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Three participants in the Civil Disobedience Action, wait to be processed in front of the White House on August 20th, 2011. (photo: Tar Sands Action)
A major two-week action involving daily sit-ins at the White House against the granting of a permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline began Saturday. Just over seventy people were arrested. The action continues today, as over thirty plan to engage in civil disobedience at the White House again.
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, Gus Speth, Lt. Dan Choi, Jane Hamsher and many other fine activists came together at 10:30 am on Saturday morning. They all participated in a rally in Lafayette Park. Following the rally, a carefully orchestrated civil disobedience action took place with more than seventy people lining up in front of the White House.
Two banners were held. One said “Climate Change is Not in Our Interest” and the other said “We Sit-In Against the XL Pipeline.” One long row of people stood along the fence. Two short rows sat on the ground in front of the long row.
It didn’t take long for the police to give the obligatory three warnings to protesters and signal that those still along the fence were under arrest. One by one they were put into police vehicles and taken to the Anacostia Station in DC to be processed. The activists were charged with “failure to obey a lawful order.”
In jail, the activists expected to be processed and out of jail quickly. Tar Sands Action asserts in “multiple phone calls and in person meeting” US Park Police told protest organizers protest participants would be able to pay a $100 fine and be released the same day. But, the US Park Police went back on what they said and made a calculated decision to hold the activists for 48 hours. The Park Police told Tar Sands Action organizers jail time was given to deter future participants from engaging in civil disobedience.
Tar Sands Action reacted in a press statement, “While the escalated response from the police came as a surprise for organizers behind the protest, they assured the police that the night in jail was not a deterrent for future participants. At a church in Columbia Heights this evening, over 50 more participants from across the country prepared to take part in Sunday morning’s sit-in.”
Not to take away from the activists who have a much more robust history of environmental activism, but it’s worth noting that Dan Choi is once again facing arbitrary punishment for protesting in front of the White House. Choi currently faces federal charges for participating in previous protest actions at the White House. Choi has only been arrested three times but is facing “federal charges.” Numerous people have protest many, many times and have not faced any “federal charges” at all.
An FDL action post put together by Jane Hamsher provides a nice portrait of what typically happens to those who engage in civil disobedience at the White House:
- July 27 2011: Luis Guitierrez and ten others arrested for protesting mass undocumented immigrant deportations. “Gutierrez [paid] his $100 fine and was released by the police.”
- July 11: 4 people were arrested after 100 people delivered 51 cardboard coffins to the White House to protest the Columbia Free Trade Agreement.
- June 25: 12 DC residents arrested for demonstrating on behalf of DC voting rights, bringing the total to 73 since April.
- April 19: 41 protesters including DC Mayor Vincent Gray arrested for demonstrating for DC voting rights. All were charged with unlawful assembly and given a $50 fine.
- March 19 – Daniel Ellsberg is one of 113 people arrested in front of the White House for protesting the abuse of Bradley Manning by Quantico brig commander.
- January 18 2011: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney was arrested for protesting human rights abuses of the Chinese government
- December 17 2010 – 135 arrested for protesting the war.
- June 1 2010: Actress Q’orianka Kilcher, who starred as Pocahontas in the 2005 film “The New World,” was arrested for chaining herself to the White House fence to protest the President’s meeting between Alan Garzia Perez. Hazmat teams were called in after her mother poured a black substance over her to simulate oil, which turned out to be paint. She was charged with disorderly conduct and her mother was charged with destruction of government property. They were arraigned in D.C. Superior Court, released and “ordered to stay away from the White House.”
- September 2010: James Hansen and 100 others arrested for protesting mountaintop removal.
- May 2010 – Luis Guiterrez arrested for protesting to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
- March 20 2010: Cindy Sheehan arrested in front of White House.
- October 5 2009: Cindy Sheehan and 60 others arrested for protesting against the war in Afghanistan.
- November 9 2006: Cindy Sheehan arrested after leading 50 protesters to the White House gates to deliver anti-war petitions.
- October 26 2005: Cindy Sheehan and 28 others arrested in a sit-in at the White House.
- September 26 2005: 370 people including Cindy Sheehan were arrested for protesting against the war in Iraq. They were “charged with demonstrating without a permit, a misdemeanor that carries a $50 fine and — like a traffic ticket — can be paid by mail or challenged later in court” said Park Police spokesman Sgt. Scott Fear.
This list of recent protests at the White House and the way law enforcement and courts have handled them shows the US Park Police are interested in preventing the Tar Sands Action from building momentum. They are willing to teach participants a lesson in a society where people who are responsible for oil spills rarely, if ever, face punishment for their negligent acts.
Ironically, US Park Police are arbitrarily enforcing provisions of the law because the planned daily sit-ins that are to take place from now until September 2 will conflict with the dedication of a new memorial for Martin Luther King Jr, who was a great believer in the power of civil disobedience to bring about social change and justice. After being arrested for taking nonviolent direct action against segregation by Birmingham’s city government and downtown retailers, King wound up in jail and wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
Two lines seem applicable to the bold action being taken by concerned citizens over the next weeks: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The possible construction of the Keystone XL pipeline is a prime example of something that would be a huge injustice that would threaten justice everywhere. The TransCanada pipeline will wind its way from Alberta to Texas through Nebraska and ruin the livelihoods of farmers while at the same time polluting the Sandhills and the Ogallala aquifer in Nebraska. It would put the Missouri, Yellowstone, Cheyenne and Niobrara Rivers at risk of spills.
TransCanada CEO Hal Kvisle and others can claim the project will “meet or exceed world-class safety and environmental standards.” They can say it will be the “safest pipeline in the US.” But, there is no reason to believe any corporate executive from TransCanada that makes this claim. The company has been responsible for at least twelve oil spills. One spill in North Dakota from their “state-of-the-art” Keystone pipeline resulted in a “six-story geyser” that gushed at least 21,000 gallons of oil into the environment.
Energy companies and their think tanks are selling the government and citizens of the United States a bill of goods. American Petroleum Institute’s Energy Citizens claim the pipeline will bring the US energy security. They claim it will bring the country national security because the US will be relying on Canada instead of other nations. They claim it will bring economic growth bringing up to $600 million to the US economy each year. They claim Canada is environmentally conscious so their energy companies would never develop a pipeline that would destroy the environment. And, most importantly, they assert over 300,000 US jobs could be created between 2011 and 2015 if the Keystone XL pipeline was given the go ahead today.
The participants in the Tar Sands Action understand on some level that working within the system has failed. As climate activist hero Tim DeChristopher, who is now in jail for making fake bids to block the selling of Utah land for oil and gas drilling, explained in an interview at Netroots Nation 2011 those who “those who write the rules are those who profit from the status quo.” He concluded if people want to move away from a “fossil fuel economy that always leads to a concentration of wealth,” we have to overthrow the current power structure.
What we are talking about is overthrowing our current power structure and that will take some sacrifice on our part. It will take us escalating the tension and the situation so the country has to come down on one side or another. And, really that’s how it’s been with most social movements that have been advocating for significant change. They’ve had to make major sacrifices. They’ve had to escalate the tension and the situation to the point that it couldn’t be avoided. We’re no different from those and we should be willing to make the sacrifices that so many activists in the past have done.
Who knows if the US Park Police are getting cues from anyone within the White House to do whatever they can to stop the daily sit-ins. Those inspired by Tim DeChristopher and the activists—who are taking action and following in his footsteps and the footsteps of many fine US citizens in our nation’s history—should not let the threat of trumped up charges scare them. Bill McKibben told fellow organizers after his arrest, “The only thing we need in here is more company. We don’t need your sympathy, we need your company.”
Understand, the more people who participate in the action, the harder it will be for the action to be successfully suppressed. The more people who seek to expose the corruption of power—which is seriously considering this project that would cut through the heart of the United States—the more likely citizens are to force the Obama Administration into a position where approving the Keystone XL pipeline is unconscionable.
92 Comments
If you want to do something about climate change, work to bring about an end to the capitalist system as a whole. Allow us to avoid contributing to said capitalist system.
…Which, in order to even come close to beginning to accomplish, requires escalating the tension like this action aims to do.
I hate the term, “civil disobedience”.
Just like the NeoCons like to use the free speech moniker for money and blackmail, I would prefer to use free speech and redress of government.
We have to change the terminology. Every negative enotation towards what decent people do has to be stopped. Corporatists have no negative words for the billions they spend lobbying congress to do what they want.
I will never again rip Bill Clinton for his lousy record on civil liberties. The current occupant of the White House is an order of magnitude worse.
“Corporatists have no negative words for the billions they spend lobbying congress to do what they want.”
They won’t use it, but we should. The word is BRIBE.
I think you can still rip Clinton. These presidents are put in place to keep a system running. Focusing on personality prevents us from really discussing how society and government operates.
Yes, we should use that word and many more. Derogatory words to describe what our congress and President are doing have long past needs.
Thank you so much for that comment. I have also been thinking about how million dollar lobbyists in three thousand dollar suits get to express their discontent under very different circumstances, and with very different reaction, than the regular people. They are systematically excluding every avenue of political expression except increasing militancy.
Kevin,
You are correct. Poppy Bush has and continues to have a hand in everything Washington. He and all his pals make numerous visits to the White House, both during Clinton’s term and now Obama’s. Heck, old Henry Kissinger is still there trying his best to stay in the foreign policy. That is one person along with Cheney that needs to be deported for war crimes.
If citizens engage in a lawful nonviolent protest against government policies, protected free speech, there can be no lawful order from a government agent to disperse.
In Nazi America this is to be expected. Does the president still get his daily kills while on vacation ?
Yes, they buy and steal elections. Allow the Supreme court to anoint when the people rise up against a bogus election. They squeeze you out of any real attempts to gain the true American Dream, while finding all ways possible to tax you and remove you from your hard earned dollars. The only thing left that I can see that keeps Washington intact for the citizens is their Social Security and Medicare.
Guess what? A Dem president is working furiously to take that from you too. What is left for us as a part of OUR government after that is gone?
Amen,the PTB want no back talk,on with the destruction OF PLANET EARTH and all civil society
http://wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/blac-a20.shtml
This is sort of OT, and I usually don’t forward chain-type letters, but this is one that, while I don’t remotely believe would result in a constitutional amendment, does focus one’s thoughts on the multitude of benefits Congress enjoys while simultaneously denying the same to We the People.
I might just send this one around:
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.
I’m asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
bingo…where are they gonna go to breathe cleaner air,Mars?
I can’t seem to delete this, let me see if I can fix it. I’m sorry
Here is the rest of it. Torques me off every time I think of the benefits they give themselves…….
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!
If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete.
WTF? That’s in the UCMJ but I didn’t know any civilian authorities could use it. Besides, it wasn’t a “lawful order” in my opinion because the White House is the peoples’ house. I know my opinion is worthless in this case but I think such an order violates the letter of the Constitution and certainly the spirit of it. Kudos to Jane and Scarecrow and Choi and all of the others but when the Kochs want something in this country, get it they will..
From your link:
Who has rights and free speech? Whose America is it? Why are Park Police allowed to jail peaceful protesters?
hell yes,good catch
If you want to take it down, appeal to the mods.
I didn’t think of that, so thanks for the heads-up. Now that the rest is there I’ll leave it. Looks pretty juvenile, but I am so pissed at Congress. That comment above about lamp posts…..not advocating violence, but it is hellish to feel so powerless.
from my post
On August 13, billionaire private equity investor Leon Black organized a 60th birthday party for himself at his estate in Southampton, on Long Island, that cost “millions of dollars,” according to an account at CNNMoney. Reportedly, pop singer Elton John, who gave an hour-and-a-half concert for the 200 guests, was alone paid $1 million for his services.
The attendees, reports the New York Times, included financier and “junk bond pioneer” Michael Milken (initially sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1990, he served 22 months)—he was Black’s boss at investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert (which went bankrupt in 1990 in the junk bond scandal); Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs; “billionaire buyout titan” Stephen A. Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group; hedge fund manager and billionaire Julian Robertson; New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, also a billionaire;
Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat from New York
, and devoted friend of Wall Street; miscellaneous “celebrities,” including fashion designer Vera Wang, Martha Stewart and Howard Stern.
Mr. Black’s home, writes the Times, is “one of the Hamptons most desirable addresses for its panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and Shinnecock Bay. He counts among his neighbors Calvin Klein and David H. Koch, the [extreme right-wing] billionaire industrialist.”
No matter what you think, this is part of the District of Columbia’s legal code. From the DC National Lawyers Guild (you know, the guys with bright green hats you see at protests):
The NLG post I link to is a good primer on what to expect if you participate in protests in DC that involve risking arrest.
Is that where the Obamas are staying?
I’m not surprised about Schumer. Makes my blood boil !
Margaret,
They have militarized everything. We are now living under the great “Secret Laws” of the Patriot Act. Citizens are now the new enemy.
Isn’t keeping protesters in jail over the weekend mainly to prevent violence and chaos? Er… the protesters are a bunch of middle aged, loafer-wearing peaceniks. Is it really necessary to keep them in jail through the weekend to prevent them from sitting on the sidewalk and chanting on occassion? I mean, those protesters are about as dangerous a group of preschoolers at naptime.
Dan and Jane had on suits! They were corporately dressed in work uniform. (snicker)
The US Park Police are not BART. No, they are just worried they will have to work too hard come August 28 cause they may have to deal with some tree huggin’ hippies along with security for a MLK memorial dedication.
here it comes
Source: AP
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
WASHINGTON (AP) – Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security’s disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.
Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can’t find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs.
The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants – many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved – and worsening the financial problems of a program that’s been running in the red for years.
New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits, unless Congress acts. About two decades later, Social Security’s much larger retirement fund is projected to run dry as well.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110821/D9P8D0B00.htm…
NEVER AUSTERITY FOR PANETTA and the PENTAGON
NO TARSANDNICOTIN-Obama!
“This list of recent protests at the White House and the way law enforcement and courts have handled them shows the US Park Police are interested in preventing the Tar Sands Action from building momentum. ”
But this is precisely what is happening.
The longer Jane and Scarecrow are absent from this exceedingly popular site, the further will spread the call to act, not only for those who were already signed up for a length of days, but for their various contacts and for the people who come here for information. Their message, which no doubt they are continuing to spread within, is eagerly awaited and upon their release will be further charged than it would have been by their incarceration. That is what happened to Martin Luther King since his arrest and being placed in Birmingham Jail was, instead of a suppression, a catalyst for his expressions of the need for change.
The entire country has a pent up desire for precisely this, and environmental concerns will radiate outward because they are at the heart of all the problems we face.
I love to see how the other Firedoglake team members step into the breach and carry forward the message. It tells us that there is a community involved here and that its members are dedicated. Thank you.
it is similar enclave of the super rich,but it is New Yorks Long Island
It’s true. Efforts to suppress often backfire especially if they call attention to what is being protested. Good comment.
I have some things to add to that about lawyers getting paid from SS/Disability funds. I don’t think Kevin would appreciate it if I went there on this thread. Just know that when they first deny a claim, and they will, people have to hire lawyers. The lawyers get paid for each day until it is approved, just like the person applying.
Where’s the live feed for today’s protests? Has anyone showed up today?
Well that seemed unnecessarily aggressive to my simply pointing out that it’s in the UCMJ, (“failure to obey a lawful order” is a charge referred when an enlisted person fails to carry out a lawful order from an officer), and that I was unaware that any civilian forces used it. Please forgive my temerity for having the audacity to post a comment without first having familiarized myself with every municipal and parks code in the nation. I’ll try not to let it happen in the future.
Hey, my comment agrees with you but also lends to the fact that regular police have been militarized.
Not being aggressive. I think you are right to point out how it sucks to have laws that suppress and control protest at the White House. I don’t disagree with what you are trying to say. At the same time, I mention the code so people can understand what is going on.
Keystone XL, from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, would cross the Sandhills in Nebraska, the large wetland ecosystem, and the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest reserves of fresh water in the world. The Ogallala Aquifer spans eight states, provides drinking water for two million people, and supports $20 billion in agriculture. Critics worry that a major leak could ruin drinking water and devastate the mid-western U.S. economy.
The pipeline would be solely owned by TransCanada Corporation.
from the Wyoming Star-Tribune:
by Jeremy Fugleberg
The rupture of a Campbell County (WY) section of a TransCanada Corp.’s natural gas pipeline on Wednesday was a hit for the company, which just opened the line in January and heralded the safety standards of its construction and operation.
The 30-inch-diameter Bison Pipeline, which runs from Wyoming to another pipeline in North Dakota, is brand new and as recently as May was touted by the company as an example of new, more stringent safety standards.
Unlike most natural gas pipelines, which operate at 72 percent of the pipe’s rate pressure, Bison was designed to a standard that would allow for 80 percent pressure level, according to an interview of company officials in Pipeline & Gas Journal. . .the line was only running about a third of that level when the line ruptured, a company spokesman told me. The investigation continues.
These concerns [over Keystone XL] have only intensified as the company’s existing Keystone pipeline operation has leaked several times in the past few months, spilling oil in North Dakota and Kansas.
On July 1, an ExxonMobil pipeline in Montana ruptured and dumped oil into the Yellowstone River, drawing attention to pipelines that cross rivers and streams. Keystone XL’s route also crosses the Yellowstone.
Keep an eye on TransCanada’s struggles elsewhere. Problems with its Wyoming operations could spark more criticism of the Canadian firm as it works to build new pipelines in this country.
Yep – “failure to obey a lawful order” is probably the most used reason for police firing tasers at people.
So that reg is in tons of jurisdictions.
If it’s the “people’s house” then surely they should be allowed to protest inside the oval office as well, right! Are you saying that the WH security can’t block access to the interiors of the “people’s house” either?
Follow along on Twitter — You can search for the hashtag #nokxl
Here’s a picture from the morning’s arrests, which are just now happening.
Organized Crime Situation: What exactly has to happen before this stuff falls under RICO?
What exactly has to happen before this stuff falls under RICO. How is this not an organized crime situation?
It is an organized crime situation. The SEC covering up Wall St. crimes for 10 years pretty much qualifies as an act of organized crime. Goldman’s big short on products it was selling as high-quality investments to its clients qualifies as an act of organized crime. The attempt to settle the MERS fraud for pennies on the dollar qualifies as at least organized pseudo-criminality. Heck, the circumstances of the entire bank bailout itself above and beyond the official TARP monies is a story of probable criminal behavior by itself. Matt Taibbi has been documenting Wall St. organized crime for years now.
Tons of links here:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/slouching-toward…
Ultimately, what defenders of the Obama Administration have to understand is that the refusal to hold even a single one of these criminals to account for their actions (much less the organizations themselves) has been the most damaging decision the Administration has made both with the progressive base and with independents. One can argue the motives for that decision until the cows come home (be it corruption, lack of political power, a desire to instill confidence in a rocky financial system on the brink of collapse, etc.), but in the end it doesn’t matter.
The American public knows that something is deeply, deeply wrong with the system. We have seen three consecutive wave elections, which is unprecedented in modern American politics. What that means is that people are lashing out, looking for answers from someone. Anyone.
The Rest:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/slouching-toward…
Yep and I’ve long said that the practice of recruiting police officers from recently discharged veterans and allowing their service to stand in lieu of actual, formal police training is going to lead to these and other far worse problems.
Agree.
Yep. Spot on. See mine@44.
Peaceful protesters regularly get foul treatment by city and state police, so in a way this is rather refreshing. It is unfortunate the Park Police went back on their word but I fail to see that as proof of intimidation.
Not trying to be an apologist. Just an observation.
Sorry if I misunderstood. I’m having paranoid burgerism this morning. Perhaps a result of the overdose of being attacked for having criticized Ron Paul yesterday. The “no matter what (I) think” threw me.
x2…we are in for a long slog
Here’s an important piece of news from the protest:
I do not know what organizers did prior to the action to discuss allowing Canadians to protest, but Ms. Warwick could face trumped-up charges in an effort to show Canadians they should not come here to challenge the US government. And, actually, when I think about what I’ve learned about diplomacy from reading WikiLeaks cables, Canada may encourage the US government to see to it that people like Warwick are made an example for other Canadians to see what happens if they exercise speech and peacefully assemble.
Fair enough. But what do you think about the fact that there is a dedication for an MLK Jr memorial? Can you see how they feel they are going to be inconvenienced and are taking the reactionary step of trying to make others who might engage in sit-ins afraid so this doesn’t go on for the two weeks?
Reading the FDL Action link, one needs a permit to demonstrate against the government here in the Land of the Free.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
No, it waves o’er the land of the un-free and the home of the brave.
Thank you, Barry.
You criticized Ron Paul yesterday? Uh-oh. His defenders are ferocious. Also, those conversations are way too polarizing. No room for nuance in most debates about Ron Paul. … I understand.
Yes, permits are purely bogus. And it is no wonder that few exercise their rights and regularly demonstrate. No one should need a permit to express their grievances with government.
I normally don’t pimp my own stuff but since you asked, it’s right here. And yeah, it’s almost certainly the withering fire I stood in for several hours yesterday that’s the reason I have thin skin today. Again, sorry.
No offense to Margaret (really) but Kevin prefers to cling to facts and not opinions. I admire that.
“Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe, through Paris and London, through New York and Boston and Concord, through church and state, through poetry and philosophy and religion, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality, and say, This is, and no mistake.”–Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Oops, sorry. You probably want the top.
I hate to tell you, but no one is paying attention.
It’s the Dog Days of Summer.
People are burnt out from the debt brouhaha.
(Even politicos)
A couple of dozen people in front of the White House -
Getting arrested by polite Park Service police –
Ain’t going to produce a surge of public outrage.
Suzanne Goldenberg called the protest “massive” at the Guardian.
She needs to have her size-o-meter recalibrated.
The pipeline protest has gotten some coverage in Canada –
but almost none in the U.S.
(Yeah, I know the MSM is coopted.)
At a time when Americans are losing jobs and housing –
And those who still have jobs and roofs over their heads –
Are facing wage cuts and increased expenses –
A protest over a pipeline just doesn’t resonate.
For the past two years, most polling has shown climate change
to be at the bottom of a list of priorities among American voters.
(Whether the American public is “misled” is a tangential issue.)
More importantly, the XL pipeline won’t do anything –
to reduce the amount of oil produced in Canada’s oil sands.
If it doesn’t go to the U.S., it will go to China.
And then there’s the jobs thingy.
When there is 10% unemployment – nixing a major jobs creator is poor tactics.
The AFL-CIO has strongly supported construction.
(And yeah, two relatively small public employee unions are opposed.)
When progressives lose the working class voters all over the Rust Belt –
how will we elect majorities to get environmental policy adopted?
Even if I opposed the pipeline – (I have a mixed view) –
at this juncture I would be very politically cautious.
The chances of Obama blocking the pipeline are close to zero.
And the Goppers will make hay with it.
If it is a moral victory that you want –
then that is all you will get.
But moral victories do not win elections –
In Wisconsin, Michigan, or Pennsylvania.
There is only so much political capital.
Meanwhile the Tea Party, the Bachmanns, the Perrys –
continue to foist a brutal, reactionary worldview on working Americans.
And they take no prisoners.
Actually advocating the end of the capitalist system would help, too.
Spot on. “Bad apple” arguments are simply a cover for a corrupt system.
I totally agree with you. I have always cringed when I hear the term “civil disobedience.” It’s denigrating, it’s insulting. The implication of the term is that prior to “civil disobedience”, we were obedient. Obedient to what? A bunch of corrupt politicians who have their own agenda. I’m for real protest, plain and simple – raucous and loud and lots of disorder. We need to scare “them”.
You’re all mixed up.
No one is paying attention? Wrong.
The influential Tea Party is against working Americans? The pipeline is touted to be a jobs-creator.
Moral victories (when people aren’t paying attention?) aren’t victories? Then what are?
Well somebody in DC is paying attention. They went on a rampage about a certain economist and a bunch of Firebaggers.
I think if I was a Park Police Captain and I saw Jane coming I’d resign myself to being exceptionally polite and arresting demonstrators as peacefully as possible!
Seriously though, if they have half a lick of sense they’ll know there is no stopping this.
I haven’t seen pictures of the memorial. Does it show police dogs attacking brown people or the Memphis Police helping Lee Harvey Oswald? It should.
Kevin, when do they start penning people up in “free speech zones” like we have seen during the Bush years? Is that an option they are likely to employ with this protest?
Yes we do!
I’m going to patent us some plastic, glow in the dark Pitch Forks!
What matters is that *we* are paying attention. What MSM says is not important to me any more.
On one level, I don’t care either about the corporate media, but when I think of the change that we might see in attitude and action if only the information we share here could be seen by everyone who watches network and cable news….
All jobs are, of course, wonderful, especially those which help to turn the Earth into something approximating Venus.
Doesn’t that mean people who live in Federal Housing of one type or another can lose that housing if they take part in non violent resistance like this.
The law Dubya put through throwing people out of Federal housing for any drug conviction is now any felony of any kind.
The sad part is that if two teabaggers would have been there dressed as George and Martha Washington protesting taxes, Obama would have sent down peanut butter sandwiches and the media would have been tripping over themselves to cover the event.
I cannot overstate how noble I think it is of Jane to commit her own body to street action before she used her platform here to urge that others do the same. That’s how a true leader behaves, IMO. I wish I could vote for her for anything. I fervently hope that this will be the start of something big. Pressure produces clarity.
I don’t think that’s entirely correct, PP. Many firms that specialize in this area cap their fees, usually at around $2,500, as far as I learned when I looked into it a few years ago. But you are right that everyone gets denied initially, and needs to get a lawyer to proceed. It’s ridiculous, when you consider they require your assets to be under $2,000 to apply.
I tend to agree – it seems the global warming point is the use of fossil fuels, and stopping the pipeline does not stop that. Indeed plan B if the pipeline is stopped is the Alaska approach of sending the tar sands oil out to a West Coast port and then east in return for the east sending oil to our Texas refinery complexes – everyone saves on transport costs.
The farm community is hell bent on destroying the midwest by wasting water – cotton that should never be grown outside the south and crops that exist only by draining the underground water (the days of a 50 foot well are gone and in many places one needs to go down well over a 1000 feet to reach water) are destroying the way of life – but Agri. is the only part of the economy that is holding up, so no one says anything.
I hope Hillary insists on better safety to protect the underground water, but I do not see Obama insisting on even that.
But as to the protest – no political capital is lost by protesting – indeed if I were still in DC I would have joined them. And the way they were treated is the same as the ‘Nam folks before 75 – I thought we were over that kind of power push by the police and DA and judges in America. Back in 77 it became permitted to protest for years on a given topic – Park Service forced tear down and rebuild every night so as to not have “permanent structures” but today’s 3 warnings and to jail is a massive loss of freedom.
Re a disastrous spill, as a market guy, I have to point out that buying up water supply has been a major theme for the financial industry for over a decade. Some people would not mind a catastrophe in those wetland and aquifer areas.
No. I doubt we will see a pen erected in front of the White House fence. That wouldn’t be good for tourism at all.
Either you believe in the rule of law (and you enforce it), or you don’t. Either you believe in the efficiency of markets (and you refrain from manipulating them), or you don’t. You can’t create cognitive dissonance around both of these foundational belief systems without engendering disastrous long-term consequences for the society. But that is what has been perpetrated. I think it only makes sense if one assumes the game plan of the PTB is to leave this used-up market behind, and re-position for a future in Asia.
I think it’s the carrying-that-shit-thru-environmentally-delicate-areas aspect that is most troubling to me. What is more vulnerable than a pipeline?
Amen to that!!!!!!
Consider the risk of possible contamination of crucial water-supply areas.
I have to say I agree. I’d much prefer to see the emphasis on a broad-based coalition on economic issues leveraging the grassroots efforts in Wisconsin, Ohio etc. over labor and safety net issues.
The middle-aged and elderly make up most of the voters and until they’ve got their domestic economic security issues under control, they’re not going to vote on an environmental issue.
Right On! If you use their terminology you are then using their mental frame which is designed to evoking a negative emotional response. Moreover, since the MOTU have ripped the social contract to shreds, our positive and peaceful stance is NOT social disobedience but behavior of redress enshrined in the Constitution. Furthermore, since it is now abundantly clear that in Amerika, “he who has the gold make the rules,” our vote and our democracy have been outstripped by mammon. We no longer have a say in the laws we must live by? How is that a “nation of laws?”
I submit that we are, and have always been, a nation of people. And, when we are looking out for our fellow citizens who are being steamrolled by greed, we are doing what in fact, our elected officials have sworn to do but refuse.
The energy of this adds to an awakening in this universe. It does matter. This planet is a sentientr being full of life, it knows..
I mean no disrespect towards you.
and no matter the circumstance..standing up has relevance.
I agree – even with water table now so deep that it takes a fortune to bring water up, what water there is would be useless if contaminated with oil.
But I come back to the fact that the corporate farmers greed – and US Ag subsidies – is killing farming anyway, plus the oil companies will just send it to the West Coast for transit to the far east, plus Obama will not push for anything – and Hillary is only being allowed to push for a safer pipeline.
But as I said, the protest is needed – I support it – just to show that we on the left exist and that some are concerned about more than greed.
I don’t get it. The cops and the government are acting repressively, yes. But how is a pre-negotiated deal with the cops – a $100 slap on the wrist – evocative of the great actions of MLK Jr. or DeChristopher? Did those two people negotiate with the authorities over the punishments for their protests and actions ahead of time? DeChristopher even says:
“And, really that’s how it’s been with most social movements that have been advocating for significant change. They’ve had to make major sacrifices.”
This writer now bitches about how McKibben and others might be spending a few days in jail? GOOD! Transparent, severer punishment and repression adds power to the fight back. What do today’s leftist leaders think – that these highly “orchestrated” events with milquetoast sacrifices and milquetoast consequences are going to change anything? They’re like some highly formal English parlor dance, all arrangement and changing places on cue.
So much of what all sides – those in power and the ostensible resistance – do in today’s world is so extremely triangulated and groomed for display that it’s become a grand dodging game devoid of substance.
Advice for the “leaders” of the left:
Quit telegraphing intentions.
Organize to hit hard, mean it, and take lumps.
Honestly, I think it would be just as good to have this protest on any number of other issues-the fact of the protest itself is the most important thing. We must have a test of our ability to back the oligarchs off. On anything we care about. We simply can’t make any meanimgful future plans unless we know what our power is and is not. Re the water: I commented earlier on the fact that the water supply worldwide has been the target of intense investment acquisition for more than ten years now. Can’t live without water. I think most would be surprised to learn where ownership of that necessary commodity now lies.
You’re right, but you gotta start somewhere. This was an excellent first step, IMO. Gotta learn how to walk before you learn to fly.
Oh, what typical excuse-making for the current generation of coddled progressives. There has been plenty of time – years, decades – to “start somewhere”. Time is growing short. Much more committed and effective action needs to happen, now already.
And before anyone drearily and predictably tells me to lead by example – that’s what virtually the entire current crop of the left does, dare each other to step forward first – let’s see some coherent, aggressive, effective planning from the left leaders with a big soapbox in this country, something worth following and fighting for. Not more of this get-arrested-politely-in-nice-suits-to-impress-Obama bullshit.
All it takes is one hungover backhoe operator.
Old Henry? Why deport him? He’s ours now. Why not prosecute him? And, of course, a host of others from G.W. Bush on down.
All this would do is ensure that only the already rich would have any incentive at all to be a legislator. Heck, in New Hampshire, the Leg is paid mileage only, and most of ‘em are realtors, well-off retirees, or people on leave from their executive positions.
CongCrits make their $$$$ by accepting bribes. Period. Call it “campaign funding” or flung monkey dung, whatever. The law allows this because the law-making ability lies with those with the most interest. Is it contemptuous of fairness? Of course it is.
Absent a far deeper commitment to the rule of law fundamental to the function of a successful modern society (h/t to Stiglitz, above) on every level of American society, I’m not sure we can fight off the corporatists.
Seriously, I share your emotions (I’m quite certain that I am near the high end of the continuum re militancy among the readership here), but if you won’t lead by example (and you make a good point about that, IMO), then could you at least offer what your best idea(s) would be for effective action? I think a philosophical discussion of very aggressive actions is certainly in order, at least to establish our own bottom lines, but you can’t seriously think we can immediately create a mass movement based on true militarism. The Tar Sands action promises to raise awareness, at least, and that is a necessary first step toward anything more aggressive, IMO.