IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Now there's a catchy title, OK a bit of a click-bait to get the attention. Why is this title so controversial? There are no leaders or members of GroenFront!... even the suggestion is an insult to many.

A recent declaration made by a judge prompted me to go ahead and write this piece. The judge declared a person that was arrested at some point in time to be a member of GroenFront! even though the person in question declared you can not be a member of GF!, there are no leaders nor is it a organization. It is just a Dutch name people can use which is derived from EarthFirst! adhering to the following principles.

Earth First, No Compromise, No Violence.

This judge is not alone in misunderstanding the fact that GF! is just a name, a movement or network at best. An ad-hoc formed group of people working toward the same goal at some point in time. Government officials, the public and even some people working together under the name don't understand this. Being raised and living in a persuasive authoritarian believe system, never really knowing anything else this is not strange. I mean there’s this group of people doing these things together, there has to be a leader to get things done right? Heck, it's probably that person talking to the press or the cops who's calling the shots.

Sure there are environmental action groups working with a strict hierarchy, trying to emulate a business or some government organization. What you notice if you take a good look at their histories you will find this method is ultimately self defeating. The people chosen to run the show and call the shots will follow the statist believe system, power corrupts. You end up leaders who shoot elephants for fun, fly to work on a regular basis or sell out by green washing polluting and destructive corporations.

The believe system dictates a specific group of people get more rights than other people. Sooner rather then later this power gets abused, covered up and lied about when needed in order to retain power. This to the point of the use or threat of violence towards others not following commands or threatening the people in power. Holding them in place and allowing them to act aggressively is the believe system it self.

Groups of people using a name like GF! attempt to work outside the statist believe system. This to be able to follow the principles and achieve the goal of ending exploitation of nature. Simply because people are part of nature, destroying an ecosystem is a crime against humanity, same as killing a bunch of people because they don't agree with you. By this narrative ending pollution, stopping climate change or saving a specific species can only be achieved by letting go of the believe in authority in the first place.

Recognizing, accepting and letting go of the authoritarian believe system is incredibly hard. Even when you do you might find yourself sometimes calling GroenFront! an organization in the traditional sense, even though it clearly is not.

https://www.groenfront.nl/
http://www.earthfirst.org

P.S.

If you read some of the communications on the sites linked above you notice people writing on it can become confused themselves. It is a good illustration on how difficult it is to understand the concepts, I myself in writing this might not follow through completely. A good video to check out is the following, it goes in to more detail, talking about the general topic a bit more.

http://youtu.be/jiAThxUM_Mg