Support the people of Haida Gwaii

Yet another controversy is brewing around Weyerhaeuser--this time on the islands of Haida Gwaii where members of the Haida Nation are fighting for their cultural heritage.

The Haida want access to detailed information Weyerhaeuser holds about the old growth cedar trees that have been a central part of Haida culture for generations. Weyerhaeuser wants to log more old growth.

Click the link below to send a letter to Weyerhaeuser CEO Steve Rogel demanding that the company protect endangered forests and turn over information about Haida Gwaii's last remaining old growth cedars to the Haida people.

CLICK HERE

In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada decided in late November on a case that the Haida Nation launched to protect the ancient old-growth forests of Haida Gwaii. The Court held in favor of the Haida, holding that the Province has a legal duty to consult with the Haida about timber harvesting in Weyerhaeuser's Tree Farm.

In the Haida case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government of British Columbia must consult with the Haida Nation and accommodate their interests when renewing the tree farm license issued in an area claimed by them as aboriginal title lands.

The Court affirmed that, "In all its dealings with Aboriginal peoples, from the assertion of sovereignty to the resolution of claims and the implementation of treaties, the Crown must act honourably." "The Court has held that the Crown has a duty of honour, and now it will be our duty to hold them to that obligation," says Guujaaw. "This is the best chance for the well-being and sustainability of the land."

Rather than see the writing on the wall, Weyerhaeuser is witholding mapping information about old growth cedar requested by the Haida for analysis and planning to ensure that the ecological and cultural benefits of cedar are sustained for present and future generations.

Please click the link below to demand that Weyerhaeuser respect the cultural needs of the Haida Naiton.

CLICK HERE

Why?
A BBC World report from Fadhil Badrani inside Falluja should be read

BOO!

It's Haloween, and a lot has happened.

Began the month on Vancouver Island, in the Walbran Rainforest with 500 of my closest frinds for the Tree of Life Celebration. Using a recent Weyerhaeuser clearcut as his 'extreme canvas', artist John Quigley positioned 10 bus loads of men women and children to form a giant tree with the words 'wake up' underneath. Pictures and commentary from the event are at the IMC (2), the TOL website, and at the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

The whole event was designed to bring together people upset about clear-cut logging on the island--and specifically to shine a spotlight on Weyerhaeuser's destructive forestry. Success on both counts. It was the biggest gathering BCs forest in over a decade.

Cracking Down on Dissent

The Financial Times writes that Greenpeace can't organize protests against Exxon anywhere in the US for the next seven years.

Essentially launching a legal pre-emptive strike against protest, Exxon even invoked post-9/11 security fears as justification for the action. "when the country was on orange alert" Exxon told the FT, "The current climate makes Greenpeace's activities directed at ExxonMobil all the more irresponsible and dangerous".

There's no reason for Exxon to consider "Greenpeace's activities" any more "dangerous" now than it would have 10 years ago. If anything, the activists charged in the case did the company a favor by harmlessly exposing flagrant security breeches at the HQ. Better a tiger-suit-wearing solar-advocate than a gun toting terrorist, no?

Exxon knows this, but decided to invoke the pall of terrorism anyway. Why?

Hmm... yes, well it's been some time since reporting on my goings on. Mainly because it's hard to get internet reception on Rantee Bay. I may pass along some personal pictures of Rantee, Railei and some of the other wonders of Thailand when/if I take some time to scan the pics. (It's time for a digital, I think).

Meantime, a quick look at the 'ol site statistics says that the good people at Weyerhaeuser now comprise a full %3 of traffic to the site. That either means

(a) All this work is finally paying dividends , or;

(b) This blog is really lame.

Please... vote below.

Pemberton Protected (for now)

After hearing from over 1,500 close personal friends, Weyerhaueser decided that logging a scenic hillside overlooking the local elementary school was a bad idea (go figure). See reaction from all sides here.

On to the next community.

Welcome Weyerhaeuser!

According to recent Site site statistics for this page, it looks as if Weyerhaueser has been digging for new dirt.

Hi all! Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to take a look around and get a good feel for the place. (hint: you'll likely find more of what you're looking for here).

Poof, the Magic Dragon

Having taken the time to decompress after nearly a week of pavement-pounding protest in Gotham City, it's time to take stock of the best and the worst of RNC 2004.

Pictured here is one of the worst. Sadly, the dragon I toiled so long and hard to create nearly four years ago was engulfed in flames on Sunday. While the exact cause of the fire has been the subject of much debate, the effect was certainly significant (if thoroughly unhelpful as the singular event requiring news coverage to qualify as 'almost entirely' an otherwise peaceful day of protest). In a series of predictable articles following the blaze, the right-wing tabloids were quick to blame anarchists, while the anarchists were quick to blame provocateurs. Watch news of the dragon from NBC (before) here and C-SPAN (after) here.

One of the best experiences was a testing out new tactical communications strategies. Despite an overwhelming show of force by the police, protesters were able to stay safe by logging onto new text messaging systems dispatching useful information throughout the day. The Ruckus Society maintained one of the best systems using the upoc commercial service (and profiled here by the Associated Press). The bigger story, though was a new app launched during the RNC called Txtmob. The free service allows anyone to create a text-messaging group, providing instant broadcasting ability to anyone who signs on. Oooh the possibilities!!

I love New York!

Just off the red-eye from San Francisco: Gotham awaits.

Braced for a full calendar of dissent against the Republican National Convention, New York appears to be under near martial-law. At least a dozen National Guard troops, armed to the teeth, greeted me at the sleepy Jamaica Station near the Airport. Already in the City, nearly 300 have been arrested for cycling, nudity, trespassers a assorted other charges - and the convention doesn't even start 'till Monday.

Due to some pesky conditions of my own recent tusstle with the courts, I plan to lay relatively low, though rumors have been spreading that the famed and elusive "Great Dragon Puppet" (GDP, seen here in 2001) may have been roused from his nearly 3 year slumber, ready to roar back into action.

...

NYPD throws the book at RNC Banner Hangers
The four folks that hung this beauty in New York yesterday are facing assault charges because a cop cut himself on a skylight...

According to the New York Times, the NYPD are under orders to bring 2nd degree assault charges if an officer is hurt during an arrest. The assault charges mean that these four working young professionals could spend the next 25 years of their life in Jail.

As the protesters apparently had nothing to do with the injury, and even warned the now injured officer of the danger of falling, the chances of those charges sticking, one hopes, are slim to none. Let's hope that they have some good lawyers on it.

Just When You Thought it Was All Over...

I was nearly denied entry to Canada after landing at Vancouver International last night. Nearly three hours and $200 (CA) later, Immigration finally decided I no longer posed a threat to national security. Funny thing is that I've been to Canada, and to Vancouver International at least half-a-dozen times with zero hastily. Convicted trespassers, it seems, are not welcome company with our neighbors to the North.

Two questions worth asking here:

1. What threat do minor offenses in the U.S. pose to national security in Canada
2. Why did $200 somehow pay down that threat potential? Orwellian injustice? Maybe.

Of course the real rub is that people without the $2oo, or - worse yet - actually looking to make money in Canada, would be turned back immediately.

Unless of course those people were looking to make a whole lot of money. For the super rich, Canadian Immigration has crafted whole programs for worry-free passage across the border. I wonder if Ken Lay would have to shell out $200?

Ready For my Closeup...!

Nearly 6 months after the fact, the Seattle Police Department finally returned my stuff. Among other things, the "evidence" includes:

-This lovely portrait (8 hours in a holding cell can leave one pretty surley).
-1 laptop computer (ouch!)
-1 automobile registration (Idaho: Nissan, 1985)
-1 Delta flight voucher
-1 packet of dossiers on the Weyerhaeuser Board of Directors (a pretty surley group themselves).

Long Time

Many may wonder, "what the hell Brant--why no blogging lately"?

Well friends, the truth is that I've been up to my eyeballs in Weyerhaeuser. Some numerical highlights:

• 1000: Number of letters sent by RAN supporters to Weyerhaeuser, finally goading the lumbering logger to consult (*gasp*) with the Town Council of Pemberton, BC before axing one of the town's critical watersheds. Stay tuned for the outcome of the Sept. 14th meeting
• 200: Number of Trader Joe's stores that--as of August 13--will no longer be buying paper bags from Weyerhaeuser.
  
• 649: Number of Weyerhaeuser customers recently notified about BuyGoodWood.com a new website profiling Weyerhaeuser's destructive forestry practices and offering better alternatives.

So yes, I've been busy. Sorry.

There's a Rumble a Brewin'

It was a banner day for west coast forest activists today. Check out Remedy'sTreesit Blog for photos and a report on logging truck blockades in downtown (!) Eureka, CA. The bold action was taken to protest the ongoing liquidation of Californians last remaining old growth forests by Maxxam Corporation, a longtime enemy of forest-defenders (Read the press release from Northcoast EarthFirst!... or see the video). Maxxam's Pacific Lumber was made infamous most recently by financing a bogus recall election against a north coast district attorney after he called the company to task for logging violations.

In Alaska, Greenpeace threw up another one of their "forest rescue stations", creating a royal headache for loggers in the Tongass. One of their ships is also on the scende. Hopefully this station will last longer than their last one.

Meanwhile, blockades continue in the Biscuit timber sale in Southern Oregon.

Ya gotta love Summer.

Taking it From All Sides

According to a recent article in the Vancouver Sun, the Industrial, Wood & Allied Workers of Canada just voted to merge with the Steelworkers union and PACE, another forest worker union.

The reason? They've all got it out for Weyerhaeuser. It seems that our favorite logger has been contracting out too much of it's BC logging to scabs in order to save a buck or two.

According to the article, one of the tactics the newly beefy union may employ with Weyco is a "consumer-awareness campaign telling the public the company should adopt a higher standard of environmental forest practices."

Communities Vs. Weyerhaeuser

God bless the Village of Pemberton, British Columbia and Mayor Elinor Warner.

According to recent accounts in the Whistler Question, this small community is waging an uphill battle to preserve the water quality, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities afforded by the motion forests surrounding Pemberton.

Despite widespread community outcry including letters of protest sent to the company by the Pemberton's Mayor and City Council, Weyerhaeuser is moving ahead full steam.

"Don't take it the wrong way," Says company spokeswoman Bernice Patterson in the same Question story, "We are not being cold-hearted, red-necked loggers, We have so many constraints on how to do things that we can't go in there and make a mess."

Here's the mess they've already made of Alberta:

My own Private Idaho

Yesterday, this woman sold out our national forests. To add insult to injury. She did so the capitol steps of my hometown--Boise, Idaho--opening up 60 million acres of national forest to logging companies like Weyerhaeuser. Nearly every newspaper in the country called the policy for what it was.

"Ill advised" says the Olympian. It "boggles the mind" writes the The New York Times, "that the White House should choose an election year to dismantle one of the most important and popular land preservation initiatives of the last 30 years".

Of course Bush, Inc. has a different take, calling the new policy "actions to conserve Roadless Areas."

I tend to agree with the Times. What the hell was Karl Rove thinking? Is Bush, Inc. so beholden to the logging industry that he would steamroll such a popular policy in the bright sunshine of my hometown?... I guess so. I gotta get back to work.

In Living Color

A whole bunch of folks have been asking for the video of the now infamous banner hang. Today, through the magic of modern blog technology, you can watch the video here (please hold your applause)

Another Chapter Begins

Well friends, now that the legal wranglings are over. It's time to turn the proverbial page. And what better time than now? With Bush Inc. rolling back protections for what little wilderness we have left in the country; and with the biggest public land give away in modern history just around the corner, it's time to get back into the forests. Stay tuned.

Not With a Bang...

Appologies friends, it's been some time since I've been able to update you all on the 'ol felony Sabotage conviction. Mainly, this has to do with legal obligations not to squak about potential plea bargains.

In the end, they're nailing us with misdemeanor trespass. Big surprise, huh?

It's a first degree charge that carries a maximum sentance of a year in jail + $5,000... Fortunately for me though, the charge is deferred, meaning that if I keep my nose clean for the next year, the whole business gets wiped from my record.

In the end, it'll be $500, 60 hours of community service, and a big fat headache--not bad considering that the man (and I mean that literally) was originally threatening to lock us up for 5+ years on a charge that would likely get us all listed on a Terrorist watch list for the rest of our lives... Course if the election goes sour this November, that may already be a done deal.

Anyway, thanks for all your support. It is truly appriciated. Keep an eye on the blog for more in the often boring, and occasionally turbulent world of Brant.

Join the crowd! Greenpeace on Trial Monday.
Greenpeace goes to trial on Monday for their non-violent attempt to raise the profile of illegal logging shipments to Miami. In what stinks of a a systematic pattern of intimidation, activists who had hung a banner from an offending ship were charged under an arcane turn-of-the-century statute aimed at preventing brothels from recruiting sailors before their ship came to port. Sound familiar?

Read more about the Greenpeace case here
take action here

Students and unions stand behind the "Weyerhaeuser 9"
Word of the felony charges brought against myself and 8 others by King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng continues to spread.

In a recent development, Seattle-area labor unions are lining up to demand that the felony charges be dropped. The King County Labor Council, Washington State Jobs with Justice, Pierce County Central Labor Council, Carpenters Local 131 and SPEEA, the Boeing Engineers Union all passed similar resolutions. This, needless to say, is a good thing. The prosecutor will be relying on union support come election time and has ample incentive to listen to labor.

In another strong show of support, a class of Seattle high schoolers paid a visit to Weyerhaeuser's Federal Way and Seattle headquarters last week. With a local TV crew and a newspaper reporter in tow, They delivered over 2000 letters from elementary school kids from around the country asking the company to wake up and protect forests. I couldn't find anything from King 5, who sent the camera crew, but be sure to check out the video on Indymedia and read the story from the Federal Way Mirror (they say we're misinformed).

Back in the Saddle
So it's been quite a while since updating the 'ol blog. Sorry folks, but sometimes a guy has to take a break. There's not much new on the legal front. The wheels of justice continue their creaky advance, and I continue concocting responsible conspiracies.

What IS new is my job as Director of RAN's Old Growth Campaign. Hey, somebody's got to do it--right?

Pre-Hearing Set for June 28th
For those keeping score, the pre-hearing for myself and 8 others arrested in connection with allegedly hanging a banner earlier this year is now scheduled for June 28th. More on that soon... Stay tuned!

Not too much to report except that I finally heard from the Public Defender's office today. My case has been sent to the "Society of Counsel Representing Accused Persons" (SCRAP, how cute).

Apparently there's some strange system in Washington whereby the Public Defender's office is actually financed from county funds, as opposed to state funds. The outcome is a system that pushes those who can't afford expensive legal defense even further to the margins. This, demonstrated today by the fact that it took nearly three weeks for my case to be assigned a lawyer.

The whole issue, in a remarkable show of good timing, has been taken up by the Seattle Times in a series that began earlier this month.

Now for those who may be asking, "what the hell are you thinking--getting a public defender in such a fu*#ed up system", I say "Good question! Know any good lawyers? Have 'em give me a call." Meantime, I'll keep you posted on the relative competence or incompetence of my assigned council--just as soon as I hear who it will be. Hell,. I may even follow in the footsteps of my cross-coastal confidant Zoe Mitchell, now defending herself (that's Pro Se, by the Way) in DC.

Stay tuned!

According to Meriam Webster:

Main Entry: 1sab?o?tage
Pronunciation: 'sa-b&-"t?zh
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from saboter to clatter with sabots, botch, sabotage, from sabot
1 : destruction of an employer's property (as tools or materials) or the hindering of manufacturing by discontented workers
2 : destructive or obstructive action carried on by a civilian or enemy agent to hinder a nation's war effort
3 a : an act or process tending to hamper or hurt b : deliberate subversion

Some notes on the sordid history of Washington State's "Criminal Sabotage" law.


1909: First criminal anarchy laws were first passed and targeted anyone espousing violent methods to overthrowing organized government. Moreover, the law also covers "unlawful methods"; that is to say, if you do anything illegal while organizing against the government, you're guilty of a felony.

1919: "Anarchy and Sabotage" law adopted by the Washington State Legislature to crack down on labor organizing by International Workers of the World (IWW). The law targets work "slowdowns" adopted by the IWW after striking timber workers are increasingly replaced by non-union labor. The city of Seattle's city council drafted a similar ordinance, reported in the Seattle Daily Bulletin on October 15, 1919 under the headline, "CITY COUNCIL PASSES ANTI-I.W.W. ORDINANCE--CURBS REDS."

1996: A group of activists supporting RAN that would be come known as the "Super Ruben Seven" are charged and convicted of ?Anarchy and Sabotage? after hanging a banner reading "Don't export our jobs/logs" from a timber ship in Longview, WA to protest Mitsubishi. (The charges are later dropped on a technical appeal). Read RAN's press release here.

1997: 75 activists with the Coalition to Repeal the Anarchy and Sabotage Statute (CRASS) march on Police Headquarters in Olympia, and ask to be charged.

1999: "Anarchy and Sabotage" statute renamed "Criminal Sabotage"

2002: Under pressure from mink farms in his district, Washington State Rep. Kirk Pearson (R-Monroe) attempts to expand the statute to include acts of so-called "eco-terrorism".

2004: Myself and 8 others are charged under the revised "Criminal Sabotage" statute

2005: Criminal Sabotage will be elevated to a class B Felony punishable by 10 years or $20,000 or both.

Today's Lesson: What goes around comes around

As you may know, myself and 8 women were recently charged (rather publicly ) by the King County Prosecutor (WA) with "criminal sabotage" for allegedly hanging a banner from a construction crane in February reading "Wake up Weyerhaeuser: Protect Forests Now.

On Tuesday, we were arraigned. Here's the story from Seattle's King 5 TV.

It seems the letter from RAN to 163 tropical wood importers made quite an impression. Here's what Indonesia's Forest Minister had to say about it.

So maybe I should really start taking this blogging thing a bit more seriously. Here's Mobog, a very cool site that lets you send pictures to a central website, or a site of your own. Maybe I should get a camera phone.

Glen Barry has a good Forest Blog on his site.

They folks at Counter Convention really know how to throw a party.

The Yale School of Forestry scores another slam dunk with This new study .