Backlash! Corporate Front Groups and the Struggle for Sustainable Forestry in British Columbia

Capitalism, Nature, Socialism

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 3-38

  Simon, Alexander ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FOREST MANAGEMENT; LOCAL PARTICIPATION; POPULAR PROTEST; SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY;

CANADA;

EID: 0032439565     PISSN: 10455752     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10455759809358830     Document Type: Review

References (110)

1. James O'Connor, Conference Papers (Santa Cruz, CA: CNS/CPE, 1991), p. 9.
2. John Bellamy Foster, "The Absolute General Law of Environmental Degradation Under Capitalism," CNS, September, 1992, p. 82.
3. Thomas Dunk, "Talking About Trees: Environment and Society in Forest Workers' Culture," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 31, 1, 1994.
4. John Bellamy Foster, "The Limits of Environmentalism Without Class: Lessons From the Ancient Forest Struggle of the Pacific Northwest," CNS, 4, 1, March, 1993.
5. Some of the material utilized in this article was gathered in the course of a wider investigation of the environmental and labor policies of both the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and the Vancouver branch of Greenpeace.
6. M. Patricia Marchak, Ideological Perspectives on Canada, Second Edition (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 1981), p. 47.
7. Ibid., p. 12.
8. Winnona LaDuke, in Al Geddicks, The New Resource Wars: Native and Environmental Struggles Against Multi-national Corporations (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1994), p. xi.
9. John Locke quoted in James Tully, A Discourse on Property (Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge Press, 1980), p. 95.
10. John Locke quoted in C.B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 211-212.
11. Mary Richardson, Joan Sherman, and Michael Gismondi, Winning Back the Words: Confronting Experts in an Environmental Public Hearing (Toronto, Ontario: Garamond Press, 1993), Chapters 6-7.
12. Gedicks, op. cit., pp. 200-203. Also see, Michael Gismondi and Joan Sherman, "Pulp Mills, Fish Contamination, and Fish Eaters: A Participatory Workshop on the Politics of Expert Knowledge," CNS, 7, 3, December, 1996.
13. Gedicks, op. cit., pp. 200-203. Also see, Michael Gismondi and Joan Sherman, "Pulp Mills, Fish Contamination, and Fish Eaters: A Participatory Workshop on the Politics of Expert Knowledge," CNS, 7, 3, December, 1996.
14. Richardson, Sherman, and Gismondi, op. cit., p. 87.
15. Bruce Willems-Braun, "Colonial Vestiges: Representing Forest Landscapes on Canada's West Coast," BC Studies, 112, Winter, 1996-97, p. 13.
16. M. Patricia Marchak, Logging the Globe (Montreal: McGill-Queens Press, 1995), p. 89. Also see, Michael M'Gonigle and Ben Parfitt, Forestopia: A Practical Guide to the New Forest Economy (Madeira Park, B.C., Canada: Harbour Publishing, 1994), p. 79.
17. M. Patricia Marchak, Logging the Globe (Montreal: McGill-Queens Press, 1995), p. 89. Also see, Michael M'Gonigle and Ben Parfitt, Forestopia: A Practical Guide to the New Forest Economy (Madeira Park, B.C., Canada: Harbour Publishing, 1994), p. 79.
18. Marchak, 1995, op. cit., p. 343.
19. IWA Canada used to be affiliated with the international union, International Woodworkers of America. It severed ties with the international union in 1987 and is currently known as Industrial Wood and Allied Workers of Canada.
20. M. Patricia Marchak, Green Gold: The Forest Industry in British Columbia (Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 1983), pp. 60-61. It is important to note that it was the "business union" leadership of the IWA during the post-World War II period that supported large, private corporations exploiting public forests. During the 1930s, the IWA's president was a Communist. According to Lembcke and Tattam, the probusiness, "White-Bloc" minority was able to gain power in the IWA only due to interference by the Canadian and American governments. Lembcke and Tattam assert, "Communists not only out-performed their opponents as organizers, but they offered a superior concept of what industrial unionism should be. For them, unions were not ends in themselves but rather organizing centers for the working class. One only has to review the newspapers published by the union under the two regimes to get a sense of the difference between them. Under Communist editorship, the IWA's paper, the Timberworker, opposed clearcutting of forests and log exports and promoted reforestation and conservation" (Jerry Lembcke and William Tattam, One Union in Wood: A Political History of the International Woodworkers of America [Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1984], p. 177).
21. M. Patricia Marchak, Green Gold: The Forest Industry in British Columbia (Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 1983), pp. 60-61. It is important to note that it was the "business union" leadership of the IWA during the post-World War II period that supported large, private corporations exploiting public forests. During the 1930s, the IWA's president was a Communist. According to Lembcke and Tattam, the probusiness, "White-Bloc" minority was able to gain power in the IWA only due to interference by the Canadian and American governments. Lembcke and Tattam assert, "Communists not only out-performed their opponents as organizers, but they offered a superior concept of what industrial unionism should be. For them, unions were not ends in themselves but rather organizing centers for the working class. One only has to review the newspapers published by the union under the two regimes to get a sense of the difference between them. Under Communist editorship, the IWA's paper, the Timberworker, opposed clearcutting of forests and log exports and promoted reforestation and conservation" (Jerry Lembcke and William Tattam, One Union in Wood: A Political History of the International Woodworkers of America [Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1984], p. 177).
22. Aaron Schneider, Deforestation and Development in Canada and the Tropics (Cape Bretton: University College of Cape Bretton Press, 1989), p. 118.
23. Ibid., p. 95.
24. Marchak, 1983, op. cit., p. 7.
25. Roger Hayter and Trevor Barnes, "The Restructuring of British Columbia's Coastal Forest Sector: Flexibility Perspectives," BC Studies, 113, Spring, 1997, pp. 9-12.
26. M'Gonigle and Parfitt, op. cit., p. 22.
27. The Financial Post, January 24, 1998, p. 99.
28. Hayter and Barnes, op. cit., p. 22.
29. THe Georgia Straight, September, 11, 1997, p. 9.
30. Andrew Rowell, Green Backlash: Global Subversion of the Environment Movement (London: Routledge, 1996), p. 194.
31. Michael M'Gonigle, author interview, December 12, 1996.
32. Herb Hammond, Seeing the Forest Among the Trees: The Case for Wholistic Forest Use (Vancouver: Polestar Press, 1992), pp. 32-33.
33. Foster, 1993, op. cit., p. 16.
34. Sierra Legal Defence Fund, British Columbia's Clear Cut Code: An SLDF Report (Vancouver: Sierra Legal Defence Fund, November, 1996), p. 5.
35. Hammond, op. cit., p. 73.
36. Marchak, 1983, op. cit., p. 90.
37. Clark S. Binkley, "A Crossroad in the Forest: The Path to a Sustainable Forest Sector in BC," BC Studies, 113, Spring, 1997, p. 45.
38. Schneider, op. cit., p. 118.
39. Marchak, 1995, op. cit., p. 91.
40. George Hoberg, editorial printed Saturday, July 12, 1997, p. A 21, in the Vancouver Sun.
41. James O'Connor, "Capitalism, Nature, Socialism: A Theoretical Introduction," CNS, 1, Fall, 1988.
42. James O'Connor, "The Second Contradiction of Capitalism: Causes and Consequences," Conference Papers, op. cit.
43. Jobs, Trees, and Us: The PPWC's Forest Policy (Vancouver: PPWC, 1993), pp. 12-13.
44. The Vancouver Sun, November 22, 1995, p. A 1.
45. Herb Hammond, "Clearcutting: Economic and Ecological Flaws," in Bill Devall, ed., Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books and Earth Island Press, 1993).
46. See, Jobs, Trees, and Us, op. cit.; How to Save Jobs in the BC Woods, Western Canada Wilderness Committee Educational Report, 12, 8 (Vancouver: Western Canada Wilderness Committee, 1993-94); and Clearcut Free?: Just Did It: A Greenpeace Report (Vancouver: Greenpeace, 1996).
47. See, Jobs, Trees, and Us, op. cit.; How to Save Jobs in the BC Woods, Western Canada Wilderness Committee Educational Report, 12, 8 (Vancouver: Western Canada Wilderness Committee, 1993-94); and Clearcut Free?: Just Did It: A Greenpeace Report (Vancouver: Greenpeace, 1996).
48. Environmental Groups Block Unprocessed Timber Shipment: Union Says Stop Exporting Jobs (Vancouver: Greenpeace Canada, March 21, 1995).
49. Hammond, op. cit.
50. M'Gonigle and Parfitt, op. cit.
51. Hammond quoted in Tathra Street, Greenwash Exposé Research Project Final Report: Obstacles and Bridges (Victoria, BC: Environmental Studies Program, University of Victoria, 1995), p. 16.
52. See The Forest is the Future: IWA Canada Forest Policy (Vancouver: IWA, 1997).
53. Colin Hay, "Environmental Security and State Legitimacy," in Martin O'Connor, ed., Is Capitalism Sustainable? (New York: Guilford Press, 1994).
54. Greenpeace Press Releases, "Groundbreaking Science Report Reveals 12% Protected Areas Target Will Lead to Mass Extinctions" (Vancouver: Greenpeace Canada, June 16, 1997).
55. Michael M'Gonigle, "Reinventing British Columbia: Towards a New Political Economy in the Forest," in Trevor J. Barnes and Roger Hayter, eds., Troubles in the Rainforest: British Columbia's Forest Economy in Transition (Victoria, BC: Western Geographical Press, 1997).
56. Executive Summary of Share Groups in British Columbia, prepared by Claude Emery (Political and Social Affairs Division, Canadian Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ontario 1991).
57. Carl Deal, The Greenpeace Guide to Anti-Environmental Organizations (Berkeley, CA: Odonian Press, 1993), pp. 21-22.
58. Kim Goldberg, "Sharing Some Insight: Those Pro-Logging Forestry Groups Really Are Linked to Moonies," The Nanaimo Times, April 14, 1992, p. A8.
59. Claude Emery, Share Groups in British Columbia (Political and Social Affairs Division, Canadian Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ontario, 1991), p. 35.
60. Ron Arnold, "Loggerheads Over Land Use." This paper was originally presented at the Ontario Forest Industries Association in Toronto, Ontario, February, 1988. The paper was reprinted in Schneider, op. cit.
61. Ron Arnold, "Loggerheads Over Land Use." This paper was originally presented at the Ontario Forest Industries Association in Toronto, Ontario, February, 1988. The paper was reprinted in Schneider, op. cit.
62. Ibid.
63. Arnold quoted by Rowell, op. cit., p. 183.
64. William Sheridan, The Origins and Objectives of Share Groups in British Columbia (Political and Social Affairs Division, Canadian Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ontario), pp. 10-11.
65. Carol Latter and Juanita Haddad, "Sharing With the Share Groups," The Leaflet: Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada Newsletter, 28, 1, January, 1989, p. 1.
66. Emery, op. cit., pp. 45-46.
67. Rowell, op. cit., pp. 195-196.
68. Correspondence from Munro to author, November 19, 1996.
69. Moore quoted in Rowell, op. cit., p. 182.
70. Patrick Moore, Pacific Spirit: The Forest Reborn (Canada: Terra Bella, 1995).
71. The Times Colonist, July 30, 1993, p. A5.
72. Marchak, 1995, op. cit., p. 99.
73. Stan Shewaga, author interview, December 13, 1996.
74. Tamara Stark, author interview, November 20, 1996.
75. David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 1997), p. 210.
76. Emery, op. cit., p. 29.
77. List of corporate donors provided to the author courtesy of Cheryl Bass, Executive Director of the Soo Coalition.
78. Ron Arnold, "Loggerheads Over Land Use" in Schneider, op. cit., p. 130. Arnold's argument is similar to Dwight Eisenhower's "Domino Theory" which was used to justify military intervention in Indochina. Eisenhower asserted that, "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly....Asia after all, has already lost some 450 million of its peoples to the Communist dictatorship, and we simply can't afford greater losses." See, "Dwight D. Eisenhower Explains the 'Domino Theory,' 1954," in Thomas G. Patterson, ed., Major Problems in American Foreign Policy, Volume II: Since 1914: Documents and Essays, Second Edition (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1984), p. 478.
79. Ron Arnold, "Loggerheads Over Land Use" in Schneider, op. cit., p. 130. Arnold's argument is similar to Dwight Eisenhower's "Domino Theory" which was used to justify military intervention in Indochina. Eisenhower asserted that, "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly....Asia after all, has already lost some 450 million of its peoples to the Communist dictatorship, and we simply can't afford greater losses." See, "Dwight D. Eisenhower Explains the 'Domino Theory,' 1954," in Thomas G. Patterson, ed., Major Problems in American Foreign Policy, Volume II: Since 1914: Documents and Essays, Second Edition (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1984), p. 478.
80. Ron Arnold, "Loggerheads Over Land Use" in Schneider, op. cit., p. 130. Arnold's argument is similar to Dwight Eisenhower's "Domino Theory" which was used to justify military intervention in Indochina. Eisenhower asserted that, "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly....Asia after all, has already lost some 450 million of its peoples to the Communist dictatorship, and we simply can't afford greater losses." See, "Dwight D. Eisenhower Explains the 'Domino Theory,' 1954," in Thomas G. Patterson, ed., Major Problems in American Foreign Policy, Volume II: Since 1914: Documents and Essays, Second Edition (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1984), p. 478.
81. Thomas Dunk, "Talking About Trees: Environment and Society in Forest Workers' Culture," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 31, 1, 1994.
82. Alf Hornberg, "Environmentalism, ethnicity and sacred places: Reflections on modernity, discourse and power," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 31, 3, 1994, p. 260.
83. This is an excerpt from a November 13, 1996 memo written by Peter Moonen of Robertson and Rozenhart to the Northern Forest Products Association. The purpose of the memo was to advise the Northern Forest Products Association on how to discredit the video, Forests Forever, a documentary produced by the Victoria, BC-based film company, Variations on a Wave.
84. Patrick Moore, Remarks Before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources, April 13, 1994, Ottawa Canada (Vancouver: The Forest Alliance).
85. Author interview, September 30, 1997.
86. Martha S. Feldman, Strategies For Interpreting Qualitative Data (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995), p. 52.
87. Richardson, Sherman, and Gismondi, op. cit., p. 16.
88. Emery, op. cit., p. 29.
89. Rowell, op. cit., p. 183.
90. Sheridan, op. cit., p. 30.
91. Some eco-Marxists tend to privilege human welfare over the welfare of external nature (see David Pepper, Eco-Socialism: From Deep Ecology to Social Justice [London: Routledge, 1993]).
92. Toronto Star, December 21, 1991, p. D6.
93. Patrick Moore, letter to the editor, Bridge-River Lillooet News, October 9, 1997, p. 6.
94. Richardson, Sherman, and Gismondi, op. cit., p. 17.
95. Copy of letter provided courtesy of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund.
96. Gus Abel, author interview, January 28, 1997.
97. Greg McDade, Executive Director, Sierra Legal Defence Fund, author interview, December 19, 1996.
98. Copy of statement to RCMP provided courtesy of Gus Abel.
99. Share the Stein: A Citizen's Publication, p. 3.
100. Bridge River Lillooet News, September 18, 1996, p. 3.
101. Bridge River Lillooet News, October 9, 1996, p. 5 and February 5, 1997, p. 6.
102. Karen Mahon, author interview, December 3, 1996.
103. Emery, op. cit., pp. 21-22.
104. Gus Abel, author interview, op. cit.
105. Bridge River-Lillooet News, October 16, 1996, p. 3.
106. Ibid.
107. See for instance, Mark Hume, "Environment of Fear," The Vancouver Sun, March 6, 1990.
108. Author's field notes.
109. Bridge River-Lillooet News, October 1, 1997, p. 7.
110. Survey research indicates that persons living in BC's lower mainland are more likely to be concerned with local environmental issues than northern BC residents. The same study also indicates that persons who voted for the Green Party showed the highest level of concern regarding environmental issues, followed by those who voted for the NDP. Voters who supported the Reform Party showed the least concern, followed by those who supported the Liberal Party. The Reform Party has its strongest support in northern communities whose economies are based on resource extraction like logging and mining. See, Donald E. Blake, Neil Guppy, and Peter Urmetzer, "Being Green in BC: Public Attitudes Towards Environmental Issues," BC Studies, 112, Winter, 1996-97.