Rod Coronado Responds to Smear Ads by Maxxam/Pacific Lumber

Earth First!
For immediate release: April 23, 2003
Contact: Rod Coronado

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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