Judi Bari
Activist Celebrity

Famed Earth First! activist, deceasedJudi Bari was a charismatic, long-time Earth First! strategist and activist who proclaimed: “I don’t know if humans [will survive]. I don’t know if we deserve to.” She became a national figure in 1990 when a pipe bomb exploded in the car she was in with fellow Earth First!er Darryl Cherney. They were driving to meet notorious eco-terrorist Rodney Cornonado. Bari was injured but lived through the explosion, and died of cancer in 1997. Her lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland police for false arrest and related charges in the wake of the bomb has become a rallying point for radical activists.

Bari attempted to forge relationships between Earth First! and “social justice” organizations. In the February 1994 issue of the Earth First! Journal, she wrote: “It’s time to leave the night work to the elves in the woods.” In other words, Earth First! should engage in civil disobedience, and let less public groups conduct sabotage missions.