Timber
Company and Tree-Sitters: Can't Beat 'Em? Smear 'Em!
Activist Target of TV Smear Ads Challenges Pacific Lumber President to Public
Debate
Humboldt county, California: After being the target of radio, television and
newspaper advertisements leveling accusations of, "damaging property,
endangering lives and terrorizing innocent people," environmental activist
Rod Coronado challenged Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Company's (PL) president Robert
Manne to an open debate on local radio, or the venue of Manne's choice, stating,
"It's time for the citizens of Humboldt County to see for themselves
who the real eco-terrorists are.
Tensions have risen in the long-standing campaign to save the old-growth forests
of California's north coast. In recent months, PL's efforts to stop protests
have been frustrated by activists who have re-occupied old-growth trees that
the company's hired climbers have removed protesters from by force. Many local
residents have expressed horror at the spectacle of young activists being
lowered to the ground from heights of 130 to 200 feet up in the branches of
giant old growth trees, lowered on ropes with their ankles tied together,
handcuffed, and some having been subjected to pain compliance holds in mid-air,
those holds administered by untrained PL-contractors (notably Eric Shatz Tree
Service) rather than law enforcement.
PL has responded to criticism with a propagandistic smear campaign, targeting
forest activists in general, tree-sitters in particular, and Rod Coronado
specifically by name.
The ads began running on April 7, and now focus on Coronado, who spent four
years in prison for his part in a 1992 direct action at an experimental fur
farm at Michigan State University, where research was destroyed in fire damage,
and animals were rescued. PL points to Coronado's involvement in the forest
campaign, using his past involvement in illegal activities to tarnish the
image of a movement that has historically adhered strictly to a nonviolence
code in carrying out civil disobedience. Coronado is well-known as an Earth
First! activist and is acting in a support capacity for the tree-sitters.
He states, "My past actions harmed no one. I served my time, and find
it ludicrous that PL has the audacity to accuse me of being an eco-terrorist
when their policies have allowed violence against non-violent activists, and
actually resulted in the death of a protester," referring to Earth First!
activist David Chain who was crushed to death in 1998, when an angry PL logger
deliberately felled a tree on top of him.
"PL knows their days of logging old-growth forests are numbered and in
their effort to profit from the destruction of these ancient trees they have
proven a willingness to use physical violence and intimidation against young,
committed forest defenders," says Coronado.
PL is also the target of a lawsuit by the Martin Luther King Jr. Society which
is suing the company for the use of King's image in their ad campaign which
states, "Let their words speak for themselves." The ads feature
quotes from a lecture Coronado gave in Washington D.C. at American University
in January discussing the legitimacy and use of illegal activities in history
by social change movements. "This kind of attack on free speech should
send chills to those who believe in our constitutional rights. Corporations
like PL would love nothing more than to silence, through intimidation, outspoken
critics who historically serve a vital role in effecting positive social and
environmental changes in our society in a difficult time." Coronado stated.
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