A few thousand people showed up at the north end of town in the early afternoon. Everywhere there were highway patrol and police who had been brought in from surrounding areas. A great truck rally took place with speakers, music, humor, etc. and then after affirming the non-violent code, everyone marched downtown where there was to be truck music, some more speakers, and then a CD action at the GP entrance.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, a "counter-rally" was was taking place involving timber workers and the timber industry. A reporter who had been there told me it was boring compared to the Redwood Summer rally and that the entire focus was on defeating the so-called "Earth First! initiative" (in reality Proposition 130, the Forests Forever initiative). This "yellow ribbon" group then marched downtown to the same location where the Redwood Summer group was rallying.
Sounds like trouble, with two committed and opposing groups coming together over an highly emotional issue.
WRONG! COMPLETELY WRONG! True, the "yellow ribbon" people began yelling things like "Go check your mailbox, your welfare check may have arrived," and I saw someone flip the bird, etc.... but the Redwood Summer group remained totally calm and non-violent, including verbally. The yellow group yelled "Go home!" and the immediate response was "We are home!" The situation still had the possibility of getting tense. Then Naomi Wagner went to the mike and in eloquent words said, in effect: "You've got it all wrong, we are not your enemy. We all live here and should be concerned together about the future of our forests." Darryl Cherney offered the mike up to anyone from the "yellow" group who wanted to speak. Several did. Gene Parsons led a singing of America. It should have been obvious to anyone present that none of the people at the Redwood Summer rally were in any way "opposed" to timber workers. We all know that's just the convenient picture painted by the industry while they strip the county of trees and future jobs.
Finally, one of the Redwood Summer organizers went to the mike and affirmed with everyone that the event was such a complete success and that "we've decided not to have a CD action at the gate." There were claps of agreement. Everyone then walked back to the original rallying point and the speakers, music, etc. continued.
My experience was that the timber workers, as well as police, assumed this would be your typical confrontation, where both sides hide behind epithets, heckling and angry self-righteousness, and eventually someone starts punching. But what happened was that the Redwood Summer group effectively and non-violently broke down the "us against them" barrier. I trust some consciousness was raised.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited