Environmental groups are working against the environment according to two speakers Tuesday night at the Holmes Student Center.

Speakers Dylan Alliata and Franklin Dmitryev, two columnists from News and Letters, a Marxist-Humanist newsletter, addressed the NIU Forum for Marxist-Humanist Thought and DeKalb residents.

They criticized the environmental movement for its conformity with the capitalist system and its refusal to acknowledge the environment as a political issue.

Alliata said, “It is vital that we reorganize the environmenatal movement and transform it into a freedom movement.”

Dmitryev said, “The primary problem with the environment today is that what our society does to the environment is based on keeping capitalism alive. The problem is the system of production. “

Both Alliata and Dmitryev criticized various environmental groups for their unwillingness to redefine their motives.

Alliata said he disagreed with the views of “deep ecology” groups that believe humans are a blight upon the earth, which mother nature is defending itself against with the AIDS virus.

Groups like Greenpeace were also criticized by Alliata. He said when these groups deny the political nature of the ecological issue they play into the hands of industrialists.

“There is a fundamental division between those who do and those who think, between muscle and mind, between labor and management in Greenpeace’s organization.” Alliata said.

“The whole thing is steeped in capitalism, which is best represented by their use of door to door salesmen to elicit contributions,” he said.

Alliata said he worked as a Greenpeace salesman for a year and received “the same lack of respect” most workers get from employers.

Dmitryev said, “It’s too easy for people to get distressed into thinking that a small group of people can make a change. Greenpeace advocates a change in personal lifestyle rather than group action.”

“People have to think of themselves as part of a movement, and more importantly, a movement based on a philosophy of freedom,” he said.

“Yes, it’s not about personal lifestyle. Individual consumption of hazardous materials such as plastic and styrofoam is too small,” Alliata said.

Industrial production methods are the main environmental hazard in the United States, he said. The military as a major consumer and polluter also contributes to the environmental damage, he added.

In reference to the EPA, Alliata said “The Clean Air Act has become the ‘How Dirty Can We Live With it Act.’ The EPA is well documented as being protectors of industry against the environmental movement.”

Dmitryev said, “Any environmental reform made by Washington is first and foremost a way of dampening mass movement by making people believe that someone else will do things for them.”

Alliata said, “Environmental action is going to be spontaneous and it’s going to blossom in the 90s. We want to see that it is seen as being a part of a larger movement.”

Also on hand were representatives from the Student Committee for Animal Welfare who co-sponsered the event.