From Embers: An Anarchist Analysis of the Ongoing Fairy Creek Struggle

From Embers returns with an interview with an anarchist who reports from the frontlines of the fight to save old-growth forest in so-called British Columbia.

On this episode of From Embers, we’re talking about Fairy Creek, where mass direct actions to protect old growth forest in so-called B.C. have been escalating since August 2020. With more than 400 arrests at time of this episode coming out, the blockades represent the biggest wave of forest defense actions on the West Coast since the Clayoquot Protests of the early 1990s, also known as the War in the Woods. It’s remarkable the camps and blockades have continued on through winter, during a pandemic, and a particularly intense wildfire season.

COME TO CAMP!
Join us at Fairy Creek (Ada’itsx) HQ
Arrive prepared to self-sufficiently camp overnight. Arrestees & non-arrestees are needed DAILY.https://t.co/cjWYKXXWHEhttps://t.co/a21gOhP24r
https://t.co/TAS7D7za3d pic.twitter.com/CtCmm16HFA

— Fairy Creek Blockade (@SaveFairyCreek) June 30, 2021

We spoke with an anarchist based on the West Coast who has spent several weeks at Fairy Creek. We discuss the context, culture and politics of the Fairy Creek blockades, the complexities of navigating competing claims to indigenous representation, ways anarchists have been and could be participating, and the significance of Fairy Creek as a space of wildness and transformation.

Further reading:

http://laststandforforests.com

https://nomore.city/2021/02/01/five-months-of-direct-action-disrupt-old-growth-logging-on-socalled-vancouver-island/

https://bcblackout.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/the-return-of-the-war-in-the-woods/

photo: https://www.instagram.com/fairycreekblockade/