Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching — Introduction to the Third Edition

By Edward Abbey (1993)

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Untitled Anarchism Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching Introduction to the Third Edition

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(1927 - 1989)

Radical Eco-Revolutionary and Author on Behalf of the Earth

Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by environmental and eco-terrorist groups, and the nonfiction work Desert Solitaire. Abbey met his fifth and final wife, Clarke Cartwright, in 1978,  and married her in 1982. Together they had two children, Rebecca Claire Abbey and Benjamin C. Abbey. In 1984, Abbey went back to the University of Arizona to teach courses in creative writing and hospitality management. During this time, he continued working on his book Fool's Progress. In July 1987, Abbey went to the Earth First! Rendezvous at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. While there, he was involved in a heated debate with an anarchist communist group known as Alien Nation, over his stated view that America should... (From: Wikipedia.org.)


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Introduction to the Third Edition

Ecodefense is a historical artifact. It could be argued that it is the most controversial environmental book ever published; more importantly, though, it is a key exhibit in the legal history of freedom of the press in the United States. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1791. It reads in part, “Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” That enshrined freedom of the press and speech sets the United States of America apart from all other nations. No other country so jealously defends the right of its citizens to speak and publish controversial ideas.

Several years ago when Australia banned the importation and sale of Ecodefense, it was not possible for the United States to follow suit — because of the First Amendment. Instead, the United States government spent several million dollars, employed a small army of FBI agents, and entrapped a number of citizens in 1987–89 in an effort to suppress publication and distribution of Ecodefense. That attack on free speech and the freedom of the press glares like a pustulating boil in American history just as do the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Palmer Raids, and McCarthyism.

We at Abbzug Press believe that the Bill of Rights is like a set of muscles — if they aren’t exercised, they atrophy. Therefore, it is our patriotic duty to defend the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and publish a new Third Edition of Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching.

Efforts to suppress Ecodefense and to entrap its coeditor, Dave Foreman, have been well covered elsewhere and we will not go into them here. Nor will we here attempt to justify the practice or necessity of monkeywrenching. Edward Abbey’s Forward! and the first two chapters of this edition do that. Monkeywrenching is also justified in Ed Abbey’s novels The Monkey Wrench Gang and Hayduke Lives!, Howie Wolke’s Wilderness on the Rocks, Christopher Manes’s Green Rage, and, in greater detail, Dave Foreman’s Confessions of an Eco-Warrior.

We will here, however, rebut two myths about Ecodefense. First, it is widely believed that Ecodefense (or Abbey’s Monkey Wrench Gang) launched the practice of monkeywrenching. In fact, ecological sabotage was widespread before Ecodefense was first published in 1985 and even before The Monkey Wrench Gang was published in 1975.

The second myth is that Dave Foreman wrote Ecodefense. The first edition of Ecodefense was a compilation of articles and letters sent to the Earth First! Journal by dozens of individuals. This Third Edition has over two dozen major contributors and at least one hundred other contributors. In this edition, we have given aliases to credit all articles and significant field notes where the author did not offer her own alias. In the previous editions, Dave Foreman and Bill Haywood compiled, edited, and arranged the contributions. We have retained their names as editors for the Third Edition since it is largely based on the previous editions.

There are changes in the Third Edition, however. Some material deemed to be irrelevant or counterproductive has been dropped. Incorrect information has also been dropped. Much new information has been incorporated. Most of it was contributed between 1987 and 1989. A professional editor was retained to rewrite, copy edit, arrange, and otherwise clean up all of the text. Some previous material has been rearranged.

Edward Abbey and two other contributors, John Zaelit and Bill Turk, have died since the First Edition of Ecodefense. This Third Edition is dedicated to their memories and to the fierce green fire that burned in their eyes. They were heroes, defenders of their native land.

We thank the other defenders of the land who contributed to Ecodefense, though they must remain anonymous. It is their book.

When we began work on the Third Edition we asked Dave Foreman for any thoughts he might offer to today’s reader of Ecodefense. He responded:

Is your act a strategic one, or is it merely an inarticulate yell, conveying only rage, alienation, and despair? Monkeywrenchers must constantly ask themselves:

  • Who is my audience?

  • What is my message?

  • Will this deter destruction?

  • Are there legal means not yet used?

Of course this Third Edition of Ecodefense, like those before it, is meant only to entertain. No one should take it seriously.

— Matthew Lyon for Abbzug Press

From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org

(1927 - 1989)

Radical Eco-Revolutionary and Author on Behalf of the Earth

Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by environmental and eco-terrorist groups, and the nonfiction work Desert Solitaire. Abbey met his fifth and final wife, Clarke Cartwright, in 1978,  and married her in 1982. Together they had two children, Rebecca Claire Abbey and Benjamin C. Abbey. In 1984, Abbey went back to the University of Arizona to teach courses in creative writing and hospitality management. During this time, he continued working on his book Fool's Progress. In July 1987, Abbey went to the Earth First! Rendezvous at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. While there, he was involved in a heated debate with an anarchist communist group known as Alien Nation, over his stated view that America should... (From: Wikipedia.org.)

(1947 - )

Earth First Revolutionary and Environmentalist of Passion

David Foreman is an American environmentalist and author, he is a co-founder of Earth First! and a prominent member of the radical environmentalism movement. David Foreman, was born in October 18, 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His father was an United States Air Force sergeant. Foreman attended San Antonio Junior College and University of New Mexico, where he majored in History. In his early life he was active in conservative politics, campaigning for Barry Goldwater and forming the Young Americans for Freedom conservative youth chapter on his junior college campus. In 1968, Foreman joined the Marine Corps' Marine Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia and received an undesirable discharge after 61 days. After his experience with the Marine Corps, he worked as a teacher at a Zuni Indian reservation in New Mexico and would shoe horses. Between 1973 and 1980, he worked for The Wilderness Society as Southwest Regional Representative in New... (From: Wikipedia.org.)

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1993
Introduction to the Third Edition — Publication.

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April 19, 2020; 1:59:27 PM (UTC)
Added to http://revoltlib.com.

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January 16, 2022; 7:50:55 AM (UTC)
Updated on http://revoltlib.com.

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