In the Wild Rockies of western Montana and northern Idaho, a battle is being waged by a small group of committed citizens against one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world–and the people are winning. ExxonMobile and other international criminal organizations are attempting to transform the Hyw. 12 National Scenic Byway–a breathtaking, mountainous corridor that slithers along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers–into a “high and wide” industrial shipping corridor that would be used to transport strip mining equipment to the Alberta tar sands, one of the most destructive industrial projects on Earth.
What began as a small grassroots campaign spearheaded by Northern Rockies Rising Tide has evolved into a regional movement which has successfully halted the contruction of Exxon’s proposed Kearl tar sands mine in northern Alberta for over a year by means of public demonstrations and litigation. As the proposed tar sands corridor remains stalled in the courts, activists in Montana and Idaho are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
This July, environmental justice advocates and impacted community members from around the country will converge for the 2011 Earth First Round River Rendezvous, a week of education and action focused around issues of resource extraction and environmental injustice in the Intermountain West, and we would like to invite you to join us.
Why Earth First!? And what is the “Round River Rendezvous”?:
Now more than ever–in an age when mainstream environmental organizations take donations from oil companies and advise weapons contractors on how they might “green” their image–it is our duty as environmental and social justice activists to make certain things clear: Firstly, the plethora of (financial, ecological, and social) “crises” that grow worse with each day are not isolated or anomalous phenomena; they are the inevitable results of a specific ideological system that has been forced on the world by a relatively small group of wealthy elites. Secondly, therefore, it is essential that any tenable solution to these crises address the root causes of their emergence and that this solution come from the people who have been put most at risk, not from the people and institutions that are responsible for the problem in the first place. More specifically, then, there can be no such thing as “green” or “socially responsible” capitalism–unsustainability and social irresponsibility are encoded into capitalism’s DNA, they are it’s lifeblood. (Watch this for a more detailed explanation on this perspective).
Earth First! formed in 1979 in response to an increasingly corporate, compromising and ineffective environmental community–a community which has since become even more corporate and compromising. EF! is not an organization, but a movement. There are no “members” of EF!, only Earth First!ers. We believe in using all of the tools in the toolbox, from grassroots and legal organizing to civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action. When the law won’t fix the problem, we put our bodies on the line to stop the destruction.
The Earth First! Round River Rendezvous is a week long gathering for anyone interested in or involved in the Earth First! movement. Annually, this week-long gathering is held in a bioregion that is threatened with ecological devastation. During the week folks set up a primitive camp and attend or give workshops on a wide variety of topics, get to know one another, listen to music and other performances or share their own, brainstorm, network, organize and take action.
Earth First! activists blockade a coal plant after the 2006 Rendezvous
But don’t think that we’re a bunch of boring fanatics that just like to sit around and theorize about “movement strategy.” The Rendezvous is a also a celebration. There will be lots of great opportunities for anyone to share music, stories, circus acts, theatre, etc. and there will be scheduled performances by radical musicians and other performers.
We encourage anyone coming to engage in primitive camping, treading as lightly as possible on the ecosystems that we will be inhabiting. We also ask that people come as self-sufficient as possible. Town and amenities are typically a distance away – so come with everything you will need for the week. The week will end with a direct action that is most strategic and relevant to our ongoing campaigns at the time. You can learn more about this action at the Rendezvous.
Some Things to Consider:
We are inviting a wide variety of folks from a wide variety of backgrounds to this year’s RRR, so we ask people to leave oppressive and elitist attitudes at home. We are attempting to make this space open and welcoming to locals and all types of environmental justice activists. We will not tolerate oppressive or elitist behavior. There will be spaces for alcohol and partying, and there will be spaces conducive to sobriety and quietude. It is expected that these spaces and policies will be respected. In short, don’t be a jerk!
There will be on-site medics with herbal medicine knowledge and training, as well as spaces to go for health and healing. If you have any particular skills that would help with any of these things, contact us.
Police or other law enforcement agencies sometimes like to stop in and see what we are up to or try to shut down the whole camp all together. It is usually not a big deal, but please be aware of these possibilities. There will be delegated members of the camp responsible for communicating with law enforcement. There will also be folks working security throughout the gathering to keep any unwelcome people out. As is usual at the RRR, we will be constantly signing up volunteers to help with camp security, childcare, conflict mediation, and other tasks to keep the camp functioning.
See you this July!
