Re: One more time...
in response to
by
posted on
Jul 22, 2021 07:45PM
Max Wilbert, who with Will Falk, founded the Protect Thacker Pass protest camp in January, 2021.
Just in case you have forgotten the link between Max Wilbert and the Deep Green Resistance, here is a description from The Deep Green Resistance News Service dated 13 August 2020:
"Max Wilbert is a third-generation organizer who grew up in Seattle’s post-WTO anti-globalization and undoing racism movement. He is a co-founder of the group Deep Green Resistance and longtime board member of Fertile Ground, a small, grassroots environmental non-profit with no employees and no corporate funding. His first book, a collection of pro-feminist and environmental essays, was recently released. It’s called We Choose to Speak, and Other Essays.
He is also the co-author of the forthcoming book “Bright Green Lies” (with Derrick Jensen and Lierre Keith) which looks at the problems with mainstream so-called “solutions” such as solar panels, electric cars, recycling, and green cities. The book makes the case that these approaches fail to protect the planet and aim at protecting empire from the effects of peak oil and ecological collapse.
Wikipedia has some very interesting comments about the Deep Green Resistance group. I think it is important to note that there is some controversy about the description of the DGR on Wikipedia and I have listed specific cautionary statements on Wikipedia later in this post, scroll down to "In fairness, Wikepedia posts at the beginning...."
Those items in quotes heretofore are from the Wikipedia description of DGR and the 2011 book by the same name.
"In the 2011 book Deep Green Resistance, the authors Lierre Keith, Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay state that civilization, particularly industrial civilization, is fundamentally unsustainable and must be actively and urgently dismantled in order to secure a future for all species on the planet.[1]"
"DGR holds bright green environmentalism to be inadequate. DGR believes that lifestyle changes, such as using travel mugs and reusable bags and taking shorter showers, are too small for the large-scale environmental problems the world faces. It also states that the recent surge in environmentalism has become commercial in nature, and thus in itself has been industrialized. The movement asserts that per person the industrial waste produced is orders of magnitude greater than the home waste produced; therefore, it is industrialism that must be ended, and with that, lifestyle changes will follow."
"Critics point out that DGR does not offer a feasible method for accelerating the massive numbers of human deaths predicted,[2] but Keith and Jensen contend that while the reality of them not being actually able to slaughter millions of people is unpleasant, an apocalypse is inevitable anyway and delaying mass murder will only result in more suffering and that they are merely trying to prepare the world for the forthcoming death and wide-scale violence. Jensen states that if activists do not wish to participate in terrorism and murder, they, at the very least, should prepare to set up local committees to reduce or channel the additional violence."
"In a November 2019 article published on the Deep Green Resistance News Service website, the group elaborated on their ideology, responded to their critics and denied that they support mass killings and genocide:
Most fundamentally, we are not a human supremacist organization. We believe that environmentalism exists to defend the health and freedom of the whole living world, of which human beings are merely a small (but precious!) part. Further, we believe that, when our way of living comes into conflict with the health of the land and the non-humans with which we share it, our way of living is what must go. For many people, these are upsetting statements; for those activists whose idea of liberation is tied up with air-conditioned subway cars and automated luxury goods, they can be downright terrifying! It’s no wonder, then, that so many techno-utopians are quick to assume that we support sterilization, eugenics, “population control,” or even mass killings or genocide. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. All those things are both morally unacceptable and practically foolish. DGR advocates for the targeted abolition of industrial civilization, not indiscriminate destruction or mass extinction. To be honest, we find it particularly sad that so many “environmentalists” simply cannot imagine a biocentric worldview apart from these atrocities – but their lack of imagination is not our fault, and we’d appreciate it if they stopped making up nonsense.[4]"
"Operating under the assumption that the majority of global society will not voluntary starve or die, the DGR believes armed warfare is unavoidable. It dismisses that any gradual shift to sustainability is possible. DGR believes that industrial civilization will inevitably collapse, that they must act decisively before the collapse to ensure that the Earth remains inhabitable for all organisms, and build a more sustainable society after the collapse. DGR supports an active resistance movement with the objective of accelerating the collapse of industrial civilization.[1] Jensen has concluded that "the mass of civilized people will never be on our side."[11] This has led to organizing a strategy that is pessimistic about popular involvement, and therefore aims at forcing change without the majority's consensus.[12]"
"In the organization's eponymous book, Keith lists a number of reasons where she finds violence justified, although she understands that people "who care about justice want to reject violence".[1] Keith and McBay have openly encouraged a clandestine militant network, and DGR provides support for such action"
" The DGR endorses violent strategies for social action.[18] In a YouTube video they posted McBay and Keith promote the idea of clandestine networks organized along hierarchical lines, with frontline troops disciplined by a command structure,[19] and hierarchies are best for organizing an insurgency.[1]
Jensen predicts that in the future the authorities will try to arrest members. He dismisses mass genocide as acceptable considering "global economy is murdering humans and non-humans" and "don't blame those who want to stop ... exploitation... help to stop the exploitation".[20] He has clarified such ideas on Democracy Now!: "I get accused of being the 'violence guy' ... I want to put everything on the table ... it's appropriate to have militant response or non-militant response."[21]
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In fairness, Wikipedia posts at the beginning of the segment on Deep Green Resistance a warning:
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2014)
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The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. The dispute is about DGR's supposed advocacy of dictatorship, mass murder and genocide. (December 2020)"
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I believe that the Wikipedia article may indeed be subject to hyperbole in some respects, however if it does nothing else but serve to hit a notion of caution into the mind regarding the DGR organization then I believe that caution is justified and should inspire the reader to educate himself or herself in more detail about DGR and with special attention to the DGR site itself and the uncontested contents therof as stated by the DGR organization itself.
I recommend doing that search of the DGR site in context with due consideration to today's published report found in the article WB DT linked earlier here today on this Hub:
"The agency, however, did not commit to a timeline during the hearing. If an injunction is not issued, protesters have said they are prepared to take direct action. Protect Thacker Pass, a protest group camped at the site, had planned to conduct direct action training this weekend. "
So, how does DGR tiptoe the boundry line between "above ground" and "underground" types of "action"?
From the DGR website:
"What is the “Firewall”?
Here at Deep Green Resistance, we are an “aboveground” organization with a firewall between us and underground action. That means that our primary work is legal (although this varies depending on jurisdiction). Our members also take part in non-violent direct action of the sort common among aboveground movements. This is in contrast with “underground” organizations that conduct clandestine, highly illegal activities. We advocate for this, as we think coordinated underground action is the best chance for saving the planet." _________________________________________________________________ Take another look at that last sentence in the above paragraph: "We advocate for this, as we think coordinated underground action is the best chance for saving the planet." So, the organization wants the legal protections of purporting to be an "above ground" resistance organization, but it clearly states that coordination with "underground action is the best chance for saving the planet". This begs the question of just what is the nature of that coordination? "The agency, however, did not commit to a timeline during the hearing. If an injunction is not issued, protesters have said they are prepared to take direct action. Protect Thacker Pass, a protest group camped at the site, had planned to conduct direct action training this weekend. "
So, who are the protesters and what is their definition of "direct action". Max Wilbert and Will Falk started their occupation at Thacker Pass.
Some insight into Wilbert's definition of "direct action" can be gleaned from the following Max Wilbert Video:
From the DGR web site regarding "Training": TRAINING | Deep Green Resistance
Will the future "Direct Action" at Thacker Pass clearly be in the category of "above ground" activist activity OR will we see some element of "under ground" or even "coordinated" activity between "above ground" organizations such as DGR and any number of groups/individuals from that second category of resistance that the DGR believes says has the best chance of saving the planet and requires the coordination of DGR to achieve that goal?
Okiedo
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