On the left, the whole star-system mentality of some-activists-are-more-equal-than-others must be abandoned.
~~ Flatland Magazine editor Jim Martin.

By the time eco-activist Julia 'Butterfly' Hill's 738 day vigil to protect a 200-foot redwood had ended, she had become the charismatic face of the new global activism.

Hill's reliance on non-violent civil disobedience gained her widespread US media attention. High-profile magazines such as George, Good Housekeeping and People magazines featured her thoughts on environmental issues and optimistic spirituality. Celebrity environmentalists including Joan Baez, Woody Harrelson, Starhawk and Mickey Hart rallied to help save Californian redwood forests. Hill's powerful coming-of-age memoir The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2000) is likely to achieve bestseller status, raising public awareness of controversial forestry practices. PBS ran a much-praised independent documentary, and the Headwaters Action Video Collective is promoting their own Luna documentary. Hill has an intense speaking schedule with the nonprofit Circle of Life Foundation. But for many activists, the icon falls far short of her public relations legacy.

Hill has many supporters amongst the conspiracy community.

In several essays, Konformist editor Robert Sterling has asserted that Hill rejuvenated eco-politics just when it was needed: the movement was still recovering from the tragic loss of fellow Earth First! activist Judi Bari. Militia and Patriot groups were shown that nonviolenct strategies could work. Hill's personal courage offered guidance in the tumultuous post-Cold War period that has been defined for activists by Culture Jamming, anti-globalization protests, and a growing suspicion of trans-national corporations.

However, political pundit Alexander Cockburn, Flatland Magazine editor Jim Martin, and Hill's former media coordinator, Robert Parker, have all offered contrarian views, raising fears that she would be lured by lucrative book contracts and a beckoning Hollywood. Martin has revealed a murky world of Earth First! politics dating back to the late 1980s. Parker has claimed that the real story is yet to be told, and that Hill gained her limelight celebrity status at the expense of many worthy colleagues. Cockburn remains cynical about the "packaging" of rebellious activism in general: the imagery is eventually co-opted by the conservative mainstream.

The specter of Julia "Butterfly" Hill Inc may prove to be a mirage. However, the contentious debate surrounding her status ever since 18 December 1999, when she stepped down from Luna the Stafford Giant, can remind us of three key things.

Firstly, the new global activism requires new alliances of people who have diverse ideologies (and who can transcend bi-polarity, and include aspects of both individual/elitist and communal/collectivistic worldviews when appropriate).

Secondly, these alliances can easily be torn apart - to paraphrase Eric Berne - by the divisive games that activists play (butterfly catcher?), particularly when an individual sins and rises above the group-mind ("selling out"). Thirdly, every icon we deify will ultimately betray our cherished ideals, because they are human, and because even the most innocent impulses become commodified over a long life-span.

No one individual should have to shoulder an entire movement alone. Hopefully, Julia 'Butterfly' Hill's example will awaken your Gaia-consciousness and inspire you to save a Monarch butterfly or two.

The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd.