Dancing For the Trees

The blockades of 1993 in Clayoquot Sound -

the greatest incidence of civil disobedience 

in Canadian history ~

thousands gathered, 932 arrested, 856 charged, to stop

the clearcutting of the last of our Old Growth forests

This is Sally Sunshine, now departed

Both photos by Lynn Thompson Photography

Wild Woman remembers

dancing on the earth,

a hundred women

spiral dancing

to the beat of the drums

at the blockades of '93.

Primal, pulsing woman-power,

faces radiant, joyous,

powerful with love

for Mother Earth,

dancing for the trees,

in defiance of the Machine

whose voracious jaws, agape,

threatened to devour

everything

loved,

necessary,

sacred.

Ululations,

wolf howls,

little girls with 

honest, determined eyes,

rainbows painted 

on their faces,

teens on the cusp 

of young womanhood,

mothers, sisters, grannies,

grey-haired women,

wise with living,

all deeply rooted 

in the earth,

united in the passion

of this moment

on the road,

a hundred women

dancing on the earth,

for the trees.

I am writing here of the Woman's Blockade. But all summer, thousands came to join us on the road. These were the most passionate hours and days of my life, the summer of '93, gathering before dawn on the road, the smell of smoke from the campfire, people sleepily arriving from the Peace Camp, the low beat beat beat of the tom toms. And then the big trucks pulled in, huge, intimidating, and the official would read out the proclamation to clear the road. Some of us stepped back. Those who volunteered to be arrested that day remained standing or sitting and were carried off bodily, to cheers and tears.

The protests received world wide media attention, creating national support for the protests. The clearcutting of the old growth was stopped and a Land Use agreement was eventually reached. 34% of the Sound is protected; 21% is under special management; the formerly 80% designated for resource extraction was reduced to 40%. But that is 40% too much for most of us.

The fight continues to protect Clayoquot Sound's ancient forests. 

For more info: Friends of Clayoquot Sound. These are the folks who made it all happen.

for Brendan's prompt at Real Toads: to write about what moves us, what powers us, what is our juice.