Derrick Jensen from What a Way to Go, Life at the End of Empire, time – 1 hour, 50
“Two days later he got a new computer and says he plans to get rid of the one seized by border agents. Despite assurances from the border officials that nothing was “added or removed” he says, “We feel like everything we do on those computers will never be private.”
“It was pretty clear to us that it was an information gathering excursion,” says Wilbert. “They had an opportunity to harass and intimidate and gather information from activists who they find threatening.” 2015-09-30 Environmental Activists Continue to Face Interrogations at US-Canada Border, Earth Island Journal
I didn’t find Derrick Jensen (Deep Green Resistance) to be a scary person (after attending a four-day workshop). My take: in a very abusive childhood, he found awe, beauty, solace and companionship in Nature. He has a deep connection to the Earth, delves into the why of things, reasons well, and he is prolific. He is a compassionate person, and passionate in his defence of Nature. Some see his statements as provocative. Today, when he points out the absurdities of what our culture does, in one-liners, he brings about good hearty laughter.
Here’s my good laugh: it’s a Tommy Douglas thing. Radical in one decade, not radical in another.
Jensen was radical because he knew we have to stop destroying the Earth we are part of, and dependent upon for our health and survival.
A whole lot more people today, know what he knew then. It is not radical.
Here’s Derrick in a 9 minute video, reading “The Man Box” at the 2014 Earth At Risk Conference.
Maybe it’s not my place to say, because I can’t speak for him: it seems to me that the abuse, including physical and sexual, experienced by him, his sister, and brother; the painful work done to try and understand, has led Jensen to a pretty deep understanding, expressed in “The Man Box”. The reasons behind the violations of human beings are not different from the reasons behind the violations of Nature. And either way it’s murder of life.
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FROM AMAZON:
For years, Derrick Jensen has asked his audiences, “Do you think this culture will undergo a voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of life?” No one ever says yes.
Deep Green Resistance starts where the environmental movement leaves off: industrial civilization is incompatible with life. Technology can’t fix it, and shopping—no matter how green—won’t stop it. To save this planet, we need a serious resistance movement that can bring down the industrial economy.
Deep Green Resistance evaluates strategic options for resistance, from nonviolence to guerrilla warfare, and the conditions required for those options to be successful. It provides an exploration of organizational structures, recruitment, security, and target selection for both aboveground and underground action.
Deep Green Resistance also discusses a culture of resistance and the crucial support role that it can play.
Deep Green Resistance is a plan of action for anyone determined to fight for this planet—and win.
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At the Deep Green workshop I attended, role-playing was critiqued through the lens of what scholars have learned about the French Resistance in World War Two. La Resistance did not exist in 1940 when the Nazis invaded France through the Ardennes Woods. I googled “analysis of resistance movements”, there’s lots of information out there.
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DERRICK JENSEN
Published works
Books
- 1995, Listening to the Land: Conversations about Nature, Culture, and Eros (with George Draffan and John Osborn), Sierra Club Books, ISBN 0-87156-417-3 Republished 2004 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1-931498-56-2
- 1995, Railroads and Clearcuts: Legacy of Congress’s 1864 Northern Pacific Railroad Land Grant (with George Draffan and John Osborn), Keokee Company Publishing, ISBN 1-879628-08-2
- 2000, A Language Older Than Words, Context Books, ISBN 1-893956-03-2 Republished 2004 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1-931498-55-5
- 2002 The Culture of Make Believe, New York: Context Books, ISBN 1-893956-28-8 Republished 2004 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1-931498-57-9
- 2003, Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests (with George Draffan), Chelsea Green, ISBN 978-1-931498-45-6
- 2004, Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance, and the Culture of Control (with George Draffan), Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 1-931498-52-0
- 2005, Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution, Chelsea Green, ISBN 978-1-931498-78-4
- 2006, Endgame, Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization, Seven Stories Press, ISBN 1-58322-730-X
- 2006, Endgame, Volume 2: Resistance., Seven Stories Press, ISBN 1-58322-724-5
- 2007, Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos (with Karen Tweedy-Holmes), No Voice Unheard, ISBN 978-0-9728387-1-9
- 2007, As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial (with Stephanie McMillan), Seven Stories Press, ISBN 1-58322-777-6
- 2008, How Shall I Live My Life?: On Liberating the Earth from Civilization, PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-003-0
- 2009, What We Leave Behind (with Aric McBay), Seven Stories Press, ISBN 978-1-58322-867-8
- 2009, Songs of the Dead, PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-044-3
- 2010, Lives Less Valuable, PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-045-0
- 2010, Resistance Against Empire, PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-046-7
- 2010, Mischief in the Forest: A Yarn Yarn (with Stephanie McMillan), PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-081-8
- 2011, Dreams, Seven Stories Press, ISBN 978-1-58322-930-9
- 2011, Deep Green Resistance (with Lierre Keith and Aric McBay), Seven Stories Press, ISBN 978-1-58322-929-3
- 2011, Truths Among Us: Conversations on Building a New Culture, PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-299-7
- 2012, The Derrick Jensen Reader: Writings on Environmental Revolution (edited by Lierre Keith), Seven Stories Press, ISBN 978-1-60980-404-6 (pbk.)
- 2012, The Knitting Circle Rapist Annihilation Squad (with Stephanie McMillan), PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-596-7
- 2012, Earth at Risk: Building a Resistance Movement to Save the Planet (edited by D.J. and Lierre Keith), PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-674-2
- 2016, The Myth of Human Supremacy Seven Stories Press (April 12, 2016), ISBN 978-1-60980-678-1
- 2017, Monsters Oct 1 2017 PM Press
- 2018, Anarchism and the Politics of Violation Nov 6 2018