In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, New Yorkers are showing the best of humanity, self-organizing to provide mutual aid in spite of the establishment's continued failure to turn the lights back on. Free kitchens were distributing hot meals within hours. Thousands of pounds of food, clothing, and other donations have been distributed across Red Hook, Staten Island, the Rockaways, and Coney Island. Cleanup of flood damage has begun, and volunteers continue to go door-to-door in the neglected buildings that still lack heat and electricity. Of course, this encouraging response does not minimize the true scope of tragedy this storm has left behind. We must continue to provide for each other and, as we do, show the world that another way of relating to one another is not only possible, but necessary in the face of economic and ecological catastrophe.
But we must not forget that the twin catastrophes of climate change and capitalism are deeply interconnected. The market sees only resources to be extracted, not a world to be shared or communities to be protected. The 1% continue to push for (and the banks continue to finance) more coal, oil, and natural gas, and they don't care how many mountains they must destroy or communities they must frack to increase their profits. Wall Street-owned politicians from all political parties are complicit, competing only about who will drill more. The result is a warmed planet and warmed oceans where superstorms like Sandy are increasingly common. And when the storms hit, we aren't all impacted equally. In New York and across the globe, poor and marginalized communities, already suffering from austerity and dismantled social services, are always hit the hardest and the last to receive aid from the established channels.
In response to the failure of the State and capitalism to provide for our needs, relief work like #OccupySandy is a beautiful, necessary, and logical response for social movements who are committed to replacing economic and social injustice with solidarity and people-powered solutions. But the 1% would be glad to have an army of volunteers to replace the safety net they cut and clean-up the mess they created. If we want to protect ourselves from the next storm or BP-style spill, we have to continue building the structures of mutual aid and support that will deal with crisis equitably. But we must also build a mass movement to address the systemic problems that create climate crises. After Sandy, we are not merely rebuilding the status quo; we are building a new world. This is why Occupy Wall Street stands in solidarity with the on-going Tar Sands Blockade and other direct actions to stop the destruction caused by greed and profit. In Texas, activists have held a tree-sit for 50 days and are calling for solidarity actions across the world. Over 20 cities have already answered the call. Occupy Wall Street and Occupy the Pipeline will join with many others to protest dirty power on November 17.
In New York and New Jersey, many of us are busy supporting those who have been left in the dark by Sandy. But we encourage everyone who is able to take action! See below for more information about the Global Campaign Against Fossil Fuels in New York on November 17th and the Tar Sands Blockade day of action on November 19th. To find out how to help the recovery efforts, check out interoccupy.net/occupysandy.
Fracking for oil and gas poses a direct and immediate threat to our drinking water, our health and our communities. But the oil and gas industry is ramping up its PR machine to try and convince the public and decision makers that fracking is safe. It’s time to fight back in our communities with a Global Frackdown!
There is a tremendous amount of organizing going on across the world to protect our water and our communities from fracking.
Together as a movement, in the past year we have:
Passed over 200 local measures across the United States to ban fracking (including state-level legislation in Vermont);
Stopped fracking in Bulgaria and France;
Pushed for moratoriums in multiple regions in Europe;
Obtained a moratorium on fracking in South Africa;
Defeated state legislation that would have expanded fracking;
Prevented plans to open the Delaware River Basin to fracking;
Worked to stop pipelines and facilities to export fracked gas from coast to coast.
The Global Frackdown will unite concerned citizens everywhere for a day of action on September 22, 2012 to send a message to elected officials in our communities and across the globe that we want a future fueled by clean, renewable energy, not dirty, polluting fossil fuels.
This Fall as the United States debates its energy future and the oil and gas industry escalates its public relations offensive, it’s critical that our elected officials – some of whom are running scared – hear the truth in a powerful way from their constituents. It’s time to expose the oil and gas industry’s propaganda for what it is. It’s time to hold our elected officials accountable. It’s time for a Global Frackdown!
Participants in the Global Frackdown will be organizing events in their communities to challenge decision makers to oppose fracking, united around a common mission statement calling for a ban on fracking and investment in a clean energy future.
Are you ready for the Frackdown? Sign up to endorse the day of action or join or host and event in your area.
About Fracking
Fracking, technically known as hydraulic fracturing, is a highly water-intensive and relatively new process that injects millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals thousands of feet beneath the ground to obtain previously hard-to-reach oil and gas deposits. This polluting process is:
Endangering our drinking water supplies
Polluting our air
Releasing dangerous levels of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can migrate into nearby wells, causing home explosions
Negatively impacting agricultural communities
Perpetuating our addiction to fossil fuels
Learn more about the risks fracking imposes on our water, air and communities.
The fight of Occupy Wall Street is the struggle of all movements in the world. Finance capital, that created the crisis in 2008, has increased its power instead of being disciplined. At present, world GDP is 64 trillion US dollars while the derivatives market reached the incredible figure of 1,500 trillion US dollars in 2011. The speculative economy is 250 times larger than the real economy of the world. Now banks and Transnational corporations (TNCs) are moving to speculate on the impacts of the climate and environmental crises that the capitalist system has created. Prices of food are beginning to climb again because of climate change and speculation in a world where 1 billion people already suffer from hunger. The banks and TNCs like Cargill, Wal-Mart, Monsanto are seeing this situation as a new opportunity to make profits through food derivatives, natural resource grabbing, GMOs, agro-fuels, free trade agreements, structural adjustments, austerity plans and other mechanisms to increase the privileges of the 1% at the expenses of the 99% of the world and at tremendous cost to our Mother Earth.
From 15 to 17th of September, in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, we will raise our voices and promote actions to ban derivatives in food, dismantle the power of the banks and TNCs, stop the privatization of water and public services, cancel the illegitimate debts that are strangling our sisters and brothers in Europe, achieve deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and restore a life in harmony with nature.
Bangkok, August 31, 2012
SIGNED:
All Nepal's Peasants' Federation
Alliance of Progressive Labor, Philippines
Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA-Pilipinas)
Assembly of the Poor, Thailand
ATTAC France
ATTAC Japan
Bangladesh Kishani Sabha
Bangladesh Krishok Federation
Bhartiya Kisan Union, BKU, India
Focus on the Global South
FTA Watch, Thailand
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Global Forest Coalition
Indonesian Civil Society Forum for Climate Justice
Indonesian Political Economy Association
Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, India
KIARA (The People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice), Indonesia
Kilusang Mangingisda (Fisherfolk Movement), Philippines
Koalisi Anti Utang (Anti Debt Coalition) Indonesia
KRuHA (People's coalition for the right to water), Indonesia
La Via Campesina
Mindanao Peoples' Peace Movement
Migrant Forum in Asia
MONLAR, Sri Lanka
NOUMINREN, Japan
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement
Polaris Institute, Canada
SBI (Indonesia Labor Union)
Serikat Petani Indonesia (Indonesian Peasant Union)
SMI (Suluh Muda Indonesia) Sumut
SNI (Indonesia Fisherfolk Union)
Solidarity Workshop, Bangladesh
South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements
Thai Working Group for Climate Justice (TCJ)
To send your own messages of solidarity, news or pictures of your actions, please email: owsrevtalks@gmail.com
)