An Interview with Anna Marie Stenberg - by Bart Williams, Industrial Worker, July 1990
Anna Marie: Please tell people to send cards and letters for Judi. They should be full of humor and fun—that’s the best kind of encouragement. Judi is as determined as ever to fight, and this thing has made her resolve stronger, but she needs the sup-port of others in the Movement. She needs to know people are behind her. So please send her things…
IW: Are there specific things Wobblies and others in the Movement can do in their own areas to support what you’re doing?
AMS: I’d like to see the whole Union endorse the Redwood Summer actions, to make it an EF!-IWW joint project. If the IWW can’t do that, the Union should at least try to hold actions inter-nation-ally when we do the “New Day Dawning / Worker Community Buyout” actions on July 21.
We Wobblies have a great sense of humor, and on the same day as that action there’s going to be a total eclipse of the sun at 9:30 PM (on the West Coast) We could call for complete darkness that day if the company doesn’t meet our demands. Try to involve other movement people—everybody in the alternative/progressive community—in your actions against Georgia-Pacific and Louisiana-Pacific. That will help us to force them to sell out their interests to community people, which is our goal.
The other thing that local branches can do is to sponsor some of their members to come out here as organizers. We need to build a much stronger Wobbly presence here, and we need as many people as possible. We need to reinforce the labor consciousness here with more movement people who see that as their main concern, but yet also see the ecology as inseparable from their class consciousness. We need people who are serious, committed to the ideals of the IWW, and disciplined enough to work to achieve justice for the mill workers and lumber workers here.
IW: How many Wobbly organizers do you need and what should they bring, where will they be housed, etc.?
Anna Marie: They’ll be staying in the base camp here. They should bring a sleeping bag and a few camping supplies, along with donations of bulk vegetarian food to contribute to the pot of pro-visions that has been set up by Seeds of Peace. But they shouldn’t stay away for lack of any of these things. They should also bring any musical instruments they have, along with stationary supplies or whatever else they need.
The way organizers coming in from other parts of North America—or maybe the world, I guess, huh?—should go about getting up here is to let us know in advance, but make arrangements to hook up with Earth First! in San Francisco. Fort Bragg and Ukiah are four and a half hours from Oakland, and the only way up here is by car or by Greyhound—and we don’t want anyone taking Greyhound during the strike—so people should really get in touch with EF! in San Francisco if they are coming.
As far as how many organizers we need, everyone is invited. Let’s not put a numerical limit on it right now, let’s just see what happens. There are a lot of opportunities for us here right now, and we could probably push it over the top if there were enough of us.
We really need people more than anything else, and we need to get Wobs jobs in the industries here, so we can build a presence in the workplace. We also need Wobblies who will be a presence and represent Local 1 at each of the Redwood Summer action. So we need everyone we can get right now, because there’s more to get done than we can do.
So tell everyone who can to come. Get as many Wobbly branches and groups as possible to sponsor one or more members to come here to work full-time.
We have the greatest opportunity this Union has seen in one hell of a long time. But I want to make it clear to everybody that if we don’t do it—if we don’t invest lots of time, lots of energy, and lots of whatever else it takes, it won’t happen. So if you’re serious, come. If you’re nonviolent, come. If you’re committed and disciplined, come on out, Fellow Workers. We really need the help. But if you’re not all those things, stay away.