Judi Bari (November 7, 1949 – March 2, 1997) was an American environmentalist and labor leader, a feminist, and the principal organizer of Earth First! campaigns against logging in the ancient redwood forests of Northern California in the 1980s and '90. Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 986 - Louis V becomes King of the Franks. 1127 - Assassination of Charles the Good Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. The labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that emerged in the Southwestern United States in 1979 Logging is the process in which Trees are cut down for Forest management and Timber. Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living Species of the Genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. She also organized efforts through Industrial Workers of the World Local 1 to bring timber workers and environmentalists together in common cause. The Industrial Workers of the World ( IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati Ohio, USA
On May 24, 1990, Bari was severely injured by a pipe bomb which exploded in her car as she and fellow Earth First! member Darryl Cherney traveled through Oakland, California, on their way to Santa Cruz. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) Darryl Cherney is a musician and environmental activist He is member of the Earth First! radical environmental movement Oakland (ˈoʊklənd founded in 1852 is the eighth-largest city in the U Bari and Cherney were on an organizing tour for "Redwood Summer," a campaign primarily made up of nonviolent protests focused on saving redwood forests in Northern California and building connections with loggers through the IWW.
When the Oakland police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) immediately accused Bari and Cherney of knowingly carrying a bomb for use in an act of terrorism, the story made headlines nationwide. Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion Bari's supporters pointed out that the explosive was a pipe bomb packed with nails for shrapnel effect, and that it was equipped with a motion trigger to ensure that it would only explode when the car was driven by Bari. The bomb was also placed directly under the driver's seat, not in the back seat or trunk as it presumably would have been if Bari had been transporting it knowingly. The District Attorney declined to file any formal charges against Bari and Cherney, citing lack of evidence.
The bomb closely resembled another that had been used to attack a lumber mill targeted by protesters, however Bari denied connection with the the lumber mill bomb which never actually exploded and which she suspected was placed specifically to frame her, as it was found next to a cardboard sign (an odd choice of material if one believes the area is about to explode). The bomb and the crime scene in Oakland on May 24 also closely resembled "crime scenes" fabricated by the FBI in a "bomb school" held nearby earlier that year. The bomb school was intended to train agents on how to deal with bomb scenes. The school emphasized that crime scenes of this sort were not likely to involve victims of bombing but to be the result of the knowing, criminal transportation of homemade bombs.
Bari had received numerous death threats in the weeks before the bombing. She had reported them to local police, and after the bombing Bari's attorney turned written threats over to the FBI for investigation. The local police and the FBI never investigated. Just days after the bombing, while Bari was still in hospital, Mike Geniella of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat received a letter claiming responsibility for placing the bomb in Bari's car and at the Cloverdale L-P mill. It was written in a high-flown, biblical style and signed "The Lord's Avenger. " "The Lord's Avenger" stated further that his or her motivation was the work Bari had done in defending a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ukiah, California. The letter also described the construction of the bombs in great detail, leaving out only one detail: the motion-sensing device which was a key part of the car bomb. Some, including Bari and her friends, suspected at first that The Lord's Avenger was Bill Staley, a mill worker and religiously zealous man who had harassed the director of the Ukiah clinic, threatening to rape her and to blow up the clinic itself on several occasions. Bari later came to believe, however, that Staley was not responsible for the letter, which was intended to sew confusion and throw people off the track of the true bomber.
A year later, Bari and Cherney filed a federal civil rights suit claiming that the FBI and police officers falsely arrested the pair and attempted to frame them as terrorists so as to discredit their political organizing in defense of the redwood forests. It is still not known who placed the bomb in Bari's car.
In 2002, a jury in their federal civil lawsuit exonerated Bari and Cherney by ordering four FBI agents and three Oakland Police officers to pay a total of $4. Civil law, as opposed to Criminal law, refers to that branch of Law dealing with disputes between Individuals and/or Organizations, in which 4 million to Cherney and to Bari's estate for violation of their First Amendment rights to speak and organize and for false arrest and unlawful search and seizure. Fully 80% of the damages were for the First Amendment violations. Judi died in 1997 of breast cancer, five years before her exoneration. Breast cancer is a Cancer that starts in the cells of the Breast in women and men
On May 20, 2003, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted a resolution saying: "Whereas, Judi Bari was a dedicated activist, who worked for many social and environmental causes, the most prominent being the protection and stewardship of California's ancient redwood forests. Events 325 - The First Council of Nicaea &ndash the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. . . . Now therefore be it resolved that the City of Oakland shall designate May 24 as Judi Bari Day and celebrate and honor the work of Judi Bari in advancing the causes of forest protection, eco-feminism, labor organizing, bridge building between environmentalists and timber workers, and civil rights for political activists; and be it further resolved that the City shall encourage its schools, civic institutions and citizens to memorialize Judi Bari's work through art, media, festivals, school assignments and other creative means. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned "
In early 2005, a biography of Bari, titled The Secret Wars of Judi Bari, by Kate Coleman, drew fierce criticism from Cherney, Bari's estate, and their friends and supporters, who claimed hundreds of factual errors and a bias against Bari and Earth First! They also pointed out that the book was published by Encounter Books, which they claim is an extreme conservative publisher with an interest in discrediting anti-corporate activists.
Coleman presented the theory that Michael Sweeney, Bari's ex-husband, had planted the bomb in hopes of killing her and Cherney. Sweeney had once been a member of Venceremos, a radical leftist organization that was advocating violent overthrow of the US Government. [1]
Bari was the daughter of mathematician Ruth Aaronson Bari and sister of the New York Times science journalist Gina Kolata. Ruth Aaronson Bari ( November 17, 1917 - August 25, 2005) was an American mathematician known for her work in Graph theory and Gina Kolata (born in Baltimore Maryland, February 25, 1948) is a Science journalist for The New York Times.