Bright Green Lies: Max Wilbert
"When I talk about a resistance, I am talking about an organized political resistance. I’m not just talking about something that comes and something that goes. I’m not talking about a feeling. I’m not talking about having in your heart the way things should be and going through a regular day having good, decent, wonderful ideas in your heart. I’m talking about when you put your body and your mind on the line and you commit yourself to years of struggle in order to change the society in which you live… A political resistance goes on day and night, under cover and over ground, where people can see it and where people can’t. It is passed from generation to generation. It is taught. It is encouraged. It is celebrated. It is smart. It is savvy. It is committed. And someday it will win. It will win."
— Andrea Dworkin
Max Wilbert is a third-generation political dissident, writer, and wilderness guide. He has been involved in grassroots organizing for nearly 20 years. His essays have been published in Earth Island Journal, Counterpunch, DGR News Service, and elsewhere, and have been translated into Spanish, Italian, German, and French. His first book, an essay collection called We Choose to Speak, was released in 2018.
Max came of age in a family of anti-war activists in post-WTO Seattle and has been involved in fighting the Canadian tar sands megaproject, resisting industrial-scale water extraction and deforestation in Nevada, advocating for the last remaining wild buffalo in Yellowstone, and in campaigns against police brutality and sexual violence.
Max serves on the Board of Directors of Deep Green Resistance and Fertile Ground Institute for Social and Ecological Justice. He co-founded the Pinyon-Juniper Alliance, a group dedicated to protecting forests in the Intermountain West. He is the editor-in-chief of the Deep Green Resistance News Service, and produces a podcast called The Green Flame. Max’s essays have been published in Earth Island Journal, Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, DGR News Service, and elsewhere, and have been translated into several languages. Max lives near Eugene, Oregon, where he is involved in a communal living project.