Mississippi Summer in the Redwoods
"Freedom Riders Needed To Save The Forest"

Following the footsteps of the brave civil rights activists of the 1960's,
Earth  First! is calling for a "Mississippi Summer in the California
Redwoods," in which thousands of university students, activists and retirees
are being summoned to Northern California to nonviolently put their bodies on
the lines in defense of the most famous ecosystem in the world: the giant
redwood forest.

Response has been tremendous, but no one can yet determine how many people
will come to blockade logging roads, climb giant trees, and peacefully picket
logging corporations.  Protestors are expected to arrive sometime in May and
continue coming into September.  "It's going to be a long hot summer," said
Judi Bari of Ukiah Earth First!  "The eyes of the nation will be watching us."

"Nonviolence" will be the password for all participants in this Redwood
Summer.  "All activists will be required to take nonviolence training," said
Earth First! activist Greg King.  "Any participant not in full agreement with
nonviolence as the principle concern during the actions will not take part in
Redwood Summer."  The nonviolence code will include prohibiting property
destruction and physical or verbal threats to loggers or police.

Incoming "Freedom Riders for the Forest" will check in at hospitality houses
and then be sent to campsites or lodgings.  "We've had an incredible response
from people opening their doors and their land, from small office spaces to
320 acre forests," said Pam Davis of Sonoma County Earth First!  "There's
still a need for more lodgings and land, however, and we're putting out the
call from Santa Rosa to Crescent City," she said.

Forest activists believe the comparison to Mississippi Summer is accurate
because of both the tactic of calling for ouside help and the battle against a
form of bigotry, which Earth First!ers call speciesism.  "Many humans see the
Earth and other species as something to be conquered and enslaved," said
Darryl Cherney of Garberville Earth First!;  "We believe that the Earth
deserves civil rights the same as people do," he said.  "A redwood, a spotted
owl, a black bear all have a right to exist for their own sake, irrespective
of what value they may have for human profit."

But there is another kind of bigotry:  Prejudice against environmental
activists.  Last summer, there were three incidents of violence against
protesters, including two punching incidents and a log truck ramming into an
Earth First! vehicle on Highway 128.  In each case, Mendocino County law
enforcement refused to intervene at the scene, and in two cases, no
prosecution took place.  This year, two teams of attorneys, one in Humboldt
and one in Mendocino County are volunteering their services to both help
activists who are arrested and ensure that discriminatory law enforcement
doesn't occur.

Redwood Summer organizers don't want bigotry toward timber workers either. 
"The battle is not between the timber workers and environmentalists, it's
between giant logging corporations and our community," said Judy Bari, who
organized labor unions for seven years and is currently the driving force
behind I.W.W. Local #1, an N.L.R.B. recognized "Wobbly" union which includes
both millworkers and Earth First!ers.  "Our goal is to slow the timber
companies down to sustained yield," said Bari.  "For every day we shut down a
logging operation, there's another day the workers can collect another
paycheck."

Northern California residents assisting with Redwood Summer are rife with
political experience.  In the last four years, there have been over one
hundred "direct action" protests in Humboldt, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. 
Said Earth First! co-founder Mike Roselle, "Redwood Summer promises to be the
biggest national mobilization of Earth First! activists ever."

"The destruction wrought by the timber industry is unknown to most Americans,"
said Darryl Cherney.  "Besides the wholesale slaughter of thousand year old
trees, they leave toxic dumps from their preservatives and eroded soil that
can barely support new growth.  Reduced precipitation, ruined rivers, treeless
hillsides and a decimated salmon population is the legacy the timber industry
has left us.  The multitude of forest fires we've been getting are due to the
smaller, more vulnerable trees that have grown back, as well as from
malfunctioning logging equipment.  They've devastated small communities with
their boom and bust logging, and when they've stripped the land bare, they'll
often sell to a developer for tract housing and condos."

Earth First! advocates smaller, locally based, employee-owned holistic
forestry companies, who perform a light select-cut and uneven aged forestry.  
A handful of people already practice this method in northern California.
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