[saymaListserv] Fwd: Save the Sierra Club from Hostile Takeover

[free polazzo]

Hi,

If any folks at Meeting belong to the Sierra Club, this will be of interest 
to you.

Free

>Anti-immigrant groups are trying to force the Sierra Club to oppose 
>immigration, sidetracking the Club from urgent environmental fights. Help 
>defend this important ally: if you're a Sierra Club member, Vote No on the 
>ballot question on immigration. Read below for instructions.
>Dear MoveOn member,
>
>Are you a Sierra Club member? The future of the Sierra Club is at stake.
>
>Last year, Sierra Club members voted in record numbers to defeat a hostile 
>takeover attempt by outside groups hoping to use the Club's democratic 
>processes to push their own anti-immigration agenda. Now, these groups 
>have forced an anti-immigrant measure onto the 2005 Sierra Club ballot 
>that would require the Club to advocate for new restrictions on 
>immigration into the U.S.­a policy that will do nothing to protect the 
>global environment but will cripple the Sierra Club at a time when all 
>progressives need them to be powerfully focused on righting the 
>environmental wrongs of the current administration.
>
>Why are we getting involved? Groundswell Sierra, a network of Sierra Club 
>members and former staff, asked us to tell the hundreds of thousands of 
>Club members in the MoveOn community, many of whom are in the dark because 
>by-laws keep Club staff from discussing this issue. It's such a serious 
>threat to the progressive movement we felt we needed to pass it on.
>
>If right-wing anti-immigrant groups succeed in their stealth drive to 
>change the Club's agenda, it would drive a wedge between environmental 
>groups and millions of Americans, including Latinos who have led the 
>environmental justice movement and are an important part of the 
>progressive community. It would be a serious setback for the larger 
>progressive coalition, and make the Sierra Club, the largest grassroots 
>environmental organization, much less effective in blocking President 
>Bush's anti-environmental agenda.
>
>These outside groups are also running stealth candidates for the board of 
>directors without declaring their true anti-immigrant agenda. But a 
>decisive defeat could end their efforts to take over the Sierra Club.
>
>If you are a Sierra Club member, you'll receive your ballot in the mail 
>any day now. Groundswell Sierra recommends:
>
>    * Vote "No" on the ballot question on immigration.
>    * Vote for only 5 of these 6 experienced Sierra Club candidates for 
> the Board:
>    * Jim CatlinChuck McGrady
>    * Barbara FrankJennifer Ferenstein
>    * Joni BoshJim Dougherty
>
>    * Please vote for only 5 of these candidates­voting for all 6 will 
> disqualify your ballot!
>    * You can vote online but must have your paper ballot in hand. For 
> info on voting and a sample ballot, go to:
>    * <http://www.moveon.org/r?r=677&t=1>http://www.moveon.org/r?r=677&t=1
>    * Let us know you're voting, so we can track our impact. Click here:
>    * 
> <http://www.moveon.org/sierra/?id=5297-3383045-wtXn6gFvpD1oWi0CEuWVMw&t=1>http://www.moveon.org/sierra/?id=5297-3383045-wtXn6gFvpD1oWi0CEuWVMw&t=1
>    * Please pass this on to your Sierra Club member friends.
>
>Who's behind the attempt get the Sierra Club to oppose immigration? Some 
>supporters are environmentalists who believe that ending immigration will 
>reduce environmental damage (though world-renowned scientists Anne and 
>Paul Ehrlich, who wrote the seminal book The Population Bomb, disagree and 
>oppose this takeover). But much of the impetus comes from long time, 
>extreme-right immigration opponents who've adopted a strategy of 
>"greenwashing" their arguments to gain mainstream support for denying 
>immigrants basic human rights like health care or education.
>
>Opponents of the anti-immigrant measure and board candidates include 
>Robert Kennedy, Jr., former Environmental Protection Agency head Carol 
>Browner, and every living current or former Sierra Club president.
>
>During last year's fight, the New York Times editorialized, "Adding such a 
>toxic issue as immigration to the Sierra Club's agenda would simply divert 
>the organization from its primary responsibility, which is to keep real 
>environmental problems in the public consciousness."1 Robert Redford 
>wrote, "Blaming immigrants will not solve any of our environmental 
>problems. Refocusing the Sierra Club on stopping President Bush will... 
>America needs the same Sierra Club that kept the Grand Canyon from being 
>dammed and flooded, that helped create the Grand Staircase-Escalante 
>National Monument, that is working tirelessly to stop the Bush 
>administration from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, back 
>at full strength and on the front lines in the fight against Bush and his 
>administration. It's a fight we won't win without the Club."2
>
>The Sierra Club board has worked to educate Club members about this issue: 
>you can read the organization's policy on the issue at 
><http://www.groundswellsierra.org/migration011405.pdf>http://www.groundswellsierra.org/migration011405.pdf, 
>and read an argument against the current ballot proposal at 
><http://www.groundswellsierra.org/immigration_nov2004.php>http://www.groundswellsierra.org/immigration_nov2004.php.
>
>If you are a Sierra Club member, please take the time to vote on this 
>important issue.
>
>Thank you,
>
>–Adam, Eli, Justin, and the MoveOn.org team
>   Thursday, March 31st, 2005
>
>Sources:
>1. "Rumble at the Sierra Club," New York Times, March 17, 2004
><http://www.groundswellsierra.org/nyt_rumble.php>http://www.groundswellsierra.org/nyt_rumble.php
>
>2. "Redford's Plea for the Sierra Club," San Francisco Chronicle, April 
>17, 2004
><http://www.groundswellsierra.org/sf_redford.php>http://www.groundswellsierra.org/sf_redford.php 
>
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