FIRE WITH FIRE: The Rod Coronado Interview

by Claudette Vaughan

Rod Coronado is an Native American indigenous Eco Warrior/Earth First!er and convicted A.L.F. activist who spent 4 and a half years in a federal American prison for actions carried out on behalf of the earth and the animals. Here he speaks to ADA for the first time about racism, animal liberation and his own unique view on where our Movement should be heading.

Claudette:  You might be surprised to know Rod that racist Australia is the only country in the world that does not have a Treaty with its indigenous people, the Kooris.

Rod: I’m not surprised. After over 500 years of colonization and genocide in my homeland, against not just indigenous humans, but animals too, rarely is it ever surprising to see governments and corporations lying and cheating indigenous peoples. Always have, always will. Never ask an indigenous person to trust the government whose wealth and power is built on the blood and bones of our ancestors. We need not ask them for anything. In this country over 1,200 treaties are currently being broken. Laws and treaties are only ever upheld when they serve the interests of the wealthy and politically powerful. Whenever they might serve to protect us, our land and culture, they are quickly and quietly circumvented by white men in suits. Indigenous peoples need not ask for what is rightly theirs, we need to simply take it back, with force if necessary. This land and our history of her, will be the saving grace for all people not just indigenous peoples but anyone who desires to live harmoniously and peacefully with the natural world which is our life-support system.

Claudette:  Do you still have law enforcement restrictions placed upon your movements and speech?

Rod:  I was prevented from speaking, writing, publishing, associating or attending anything to do with animal rights and environmentalism for the duration of my post-prison 3-year period of supervised release. Previous to the ban I was travelling the country speaking to the public about the necessity for immediate environmental and animal protection, nothing illegal, just exercising some “free speech”. After the ban I was forced to practice my beliefs illegally. I did things like organising 40 of us to occupy a university laboratory engaged in the desecration of one of our sacred sites. I organised a hunt sabotage campaign against Arizona’s bighorn sheep trophy hunt. I continued to fight for the things we believe in only I began calling it “cultural preservation” not animal rights or environmentalism. I also worked full-time at a high school for indigenous teens.

Claudette:  What have you been doing lately?

Rod:  Well, my most prominent form of activism at the moment is speaking. I recently returned from a 13 city tour of England, Finland and Holland and since my speaking ban was removed, have spoken at over a dozen separate events about the urgency for socially active and ecologically responsible men and women to step forward and fight for our living planet. Currently we (Earth First!) are fighting Maxxam/ Pacific Lumber, a timber corporation liquidating its old-growth forest land holdings in Northern California. In response to this action we have 13 different tree-sits occupying trees 600 years old and older. I try to make sure these warriors have everything they need. Unfortunately, the only trees being saved are those with people in them. The remainder of the trees in the timber sale are right now being cut, destroying forever the homeland for marbled markets, red tree votes, flying squirrels, spotted owls, salamanders and other animal people dependent on healthy forests for their survival. I also write for Earth First! Journal and ‘No Compromise’ as well. I’m currently working on a book about my ALF campaign against the fur farm industry.

Claudette:  While on the run from law enforcement you were hunted down like an animal. What did that feel like?

Rod:  Like an animal, yeah I guess that’s a good way to put it. Being an enemy of the United States is the only honourable position for an indigenous warrior to hold today in this country. It has been a couple of generations since family members of mine were fugitives, so it brought back home to me believing in the earth more than the society I was raised in. Being on the run taught me to appreciate every moment of my life and it brought back to me the seriousness and sacredness of this resistance. My ancestors, and maybe yours too, gave their lives defending our future. Now it’s our turn. ELF and ALF actions are now viewed in the same light as the actions of indigenous rebels of the last 500 years. I feel honoured to be part of such a sacred tradition. It wasn’t until I had become a hunted animal that I realised the power that awaited me when I began believing in the earth more than the society I was raised in. Being on the run taught me to appreciate every moment of my life and how to revel in the beauty and power our earth mother gives us. I think it takes such sacrifice before we truly can comprehend what it means to represent the earth and her animal people.

Claudette:  What price do pacifists pay Rod?

Rod:  Well, here in America in the environmental and animal rights movement, we’ve seen the price of pacifism be our friends lives. My friends Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were the victims of a car bomb in 1990. The police accused them of transporting the bomb itself and allowed the real bombers to get away. In the late 1990’s in response to an increase in civil disobedience on behalf of earth and animals, police agencies began using an excessive amount of pepper spray, plastic bullets, tear gas and pain compliance holds, against non-violent protesters. In 1998 we had one of our Earth First! Forest defenders murdered when a logger dropped a tree on David Gypsy Chain killing him instantly. The logger was never arrested, let alone spend even one night in jail. Since then two more passive resisters have been killed in falls from tree sits and the police and animal abuse industries do not seem to care when it’s our people at risk of death. I see C.D in the present political climate in America to be useless unless you have hundreds if not thousands getting arrested. It just doesn’t accomplish much when we get a handful of people arrested and then become burdened with their legal defence. But as Ghandi said, non-violence is only as effective as our opponent’s willingness to respect it. That no longer exists in this country, so I think its time we shift away from CD and engage more in militant direct action. If our enemies prefer more peaceful means of resistance, then they should not discourage those tactics by responding to them violently.

Claudette:  Will conservatism kill our movement?

Rod:  I’m not sure by what you mean by ‘conservatism’ so I’ll guess you mean whether the animal rights movement will be co-opted? If so, yes it already has attacked our movement in the form of people who still believe change for animals is possible within the system. You cannot be an animal liberationist and believe that though. The system of capitalism is built on the reliance of an economic structure dependant on animal and earth exploitation. How can we ever think the system which has created this mess is also the one that will resolve it? The attitude that we only want a better life for animals, but not the abolishment of the economic interests entrenched in profits from human, animal and earth exploitation is one that asks only for crumbs from the table of the oppressors. As long as the animal rights movement fails to recognise the imminent need to change our free market society and refuses to recognise the imminent need to change our cycles of consumption and waste integral to a first world existence, we will continue to only in words represent true animal liberation.

Claudette:  The early suffragettes were militant illegal direct actionists way back in the 1920’s. There is always a lot of discussion in our movement on whether the destruction of property is committing violence. The question is asked how does one do violence against something which is inanimate?

Rod:  It’s ridiculous. The failure of first world liberals to recognise the political value of illegal direct action, namely property destruction, is simply an ignorant denial of the history of social change movements. Suffragettes, Abolitionists, Indigenous resistance, everywhere governments squash non-violent civil disobedience. Their repression makes for more aggressive actions. The Invaders used to call my people indios disblos or Yaqui broncos (devil Indians and wild yaquis) for resisting genocide. In the U.S. it was “blood thirsty savages” whenever the media needed to further dehumanise us so they could continue their policy of extermination with public support. Now we’re eco-terrorists. And for what? Because rather than target the people behind the machines of life’s destruction, we decommission the weapons themselves. That to me demonstrates a greater adherence to the principles of non-violence than simply blocking the entrance to the same weapons of mass destruction. If Jesus were alive today he’d be smashing the machines used to destroy life too. People forget that the only thing that makes government concede anything to us is our willingness to rise up and take it without their authority. That’s why the moment a movement becomes truly revolutionary, there come State attempts to co-opt it by offering concessions to the self-appointed “leaders” of that movement or more accurately those in the struggle most ready to compromise and accept milder forms than those rising up. At the same time, through the media, efforts are made to label the radicals a “fringe” or “extremist” thereby clearing the way for repression made all the more easy through the mainstream movement’s willingness to “achieve victory” while leaving revolutionaries like the ALF and ELF out in the cold. As for property destruction? Give me a break. Calling us terrorists for destroying the machines owned by industries destroying earth is the same as watching your home burn down and criticising those trying to put the fire out. If people need to label anyone violent, then let’s start with the people with real blood on their hands. In my entire life our side has yet to kill anyone. Can the same be said for the police, government, and corporations calling us “terrorists?”

Claudette:  Have any of your views changed over time? Do you have any regrets about the work you’ve done for Earth First! and the ALF?

Rod:  My views have changed only in the sense than I have even less faith in our governments than ever before. The results are in and the worlds’ governments have voted resoundingly for continuing their war on the natural world. There’s no more time to work within the system. That strategy has been tried over 30 years now and we need to know when its time to try a different approach. For me, it is no longer about milestones or “movement victories”, it’s about making every day an act of uncompromised resistance in our daily lives. It’s about having faith in the power on our side, the earth, and recognising that we can never lose if we stand true to her and those countless nations of beings allegiant to her. I don’t care if I die tomorrow, I only care that people know that I stand on the side of the trees and animals in my moment of Judgement, not on the side of the Invader. To those who know in their hearts what they must do to honour their beliefs, but yet are afraid, I can only say that what the earth, animal people and our ancestors have to offer when we remember them as our brothers and sisters is the only weapon we need against anything the Invader can throw at us. No bullet or prison cell can ever stop this sacred resistance. And if you still can’t summon up the courage to act, then for god’s sake find those that can and support them wholeheartedly.

Claudette:  There are so many soul destroying elements in life. How do you stay strong?

Rod:  My mother earth. She comforts me when I feel there is no hope. She shows me beautiful things when I’m in despair. She is the one who was there for me when I faced my greatest fears and she alone guided me back home to the world that awaits all who are willing to break the spell. Whenever I find myself emotionally overwhelmed with the cruelty and injustice in the world, especially towards children and animals I pray for strength from the Creator and I ask for the guidance to fight it. All the power I need is outside there, the wind, the water, fire and night. When I come home to the earth and listen to her voice I not only receive the comfort of knowing our struggle is Just. I also receive the power I need to fight for her. She gives us wisdom and strength not only to help ourselves but more so to help those who cannot help themselves.

Claudette:  Our native animal, the kangaroo, is in a terrible situation here in Australia. You have said before that the fur-trade in America represents much more to you than singular animal abuse. It represents cultural genocide. Is that right?

Rod:  Sounds like your kangaroo is viewed by the Invader the same way as our coyote is over here. Like wise, I believe white man has no desire to live harmoniously with his environment. He needs to dominate it. And where life refuses his control, he reigns down upon it a war of genocidal proportions, arguing that anything less will leave nature “ out of control”. The fur trading companies of Europe were the foot soldiers of the conquest of our world. Before the Invader’s civilization could be built, fur trappers and travellers introduced the disease and decay that would weaken our people. Alcohol, a chemical weapon was introduced to us, so was small pox and other diseases we had no resilience to. The fur trade also forced upon us an economic system that commodified our formerly sacred animal relations. An economic policy that continues today. People began killing them not out of necessity, but to acquire the alcohol, gunpower, steel traps and other weapons that also contributed to greater tribal warfare as formerly peaceful neighbours fought over the control of trapping territory. Many believed the disease that followed the fur trade in the new world was the punishment for breaking our covenant with our animal relations. Now the fur trade claims to be the friend of the Indian while in reality that are exploiting us yet again to further their own agenda. Destroying the fur trade, once and for all is the only way we can close this sad chapter in indigenous history and the genocidal war against fur-bearing animals in this country.

Claudette:  You have never spoken on the subject but I wonder whether you are aware of being given a strength during the hard times in your life. I mean a strength outside of yourself. Something bigger than you or I?

Rod:  It’s happened more than once. Once I recognised that the powers of the earth could aid me as a warrior, I prayed often to the spirits of earth and those animals we were attempting to rescue. When it came time to act, they were there. It’s hard to explain, but I’ve communicated with the animal nations I represent. They have shown me their world, the world where they have homes, families, communities and culture. They also have shown me what it is like, to be a refugee in your own land, constantly evading capture and death. Their fight for survival has left them living in a state of war for hundreds of years. When we raided the U.S. Government Predator Research Facility where coyotes were subjected to trap and poison experiments, we wouldn’t have succeeded in burning that hellhole to the ground, had it not been for the coyote’s help. At the end of the action many of my warriors were crying because they had never had animals speak to them before. Once this happened you can never go back to the world where they are just property or worse, vermin. The gift that is awareness of a world every bit as beautiful as in our wildest dreams is there waiting for those brave enough to accept it. Unfortunately that gift allows us to feel the pain suffered by the natural world but feeling that pain is part of being alive, part of mourning for what’s been done. More importantly though, that pain gives us as warriors the strength and devotion we need to avenge it. The Earth doesn’t give us that awareness so we will cry. She gives us these truths so we will fight.