Keith, thanks for posting this. The article, however, left considerable doubt as to what the two sides are really arguing about.
First, I think the term "anti-migrant plan" is a misnomer; the text states that the SUSPS (Sierrans for US Population Stabilization) believes that long-term population policy for the United States is an essential to component of long-term US environmental policy. I don't see how anyone could reasonably disagree with this, given that population stabilization has long been identified by most governments and NGOs as the single most serious global challenge to achieving a sustainable socio-economic world. The article quotes many opponents of SUSPS labeling them as "right wing extremists" and "fascists." But I see no acknowledgement whatsoever on their part that population is indeed an important issue, and one which the is not explicitly on the US government's policy agenda. I've looked at SUSPS's website, and I don't see them advocating any simplistic solutions, but rather wanting to raise the profile of this issue for debate. Naturally, this is threatening, by its controversial nature. But that's not a reason to ignore the issue. Instead, the Club should seek to engage all Americans on this question because, if rapid, sustained population growth does threaten our ecosystems, then it concerns everyone. However one feels about this issue, I think we'd all agree that current global population trends are not sustainable. Just as our economic system is not sustainable, in it's current form. I took a look at the SUSPS website, and they don't seem overtly extremist. Clearly they focus on immigration, legal and illegal, as the principal source of US population growth. Whether they are just stating fact or have a hidden racist agenda isn't clear to me. However, they are raising an important policy issue that the Sierra Club used to address and dropped. From SUSPS's site: "SUSPS‡˛was formed in 1996 after the Sierra Club reversed its 30-year comprehensive population policy which addressed both the impacts of fertility and mass migration on U.S. population growth. SUSPS's founders created the grassroots SUSPS network to express the concerns of thousands of Sierra Club members at the Club's departure from long-term environmental policy. SUSPS believes that, in conformity with past Sierra Club environmental policy and the very roots of the environmental movement, the large contribution of over-immigration to the rapid growth in U.S. population must not be ignored." I don't see how that "threatens" the open, grassroots, democratic process of the Club. In my experience, the Sierra Club can be a bureaucratic, entrenched, and untransparent organization, unresponsive to members' interests. good for SUSPS for injecting a little debate. thor skov ---------------------------------------------------- Message: 24 Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 03:24:37 +0900 From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Anti-migrants plan coup at Sierra Club http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1129587,00.html Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Anti-migrants plan coup at 100-year-old green group 'Extreme concern' for future of US Sierra Club Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Friday January 23, 2004 The Guardian The most powerful and venerable environmental organisation in the United States is facing what is being described as its greatest crisis in its 112-year history. There are claims that anti-immigration groups are planning to take over the Sierra Club, in a battle that has reopened the debate on the priorities for environmentalists worldwide. The Sierra Club was founded in the 19th century by John Muir, a Scottish immigrant regarded as the father of American environmentalism. It now has 700,000 members and is the best known of all environmental groups in the country. Because of its vast membership and its history, its stance on major political issues carries much clout. In March, elections are due for five seats on the club's 15-strong board. Supporters of anti-immigration and anti-population growth stances are running for election and hoping to establish a majority on the board, partly in order to formulate an anti-immigration policy for the club. The environmental rationale behind the move is that the ecological infrastructure of the US will be irreparably damaged if millions more people arrive. Last week, 12 past presidents in a joint letter expressed their "extreme concern" for the "continuing viability" of the Sierra Club if this group of candidates is elected. "It would be the end of John Muir's vision as we know it," said Lawrence Downing, a past club president and spokesman for Groundswell, a group formed within the club to fight what they describe as a takeover. "It would turn the club into the hands of outsiders who have their own personal agenda." Some members claim that far-right groups are now urging people to join to take control of the club. The civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Centre has joined the battle and is running a candidate of its own to highlight the issue. "Without a doubt, the Sierra Club is the subject of a hostile takeover attempt by forces allied with a variety of rightwing extremists," said the centre in a letter to club members. "By taking advantage of the welcoming grassroots democratic structure of the Sierra Club, they hope to use the credibility of the club as a cover to advance their own extremist views. We think members should be alert to this." The debate has intensified, as people who join the club before the end of the month will be able to vote in March. In past years, voter turnout has been low, with only 8% of members voting last time. The anti-immigration issue has been summed up by one internal group, Sierrans for US Population Stabilisation, which put forward its policy to members under the heading of "why we need a comprehensive US population policy". The position as stated when the matter was first debated in the club in the 1990s was that "ignoring the 60% of US population growth caused by current legal immigration is like trying to heat a house with the windows open". The group suggested that the club's desire to avoid the issue was based on "globalism over nationalism" and "political correctness over environmental correctness". The so-called outsiders claim that their views and intentions have been distorted and misinterpreted. Paul Watson, a co-founder of Greenpeace who is now with the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd, is already on the Sierra Club's board of directors and supports others who back immigration control. He is accused by Groundswell of planning to take over the club and change its direction, with a more militant approach on animal rights issues also. "People are trying to paint us as bigoted", said Mr Watson, "but I am not anti-immigrant - I'm an immigrant. I'm Canadian." He said that at the present rate of growth, the US population would reach 1 billion by the end of the century, and that that was unsustainable. Referring to suggestions that some far-right groups were now joining the club to influence the vote, he said: "There is nothing we can do about it; we can't stop the Ku Klux Klan from joining if they want." He said that the candidates he supported were respected figures, such as a former governor of Colorado, who deserved to be elected. He added that the Southern Poverty Law Centre was being hypocritical by raising the race issue, not least because one of the candidates was black. Ben Zuckerman, professor of astro-physics at UCLA and another board member, agreed with Mr Watson. "I regard this as an internal power struggle," he said. "The old guard have been running the Sierra Club for as long as I can remember." He said that the US had not had a president committed to the environment since Jimmy Carter, and it was time for the club to play a bigger role politically. "We have to do better than we have been doing." Professor Zuckerman said immigration was only one of many matters that needed to be addressed. "It's a much bigger problem." He abelieved that "rapid population growth is the number one issue for the US, and possibly the world." Mark Hertsgaard, author of Earth Odyssey and The Eagle's Shadow and a commentator on environmental affairs, said the way the battle was perceived was of great importance to the environmental movement. "If a bunch of extremist political groups that espouse these kind of ideologies are able to take over, that is a black mark on American environmentalism, because the Sierra Club is one of the oldest and most respected environmental organisations in the country." Mr Hertsgaard added that one of the problems for the club was that an anti-immigration stance would feed into some people's perceptions of environmentalism as having fascist leanings, which was very far from the reality of mainstream opinion within the club. The issue has split the club before, in the late 1990s, when the then club president, Adam Werbach, stated that "immigration is not an environmental issue". This time, however, the stakes are much higher and the result will be watched closely by environmentalists in the US and abroad. ===== "Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul." --Edward Abbey Grants Manager, Stillaguamish Tribe Of Indians P.O. Box 277 Arlington, WA 98223-0277 Phone: (360) 652-7362 Ext 284 Fax: (360) 435-7689 Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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