Root Force is a biocentric, decentralized, international direct-action campaign devoted to "[dismantling] the system that is killing and enslaving [the] planet and its people." Its slogan is "Demolishing Colonialism At Its Foundations."
Contents
Campaign Philosophy and Strategy
Root Force describes itself as "a strategic campaign designed to exploit weak points in the global economy and hasten the system’s collapse. Root Force ... promotes anti-infrastructure analysis and action, based on the recognition that infrastructure expansion is a weak point of the system."
The Root Force campaign incorporates analysis characteristic of the Latin American solidarity, radical environmental and anti-globalization movements. According to campaign literature, ills such as environmental destruction, war, and genocide against indigenous peoples are caused by a global system and cannot be eliminated without eliminating that system. As examples of the names given to this system, Root Force cites "'neoliberalism,' 'capitalism,' 'the state' or 'civilization.'"
The campaign strategy is founded on the premise that the US economy depends upon imports from Latin America to continue functioning, and that these imports depend upon "transportation, energy, and communications infrastructure.". For this reason, Root Force opposes infrastructure expansion projects such as the Plan Puebla Panama and the Initiative for the Integration of South American Infrastructure.
Like other segments of the anti-globalization movement, it also directs criticism and encourages action against international financial institutions, including the Inter-American Development Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.
History
An eight-page spread about Root Force was published in the September–October 2006 issue of the Earth First! Journal. At this time, the campaign sought to interfere with the expansion of global trade infrastructure in Latin America by targeting the corporations involved in specific infrastructure projects: La Parota dam in Guerrero, Mexico and the Anillo Periférico highway in San Salvador, El Salvador.
In October 2006, a "Root Force Road Show" traveled the eastern US to publicize the campaign. This was followed by a western road show in 2007.
In January 2007, Root Force, along with Rising Tide North America, Arizona Earth First! and a Florida group called Justicia Global, called for boycotts and protests of CompUSA, Kmart and Sears due to links between those companies and plans for La Parota dam.
In February 2008, Root Force issued a statement titled "A Revised Strategy," saying that because the campaign had failed to generate direct action against La Parota dam or the Anillo Periférico to date, the group would be changing its focus to promoting anti-infrastructure analysis and action, providing resources for those fighting infrastructure, and facilitating connections between people and groups fighting infrastructure.