Cascadia Forest Alliance Disorientation Manual. (2003, Oregon, USA.)

From the 1980s until present environmentalist have done a number of high profile campaigns to protect wilderness areas in the Northwest of the United States. I have a special affinity for these actions. Having grown up in Eugene, OR in the 80s, I remember seeing college kids from the University with their Earth First! patches, going to coffee shops where groups of crusties, hippies, and career activists hunkered down in dark corners planning blockades, and going to mailing parties at the Journal house. The wild areas of what is known around those parts as Cascadia are amongst the most beautiful and important on earth, and I consider them home.

Militancy in defense of the planet is an artform, and this publication from the Cascadia Forest Alliance aimed to bring the basics to the masses who showed up at camps in the woods, eager to get active. It explains the basics of anti-oppression policies, direct action, and security culture. Sadly, it also contains a section on consensus decision making. The staff of Conflict Gypsy would like to go on record as being opposed to consensus decision making in groups. The idea of consensus allows a single obstructionist to essentially become a dictator who blocks the will of the rest of the organization. The person who least agrees with the goals and tactics of the group can slow progress, and the earth doesn’t have the time to accommodate their concerns. We have seen consensus groups regularly push out the most talented activists and organizers because a tyranny of the minority is created by a system meant to empower everyone.

Despite what we see as a flaw in their logic, CFA did wonderful work, and this packet sets the standard for what forest activism primers should be.