From: cberlet@igc.apc.org (NLG Civil Liberties Committee)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: Re: Wise Use in Northeast (anti-Green)
Date: 13 Dec 92 22:24:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1425500034:cdp:1425500035:000:4996
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cberlet    Dec 13 14:24:00 1992


/* Written  2:07 pm  Dec 13, 1992 by cberlet in igc:publiceye */

THE SCENT OF OPPORTUNITY:

A Survey of the 
Wise Use/Property Rights Movement
in New England 

by William Kevin Burke

December 12, 1992

Preface (by Chip Berlet)

When William Kevin Burke first came to use the 
library at Political Research Associates in 1987 
he had built a solid reputation as a freelance 
journalist, with a particular interest in 
environmental issues. At Political Research 
Associates, we had an interest in the emerging 
right-wing anti-environmental movement which 
spawned the Wise Use movement. This interest 
reflected our eleven years as a research center 
that monitors and publishes on the political 
right wing. On both a professional and a personal 
level, the match between Political Research 
Associates and Bill Burke was a good one, and we 
have worked together ever since to uncover the 
activities of the fast-growing anti-environmental 
movement. This report is one result of that 
collaboration.

In 1988, as communist governments were beginning 
to crumble in Europe, conservative magazines 
began to refer to environmentalists as 
"watermelons": green on the outside, but red on 
the inside. Environmental activists across the 
nation began reporting an increase in incidents 
of surveillance and harassment. In the late 
summer of 1988, Greenpeace Magazine asked 
Political Research Associates to investigate 
these reports and prepare an article on 
right-wing involvement in the anti-environmental 
movement.

By 1989, PRA had become an informal clearinghouse 
for an ad-hoc network of groups and individuals 
sharing information on Wise Use and other aspects 
of the anti-environmental backlash. Sheila 
O'Donnell, a licensed private investigator at Ace 
Investigations in California specializing in 
cases involving activists, began to document 
incidents of physical assaults on 
environmentalists. Brian Glick, a civil liberties 
attorney and author of War at Home, a book on how 
activists can resist political harassment, 
provided valuable historical analysis of the 
emerging anti-environmental movement. In early 
1989, Seattle-based author Dan Junas, working on 
a book for PRA about far-right theocrat Rev. Sun 
Myung Moon, discovered that Ron Arnold, organizer 
of the first national Wise Use conference in 
August 1988, had deep and longstanding ties to 
Moon's political operations. In July 1989, 
Canadian journalist Howard Goldenthal sent us his 
article exposing Arnold as "an American 
right-wing ideologue...on an all-out crusade to 
thwart the environmentalist movement in Canada."

By the fall of 1990, when Greenpeace Magazine 
published my article on attacks on 
environmentalists, many other researchers were 
investigating the growing conservative backlash 
against the environmental movement. Journalist 
Margaret Knox in Missoula, Montana and Eve Pell 
of the Center for Investigative Reporting wrote 
early and excellent reports on 
anti-environmentalism. Colleen McCrory, a 
Canadian activist, emerged as the leading source 
of information on Wise Use in western Canada, 
where it is called the SHARE movement. Sara 
Diamond wrote about the free market 
environmentalism campaign. Johan Carlisle 
reported on right-wing propaganda campaigns 
against environmentalism, and media coverage of 
the ecology movement. California activist Mickey 
Dulas was among the first to report on 
intimidation by off-road vehicle groups such as 
the Sahara Club USA, Inc., of Granada Hills, 
California. The Data Center in Oakland, 
California has consistently provided background 
information on corporations and political trends 
involved in Wise Use and other anti-ecology 
campaigns. These researchers, and many others, 
developed the supporting research that has begun 
to draw attention to the little-known but 
dangerous work of the Wise Use Movement.

In August 1991, I joined a group of researchers 
concerned about right-wing anti-environmentalism 
and attacks on environmental activists. We met in 
Seattle to share information and talk about the 
lack of media interest in the growth of the 
anti-environmental movement. While a few 
excellent articles had appeared by then, most 
people (even most environmentalists) still were 
not familiar with the movement, and those who 
were often did not appreciate its clout. We 
discussed strategies to increase coverage of the 
issue. Fortunately, however, the issue was 
already gaining steam among other journalists. 
Within a few months, Wise Use and the 
anti-environmental backlash finally became a 
major media topic.

PRA continues to serve as a clearinghouse for 
information about the right-wing 
anti-environmental movement. As a part of that 
effort, we are proud to have sponsored William 
Kevin Burke's important research, "The Scent of 
Opportunity: A Survey of the Wise Use/Property 
Rights Movement in New England."

     Chip Berlet, Analyst
     Political Research Associates
     Cambridge, MA 
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive