Judi Bari

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Judi Bari (born November 7, 1949 , † March 2, 1997 ) was an American feminist , environmental activist and grassroots union .

Political views and activism

Judi Bari grew up in a left-wing family and was heavily involved in the protest movement against the Vietnam War during her time at the University of Maryland . Even then she was involved in union struggles.

Judi Bari and her family moved to Northern California in the mid-1980s , and it was the ecological struggles of the 1980s and 1990s there that she is best known for today. In the so-called Redwood Summer , a campaign against the large-scale deforestation of coastal sequoias (English Redwoods) in Northern California, she was considered one of the most important organizers. She joined the revolutionary syndicalist union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the radical ecological network Earth First! and from then on tried to combine ecological, trade union and feminist struggles. In the fight against the destruction of this natural landscape, Bari saw "the workers [...] not as opponents, but as potential allies in the fight against the destructive and capitalist interests of the timber industry" and therefore tried to organize them in the base union IWW. She is considered to be the “first female environmentalist ever” to pursue this strategy, and she understood that many workers in the wood industry “did their job of destroying the environment not out of contempt for nature, but out of sheer economic compulsion”. Bari also endeavored to give more meaning to an anti-sexist and feminist practice in a male-dominated activist scene.

Judi Bari was a representative of the nonviolent resistance . In the tradition of Earth First! she supported nonviolent direct actions , blockades and civil disobedience against the destruction and exploitation of nature, but rejected violence against people. For example, when forest workers were injured, presumably by so-called tree spiking - i.e. the hammering of nails or metal rods into the tree trunk to damage chainsaws, which is intended to delay or prevent the felling of trees - Bari and other Earth First! Activists from California shouted to refrain from these acts of sabotage , as it could not be ruled out that they could harm people.

Bomb attack

Judi Bari and other Earth First! Activists received repeated death threats during the Redwood Summer campaign . In August 1989, a truck rammed Bari's car, suspecting that it was not an accident but a first attempt to intimidate, injure or kill Bari (by force).

On May 24, 1990, Judi Bari was subjected to a bomb attack that has remained unsolved to this day and seriously injured her. A pipe bomb exploded under the driver's seat of her car in Oakland . There are a number of theories as to who was responsible for the attack and with what motives. These range from misogynist, political, and personal motives to the theory that the FBI had something to do with it. At first, the FBI accused Bari of building the bomb and transporting it in the car and listed her as a suspect in the case. Bari always denied this, the police authorities never presented any convincing evidence and, in the end, no charges were brought against her. In May 1991, Bari filed a lawsuit against the Oakland Police and the FBI for her arrest in the course of the bombing investigation.

Fonts

  • Timber Wars . Common Courage Press (1994)
  • Revolutionary Ecology: Biocentrism & Deep Ecology . Trees Foundation (1998)

Documentaries about Judi Bari

  • The Forest For The Trees (2005)
  • Who Bombed Judi Bari? (2012)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Earth First! in Northern California - Interview with Judi Bari on ecology.iww.org , accessed February 6, 2019
  2. ↑ Jeff Shantz: Syndicalism, Ecology and Feminism: Judi Bari's Vision at theanarchistlibrary.org , accessed February 6, 2019
  3. ^ Gabriel Kuhn (ed.): Wobblies. Politics and History of the IWW . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2019, p. 26
  4. ↑ Sebastian Kalicha: Nonviolent Anarchism & Anarchist Pacifism. On the trail of a revolutionary theory and movement. Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, Heidelberg 2018, p. 177
  5. ^ Christof Mackinger: Radical Ecology . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2015, p. 30
  6. ^ Judi Bari: The Feminization of Earth First! on theanarchistlibrary.org , accessed February 6, 2019
  7. ↑ Cf. Sebastian Kalicha: Nonviolent Anarchism & Anarchist Pacifism. On the trail of a revolutionary theory and movement. Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, Heidelberg 2018, pp. 177–179
  8. ^ Judi Bari: The Secret History of Tree Spiking - Part 1 on ecology.iww.org , accessed February 6, 2019
  9. ↑ Nicholas Wilson: Judi Bari (1949-1997) on iww.org , accessed February 10, 2019
  10. ^ The Judi Bari Website / History , accessed February 6, 2019
  11. ↑ Nicholas Wilson: Judi Bari (1949-1997) on iww.org , accessed February 10, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Bari, Judi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American feminist, environmental activist, and grassroots union
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1949
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 1997