Direct Action on Gypsy Mountain

NORTH COAST EARTH FIRST!

For immediate release:

September 18, 2003

Contact: Naomi Wagner:
or Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

Three Arrested as Activists Blockade, Shadow Loggers and Sit in Forest to Defend Old Growth Redwoods

Humboldt county, California-Sheriffs arrived at 7:30 this morning to confront several dozen activists at a gate blockade and lockdown on the haul road into Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's (PL) Timber Harvest Plan
382, also known as Gypsy Mountain. Young Texas activist David Gypsy Chain was killed by an irate logger in protests in the same area five years ago on September 17.

Sheriffs' deputies, under the direction of PL security chief Carl Anderson, removed brush and rock blockades and cut through the metal gate, leaving two activists still attached to the gate posts. They
were later cited and released. Led by Anderson, sheriffs then drove up the haul road and encountered a second blockade formed by an activist who locked his arm into a concrete-encased metal sleeve set
deep into the road bed. He was later taken to jail after being arrested.

Meanwhile, Columbia helicopter contract loggers where air-dropped into the area about 8:30 a.m. and began cutting redwoods in the unit near an ancient redwood known as the "Grandmother Tree", where
activists have erected a new tree-sit. There is already a long-term tree-sit in the "Aradia" grove near the site where Gypsy was killed.

Activists on the ground near the tree-sits protecting them also shadowed loggers into the cut zone. PL security and supervisors, although aware of their presence, refused to shut down logging until
after a large tree fell extremely close to activists and PL security. After a brief shut down, falling continued.

"Climber Eric", well-known contract climber used by PL to extract tree-sitters then arrived on the scene, climbed a tree near the Grandmother Tree and began cutting traverse lines attached to her.

Earth First!ers are protesting Maxxam/PL's illegal and unsustainable logging practices here and elsewhere on their holdings in Humboldt County, where some of the last unprotected ancient redwoods can be found. Judge John Golden recently ruled that PL's so-called Sustained Yield Plan, required for them to operate, does not actually exist, but his ruling has not yet been implemented.

"I am taking this action to save the old growth and endangered species like the marbled murrelet from Charles Hurwitz' greed-driven chainsaws," said Prana, one of those locked to the Gypsy Mt. gate, located just past Grizzly Creek State Park on highway 36 off interstate 101. A large banner hung across the gate blockade proclaimed "MAXXAM OUT OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY"

North Coast Earth First! is holding a week of actions and providing non-violence trainings in Grizzly Creek.
###

Naomi stated on the 17th that the blockade at the gate would last a long time. I suppose "long" is a relative term, however I am afraid the blockade collapsed quickly once contested.
PL does not require a SYP to operate. There are several options which allow an industrial timberland owner to harvest. Without an SYP, another of the options will take its place quick enough to keep the saws going. Naomi's been wrong quite a bit lately.

All in all, much ado about nothing in Swains Flat.

I am proud of the difficult, dangerous and courageous actions of those activists who choose to take non violent direct action in support of their beliefs. The early American Nation respected such citizens. Teachers in primary and secondary schools are mandated to teach examples from the lives of these heros who stood up for their beliefs.

I feel reassured, in these difficult times, when I see examples of this revolutionary spirit.

Thank you for your direct efforts. Mere talkers can never compare themselves to you for courage.

Please keep up the good fight.

Solidarity-

Chris

I know violence and vandalism. - mrraven - self proclaimed Eco-Avenger

I am proud of the difficult, dangerous and courageous actions of those activists who choose to take direct action in support of their beliefs.- Chris Longstaff

read up on our old buddy Shunka. I had a good laugh. To read all about him, do a Google search "Arcata eye Shunka".

Your love and courage shine through and inspire many of us around the world!

Much respect and good wishes to all of you.

A Fan

why did SunFox reply;

there is now also an action camp at with new people begin trained how to climb,non-violence trainings, backwoods trainings etc.. and action planning. Wooohooo! :) - SunFox, self proclaimed Eco-Avenger

with the terrorist attacks of earth liberation front and their claim to continue these terrorist tactics.
the ELF/EFalliance is common knowledge (and stated on the elf web page)

the E/F membership has the right to know exactly where their money IS going,AND exactly what it is funding.

the membership of earth first has the right to know what you have involved them in. and what actions are being taken in their name.

we'll get some donations and build a home in the mighty forest for all our friends. we can buy companies and start our own corporation!
(a recording company to start!) then we issue stock!
and buy more and more and more! and before you know it we are like Ben and Jerries! ON THE BIG BOARD!

THIS PLAN IS HALF WAY TO REALITY! AND EARTH FIRST IS GOING CORPORATE.
you can spout all the forest pixie poetry you want but the facts remain. donations are being re-routed to build a corporate foundation. and one who has taken business 101 can see the pattern. If you cannot it is because you will not,

Once again, the lackeys are trying to sway the focus from the real issue here...the fact that Maxxam/PL almost killed two of their own workers and a whole group of non-violent activists just last Thursday, September 18th, the day after the five-year anniversary of Gypsy's death at the hands of an enraged Maxxam/PL faller.
Again, Maxxam/PL continued to fall trees with full knowledge of people in the area.
Eyewitnesses said that two PL thugs were following our friends around in the woods, while loggers continued to fall trees. All of a sudden, a tree came smashing down within 15 feet of one of the goons, who called himself "Sparklepole," sending his orange hard-hat flying. The activists were sure that he was dead, and then Sparklepole got up, dusted himself off, got on his radio, and said something to the effect of, "Wow, that's an adrenaline rush!"
Yeah, because he ALMOST DIED, that's why!
The top of the tree fell dangerously close to a group of forest defenders, and could have killed everyone on site, except for the faller.
When is Maxxam/PL going to learn that it's not safe, not OK, to fall trees with people in the area.
When people show up, they have to stop, period.
MAXXAM/PL ALMOST KILLED A WHOLE GROUP OF PEOPLE, JUST ONE DAY AFTER THE FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF GYPSY'S DEATH.
It's time to Save Gypsy Mountain.
Let's keep the focus on the real issue here.
All the legal THPs in the world doesn't give anyone the right to blatantly fall trees with people in the area.
You can't hide behind your rubber stamps anymore.
Learn from the past, and improve in the present and future. Don't make the same stupid mistakes, just to satisfy your sick ego.
You can't log with people in the area, period.
When are people going to wake up?

--All the legal THPs in the world doesn't give anyone the right to blatantly fall trees with people in the area.
You can't hide behind your rubber stamps anymore.

shunka, your missing one point. Judge Golden ruled that PL is illegal. so these THP's aren't legal. now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

YES on SB710. let the water board decide how best to monitor h2o quality. obviously CDF has failed in their duties to ensure the public trust is safe from the timber lackies.

this wouldn't have happened if you had not sent inexperienced "mis-guided children" into harms way again!
and where were " YOU " while this was going on?????

where you down at the market dirnking in public again?

As usual shunka gets others to do his work for him
especialy when his incompatence in the forrest creates dangerous conditions.

how many have dies under your supervision???????

I only have four words to say :Google Arcata Eye Shunka

Last week's direct action in Swains Flat resulted in three arrests and no haulting of logging. The loggers met all their objectives in harvesting their selection and protesters just watched.
With direct action that productive, I question how any trees are left standing.
Was the intent of the action to gain media attention, or protect old growth? On either account, it utterly failed.

First off I want to express my sympathy and solidarity with the family and comerades of David Chain, who was certainly a martyr killed, likely deliberately, defending the last ancient redwoods. His life and struggle are an inspiration to me and countless others.

I just wanted to draw some attention to an issue that is usually ignored, but should be taken seriously by anyone concerned about respect for other cultures and the struggle against racism/ethnocentrism. I bring this up in the belief that those who loved and worked with David Chain are decent people, opposed to racism, and are willing to listen.

The word "Gypsy" is an inaccurate slur used to describe the Romani culture. (Romani is the adjective form, the people are Rom or Roma.) Consider:

'"Gypsy" conjures up all kinds of stereotypical images of Roma in the minds of viewers and readers. It should be replaced by Roma. Gypsy has been applied to the Roma by outsiders and it is offensive to many Roma just like Indian is offensive to Canada’s Native People.' ---from: http://www.romani.org/toronto/FS5jour.html

Also:

'The term "Gypsy" as used in scholarly writings supports misconceptions that all Roma are migratory, roam the countryside, and are engaged in questionable or illegal activities, as exemplified by slang terms like "to gyp," meaning to swindle. For many people, just the word "Gypsy" conjures up the picture of dirty women in long skirts, apparently sickly babies in their arms, begging for money or asking to read palms. For others, they are petty swindlers who rent storefronts and deceive a gullible public. It is only natural that many Roma, therefore, view the word "Gypsy" as offensive.'
---from: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/myths.htm

This concerns the use of the word in any context. Furthermore, I would like people to consider what it means for an individual (or a dance troupe, or restaurant-- both exist in San Francisco,) to take as a monkier the name of an ethnic group. How would we feel if, for example, someone/group were to call themself "Jew" or "Negro"?

Naturally, this would be somewhat mitigated if the person in question actually is of that group. Though I have never read anywhere anything to suggest that David Chain's family is of Romani origin, I don't mean to be making assumptions.

But even then, the use of such a name is highly problematic, and even offensive if the term itself is a slur, as is "Gypsy".

I bring this up not to disparage the deceased and his fellow environmentalists, whose work defending the forest has been exemplary, but to raise awareness about a form of ethnocentric domination that is all the more dangerous for being so often invisible.

Thank you. In liberation,
Jeff G
SF, CA

PS: If anyone wished to speak with me about this, please indicate so in a following comment. I apologize for being wary about posting my email address on this site, but I imagine that you can understand my reluctance.

PPS: I posted the above as a comment to other stories about David Chain, not quite realizing that there is also a place called "Gypsy Mountain" in his honor. I would hope that those who use that name would consider another way to pay tribute to this hero. I appreciate the positive response I got from "thanks" (see "Remembering Gypsy"), but would like to say that this is not a "factoid": it's about respect for a culture and a people who, like the Jewish, Armenian, First Nation and other peoples, have been the victims of genocide.

'"Gypsy" conjures up all kinds of stereotypical images of Roma in the minds of viewers and readers. It should be replaced by Roma.

Jeff ,
you are correct on your point of the '"Gypsy" nick name being offensive to diverse cultures. and I for one now realize that we have been very culturally insensitive in our use of nick names. I an sorry for the discomfort it may have caused you.

with every protest this person (aka) shunka puts children in harms way to protest against the logging industry. this practice has already killed one person and resulted in untold injuries from the incompetence of this ideological zealot. while he sends "children" into dangerous situations he stays back in total safety so as not to risk injury or arrest for his actions.

Ummm... you loggers are starting to sound really awful. I mean posting stuff where you are impersonating a person trying to "kindly" rag on a dead mans name??? Roma? I mean please. That is a really low thing. Just leave the mans name alone. He was David Nathan Chain and liked to be called Gypsy when working to save trees. He's passed away and it is low to mess with a mans name like that. Just ask your mother if you should trash a dead mans name. She probably will tell you that it would be disrespectful and totally disgusting to do that.
Please consider backing off on this. It would show admirable restraint for you loggers, feds and whatever to just show some respect for the dead. We can flame each other about the old growth and clearcut issues but please stop this awful trash campaign on somebody who is gone. You do not forward your cause when you do it. It just looks sick and disgusting. With respect for all departed love ones of all reading this.
-Sy Talbern

'The term "Gypsy" as used in scholarly writings supports misconceptions that all Roma are migratory, roam the countryside, and are engaged in questionable or illegal activities, as exemplified by slang terms like "to gyp," meaning to swindle. For many people, just the word "Gypsy" conjures up the picture of dirty women in long skirts, apparently sickly babies in their arms, begging for money or asking to read palms. For others, they are petty swindlers who rent storefronts and deceive a gullible public. It is only natural that many Roma, therefore, view the word "Gypsy" as offensive.'
---from: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/myths.htm


how dare you try to defend defaming my heritage in such a way as using this slang to hide this person's identity! then try to use this derogatory term to rename a mountain in this filthy manner! you people are grossly under educated! rude and offensive to minorities!

this is an affront to my heritage!
what is next? will you start telling jokes about blacks and Latino's
when you are out in the woods do get dresses up in the little white suit with the hoods and burn crosses?

Hi to the person above.

Being a Zionist Jew doesn't automatically imply one is a RELIGIOUS Zionist Jew. I'm secular and impersonate that fucking 'A concerned Zionist' because I feel it's much more appropriate to deal with his insane drivel than trying to reason with and refute his morbid offal.
Note how that shmuck has protested complaining it's utterly ridiculous to impersonate him, while he himself is an antisemitic anti-Zionist impersonation Zionists in the most morbid and egregious fashion.
I sign "Heil Hitler" to try and get into readers' attention that the real 'A concerned Zionist' is probably a neo-Nazi dumbfuck who deliberately ascribes a verbal Nazi salutation to Zionists in what probably amounts to a projection of his Nazi inclination onto Zionists.

'The term "Gypsy" as used in these posts is insulting to my cultural heritage. your persistence in it's use shows the lack of respect you have for minorities of this country.
We live here too, and we do not have to put up with this type of "racial slurs" by your organization.

I really thought my previous post was very clear, but let me reiterate: I support the actions of Earth First! and consider David Chain a heroic martyr to the cause of ecological sanity. I raise the issue of the inappropriateness of his nickname, "Gypsy" (and the mountain named in his honor-- an entirely appropriate act in principle, were it not for the name), because I believe that Mr. Chain's friends, family, and comerades in Earth First! had possibly never considered the offensiveness of this word. I steadfastly hope that they will reflect upon this, while of course continuing their critical work.

Please note further that I never suggested "Roma Mountain" as a replacement, which would be ridiculous (unless, I suppose, Mr. Chain was actually Roma, which I do not know one way or the other.)

Thus: I did NOT ever intend to supply ammunition to the anti-environmentist trolls who regularly pick fights on this website. My advice to everyone (including those who post claiming to be involved in the movements,) is to simply ignore anything that is not written respectfully, and that is more rant than dialogue. This comment board is a nice opportunity for web-discussion, but yelling at each other online is not the same thing as dialogue.

Thank you.

In liberation,
Jeff G

Jeff
you may wish to side step racial slurs,
But for those of us who take exception to being the butt of repeated racially insensitive humor we are outraged at the actions of earth first in their continued use of offensive language.
the fact that you would seek to some how excuse this behavior on behalf of the rest of the Roma culture
is acceptable. you should be ashamed of your self.
have your parents taught you nothing?

To “JSP”,

I'm not really certain what you mean by your post, though I take it that you, too, are critical of Earth First!'s use of the term "Gypsy" for their fallen member and the mountain named in his honor. I'm not sure what about my posting you took to mean that I was speaking "on behalf of Roma culture", but I assure you that that was not my intent.

To clarify further: I am not myself of Romani descent. I am a left anti-racist and environmentalist who supports the actions of Earth First! and who considers David Nathan Chain a martyr in the struggle. I was never personally acquainted with him, nor any of his comrades. I imagine, am fairly certain in fact, that the nickname "Gypsy" was taken and is used without any conscious intent to disparage any culture, merely out of ignorance about the issue.

It is entirely understandable that none of us is thoroughly educated on every issue. The forest activists (from Earth First! and other groups,) whom I have met are invariably highly informed about the intricacies of environmental regulations, ecological impacts, endangered species of flora and fauna, and a host of other issues which I know myself know little about. At the same time, the ways in which ethnocentric, misogynistic, hetero-normative and White Supremacist concepts pervade our culture through language is something that I have studied. Their usage of the word “Gypsy” reflects common practice, and for most people is unremarkable. Because of these concerns, I have tried to raise this issue in a manner that is both forceful, yet concedes the benefit of the doubt to those with whom I disagree. I feel this is a necessary element to any attempt to confront problematic behavior within our movements. I do not feel that I am “sidestepping” the issue at all: this is now the third post I’ve sent, each sticking to the same critical point.

“JSP”, I try to write carefully to avoid having my words misinterpreted. I'm still not clear on why you feel like I'm trying to speak "on behalf" of Roma, other than the mere fact that I raised the issue in the first place. If you find it offensive that a non-Roma individual would be the one to bring this up, I can understand that, since you might feel that I'm perpetuating a paternalist, privileged attitude that denies an oppressed people the agency to speak for themselves.

To this, I can only reply that I had never seen the issue addressed even once when David Chain's nickname comes up, and I felt that it was important that folks think about this a bit, and hopefully discuss it among themselves and, in the long run, come to the consensus that David Chain should be referred to (at least in published press releases) by his other name, instead of as "Gypsy", and that his memory can best by honored by giving "Gypsy Mountain" another name.

It seems to me that there is a feeling that this criticism is coming from people who are generally hostile to Earth First!, and direct action environmentalism overall. The postings by “Direct Action on Roma Mountain”, “biggotry (sic) in earth first!”, and “JSP” are all fairly hostile, with the former two coming across as willing to opportunistically use any excuse to deride EF! I’m hoping that the importance of this issue is not lost amid so much counter-productive bile.

In liberation,
Jeff G

PS: If anyone would like to (respectfully) correspond with me regarding this, email me at jeffsotheraddress [at] hotmail.com I am still looking forward to hearing from anyone affiliated with EF!

Note further that I am using my real name, Jeff Giaquinto. I find it somewhat cowardly, intellectually at least, to post harsh criticisms online without identifying oneself.

Jeff,
You have made your point numerous times.
Please stop reposting the same information.

In bondage

expose anti-jew plot on this hate site

DIY

earth first and "racial slurs"

If you find it offensive that a non-Roma individual would be the one to bring this up, I can understand that, since you might feel that I'm perpetuating a paternalist, privileged attitude that denies an oppressed people the agency to speak for themselves.

no I do not find your mention the term “Gypsy” to be offensive. your post was thoughtful and well constructed.
What I do have a problem with is that you spring to the defense of these individuals( who's practice is to adopt racially offensive alias identities for them selves) I am sure this is considered "cute" in their camp, but in fact their behavior has been Less than admirable in this area, and do they care? no
earth first refuses to address this issue or to apologies for their insults. they even refuse to change their behavior. in short earth first has knowingly and willfully perpetuated the use of this derogatory language, well knowing that
what they are using is a defamatory, Racial Slur.
tell me how you could defend these actions from this organization?