WEBVTT - Lochiel: Speaking for the Trees 0:00:00.050 --> 0:00:00.710 Next week. 0:00:02.270 --> 0:00:21.390 An hour's drive from the nearest pavement, down a long 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.320 and winding dirt road that cuts through the Coronado National Forest, 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:27.880 after leaving little mountain town of Patagonia, lies some of 0:00:27.900 --> 0:00:29.960 the most beautiful cattle country I've ever seen in the 0:00:29.980 --> 0:00:35.040 United States. When you think of southern Arizona, you probably 0:00:35.060 --> 0:00:39.490 think of saguaros, sand dunes, large mesas and scorching temperatures. 0:00:41.510 --> 0:00:44.350 Within La Keel after the monsoon season, my drive was 0:00:44.370 --> 0:00:48.570 accompanied by views of rolling green hills, mesquite-covered slopes and 0:00:48.610 --> 0:00:51.220 giant cottonwoods granting shade and a sense of majesty to 0:00:51.229 --> 0:00:55.880 the landscape. Cresting one hill after another, I was greeted 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.840 with endless rolling meadows, Views to the south of mountains, 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.320 huge cottonwoods, Angus cattle and horses. It looks like the 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.120 pastoral idyll that people who haven't worked in farming think 0:01:07.140 --> 0:01:11.850 that farming is. This isn't wilderness, or land untouched by 0:01:11.910 --> 0:01:14.990 human hands. It's a place where Yaqui and the Ottom 0:01:15.030 --> 0:01:17.110 people and other indigenous people have. 0:01:17.010 --> 0:01:18.490 Lived and passed through for millennia. 0:01:19.230 --> 0:01:21.970 It's the valley where the European settlers first entered what 0:01:21.990 --> 0:01:24.610 we now call the South West, and where some of 0:01:24.630 --> 0:01:27.060 those settlers have lived and raised cattle for more than 0:01:27.100 --> 0:01:31.450 a century and a half. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful country, 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.140 and the intensively farmed cattle I saw on my way 0:01:34.220 --> 0:01:36.259 east from San Diego will probably dream of living out 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.080 their lives here, not under solar shades in the desert. 0:01:40.459 --> 0:01:43.620 To the south, across the wall, is the town of Kostolitsky. 0:01:44.459 --> 0:01:47.000 It's named for the Russian-Mexican soldier who earned the right 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:49.420 to have a valley of someone else's land named after 0:01:49.460 --> 0:01:52.980 him by participating in the oppression of the Yaki and 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.020 their revolutionary comrades, as well as putting down the miners' 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:00.210 strike at the US-owned mine in Kananea, Kostolitsky, who came 0:02:00.250 --> 0:02:02.790 to the continent in the Russian navy, which he then deserted, 0:02:03.290 --> 0:02:07.630 became one of Porfirio Díaz' s most potent enforcers, punishing the 0:02:07.670 --> 0:02:10.460 working people who fought alongside Díaz at the Battle of 0:02:10.470 --> 0:02:13.680 Puebla for cresting the general's right to rule as a dictator, 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.880 and the indigenous people of the region for defending their lands, water, 0:02:18.220 --> 0:02:22.120 and communities. Pancho Villa used to rustle cattle from these ranches. 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.960 And it was Villa and the revolution that eventually displaced 0:02:26.020 --> 0:02:29.160 Kostolitsky from the region, if not the map. and he 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.570 fled to Los Angeles, where he became an FBI agent. Anyway, 0:02:33.590 --> 0:02:38.609 enough about historical assholes. For more than a century, people 0:02:38.750 --> 0:02:41.630 and cattle and castle rustlers could pass through this valley, 0:02:42.070 --> 0:02:44.870 more or less like they always had. A raindrop that 0:02:44.889 --> 0:02:49.180 falls in Laquille, in the USA, runs into Mexico. And 0:02:49.220 --> 0:02:51.080 the mule deer doe and her fawn I watched in 0:02:51.100 --> 0:02:54.200 a meadow on my way down could, for now, jump 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.559 a barbed wire fence and make a journey that would 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:58.899 require me to drive several hours and bring my passport. 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.340 But as I came up over the last hill before Laquille, 0:03:03.090 --> 0:03:05.950 I set eyes on the reason I was here. And 0:03:05.970 --> 0:03:08.650 the reason that deer and the jaguars who move through 0:03:08.710 --> 0:03:10.950 here might soon be cut off from the pond she 0:03:10.990 --> 0:03:13.940 was drinking from and the meadow she was grazing in. 0:03:13.950 --> 0:03:17.560 The mountains that I can see are actually in Mexico. 0:03:17.570 --> 0:03:23.820 But this landscape is just like people run cattle with, 0:03:24.020 --> 0:03:25.740 I'm sure there are barbed wire fences, I can just 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.549 see one, but it's not visibly broken up. in the 0:03:29.590 --> 0:03:32.049 same way that so many of our landscapes are, right? 0:03:32.110 --> 0:03:37.490 By property ownership. And so it seems very contiguous. 0:03:38.550 --> 0:03:42.760 And then I'm at the. 0:03:42.740 --> 0:03:45.960 Crest of one line of ridges I'm about to drop off. 0:03:46.660 --> 0:03:49.320 I can see another ridge line ahead of me, and 0:03:49.340 --> 0:03:50.920 on the top of that ridge line runs the border wall. 0:03:51.970 --> 0:03:55.630 And it's the only wall, the only barrier that's visible 0:03:56.170 --> 0:04:00.410 from here, right? I can see some power lines. A 0:04:00.450 --> 0:04:02.550 couple of times I've seen people running windmills right through 0:04:02.570 --> 0:04:07.950 a well or whatever. But it's otherwise just the only 0:04:07.990 --> 0:04:09.750 intrusion on this beautiful landscape. 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.320 Close to that wall is the town of Lekil. It's 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.000 not much of a town, but it does have a 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.680 small one-room schoolhouse that I hopped out to explore. 0:04:24.050 --> 0:04:26.710 Just walking up to the schoolhouse here. There's a tiny 0:04:26.850 --> 0:04:32.710 one-room schoolhouse here. And then it looks like there's a 0:04:32.950 --> 0:04:37.680 little outdoor cupboard area where the kids eat. With like two, 0:04:38.500 --> 0:04:44.940 three picnic-style tables. And that has a picture of the 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:49.400 mountains and the desert and a wagon train. The toy, 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:52.950 the odd symbol, sometimes called the man in the maze. 0:04:55.170 --> 0:04:56.870 The schoolhouse is painted red. 0:04:56.890 --> 0:04:58.950 I don't know. 0:05:00.250 --> 0:05:02.120 I think it's a museum. It says property maintained by 0:05:02.140 --> 0:05:03.920 the Patagonian Museum Arizona. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:06.260 Yeah. 0:05:07.260 --> 0:05:09.520 Just a single room kind of adobe structure. 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.410 I'm not here for the schoolhouse though or the ghost 0:05:16.450 --> 0:05:18.890 town tourism stuff people do far too much on YouTube 0:05:18.910 --> 0:05:22.810 these days. Just to the south of town lies or 0:05:22.870 --> 0:05:26.540 lay I should say a towering cottonwood tree and a 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:31.880 beautiful meadow. This tree grandmother tree, was until a few 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.320 months ago part of a stand of cottonwoods that spanned 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:38.539 the border from north to south, giving shade to people 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.360 and cattle and a home to birds and animals. Now 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.760 this tree, like the others, lies in a tangled mess 0:05:45.810 --> 0:05:49.610 on the floor. Not felled, bucked up and used for 0:05:49.650 --> 0:05:52.950 lumber like a commercial species might be, but pushed and 0:05:52.990 --> 0:05:56.690 pulled over by an excavator with their twisted root balls 0:05:56.790 --> 0:06:00.839 poking out the ground. grandmother tree stood for months longer 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.580 than her siblings. Because for more than two months, someone 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.599 put their body between a centuries-old cottonwood tree and the 0:06:07.620 --> 0:06:10.840 people who wanted to destroy it. And that's why I'm here. 0:06:10.860 --> 0:06:18.840 I initially missed the turn to Camp of Shad because 0:06:18.860 --> 0:06:21.810 it was behind a closed gate. In Arizona and most 0:06:21.850 --> 0:06:23.990 places in this country, I don't go about opening gates 0:06:24.350 --> 0:06:26.030 because people get mad if you let their cattle out 0:06:26.589 --> 0:06:28.840 or come onto their land. and people in this country 0:06:28.860 --> 0:06:31.719 have lots of guns. But in this case, the gate 0:06:31.779 --> 0:06:34.200 I opened was one that wasn't supposed to keep me out. 0:06:35.170 --> 0:06:38.450 The landowners of the land where Grandmother Tree sits welcome 0:06:38.470 --> 0:06:40.790 the tree sitter and the people camping in their meadow. 0:06:41.670 --> 0:06:44.130 They don't want the border wall either, and they were 0:06:44.170 --> 0:06:46.130 happy to host the folks willing to put their bodies 0:06:46.180 --> 0:06:48.359 and freedom on the line to defend this beautiful valley. 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:52.120 The camp, when I was there, included the large cook tent, 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.770 ground tents, community tents and individual tents for sleeping. Mostly 0:06:56.810 --> 0:06:58.969 people hung out in the cook tent or the community tent, 0:06:59.830 --> 0:07:02.810 and they work on improving them, making compost, cooking food, 0:07:03.490 --> 0:07:07.330 or talking and building community. The tents are impressive, large structures, 0:07:07.950 --> 0:07:11.470 built with rain and sun in mind. The kitchen, the 0:07:11.510 --> 0:07:14.870 washing station, and the pantry are well organised and well labelled. 0:07:15.810 --> 0:07:19.030 This is a camp built to last. On the land 0:07:19.050 --> 0:07:22.390 where they're camping, they aren't trespassing, which significantly reduces the 0:07:22.450 --> 0:07:25.610 legal tools available to evict them. But even if they were, 0:07:26.110 --> 0:07:28.710 the local sheriff doesn't want the war here, and he 0:07:28.770 --> 0:07:31.730 said he wouldn't arrest them for doing what they're doing. However, 0:07:31.770 --> 0:07:34.190 Border Patrol can enter private land this close to the border, 0:07:34.850 --> 0:07:38.930 just not homes on that land. The 60-foot region just 0:07:38.950 --> 0:07:41.920 to the north of the border, the Roosevelt Reservation, can 0:07:41.980 --> 0:07:45.200 also be closed by the federal government. At least, they 0:07:45.260 --> 0:07:51.040 think it can. We'll talk more about that next week. However, 0:07:51.870 --> 0:07:54.750 this is a rare tree sit that everybody here wants. 0:07:55.590 --> 0:07:57.910 Everybody that is, apart from the border war contractors, the 0:07:57.930 --> 0:08:01.500 border patrol, and the federal land management agencies, trying to 0:08:01.620 --> 0:08:04.980 weaponise rules designed to protect public land against the people 0:08:05.020 --> 0:08:06.150 who are currently defending it. 0:08:07.380 --> 0:08:08.920 But I don't want to talk about cops right now. 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:11.520 First, I want to hear from some of the people 0:08:11.580 --> 0:08:14.380 willing to take their time and their energy to defend 0:08:14.420 --> 0:08:18.160 something so beautiful from something so hideous. I interviewed several 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.280 people at the camp. We'll hear from them all today. 0:08:21.110 --> 0:08:22.490 So let's have them introduce themselves. 0:08:23.890 --> 0:08:25.870 Hi, my name is Philip. 0:08:26.610 --> 0:08:28.070 I live in the southwest. 0:08:29.090 --> 0:08:34.530 I'm a supporter of the Lokeal Tree Sit Encampment. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:36.540 My name's Ryan. 0:08:37.300 --> 0:08:39.860 I'm 32 years old. I'm Petra. 0:08:40.660 --> 0:08:45.219 We're in Lokeal, Arizona, which is the southmost and smallest 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:46.939 county in Arizona. 0:08:50.350 --> 0:08:52.250 There are many more people at the camp. These are 0:08:52.270 --> 0:08:54.030 just three of them who wanted to sit down with 0:08:54.070 --> 0:08:57.930 me and explain what was happening here and why. What 0:08:57.950 --> 0:08:59.860 was happening when I was there was that the border 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:03.640 war was being stopped. And in this episode, I want 0:09:03.660 --> 0:09:06.540 to start with how things were in those moments. And 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.620 the next episode, I want to talk to you about 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.960 how the state responded. I think it would be sad 0:09:12.300 --> 0:09:16.110 to define this whole movement and the months it lasted, 0:09:16.570 --> 0:09:19.330 and it continues to last at this point, by the 0:09:19.370 --> 0:09:25.050 tragedy that happened in early October. Instead, this week, I 0:09:25.070 --> 0:09:28.140 want to talk about the hideous, cruel, and ugly scar 0:09:28.179 --> 0:09:30.860 on the planet, this machine for killing people who come 0:09:30.900 --> 0:09:33.960 here to ask us for help, and how its progress 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.319 was halted by people sitting on a platform in a tree, 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:43.030 and how for months they did what the Democrats, massive NGOs, 0:09:43.710 --> 0:09:46.890 and lawsuits did not manage to do. With the support 0:09:46.910 --> 0:09:49.990 of their community on the ground, and local people, they 0:09:50.030 --> 0:09:54.929 made that wall stop. For more than 70 days, a 0:09:54.970 --> 0:09:57.190 time in which miles of wall could have been built, 0:09:57.770 --> 0:10:01.640 the wall has not been built here. That means two 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.120 more months for migratory animals to pass. And two more 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.439 months for people here to hope for a result in 0:10:07.460 --> 0:10:10.980 the midterms that changes the composition of Congress. Two more 0:10:11.020 --> 0:10:13.880 months for Congressional Democrats to grow a backbone and work 0:10:13.940 --> 0:10:16.880 out how to use that theoretical midterm result to stop this. 0:10:18.020 --> 0:10:19.820 We all know how the last one will go, but 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.959 Here we are anyway. The goal here isn't just to 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.110 stop the war, and it shouldn't be. All of us, 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:31.070 wherever we are, should aim higher than that. Until every 0:10:31.190 --> 0:10:34.170 inch of this wall is torn down, every foot of 0:10:34.250 --> 0:10:37.770 razor wire dragged away, and every single person who waived 0:10:37.830 --> 0:10:41.710 our protections, destroyed sacred things, and violated our community with 0:10:41.750 --> 0:10:45.510 the land held accountable, we shouldn't stop. There was a 0:10:45.570 --> 0:10:50.360 time when even Ronald Reagan wanted walls torn down. But 0:10:50.380 --> 0:10:52.760 today it seems that on this, as with many other 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:56.280 issues of immigration, the Democratic Party and of course the 0:10:56.300 --> 0:11:00.250 Republicans have both outflanked him to the right. But right now, 0:11:01.110 --> 0:11:02.829 we have to do the best we can to limit 0:11:02.870 --> 0:11:05.809 the damage done. And that doesn't mean voting and crossing 0:11:05.850 --> 0:11:07.870 our fingers for the people who have spent this entire 0:11:07.950 --> 0:11:10.230 century moving to the right on immigration to do something. 0:11:11.429 --> 0:11:14.450 And the best I've seen anyone do, anywhere along this 0:11:14.570 --> 0:11:17.870 hideous barrier which dominated the view to the south for 0:11:17.890 --> 0:11:21.210 the seven hours I drove along it yesterday, was right 0:11:21.230 --> 0:11:46.370 in this little meadow. Ed Abbey once wrote that the 0:11:46.410 --> 0:11:49.640 idea of wilderness needs no defence, it only needs defenders. 0:11:50.890 --> 0:11:54.140 Lakia isn't a wilderness, federal or otherwise. But all of 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.350 our land can't defend itself. It needs someone to defend it. 0:11:59.540 --> 0:12:02.679 Along the border, people willing to defend the land, the trees, 0:12:02.740 --> 0:12:05.300 the plants and the animals, have been hard to find. 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:09.439 Up and down the border wall, we've seen lawsuits, law waivers, 0:12:09.620 --> 0:12:13.970 public comments and continued construction. But this time around, very 0:12:14.020 --> 0:12:16.170 little has been able to stop fissure sand and gravel 0:12:16.510 --> 0:12:21.110 from destroying beautiful places all along the southern border. But 0:12:21.150 --> 0:12:24.650 in Likil, for a couple of months, construction didn't happen. 0:12:33.290 --> 0:12:36.270 I arrived in Likil one afternoon after taking an extended 0:12:36.330 --> 0:12:37.990 tour of the region due to some confusion on my 0:12:38.030 --> 0:12:40.770 part regarding annotations on the hand-drawn map I was using. 0:12:41.770 --> 0:12:43.370 It's okay, I enjoyed seeing the country. 0:12:44.429 --> 0:12:46.950 I arrived just in time for the tail end of 0:12:46.990 --> 0:12:49.320 a hurricane which was blowing through the region, complete with 0:12:49.340 --> 0:12:52.569 torrential rain. All the first night and the next day, 0:12:53.150 --> 0:12:56.110 rain poured down on our little camp. And despite the 0:12:56.150 --> 0:12:58.829 rain and the cold, people took care of one another. 0:12:59.429 --> 0:13:01.530 And the person in the tree, who is referred to 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.720 as Tree, because this was about something much bigger than 0:13:04.780 --> 0:13:05.520 any one person. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.360 In L'Aquille, for L'Aquille, there's a lot at stake. Here's 0:13:10.380 --> 0:13:11.240 Philip explaining that. 0:13:13.260 --> 0:13:15.080 I think a lot of people coming to the desert 0:13:15.100 --> 0:13:18.130 would be surprised at how green it is, especially at 0:13:18.150 --> 0:13:21.609 the end of monsoon season. I mean, the communities of 0:13:21.690 --> 0:13:25.490 trees that are hundreds of years old are healthy and thriving, 0:13:25.510 --> 0:13:31.360 aside from where they're being destroyed by the border construction. 0:13:31.380 --> 0:13:37.860 There is such a rich ecosystem of bugs and insects. 0:13:38.260 --> 0:13:43.420 The snakes are huge and eating really well. So, you know, 0:13:43.460 --> 0:13:47.240 it's an area where life is thriving, like in an overall, 0:13:47.260 --> 0:13:53.740 you know, global system that is kind of collapsing and failing. 0:13:54.460 --> 0:13:57.319 So it's, you know, from an ecological point of view, 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.540 there's a lot worth fighting for here. But, you know, 0:13:59.920 --> 0:14:02.580 from what we've, I know of the community and the 0:14:02.620 --> 0:14:06.329 neighbors here, people feel like this wall is going right 0:14:06.380 --> 0:14:10.090 through their town and their community. I mean, the power 0:14:10.150 --> 0:14:12.770 pole goes right across the border to the houses on 0:14:12.809 --> 0:14:16.670 the other side, like they're paying the same power bills. And, 0:14:16.809 --> 0:14:22.400 you know, going before this artificial separation, you know, kids 0:14:22.420 --> 0:14:25.240 going to the same schools, going to the same cookouts, 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:30.110 involved in the same businesses. So it's literally just tearing 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.830 a community apart in a way that's arbitrary and artificial. 0:14:34.950 --> 0:14:37.650 That community support is a big factor in why folks 0:14:37.690 --> 0:14:41.010 in the camp were able to slow down construction. For months, 0:14:41.250 --> 0:14:43.530 it seemed as if the war was bearing down on Likil. 0:14:44.250 --> 0:14:47.530 Coming for these ranches and their homes, coming for those cottonwoods, 0:14:48.100 --> 0:14:51.390 this meadow, The places the jaguars and the deer would cross. 0:14:51.950 --> 0:14:53.330 And everything else is beautiful here. 0:14:54.330 --> 0:14:58.200 There's an incredible view to Mexico and a beautiful meadow 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.000 in that direction. But if I look a little bit left, 0:15:01.020 --> 0:15:05.000 there is a border wall that has been constructed right 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.920 almost up to the point of the tree set. And 0:15:07.940 --> 0:15:09.520 when I first got here, it was on the horizon, 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.250 and then every day it was so much closer. And 0:15:12.450 --> 0:15:14.000 to see it stop there was one of the things 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.750 that really kept me at this place. It stopped there, 0:15:16.890 --> 0:15:19.070 and for now, the view to Mexico and the entry 0:15:19.110 --> 0:15:21.770 to Mexico is still beautiful and still open. 0:15:22.910 --> 0:15:25.610 It stopped because of people who came here, the people 0:15:25.650 --> 0:15:29.550 who supported them, and the community that stood behind them. Indeed, 0:15:29.570 --> 0:15:31.710 at one point, there was a tree set on both 0:15:31.810 --> 0:15:32.750 sides of the border. 0:15:33.270 --> 0:15:35.590 The first one was the American one, as I understand, 0:15:35.730 --> 0:15:39.700 and then a Mexican tree set started and a mexican 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.300 camp started and i was here while that was happening 0:15:42.340 --> 0:15:45.340 the full binational tree set and it was beautiful um 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.700 we were having dinner across the border you know they 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.460 brought out a bondo one time and we were all 0:15:50.660 --> 0:15:54.060 dancing and it was so beautiful so that mexican tree 0:15:54.100 --> 0:15:57.060 set still sits up there but is now empty because 0:15:57.620 --> 0:16:00.520 the federales and other agencies i don't know too well 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.330 were called in and they made several threats to the 0:16:03.370 --> 0:16:05.230 tree sitters and campers. And as far as I know, 0:16:05.270 --> 0:16:08.450 they stood strong against those threats to themselves. And then 0:16:08.470 --> 0:16:11.930 they made a threat to basically that that property wouldn't 0:16:11.950 --> 0:16:14.430 be able to sell its cattle anymore. And so the 0:16:14.630 --> 0:16:16.490 camp and the tree sit were asked to leave. But 0:16:16.610 --> 0:16:19.110 everything is still intact there, all the beautiful signs and 0:16:19.130 --> 0:16:21.090 the tree sit itself, because those people are still in 0:16:21.110 --> 0:16:22.470 support and still part of this community. 0:16:24.430 --> 0:16:26.450 Walking through Laquille, I could see the platform on the 0:16:26.470 --> 0:16:30.040 Mexican side, overhanging the border road. as the tree leaned 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.580 towards the other trees that had grown alongside for centuries. 0:16:33.380 --> 0:16:35.800 Just a hundred yards or so to the east, the 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:41.070 wall construction had stopped. Thirty-foot black pillars, with the new design, 0:16:41.330 --> 0:16:45.030 complete with anti-climb plate, are standing there, staring down the 0:16:45.070 --> 0:16:48.790 tree and the people defending it. Of course, people have 0:16:48.810 --> 0:16:52.330 sat in trees for decades, but this situation in Lakira 0:16:52.350 --> 0:16:54.170 is unique, as is the mix. 0:16:54.050 --> 0:16:54.550 Of people here. 0:16:55.140 --> 0:16:58.280 Some of them are experienced forest defenders. Others, like Ryan, 0:16:58.560 --> 0:16:59.580 are here for the first time. 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:04.460 My partner told me about it through social media. I 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.520 believe it was through social media. It might have been through... 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.200 The Guardian had an article on this. 0:17:08.220 --> 0:17:09.340 Nice. 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:14.050 And, like, what took you from, that's cool, to, like, 0:17:15.140 --> 0:17:15.680 I'm going to come? 0:17:16.810 --> 0:17:20.090 Well, we had some time taking off work where we 0:17:20.130 --> 0:17:23.640 were going to go on a vacation, but... This seemed 0:17:23.740 --> 0:17:26.879 more impactful. It seemed like something we could contribute to. 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.440 We're celebrating our anniversary while we're down here, so we 0:17:30.460 --> 0:17:33.700 thought this was an appropriate way to give back. 0:17:34.490 --> 0:17:34.750 Oh, yeah. 0:17:34.770 --> 0:17:38.110 I think that's really great. Do you have, like, concerns 0:17:38.210 --> 0:17:38.609 or worries? 0:17:38.630 --> 0:17:40.689 Like, what was your thought process from, like, when your 0:17:40.710 --> 0:17:43.530 partner raised it to deciding to come down here with them? 0:17:43.550 --> 0:17:48.600 Yeah, I was very concerned and worried about this trip. 0:17:49.220 --> 0:17:53.260 At first, when an idea gets suggested, you think, okay, yeah, 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:58.460 that is an idea, but it will evolve into doing 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:02.040 something sometimes. You get serious about it, and that's overcoming 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:07.290 a lot of reasons you can tell yourself no. But understandably, 0:18:07.310 --> 0:18:09.230 there are a lot of things you could be concerned about. 0:18:09.270 --> 0:18:11.770 You could invent some things, but there's also really real 0:18:11.869 --> 0:18:13.949 risks that you're facing. 0:18:16.150 --> 0:18:19.419 But despite his concerns, Ryan decided to come. So did 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:23.260 his partner. So did Philip and Petra. and the 20-odd 0:18:23.300 --> 0:18:24.720 people I met there in the middle of the week. 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.300 This is a unique opportunity for resistance. Along thousands of 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.590 miles to the border, there have been efforts to slow 0:18:31.619 --> 0:18:34.109 down the war. But the conditions in this little town, 0:18:34.150 --> 0:18:37.290 in this little meadow, under this massive tree, came together 0:18:37.330 --> 0:18:39.070 to make it possible for these people to stop this 0:18:39.109 --> 0:18:41.530 war right here. On the best days, there are less 0:18:41.570 --> 0:18:44.300 than a hundred of them. I asked Philip what he 0:18:44.380 --> 0:18:46.240 would have said to people in the position Ryan was in, 0:18:46.660 --> 0:18:48.900 to help them come down to L'Oreal, or to feel 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:49.909 empowered wherever they are. 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:54.460 I would say that that's the story of almost everybody 0:18:54.500 --> 0:18:58.480 in movement, that there are very few people who were 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:04.190 raised in households where their parents were, you know, Black 0:19:04.230 --> 0:19:09.670 Panthers or Liberation Army veterans or whatever, and most people 0:19:09.790 --> 0:19:14.609 were raised outside of movement and came to understand the 0:19:14.650 --> 0:19:20.990 way the world is is wrong and have beliefs that 0:19:21.990 --> 0:19:28.300 need to be addressed. Octavia Butler once wrote that belief 0:19:28.700 --> 0:19:33.200 initiates and guides action, or it does nothing. So if 0:19:33.220 --> 0:19:36.679 we're not actually acting on our beliefs and principles, are 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:42.190 they really our beliefs and principles? And so if people 0:19:42.510 --> 0:19:45.270 feel strongly that they believe something is wrong. 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:51.720 Movements are open to those people and yeah, they shouldn't 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.240 feel like they're being weird. They shouldn't feel like it's 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.260 unusual to just show up in a space where there's 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:02.179 an open call. You're invited to come to the Lak'il camp. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.020 And a lot of people have come before you that 0:20:05.060 --> 0:20:08.709 are in your same shoes, that didn't know anybody, that 0:20:08.730 --> 0:20:11.790 had never done anything like this before. And they are here, 0:20:11.869 --> 0:20:14.950 they have been here, they're plugged in, they come and go, 0:20:15.030 --> 0:20:19.330 they have great experiences. And that's how movements are sustained. 0:20:19.770 --> 0:20:22.149 And the more people do that, the more we change 0:20:22.190 --> 0:20:23.859 the landscape of what is possible. 0:20:25.500 --> 0:20:28.500 Likiel in particular presented a unique opportunity without some of 0:20:28.540 --> 0:20:31.679 the usual risks of state violence. Albeit it's close to 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:35.340 the border, the community and its choices don't matter. Because 0:20:35.460 --> 0:20:38.790 as we will see, even landowners don't have rights when 0:20:38.810 --> 0:20:41.130 the Trump administration really wants to build this wall. 0:20:41.990 --> 0:20:47.989 This is a unique opportunity because the sheriff has remained 0:20:48.130 --> 0:20:53.720 in the background and has been outspoken for years about 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.480 how the idea of building a wall through this community 0:20:56.700 --> 0:21:01.020 is wrong-headed and doesn't want to be involved in supporting it. 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:04.870 So, of course.... 0:21:06.490 --> 0:21:09.170 Yeah, in a lot of land defense campaigns, if it's 0:21:09.230 --> 0:21:12.230 in public lands and the Forest Service is having a 0:21:12.290 --> 0:21:14.629 hard time dealing with people, their go-to move is to 0:21:14.670 --> 0:21:18.639 call the cops. And in this situation, that's not happening. 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.800 And additionally, in this situation, we are directly adjacent to 0:21:22.859 --> 0:21:27.409 public lands on private land, and the landowners here and 0:21:27.750 --> 0:21:31.670 basically every single one of their neighbors also are offended 0:21:31.790 --> 0:21:35.030 by the wall and feel disappointed. grateful that people are 0:21:35.050 --> 0:21:42.560 coming to defend this territory from desecration and accordingly there's 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:47.560 spaces here that are a lot less risky to inhabit 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:52.320 than in a lot of land defense campaigns this is 0:21:52.420 --> 0:21:55.659 private land that no one can come on without permission 0:21:55.800 --> 0:22:02.040 or a warrant and The public lands where the wall 0:22:02.100 --> 0:22:06.530 goes through down the road from here are well off 0:22:06.570 --> 0:22:09.350 the beaten path and aren't really traveled or commuted by 0:22:09.410 --> 0:22:14.970 many forest service employees or authorities. So there's a lot 0:22:15.020 --> 0:22:19.380 of space to hold the camp in a good way, 0:22:19.420 --> 0:22:21.659 in a safe way, and it feels like the camp 0:22:21.780 --> 0:22:25.399 accordingly is a little more luxurious than a lot of 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.340 camps would otherwise be. There's been a lot of infrastructure 0:22:28.380 --> 0:22:31.260 that's been set up and built. There's been opportunities to 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:37.490 bring in building materials and equipment that is expected to 0:22:38.290 --> 0:22:43.369 be maintained and not at risk of being confiscated or 0:22:43.430 --> 0:22:48.740 raided at any moment. So it makes the experience feel 0:22:48.780 --> 0:22:52.100 a lot more embedded in It makes the space feel, like, 0:22:52.260 --> 0:22:55.780 richly inhabited in a way that a lot of camps 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:58.520 feel ephemeral or intentionally temporary. 0:22:58.540 --> 0:23:03.330 Talking of things that are temporary, here's a short advertising break. 0:23:03.350 --> 0:23:28.810 MUSIC A few years ago, I translated a piece by 0:23:28.830 --> 0:23:32.359 a French anarchist who fought in Spain. It's one of 0:23:32.390 --> 0:23:35.600 my favourite pieces of writing about the revolutionary moment, about liberation. 0:23:36.460 --> 0:23:38.020 It's one of the things I think about when I 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:40.300 remember the friends and the pieces of myself I've left 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:43.560 behind in my own experiences of war and revolution. 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:48.850 This part, in particular, has stayed with me. Quote. 0:23:50.270 --> 0:23:53.170 In the foxholes dug into the hillsides of Aragon, men 0:23:53.210 --> 0:23:57.040 live fraternally and dangerously. without the need for hope, because 0:23:57.060 --> 0:23:58.940 they were living fully conscious of being what they had 0:23:58.980 --> 0:24:02.240 always wanted to be. We have tried to enter into 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:05.700 a dialogue with them, with the dead, to preserve whatever 0:24:05.740 --> 0:24:07.300 of their truth can be useful. 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:08.500 For the survivors and the living. 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:11.649 There's an ellipsis here where I've skipped his description of 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:15.609 some of those people. Of all these, and thousands of others, 0:24:16.250 --> 0:24:19.750 all that remains are trace chemicals, the residues of bodies 0:24:19.830 --> 0:24:23.390