your
doing, but ya get back up and stand again. I know cause I take my
stand and I get blown down a lot with the bureaucracy of my union.
I've been blacklisted, and lost a good labor history teaching job
because of my environmental activism in the past as well as my
struggle for internal democracy within the union that I fight for in
my current activism. I am always inspired by my relationship with
Judi. And I miss her, I miss calling and sharing my trials,
tribulations, and my small victories with her. I Miss her
encouragement and uplifting advice when I get down, and burned out.
She was a pillar a strength for me, and I am sure for many others.
I would hope that if your gonna write about Judi Bari in the future
you give her credit for actually creating and building relationships
with workers. That you have the courage to talk about the tree
spiking issue, and the incredible aftermath... the Bombing Mike...the
bombing happen after the tree spiking renouncing. This was proof that
she was building relationships with workers. Talk about the reaction
of the timber industry and the labor bureaucrats who did not embrace
the renouncing but denounced it as a ploy, as a ruse to fool the
public, as a public relation tactic.
Mike, another thing you should consider is this fact, many of the
UBC, (United Brotherhood of Carpenters) staff, organizers, and
business reps have been told by one of the Vice presidents of the UBC
that I was a Earth First! activist that spiked trees, and advocated
the spiking of tree to isolate any support I may get for my activism.
I know this because one of them came to me and apologized to me for
his hatred of me after he read my articles arguing against tree
spiking on the Internet. He tole me what he was told by the BC vice
president, and as a former mill worker he held that against me for
years.
The winds continues to blow, and I continue to stand. I get blown
down...I get back up! I am labor, and Judi Bari was one of my greatest
inspirations. Never underestimate the work Judi has done, and
continues to do beyond the grave.
Gene Lawhorn Vice President Carpenter's Local 247 Portland, Or.
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