Re: Sierra Club initiative

[john gulick <jlgulick@xxxxxxx>]

At 01:58 PM 4/30/98 -0800, Gar Lipow wrote:

>I hold no brief for the Sierra Club, the largest of the corporate
environmentalist
>groups. But the 40% vote for the anti-immigrant rule is not completely
reflective of
>their membership.  From what I understand there was a massive last minute
purchase
>of memberships by right wing groups to push for this initiative. (Anyone
can join
>the Sierra Club.)  As David Browder proved,  your fundamental point is
correct --
>there is massive racism within mainstream environmentalism.

I wouldn't fall prey to the idea that all of those who voted for the anti-
immigrant rule are conscious, deliberate racists (not that this is what you
are claiming) -- even though, of course, it's not the intentions of those who
support this policy but the objective consequences of supporting it that
really matter.

A couple of relatives of mine who basically fit in with the standard Sierra
Club profile -- post-60's patrician liberals who are into gamelan music and
eco-tourist trips to Nepal -- voted in favor of the anti-immigrant rule, and
however much I tried to convince them of the wrongheadedness of this policy
and its objectively racist content, from their liberal point of view they
were horrified to be associated with racism.



John Gulick
Ph. D. Candidate
Sociology Graduate Program
University of California-Santa Cruz
(415) 643-8568
jlgulick@xxxxxxx