Mobilization for Climate Justice

Posts Tagged ‘protest’

There are comments on some of the individual photos on Flickr.

Here’s a video from our protest - www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j-63k0472w

The call-out for the event said -

Join us Friday, December 10th upstairs at the Covent Garden Market at 5:30pm.

We will walk over to the RBC around the corner at 6pm, reclaim the space to share food and information and have.

A BITE AT THE BANKS!

Banks are a fundamental part of the capitalist system that is destroying our planet and exploiting people.

During our potluck we would like to discuss these issues and how we can contribute to fundamental change.

In particular, RBC is the main financier of the Albertan Tar Sands (london.actforclimatejustice.org/campaign s/tar-sands/), from which we demand they withdraw their support immediately.

—

So, spread the word!

Also, with the dish of your choice, please bring a plate/bowl and utensils to use.

Any creative and fun contributions, such as music or games, would also be greatly appreciated!

Anything else you would like to offer, or not, would be great as well.

—

This event is connected with the call-out for 1000 Cancuns, across the world -
ccjn.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/mobilise-a ll-over-the-world/

In 2009, indigenous peoples called for a global mobilization ‘in defence of mother earth’ on October 12, reclaiming what used to be ‘Columbus Day’. In response, Climate Justice Action is inviting activists across the world to join a day of direct action for climate justice on October 12, 2010.

The climate crisis has reached a new level. The 2009 UNFCCC Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15) was a complete failure, and ‘our world leaders’ are refusing to work together towards real solutions to the climate crisis.

The insanity of such inaction is becoming more and more obvious as extreme global climate catastrophes become more frequent. Right now an estimated 18.7 million Pakistanis are affected by the worst floods in Pakistan’s history. Just last month in Moscow, gas masks were worn on the streets and in homes as a result of the poisoned air caused by fires, pollution and the highest recorded temperatures in the country’s history. This is, of course, in addition to the ongoing environmental exploitation that severely threatens the livelihoods of the global south and all indigenous communities.

However, worldwide activists, organizations and many others are not just standing by. Indigenous communities experiencing climate change catastrophes and all people who care for the health and well being of the rights of Mother Earth are taking the lead towards real change.

We know the fight for climate justice is challenging, but our successes are many and we are building strength! In the last year alone we have seen a series of mobilizations that have turned off production at coal factories, occupied spaces planned for airport construction, dropped banners from sky high locations, held fierce massive public rallies, marches and demonstrations, and numerous more actions.

In an effort to reclaim the day that has traditionally been imposed as ‘Columbus Day,’ indigenous peoples around the world have called for a global mobilization ‘in defence of Mother Earth’. Climate Justice Action has taken up this call and is proposing a global day of direct action for climate justice on October 12, 2010. CJA is not picking specific targets or actions, but is rather calling for all of us to engage, plan and take direct action on this day.

If you are already prepared to take action, let us know what you’re planning by sending an email to us. If you haven’t started there’s still time. Mobilize and plan an action in your city, town or village. Don’t forget to film it and take photos and send them to CJA so we can show off our global force!

There is power in numbers and together we can achieve system change not climate change!

[Here is a Facebook version of this action call-out]

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Description

Come out Monday July 19th to send BP a STRONG message: We will not allow corporations to trash our land, our water, and they will be held accountable! If they have the same rights as humans, they should have the same responsibilities and same punishments!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138505366164638&ref=ts

http://www.wix.com/OILSPILLRES/OILSPILLRESOLUTION

Want to get involved? Contact: rebecca.rose.baird@gmail.com

PRESS CONFERENCE: Wednesday June 9, 4:40 p.m., informational session: 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Springfield, MA, Pynchon Park on the corner of State and
Chestnut Streets, next to the main branch of the Springfield Library
immediately prior to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection’s hearing on the Global Warming Solutions Act.

WHO:  Stop Toxic Incineration In Springfield, Arise for Social
Justice, Concerned Citizens of Russell, The Enviro Show, Stop Spewing
Carbon Campaign, Massachusetts Forest Watch, Pioneer Valley
Preservation Coalition, Concerned Citizens of Franklin County,
Students for a Just and Stable Society and McKnight Neighborhood
Council in Springfield.

A coalition of health, social justice, and environmental groups  is
letting the state and federal governments know that biomass
incinerators are not a climate change solution but make are a public
health and climate disaster and the state should not be promoting them.

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Action in British Columbia

[Photos are available here]

Historic homes are being demolished, and ancient indigenous sites are under threat from the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) project here on the Fraser River bank. The est. $2 billion SFPR is part of the controversial Gateway program, which would greatly increase greenhouse gas emissions in BC.

The action took place at River Road and Centre Street in Delta. It coincides with the multi-faith Pilgrimage to Burns Bog, and is visible from the pilgrimage route across the Alex Fraser Bridge. Pilgrims and activists aim to raise awareness about Burns Bog, a large, carbon-sequestering peat bog also under threat from the SFPR freeway.

“Our neighbours are being forced out of their homes, and ecosystems are being bulldozed,” says Delta resident Ernie Baatz. “Schools and programs are being cut across the province to pay for this climate changing freeway. We have to stand up to this appalling waste.”

Baatz and fellow activists also planted trees at the site today, to highlight the area’s potential as a riverfront park, not a riverfront freeway. Although preparatory work has begun on some sections of the SFPR, no build contract is in place. A request for proposals was issued by the Ministry of Transportation in April 2009.

The action is part of a week of events dubbed “Earth Action Week” by GatewaySucks.org and the Council of Canadians (Delta/Richmond chapter).

TWO women chained themselves to petrol pumps at a Plympton garage yesterday in a protest aimed at petrol giant BP.

The two women locked themselves to pumps at the BP Chaddlewood Service Station garage in Ridgeway after 2pm in a demonstration against BP’s investment in tar sands oil.

Tar sands is a type of heavy bituminous oil found chiefly in Canada and Venezuela which has been criticised by environmentalists. They claim the extraction process generates two to four times as much greenhouse gas per barrel of product as conventional oil refining.

Six people from the Plymouth Rising Tide (PRT) and Kernow Anarchist Network groups demonstrated, but only two chained themselves to pumps while the others handed out leaflets and held banners.

The station, which is run by a franchise but supplies BP petrol to customers, was shut during the protest. Sarah Mana, of PRT, protested but was not one of those arrested. “We saw it as necessary to make a radical call,” she said. A BP spokesman said: “We support the demonstrators’ right to express their views, but not to put their lives or the lives of others in danger. “Our prime concern was the safety of staff, customers and the site. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this caused.”

Two people were arrested by police in connection with the incident.

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Greens-protest-closes-petrol-station/article-1992261-detail/article.html

London, Ontario, Canada celebrated Fossil Fools Day by organizing blitz actions against 3 branches of RBC (the Royal Bank of Canada), as well as a Critical Mass bike rally, in which a breakaway group took over a highway.

[Clicking any of the photo thumbnails will take you to more photos from our actions. And here are some more photos from our bike rally.]

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RBC Actions:

Instead of just protesting outside, a group of activists brought their message inside RBC during their peak hours, to temporarily disrupt the bank’s dirty business.  The plan was simple and easy to replicate.  We marched into the branch, chanting with a megaphone to get the attention of bank managers, tellers and customers with our boisterous entry.  We handed out and threw around flyers to explain what we were up to, and more importantly, why we were there.  One of the flyers was about Fossil Fools Day, and the other one was about campaigning against the tar sands.  A large “Climate Justice” banner was also displayed, inside the RBC building.

One activist read a speech over the megaphone; this speech was written collectively by the participants minutes before the first disruption:
“RBC is Killing the Planet.  They are the leading financiers of the world’s most environmentally destructive project: The Albertan Tar Sands.  The bank you do business with and work for is literally killing First Nations people by poisoning the Athabasca River.  RBC is profiting off the destruction of native communities and turning forests, wetlands, and lakes into open pit mines, poisonous tailing ponds, and toxic wastelands.  By investing your money into this bank and its projects you are selling out the future of life on earth by accelerating climate change.  RBC and other corporations who put profit above all other considerations are unsustainable and incompatible with life on this planet.  Close your accounts and invest yourself in the future.”

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MONTREAL – On Thursday, April 1, 2010, a group of over 70 left Dominion Square in the heart of Montreal to make the 15 km journey to the city’s east end to shine a light on the largest urban oil refining center in Canada. Drawing contingents of activists from various student, social and environmental justice groups, the Bike Bloc organized by Climate Justice Montreal made its way down Rene Levesque to Berri and up to Sherbrooke Street, heading on a collision course with the Enbridge Trailbreaker Tar Sands expansion pipeline.

“The east end of Montreal is a seldom seen and discussed region, but it is the largest urban oil refining center in Canada,” said Pierre-Olivier Parent, an organizer with Climate Justice Montreal. “It is a vast wasteland of oil, gas and chemical storage tanks, threatening the health of local residents and all Montrealers. If completed the Trailbreaker would bring the direct effects of the Tar Sands right here.”’

The bikes entered the post-apocalyptic petroleum wasteland just beyond the last metro station, passing first by Shell Canada’s Montreal Development. The massive refinery has recently been put up for sale, announced by “A Vendre” signs lining the road, proudly offering up “800 skilled employees” as part of the package deal for any eager buyer.

“Rather than expanding the petroleum infrastructure that is destroying ecosystems and communities, we need to build a clean energy economy, creating meaningful jobs for thousands of people including those working at the Shell Refinery. Our society needs jobs that are not dependent on unstable, destructive resources that soar and crash, creating environmental and economic catastrophes,” says Cameron Stiff, a local sustainability organizer and activist.

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This post was submitted by Cameron Fenton.

Fossil ‘Fools Day Protests Set for 30 Cities; Target Coal, Oil, Natural Gas and Big Banks

SAN FRANCISCO—More than 30 cities throughout North America have organized demonstrations against the fossil fuel industry, corporate banks and big environmental organizations for April 1’st national Fossil ‘Fools’ Day. Demonstrations are being coordinated by Rising Tide North America , which has also launched an online campaign targeting “Big Green” groups that have taken money from the worst corporate polluters. Key targets of the campaign include Conservation International, National Wildlife Federation and Environmental Defense.

http://bit.ly/8XDk09

The National Day of Action – organized by Rising Tide North America, Mountain Justice, a coalition of Canadian climate activists and others – will feature clownish parades, flyering, subversive advertising, creative street theater, and non-violent direct actions targeting the coal, oil, natural gas and banking sectors. Cities where actions will take place include Asheville, Boulder, Chicago, Edmonton, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Ottawa, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Washington D.C. Corporations targeted will include Chevron, JPMorgan Chase, NW Natural Gas, Pepco and Shell. Read the rest of this entry »

written by members of DC SDS after FUNK THE WAR 9

Funk that, get off it! This war is for profit!

On Friday, March 19th, the Iraq War’s 7^th birthday, we gathered with over 350 students and activists from around the country at Farragut Square, decked out as cheating politicians and Lady Gaga look-alikes. We started a massive street dance party to protest the Obama administration’s continuation of the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia and the unchecked environmental damage caused by war profiteers. “Congress and the Obama administration are cheating on young people with the corporate criminals and war-makers who are wrecking our future. We’re caught in a Bad Romance,” explained Howard University student activist Brian Menifee.

No System but the Sound System!

Two bumping speakers and a mobile sound system blasting dance music brought the funk for this sunny day street party against the empire. We started the party in the middle of Farragut Square with throngs of energetic, flag-waving young students and activists. Reporters from news networks like NBC, CNN, and ABC showed up with cameras and microphones, asking to speak with organizers and involved students. Then we took to K street carrying homemade banners and signs that read “Drop Coal, not Bombs!” and “Refuse, Rethink, Rebuild.”

SDS Youth Party in the Streets Against the War.

protestors occupy space at the National Treasury Building in DC

scene from the march

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A high-level delegation from Canada were greeted this morning by protesters with banners that read: “Canadian Tar Sands – Climate Crime”, outside Canada House in Trafalgar Square. The protest, on Thursday 18 March, is part of a growing campaign by UK groups against the tremendous human and ecological devastation caused by extracting oil from Canada’s tar sands – and is taking place in solidarity with First Nations and Canadian environmental justice organizations. The Canadian delegation is being hosted by UK Trade and Investment, a government department that exists to promote the interests of British industry.

“The Canadian and British governments should know that people in the UK are very concerned about the tar sands,” said Alice Hargreaves of the UK Tar Sands Network which has organised the protest along with members of Rising Tide and Camp for Climate Action. “The tar sands are the world’s most destructive project. Canada is ripping up an area larger than England, creating sprawling toxic lakes and ever-expanding carbon emissions. This environmental horror story is violating indigenous peoples’ rights – they are losing their traditional ways of life, and some are getting cancer from the pollution. The tar sands is a project that needs to be stopped, yet British companies like Shell, BP and RBS are involved, and with this event, UK Trade and Investment is actively promoting further British involvement.”

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Joshua Kahn Russell on The Understory

Today more than 170 people rallied outside of the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC’s) Annual General Shareholder meeting (AGM) in Toronto after a series of creative non-violent actions all morning. Inside, First Nations Chiefs and community representatives from four different Nations demanded RBC phase out of its Tar Sands financing and to recognize the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous communities. Afterward, Indigenous leaders lead the crowd in a march to rally outside both RBC Headquarters buildings.

Other cities across Canada supported the First Nations voices inside the AGM as well with solidarity actions from (click on a city for pictures) London, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, Victoria and more. Check out photos from those and our events in Toronto.

And see some preliminary media coverage from the Wall Street Journal and Yahoo.

Since 2007 RBC has backed more than $16.7 billion (USD) in loans to companies operating in the tar sands—more than any other bank. Called, ‘the most destructive project on Earth,’ Alberta’s tar sands projects will eventually transform a Boreal forest the size of England into an industrial sacrifice zone complete with lakes full of toxic waste and man-made volcanoes spewing out clouds of global warming emissions.

Outside the shareholder meeting school children, bank customers of every age, First Nations community representatives joined Rainforest Action Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, No One Is Illegal, and Council of Canadians made their outrage at RBC’s investments heard – to the thumping beats of street Samba band, the crowd shouted “Cultural Genocide: who do we thank? Dirty investments from Royal Bank!”

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Group calls on Xcel to Keep Comanche 3 Closed and Produce 100% Renewable Electricity by 2020

Denver, CO – At 11:45am on Friday, February 26th, local citizens demonstrated at the Denver headquarters of Xcel Energy – located at the corner of 17th St. and Lawrence St. – in protest of the utility’s impending plan to bring a new coal-fired power plant online in Pueblo, CO. The lunch hour protest called on Xcel executives to move Colorado in the right direction by keeping the Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant closed. Protestors demonstrated in a ‘die-in’ in front of the building’s main entrance to highlight the grim consequences that coal has on our lives and those of future generations. Simultaneously, two activists clad in hazmat suits dropped a banner off an adjoining bridge on Lawrence St. Police arrived on scene but no arrests were made.

The 750-megawatt Comanche Unit 3 would be the largest coal-fired power plant in the state, surpassing even the mammoth Cherokee coal plant in North Denver. “At a time when the costs of coal are becoming increasingly clear and the benefits of clean energy are ever more apparent, building the largest coal-fired power plant in the state is taking us 180 degrees in the wrong direction,” said Amy Guinan, an activist with Power Past Coal. Read the rest of this entry »

Matt Wilkerson on It’s Getting Hot in Here

2 years ago I and several friends shut down construction at the site of the Cliffside Coal Plant in North Carolina. It was April 1^st, Fossil Fools Day. After public hearings, petitions, legislative efforts, and protest failed, we knew we had to do something to up the ante in the fight against coal plants in this country. So it was that we found ourselves locked to Duke Energy’s bulldozers on that dark, drizzly morning.

Did we permanently stop the Cliffside construction site? No. However this action, along with the countless other actions like it by groups around the country, have greatly increased the cost, both politically and economically, of building coal plants in this country. While the construction at Cliffside continues, I feel confident that our direct actions, and those of others, is in part responsible for the wave of coal plants that have been canceled in the US (100 and counting).

No doubt utility companies and state governments pursuing new coal plants took note of the fight against Cliffside and decided that the constant controversy and harassment was not worth it (of course the recession and prospects of CO2 being regulated has helped as well). Well its 2010 and Fossil Fools Day is once again rounding the corner. We’ve witnessed the spectacular failure of Copenhagen, the Obama administration time and again capitulating to big business, and corporations doing there best to stall our efforts.

Yet we’ve seen inspiring resistance around the country, from Climate Ground Zero’s relentless direct action campaign against mountaintop removal to citizens shutting down Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, CA. The question is: What are you going to do to raise the stakes on April 1^st?

www.fossilfoolsday.org