-----Original Message----- From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Is Earth First anti-industrial? Their real politics, as
>opposed to the smears against them, are much more subtle. They are not
>opposed to logging, just logging of old-growth in federal lands, which they
>argue is a waste of precious resources.
The "smears" against Earth First are based on some of its founders early "Deep Ecology" pronouncements, such as praising AIDS and famine in Africa as ways to balance out the carrying capacity of the Earth. Now, a number of those founders lost out within the organization to leaders like Judi Bari who have a progressive pro-labor, pro-humanist version of radical environmentalism, but there was a real misanthropic strain within Earth First that (rightfully) gained it notoriety in its early years.
>Lester Brown's Worldwatch Institute
>is concerned with how to recycle agricultural byproducts, most especially
>organic fertilizer.
Lester Brown also recently endorsed the anti-immigrant resolution within the Sierra Club - endorsing the "carrying capacity" rhetoric of the immigrant bashers. I was saddened to see him line up with the racist right on this initiative, but his actions actually reinforce the argument that, despite good intentions by many Greens, they can find affinity with the racist right at critical junctures.
--Nathan Newman