Activists Begin Sustained Hunger Strike, Demand That Valero Divest from Keystone XL Pipeline
HOUSTON, TX – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012 8:00AM –
Activists Begin Sustained Hunger Strike, Demand That Valero Divest from Keystone XL Pipeline
HOUSTON, TX – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012 8:00AM –-Longtime Gulf Coast activists Diane Wilson and Bob Lindsey Jr. have locked their necks to oil tanker trucks destined for Valero’s Houston Refinery in solidarity with Tar Sands Blockade’s protests of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. Valero Energy Corp. is among the largest investors in TransCanada’s toxic tar sands pipeline that will terminate near the community of Manchester, located in the shadow of Valero’s refinery. Not only are Wilson and Lindsey blockading the Valero refinery, the two lifelong friends have also vowed to begin a sustained hunger strike demanding that Valero divest from Keystone XL and invest that money into the health and well-being of the people of Manchester.
With a 90% Latino population, Manchester’s relationship with the Valero refinery is a textbook case of environmental racism. Residents there have suffered through decades of premature deaths, cancers, asthma and other diseases attributable to the refinery emissions. With little financial support for lawsuits and without the political agency necessary to legislatively reign-in criminal polluters like Valero, the community suffers while Valero posts record profits.
“All my life the Gulf Coast has been an environmental sacrifice zone, and enough is enough,” declared Diane Wilson, who spent over twenty years organizing to stop chemical plants from dumping toxins directly into Gulf waters. “Keystone XL will bring to dirtiest fuel on the planet right down to the Gulf, where already overburdened communities like Manchester will be forced to suffer even more. After decades of toxic air in Manchester, I refuse to just let them continue to punish this community. I won’t eat until Valero divests from Keystone XL.”
Wilson, a fourth-generation Gulf Coast shrimper, is no stranger to civil disobedience. After years of fighting industrial pollution in her hometown of Seadrift, TX, her willingness to use civil disobedience in the struggle for clean water and the successes it wrought for her community changed the landscape of environmental justice along the Gulf Coast.
Newly designated by the Waterkeeper Alliance as the San Antonio Bay Waterkeeper, Bob Lindsey Jr. was born and raised in Calhoun County, which has highest rate of cancer of any county in TX. Lindsey also has a shrimping heritage stretching back five generations. His sister has had four episodes of cancer, and his father and nephew both died of rare disorders while in their forties. All of these diseases are traceable to the chemical facilities around which Bob’s family members lived and worked.
“Me? I’m healthy. They’re the ones I’m fighting for. We have to be prepared to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves or who are too afraid to fight for themselves. That’s why I’m here.”
“Diane and Bob’s decision to hunger strike in protest of TransCanada’s Keystone XL and challenge Valero’s longstanding disregard for the health and safety of the people of Manchester pushes the boundaries of the Gulf Coast environmental movement yet again, explains Ramsey Sprague, a Louisiana Gulf Coast-born Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson. “Manchester deserves justice as do all communities treated as energy sacrifice zones. Corporations like Valero and TransCanada cannot seem to function without violating the health and safety of the people everywhere from Alberta to Manchester.”
“This is a project that reflects the occupation…of Mapuche territory,” said Iván Reyes, an indigenous leader staunchly opposed to the construction of an international airport in the southern Chilean region of Araucanía.
Reyes, an agricultural technician, said the construction project was approved thanks to an environmental impact study “based on lies” that was carried out by Arcadis Geotécnica, the Chilean subsidiary of a Netherlands-based international consulting and engineering company.
The study “says there will be no impact on communities in the area. But in a later analysis, we detected that the base line and measurements had been manipulated,” he said.
The new airport, whose construction was actually approved in 2005, is now one of the most high-profile projects of the right-wing government of Sebastián Piñera. It is being built in Quepe, 20 km from the city of Temuco and nearly 700 km south of Santiago.
The La Araucanía New International Airport, which will replace the Maquehue Airport, will have a 2,440-metre runway and a 5,000-square-metre passenger terminal.
Temuco, which is halfway between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes foothills, is in the middle of prairies, pasture and farmland, and forests.
Although a few Mapuche communities support the new airport, which they see as a step forward for the region in terms of economic and cultural development, many others are staunchly opposed, arguing that it will undermine biodiversity and the environment, and will destroy their ancestral territory.
The Mapuche, Chile’s largest indigenous group, number nearly one million in this country of over 16 million people, and the struggle for their ancestral land in the south of the country has frequently pitted them against large landholders, logging companies and other private interests.
At the age of 23, Tranamil is already a Mapuche leader, in charge of the religious life of his community, Rofue. He is tenaciously opposed to the construction of the airport, which he describes as “a gateway to invade Mapuche territory.”
Tranamil, or “machi Fidel” as he is known by the local community, is one of the most active indigenous leaders in the area. He has been arrested several times, and his home is frequently searched by the police. Since 2005, his mother has been living with seven pellets in her right knee, after a harsh police crackdown on a protest.
The house where Tranamil and his mother live is warm and quiet. They raise pigs and chickens, and have a small vegetable garden.
“But soon, airliners will be landing every minute. That will not only violate our spiritual life but also our culture and harmony,” he said.
He also said that to build the airport, “between 200 and 300 hectares of native (old-growth) forest will be cut down, and lost forever. It would take 400 years for the trees to grow back to their current height.”
Civilization is not a static force. It has metastasized across the world by accelerating its own development, by transforming the blood and corpses of its victims into new weapons with which to wage its relentless war against all life
Grasslands become grain monocultures feeding armies, conquering forests and mountains that become ships and swords that kill other cultures, conquering more forests and mountains, whose trees and minerals are turned into timber mills and trains, going forth to damn rivers, turning the relentless fluidity of their being to electricity to smelt iron and steel and aluminum, which in turn become guns and ocean tankers, which expand this superstructure ever further, tirelessly taking in what little wild remains, absorbing everything and everyone into this accelerating death march.
And yet, as the world is tied and bound tighter into this brutal arrangement, civilization (and especially industrialism) becomes more and more vulnerable, more open and fragile to disruption and destruction.
This brittleness is exemplified by the near-total dependence of the industrial economy on “advanced” technology, and the internet. This dependency upon a decentralized and accessible system that is poorly regulated and controlled—at least compared to other physical structures, like the offices of the same corporations— presents a potential point of powerful leverage against the operation of civilization.
Activists and resisters around the world are beginning to realize this, and seize the opportunity it presents to groups engaged in asymmetric forces against destruction.
Such as in Saudi Arabia; from a recent article in the New York Times;
“On Aug. 15, more than 55,000 Saudi Aramco [described as the world’s most valuable company] employees stayed home from work to prepare for one of Islam’s holiest nights of the year — Lailat al Qadr, or the Night of Power — celebrating the revelation of the Koran to Muhammad.
That morning, at 11:08, a person with privileged access to the Saudi state-owned oil company’s computers, unleashed a computer virus to initiate what is regarded as among the most destructive acts of computer sabotage on a company to date. The virus erased data on three-quarters of Aramco’s corporate PCs — documents, spreadsheets, e‑mails, files — replacing all of it with an image of a burning American flag.”
This attack presents a good example of targeting a systemic weak point within the infrastructure of Saudi Aramco and maximizing impact through effective use of systems disruption: destroying three-fourths of corporate data will have impacts that last for weeks, and inhibit the company’s operation for some time. In fact, the attacked leveraged the company’s response against itself:
“Immediately after the attack, Aramco was forced to shut down the company’s internal corporate network, disabling employees’ e‑mail and Internet access, to stop the virus from spreading.”
The cyber-sabotage also highlights the importance of careful planning and timing.
“The hackers picked the one day of the year they knew they could inflict the most damage…”
This smart and strategic approach to action planning is something that is too often overlooked, ignored, or dismissed entirely. Yet for resistance to be effective, it must follow the same principles. Rather than striking at weak points to cripple the operation or function of industrial activity, attacks are typically made against symbolic or superficial targets, leaving the operation of the brutal industrial machine unscathed. We cannot continue to stumble with strategic blindness, lashing out all but randomly, and no more than hoping to hit the mark.
Again, civilization is not a static force: every hour, more forests, prairies, mountains and species are destroyed and extirpated. Every hour, civilization is pulled further into biotic collapse. We are out of time. With everything at stake, we are not only justified in using any means necessary to bring down civilization; it is our moral mandate as living beings to do so. But for that resistance to truly be meaningful and effective, it must also be smart. It cannot be reactive and sporadic, but strategic and coordinated; designed not just to inflict damage or dent profit margins, but to disable the fundamental support-systems that sustain industrial civilization and bring it all to a screeching halt.
This is one reason why cyber-sabotage has such potential as a tactic to be used in dismantling industrial civilization. Most, if not all, of the critical systems that sustain it are by now reliant upon computer networks, which as the Saudi Aramco attack demonstrates, are very vulnerable to disruption.
Online attacks also lend themselves as a tactic to asymmetric forces, and allow a very small group of people to carry out decisive, coordinated strikes from a distance, rather than requiring people on the ground to coordinate across the country to achieve a similar effect.
Civilization’s relentless growth and accelerating technology-spiral has rendered murder and death across the planet on a scale that would be unimaginable if it weren’t the horrific reality we now find ourselves in. But this process of unceasing centralization and control has also become its weakness, and for all its imposing gigantism, the tower of civilization is incredibly unstable, and now begins to sway precariously. It’s time to push with all our might, and topple it once and for all.
Learning to leverage key systems against themselves is crucial to the success of a militant resistance movement, and ultimately is at the core of any effective strategy to disable the function of industrial civilization and ultimately to dismantle it. Cyber-sabotage presents a vital opportunity to use the dynamics of industrial operations—such as the complete dependency of the electric grid or oil refineries upon complex computer systems—to accomplish that most fundamental and necessary goal.
On the evening of November 20th, 2012, Wet’suwet’en Chief Toghestiy intercepted and issued an eagle feather to surveyors from the Can-Am Geomatics company who were working for Apache’s proposed Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP). In Wet’suwet’en law, an eagle feather is used as a first and only notice of trespass. The surveyors and all other people associated with PTP were ordered to leave the territory and told that they are not ever allowed to return to Unis’tot’en land. As a result of the unsanctioned PTP work in the Unist’ot’en yintah, the road leading into the territory has been closed to all industry activities until further notice.
Toghestiy stated, “I have invoked the Wet’suwet’en Inuk nu’ot’en (Law) called Bi Kyi Wa’at’en (Responsibility of a husband to respectfully use and protect his wife’s territory) to issue a trespass notice to Pipeline workers on her sovereign territory. My Clan’s territory called Lho Kwa (Clore River) is located behind the Unist’ot’en territory adjacent to the Coastal town of Kitimat and it is our responsibility to protect our territory as well. We will be stopping all proposed pipelines.”
The Wet’suwet’en are made up of five Clans, with territories that they are expected to manage for their future generations. The Unis’tot’en clan has been dead-set against all pipelines slated to cross through their territories, which include PTP, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway, and many others. The Unis’tot’en have established a permanent community along the Widzin Kwa (Morice River) directly in the path of the proposed energy corridor and made their opposition extremely clear.
Freda Huson, spokeswoman for the Unis’tot’en Clan, states: “PTP does not have permission to be on our territory. It’s unceded land. We said “NO!” in their meetings. We’ve written them letters; I’ve sent them emails, saying “absolutely NO!” to their projects. Consider it trespass when you enter our territory without permission. You’ve received your warning. Don’t come back!”
This marks the second time that eagle feathers have been issued to pipeline workers. On August 23rd, 2010, Toghestiy and Hagwilakw of the Likhts’amisyu clan gave Enbridge representatives trespass warnings during a Smithers Town Council meeting where Enbridge attended to attempt to smooth over their recent oil spill on the Kalamazoo River.
For more information:
Freda Huson, Spokesperson for the Unis’tot’en by email at fhuson@gmail.com or by cell phone at 778–210-1100.
Toghestiy, Hereditary Wing Chief of the Likhts’amisyu at toghestiy@gmail.com , interview requests can be made by sending an email along with your contact information to the aforementioned email.
Day of Action Sees Dozens Walk On to Work Site as the Nacogdoches Community Rallies with Affected Landowners at Lake Nacogdoches to Protect Fresh Water Supply from Toxic Tar Sands
NACOGDOCHES, TX – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19,
Day of Action Sees Dozens Walk On to Work Site as the Nacogdoches Community Rallies with Affected Landowners at Lake Nacogdoches to Protect Fresh Water Supply from Toxic Tar Sands
NACOGDOCHES, TX – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2012 8:00AM – Today, four people locked themselves to heavy machinery used along the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline route. They were joined by several others forming a human chain to block the movement of heavy machinery onsite, while more than 30 people walked onto the same construction site to halt work early this morning. Meanwhile, three others launched a new tree blockade at a crossing of the Angelina River, suspending themselves from 50 foot pine trees with life lines anchored to heavy machinery, effectively blocking the entirety of Keystone XL’s path. Today’s Day of Action is in solidarity with local landowners struggling to protect their water and land from TransCanada’s toxic tar sands pipeline.
Keystone XL would cross 16 large rivers in Texas, including the site of today’s latest tree blockade, the scenic Angelina River. Nestled amongst 50 foot pine trees in forested bottomlands, the tree blockaders have settled in for a long standoff in protection of their fresh drinking and agricultural water. The waters downstream feed into the popular Sam Rayburn Reservoir, the largest lake entirely within the state of Texas, renowned for its angling opportunities and competitions.
“Tar Sands Blockade stands with all communities affected by the Canadian tar sands. From indigenous nations in Alberta, Canada to the besieged refinery neighborhoods of the American Gulf Coast where the tar sands will be refined, there’s a groundswell of resistance demanding an end to toxic tar sands exploitation. Today’s events simply mark the latest in our sustained, community-based civil disobedience campaign, and many more communities are destined to rise up to defend their homes from TransCanada’s fraud, bullying, and reckless endangerment of their lives and fresh water,” insisted Ron Seifert, a Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson.
Included amongst the Angelina tree sitters is local Stephen F. Austin State University student, Lizzy Alvarado, 21, an Austin-born, third-year cinematography major. Leading outdoor excursions for other local youth and having helped found the Nacogdoches Rat Skulls, an all female cycling-advocacy organization, Alvarado is an active member of the Nacogdoches community.
“I climbed this tree in honor of all the landowners who have been bullied mercilessly into signing easement contracts and who were then silenced through fear by TransCanada’s threat of endless litigation. That’s not what this country stands for in my mind, and if we don’t take a stand here to secure our rights now, then it will keep happening to everyone,” proclaimed Alvarado. “What’s happening isn’t just threatening my community’s drinking water but it will threaten that of all communities along the pipeline’s path.“
While these multisite actions halted Keystone XL construction this morning, local community members rallied at Lake Nacogdoches to further highlight the threats Keystone XL poses to the community’s watershed and public health. These events around the Nacogdoches area coincide with a week’s worth of events in solidarity with Tar Sands Blockade. Scheduled to occur in over 40 communities around the world, these actions highlight the urgent need to address the climate crisis.
Some actions have targeted policy makers or financial institutions bankrolling dirty energy projects while others rallied to address the damage done by Hurricane Sandy through community organizing and connecting extreme weather to extreme extraction. Yesterday in Washington, DC, more than 3,000 gathered at the White House to call on President Obama to reject the permit for the northern segment of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. Other actions are scheduled to happen today and later this week.
Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of Texas and Oklahoma landowners and climate justice organizers using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop the construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
“From the Sandy-decimate streets of New York City to these piney woods here in East Texas, communities are resisting dangerous corporations like TransCanada. These solidarity actions are part of a burgeoning movement of ordinary folks coming together in their neighborhoods, schools, and community centers to draw the connections between extreme extraction like tar sands exploitation and extreme weather like the droughts devastating farmers and ranchers all over Texas and the Midwest. Today we rally to build a future where all people and the planet are healthy and thriving,” said Kim Huynh, a spokesperson for the Tar Sands Blockade.
UPDATE: 8:15 am – Police officers arrive on site at Angelina River tree blockade
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UPDATE: 8:40 am – Police threatening to cut support lines for tree blockaders
Cherokee County Sheriffs have been caught on tape making multiple threats to cut the support lines of the tree blockades, which could be potentially fatal for Lizzy and the other blockaders occupying the tree-sits.
UPDATE: 9:10 am – All construction stopped at site of lock down; workers have completely left site
Workers intending to continue construction of the Keystone XL pipeline have completely abandoned all plans to work today at the site of our lock down and have left the site. A crew of blockaders will maintain a presence there while reinforcements are being sent to the new tree blockade to support Lizzy and the other blockaders whose lives are being threatened by the police.
UPDATE: 9:30 am – TransCanada workers return to lock down site with police officers and video equipment
TransCanada workers were overheard telling the police that they want the blockaders out. Police are calling for reinforcements and getting out flexicuffs.
UPDATE: 9:40 am – One person detained at lock down site, placed in flexicuffs
The police have detained one person supporting the blockaders who locked themselves to heavy machinery this morning. Hear from the blockaders themselves why they decided to take action:
UPDATE: 10:15 am – Police pepper spray two people locked down; one person arrested on the ground at tree blockade
Police have sprayed pepper spray onto the skin of two people locked to heavy machinery on the Keystone XL pipeline easement as supporters and local media watched from the road. The blockaders who were pepper sprayed responded by singing loudly and are in good spirits. Meanwhile, at the tree blockade, one person was arrested on the ground for trespassing on the easement.
UPDATE: 10:40 am – Solidarity actions take off in Minneapolis and San Francisco
Solidarity actions took off this morning with a banner drop overlooking Minneapolis. In San Francisco, demonstrators rallied outside the Canadian Consulate in the financial district, demanding that Canada withdraw its support for the Keystone XL Pipeline, and gathering strength for the continued push to hold recently elected US politicians accountable to the will of the American people to combat climate change.
UPDATE: 10:55 am – Second supporter arrested at lock down site; police putting handcuffs on blockaders locked to machinery
A second person supporting those locked to heavy machinery has been arrested by the Cherokee County Sheriff Department, while officers have handcuffed the free hand of those locked down. The police are tampering with the lock boxes but seem unsure about how to remove the blockaders.
UPDATE: 11:10 am – Solidarity action in Palm Beach, FL results in arrests in front of Deutsche Bank
A solidarity action in Palm Beach, Florida targeting Deutsche Bank, a major financier of the Keystone XL pipeline, has resulted in the arrest of multiple protesters. The protesters demanded that Deutsche Bank “refuse to facilitate any future investments in Big Oil, starting with the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.”
UPDATE: 11:15 am – Two blockaders extracted from lock down; two more holding strong despite police brutality
The police have just extracted the two blockaders they had pepper sprayed earlier this morning. Both individuals had their eyes swollen shut because of the pepper spray. After they were removed from their lock down device, the blockaders went limp and were dragged away by police. This brings the total number of arrests so far today to five. Please make a generous donation to help get them out of jail quickly and to support their legal defense.
UPDATE: 11:25 am – Police pepper spray remaining two blockaders, dragging away arrested blockader who went limp
Police have pepper sprayed the remaining two blockaders locked to heavy machinery and continued to brutalize the two blockaders who were already arrested. They were seen dragging one blockader who seemed in extreme pain and unresponsive face down along the ground by his shoulder and shoving him into the back of a police car while refusing to clean pepper spray out of the eyes of the other arrested blockader or provide him with water.
UPDATE: 11:40 am – Remaining two blockaders extracted after being pepper sprayed
All four blockaders that were locked to heavy machinery have now been arrested after being pepper sprayed and brutalized by Cherokee County Sheriffs. This brings the total number of arrests so far today to seven, with two supporters at the ground blockade and one supporter at the tree blockade also being arrested. Donate now to help get them out of jail and to support their legal defense.
UPDATE: 11:55 am – Sheriffs shaking tree-sit lifeline; sitters refusing to come down
Sheriffs shook the support line for one of the tree-sits, even after being repeatedly informed that the ropes are critical support lines and must not be tampered with. Lizzy and the other tree-sitters are refusing to come down, even with their lives endangered by the police. In response, sheriffs cleared supporters out from underneath the tree-sits and the one in charge was seen having a long phone conversation next to a lifeline.
In a beautiful display of nonviolent resistance, the “Commonluck Theater of Dramatic Nourishment” delivered cookies and other treats to the Santa Clarita, California office of McKenna, Long, and Aldridge, the main lobbying firm for TransCanada, in an attempt to change their hearts, “Grinch style”. The stark contrast between the tactics of our movement and the tactics of those in power could not be more abundantly clear, with this action coming on the heels of several blockaders being brutalized and arrested by Cherokee County Sheriffs earlier today. Pleaseconsider a donation to the legal fund to support those who were met with violence just for standing up for the health of their communities.
UPDATE: 1:10 pm – Ground supporters blockade cherry picker to protect tree-sits; police retaliate with reckless pepper spray and arrests
Cherokee County Sheriffs brought in a cherry picker to try and extract the three tree blockaders. In response, a couple dozen ground supporters stood in front of the truck with the cherry picker and pushed up against it in an attempt to stop it. The truck driver refused to stop until they hit one of the supporters and almost dragged him underneath the vehicle. In an effort to disperse the crowd, police began indiscriminately spraying people in the face with pepper spray, including a 21 year old woman from Nacogdoches and a 75 year old woman with a heart condition. The officer who pepper sprayed supporters is refusing to identify himself. Two more of the ground supporters have been arrested, bringing the total for today to nine. Donate now to support these brave blockaders standing up for their communities in the face of brutal police repression.
UPDATE: 2:00 pm – From coast to coast, solidarity against the Keystone XL
In Burlington, Vermont, and Fairfax, California, activists displayed banners decrying Keystone XL’s role in the ongoing climate crisis. “As communities continue to rebuild in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, it should be obvious that the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure is unacceptable,” said Sara Mehalick of Rising Tide Vermont. “From Transcanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, to Vermont Gas’s scheme to pump gas under Lake Champlain, to ExxonMobil’s plans for a New England tar sands pipeline, our right to a livable planet is under attack.”
Equipment at the building site of a $43 million natural gas compressor station has been sabotaged and stolen, according to the developer, Millennium Pipeline Co.
Equipment at the building site of a $43 million natural gas compressor station has been sabotaged and stolen, according to the developer, Millennium Pipeline Co.
Millennium spokesman Steve Sullivan said the damage happened post-Hurricane Sandy, sometime between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31, when construction was halted. Several machines — including a bulldozer, an excavator and a large vibratory roller — were damaged, Sullivan said. High-powered hydraulic hoses were pulled out of the equipment, electronics at the site were stolen and other minor damage was done, he said.
The Millennium project has caused acrimony in the community for more than a year. A citizens group has fought the construction, saying it isn’t appropriate for the Jacobs Road neighborhood. Multiple complaints have been filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission since construction began.
FERC spokesman Craig Cano said the commission is looking at rehearing requests, but no decision has been made and there’s no timeline as to when a decision could come. The station will increase the amount of natural gas to the eastern end of the 168-mile pipeline running from the Southern Tier to the Town of Ramapo.
UPDATE: Thursday, Nov. 15th – Four arrested for shutting down an American Petroleum Institute luncheon in New Orleans
UPDATE: Thursday, Nov. 15th – Four arrested for shutting down an American Petroleum Institute luncheon in New Orleans
Four protestors where arrested after a group of over a dozen shut down an American Petroleum Institiute luncheon in the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana. Today’s action in solidarity with Tar Sands Blockade was in response to Hurricane Sandy and the newly approved Parkway Oil Pipeline that would endanger the cities beloved Lake Pontchartrain.
New Orleans residents understand what the impacts of climate change mean for the health and safety of their community. The climate super powered storm of Hurricane Sandy serves as an all too familiar reminder of the devastation these more frequent storms will bring to the most vulnerable families around the globe. Today over a dozen organizers marched in the streets and shut down the American Petroleum Institute luncheon to protest the source of this threat, Big Oil’s stranglehold on our economy and our livable future. They chanted: “No pipeline! No tar sands! No destruction of Louisiana land!”
UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov. 14th – Rising Tide Vermont shuts down a talk by a Shell Oil Executive
Nine members of Rising Tide Vermont interrupted a Shell oil executive last night while he was speaking on a panel about ‘Big Oil in the Niger Delta.’
Activists shared testimony from Niger Delta community members suffering the impacts of Shell Oil operations on their homeland. Shell Oil has a long-standing relationship with Nigeria’s various military dictatorships and has been implicated in the genocidal devastation of ecosystems and communities in the Niger Delta. They also read statements from members of communities in Nigeria, Alberta facing toxic tar sands extraction.
After the speaker was interrupted several times in a row, police were called and the event was cancelled/postponed. Many people who planned on attending left, and the voice of Shell Oil was successfully challenged and silenced. No one was arrested.
“This day kicks off a week of actions in solidarity with frontline struggles in the movement for climate justice,” said Avery Pittman. “From the oilfields of the Niger Delta, to the tar sands in Alberta, to the ongoing blockade of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in east Texas, communities are resisting extreme energy and asserting their right to a healthy environment.” Read more here.
UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov. 14th – Climate Solidarity Action in the Philippines as part of Global Week for Climate Justice
Hundreds march through the streets of Manilla, Philippines toward the US Embassy to call for urgent action on climate change. Rising sea levels caused by climate change are a matter of survival for the thousands who live along the coastline of this island nation. Marchers connected the dots on climate change and other climate super powered storms like Hurricane Sandy with their signs. The march featured beautiful, theatrical street theater and giant puppets was organized by the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice as part of the Global Week for Climate Justice, which listed Tar Sands Blockade’s Mass Action on Monday the 19th as part of their global week of action.
UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov. 14th - Montana rallies to stop dirty coal exports and celebrate civil disobedience
Over 30 people gathered in Helena, Montana’s Constitution Park to support the venerable US tradition of civil disobedience. Immediately before an omnibus court hearing for the 23 people arrested during last August’s peaceful protests against coal exports at the Montana Capitol, the group gathered with signs reading “Support the Coal Export Action 23,” and “No More Coal Exports.”
Several people addressed the crowd, including some of the 23 who had been arrested in August. “I came to Helena, to my own statehouse and got arrested because it looks to me like there is no more time for writing reasoned letters to the editor or having meetings with the politicians,” said Linda Kenoyer, describing why she participated in last summer’s civil disobedience. ”The time has come to put my body on the line, to risk my safety and clean record if that’s what it takes to get someone’s attention.”
Almost 40 climate solidarity events have sprung up across the globe as part of the week of action November 14–20! These actions are in direct response to the aftershock of Hurricane Sandy, closing out the hottest year on record and the ongoing ecological devastation of tar sands extraction.
Climate change continues to put a disproportionate burden on low income communities and communities of color around the world, and this weeks events highlight this struggle as locals rise up to defend their homes from climate chaos. These events serve as a reminder that we are part of a growing movement to demand climate action. Get ideas for your own local action here.
“Communities around the world are working together to expose the threat that the fossil fuel economy poses to families everywhere,” said Arielle Klagsbrun of Missourians Organizing for Empowerment and Reform. “As extractive industries grow increasingly desperate for profits, corporations like Peabody Coal and TransCanada are resorting to the most dangerous of energy reserves, like hydro-fracking, tar sands exploitation and mountain top removal coal mining.”
This week’s actions are happening in almost 40 locations including the following:
Saturday, November 17 – Occupy Sandy and Stop Spectra Pipeline Coalition takes action to respond to the devastation of the climate super powered storm, Hurricane Sandy and put an end to hydro-fracking.
Sunday, November 18 – Over 3,500 people rally at the White House to call on President Obama to reject the permit for the Keystone XL northern segment. Event organized by 350.org, Sierra Club, and other allies.
Monday, November 19 – Dozens of community members rally in Nacogdoches, Texas to oppose the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from endangering their homes. Tar Sands Blockade will be taking nonviolent direct action to halt its construction.
Tuesday, November 20 – In London, UK Tar Sands Network, Rising Tide UK and others will protest a meeting of Canadian tar sands executives, banking industry representatives and government leaders meeting to discuss further expansion of Alberta tar sands extraction.
More events are on the map in these locations: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Norman, OK; Charlotte, NC; Denton, TX; Eugene, OR; Middlesex, NY; Corvallis, OR; Seattle, WA; Fairfax, CA; Bridgeport, CT; Bloomington, IN; Burlington, VT; Helena, MT; Nashville, TN; Cincinnati, OH; Port Townsend, WA; Jefferson, NH; Santa Clarita, CA; Albany, CA; Burlington, VT; New Orleans, LA; Salt Lake City, Utah; Austin, TX; Eureka, CA; Portland, OR; Denver, CO; Minneapolis, MN; New York, NY; London, UK; Minisk, NY; Astoria, OR; Wilton, NH; Swarthmore, PA; Philadelphia, PA…and counting!
“It’s encouraging to see these solidarity actions spring up across the globe in response to the escalating devastation of climate change,” said Nicole Browne of Tar Sands Blockade, who helped put out the call for the solidarity actions. “From the Alberta tar sands to the forests of East Texas and all around the world, these actions give hope to people everywhere who are defending their homes from reckless energy extraction that is fueling climate chaos.”
Today is the third day of the eviction at the Hambach Forest, which is occupied against the biggest climate killer in Europe, the Rhenish brown coal-mining district (Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier).
Today is the third day of the eviction at the Hambach Forest, which is occupied against the biggest climate killer in Europe, the Rhenish brown coal-mining district (Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier).
After three days of eviction one activist is left, who’s inside a tunnel system under the ground. As this is the first tunnel blockade action Police don’t have a clue how to handle this. They ordered different technical teams, who also didn’t have an idea.
Now police want to dig down from the top, which is highly dangerous. They have been told that there is an eviction team within UK police who know how to evict a tunnel-system.
Resistance will not be over after this eviction. The forest is not lost yet to be rescued. Everybody is welcome to help. Next summer there will be another climate camp in the area, and a Europe wide Reclaim the fields camp in this region…
At the second day of eviction the cops evicted everybody from the trees. On the evening of the first day they evicted everybody in concrete-lock-ons. Now there’s one activist in a blockade-tunnel. And police don’t have any idea how to evict that. So it still could still take a few days. Police that went down just said: “there’s a huge tunnel-system, we don’t know wich direction we have to go”
The occupation of the forest is against a coal open-cast-mine, that is together with two more sites, the biggest producer of CO2 in Europe. The dust from the pit is radioactive.
Police said, that there were hundred crimes counted from the occupation, but don’t have proof of any of them. There have been a lot of solidarity actions in lot of citys against the eviction of the forest. The forest is one of the oldest in Middle-Europe. There’s a type of bat, that will not exict anymore anywhere after the forest is cleared. They will completlyey clear the forest in the next 5 to 10 years.
Next summer there will be the europe wide “reclaim the field” camp in the region and the german-wide climate-camp. But also before this there will be more activities. So come over and help fight RWE, the enery-giant, if you can. N‑Power is part of RWE. Would be also cool to visit them.
Work on Brazil’s $13 billion Belo Monte mega-dam was stopped on Monday after protesters torched buildings at three dam construction sites over the weekend.
Work on Brazil’s $13 billion Belo Monte mega-dam was stopped on Monday after protesters torched buildings at three dam construction sites over the weekend.
Saturday, “a group of 30 people set fire to prefab structures at the Pimental site. They went into the cafeteria, destroyed everything and robbed the till” before setting it ablaze, said Fernando Santana, spokesman for builders Consorcio Constructor Belo Monte (CCBM).
And late Sunday, groups of 20 people set structures ablaze at Canais and Diques, two other dam construction sites, said Santana.
“On Monday, as a precautionary security measure, all activities were suspended at the construction site,” said Santana, suggesting that “vandals” might be trying to derail salary renegotiation under way.
CCBM have proposed a seven percent wage increase to the workers in an area where the inflation rate is at 30 percent
Protesters have disrupteed construction of the dam several times already over the past few months including an occupation of the main construction site at Pimental and in September a group of fishermen blockaded the Xingu River preventing a ferry from transporting machines and workers to a coffer dam being built for the Belo Monte Dam Complex. They then set up a protest camp on one of the main islands of the Xingu River near the construction site.
Indigenous groups fear the dam across the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon, will harm their way of life. Environmentalists have warned of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and irreparable damage to the ecosystem.
The dam is expected to flood some 500 square kilometers (200 square miles) along the Xingu and displace 16,000 people, according to the government, although some NGOs put the number at 40,000 displaced.
The indigenous people want their lands demarcated and non-indigenous people removed from them, as well as a better healthcare system and access to drinking water.
Expected to produce 11,000 megawatts of electricity, the dam would be the third biggest in the world, after China’s Three Gorges facility and Brazil’s Itaipu Dam in the south.
It is one of several hydroelectric projects billed by Brazil as providing clean energy for a fast-growing economy.
