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We are the 99 percent

Articles tagged environmentalism


#TheoryThursday: Rethink Environmental Activism (On "Horizontal Hostility")

Posted 10 years ago on March 5, 2014, 3:15 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: environmentalism, Theory Thursday

OSN editors' note: Our friends at Earth First! published this much needed intervention into contemporary environmental activism. When will we North American activists learn to use the "lawful excuse defense"? Committing "illegal acts" in order to prevent the greater crime of climate change is not illegal. Learn about that here Not guilty: the Greenpeace activists who used climate change as a legal defense

Earth First! Journal editors note: This letter was originally published as a comment on our re-post about the No KXL protests in Washington D.C. this week. While we fully support a diversity of tactics, ranging from petitions and lawsuits to civil disobedience and sabotage, the critique made in this letter has been actively suppressed in environmental movement coverage of the climate crisis for fear of causing "horizontal hostility." We hope student and environmental NGO organizers will hear the loving pleas of "not enough" and take the constructive advice to "start listening to the people most affected and supporting their struggles." For example, support is needed right now to resist pipeline expansion in Wet'suwet'en territory!

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NYC Activists Give Spectra An Unwelcoming Party

Posted 12 years ago on Aug. 14, 2012, 12:13 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: fracking, environmentalism, spectra, occupy the pipeline, nyc, direct action

A woman hold a stop Spectra sign in front of an Occupy banner while giving a speech to a crowd

via Occupy the Pipeline. Construction on the Spectra Pipeline is supposed to begin this week; a small group of activists has been on site this morning to keep an eye on the situation. For more information and photos of yesterday's action, check out Occupy the Pipeline!

Yesterday about 150 people showed up to give Spectra Energy a vibrant Un-Welcoming Party to NYC. The Spectra Men were walking the site, pointing and surveying, planning the pipeline construction that could result in 30,000 more cases of lung cancer & thousands of lost lives, homes, and businesses if their pipeline explodes. We think it's not an "if" but a "when;" the inevitability of a terrible accident looms over their public relations campaign claiming an increase of jobs into the area. We don't think that is worth the risk to life their project presents to NYC, not to mention the increased demand for Fracking in Pennsylvania, NJ and NYS switching NYC over to Fracked Gas would create. We are 100% opposed to Hydro-Fracking practices.

We had a visit from the NYPD who told us to take our banner down from between two trees. Official statement from the NYPD from yesterday: "Finally You Guys have a Good Cause." You know something is up when even the thugs at the NYPD realize the very real and present dangers from this pipeline. It endangers them as well, along with the good men and woman at the FDNY. They would be forced to risk their lives to put out the fires from the blast. Exploded pipelines have been known to burn for a week at a time. We don't want to make them suffer to save NYC. This is a preemptive intervention.

Our aim is to save lives. We are willing to put our lives in the way to do so. When the government fails to protect us, we need to take our lives into our own hands. Non-Violent Resistance is one tool we have to use.

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