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NEWS & LETTERS, March - April 2013
Chicagoans rally: Forward on Climate
Chicago--"Hey! Obama! We don't want your climate drama!" we chanted at the Forward on Climate rally here on Feb. 17. There were at least 20 rallies that day, with 40,000 people in Washington, D.C. Most of the 400 here were college students brought out by Chicago Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC).
Foremost was stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. If approved by President Obama, it would carry tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, greatly adding to the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. Speakers also warned of the dangers of fracking for natural gas, and told of campaigns by students at several Chicago colleges to make their schools divest from oil, coal and gas companies.
These rallies were preceded by civil disobedience on Feb. 13, when 48 people were arrested for handcuffing themselves to the White House fence.
NO! TO TAR SANDS MINING
A key demand was for Obama to deny a permit to the tar sands pipeline. Many protesters were disturbed by the ambivalence of Obama's State of the Union address, noted for his ringing words:
"For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change….We can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science--and act before it's too late."
But not only did his specific proposals amount to far less than what is needed to steer the world away from catastrophic warming, he even boasted in the same speech about increasing fossil fuel production, which drives climate change. He promised, "My administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits." And of course he advocated a "market-based solution," as if capitalism is not a fundamental part of the problem.
--Franklin Dmitryev
RALLY PARTICIPANTS SPEAK
I was really disappointed in Obama's remarks about fracking, which we pretend is "natural" gas. I'm a member of CYCC, a coalition of students from around the city. I'm a student at Roosevelt University. At RU we have an organization called Rise, based on building student activist networks. Climate change is connected to economic rights issues, immigration rights issues, anti-poverty issues. Our main goal is to mobilize youth because we really only have a few more years to take serious climate action.
--Dylan
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Today we fight for the ultimate goal for rights to clean air, water, and existence. Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization fought for over ten years on a campaign to close the Fisk coal-fired power plant. With lots of grassroots organizations and widespread partnerships, we won. This is a huge victory. But the two coal plants of Illinois are only representative of the environmental devastation we see all over the world. We can change the world for the better.
--Megan
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I'm a member of Rise and CYCC. If Obama is truly going to address climate change, he cannot rely on fracking. I come from a low-income background. Much of environmental pollution and climate change effects are in low-income, minority-based communities. Those are people who don't necessarily have a voice.
--Gianna
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After reading articles about climate change, I was moved to get active. I didn't know anything about the Keystone pipeline before I came out today. I want to learn more about what I can do and different movements that are afoot. All the storms we've been having are making climate change more urgent. Reading about it made me comprehend how big it is and how much immediate action is required.
--Ben
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I am part of a generation that will either receive the catastrophic effects of climate change or will come together in order to fight for our future. I want a future that isn't compromised by huge fossil fuel companies. I want a society that puts my friends and family before profit. I'm a member of CYCC, a lovely group of dedicated students with a shared dedication to ending fossil fuel consumption and attaining a just and sustainable future. We know that our efforts can make a difference worldwide. We will not stand by while fossil fuel companies wreak havoc on our planet and our health. We cannot wait for politicians and Big Oil to shape our future. We need to join across borders and backgrounds, genders and ethnicities, to reshape our world. We need to fight for all the children who may live in a world completely different from the world we grew up in.
--Virginia Baker
Rallies across U.S. against Keystone XL pipeline
40,000 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.--I drove from Memphis to Washington with three others and joined the 40,000-plus people there on Feb. 17 for the Forward on Climate Change rally, the biggest ever held on climate change in this country. Yes, the 15-hour drive was long. Yes, it was super cold. Yes, we stood for a long time during the rally and were glad to begin marching to restore feeling in our frozen toes. But yes, we were glad and proud to be there.
I attended my first protest in Washington, D.C., in the 1980s, returning many times to protest U.S. involvement in wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador, then to demonstrate against our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Those marches were protests. We were expressing our outrage at our government for such unforgiveable acts of aggression. It felt good to join so many others who were just as angry and ashamed.
The climate change rally was not like the anti-war protests. We were there for something more than to protest and to show our indignation. We were there knowing that President Obama could decide not to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. We were there knowing that President Obama has urged us as citizens to "make him" do what is right. We were there knowing that, as Van Jones said, this decision could define him. We were there because we are hopeful that he will do what is right and begin legislating to save our planet rather than to save oil executives.
Then we learned that President Obama was not at the White House on that day. He was in Florida, golfing with oil executives. So… we shall see.
--Sandy Furrh
In Los Angeles
Los Angeles--On Feb. 17, over 1,000 environmental activists gathered at La Placita of historic Olvera Street to agitate to stop the tar sands Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline is to run over 2,000 miles from Canada through the U.S. to the Gulf Coast. There, this dirtiest of oil will be shipped to the Asian market.
The protest was begun by Canadian First Nations people as the Idle No More Movement to stop the mining of tar. It was part of a massive demonstration the same day in Washington, D.C.
Participants included the Pachamama Alliance, Native American women drummers, Aztec dancers, Food and Water Watch, Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), Sea Shepherds, Alliance for Climate Education, Green Party, League of Women Voters, Children from Union Elementary Schools Carbon Science Club, students, ML King Coalition, Occupy people, various Marxist groups, and many others. Noticeably missing were large labor unions.
Some of the many signs read "tar sands = extinction," "carbon-oil-gas = death," "tax carbon," and "Wanted: Stephen Harper and Trans Canada for genocide, stupidity, terrorism and greed." "
We marched for a mile to City Hall, where speakers addressed the crowd with a PA system powered by solar panels.
Speakers ranged from Lakota Chief Phil Lane, Jr., who said we do not want our sacred land destroyed and thanked Stephen Harper for awakening a sleeping giant, to Congressman Henry Waxman, who urged President Obama to stop Keystone, noting there were 25 separate climate crises in 2011 and 2012. We heard from climate scientists who told of worsening severe weather; women of color speaking of how, because of racism, pollution impacts minorities more severely; a homeowner impacted by fracking who said their house used to be in paradise, now it's in hell; a longtime anti-nuclear activist who warned of the dangers of the aging San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in Southern California; and several poets, including a Black woman who recited her poem on trash that goes into a can but doesn't go away, asking, "How many landfills can we fill?" There was also a large cloth petition for us all to sign which will be sent to President Obama.
The rally ended with everyone joining in a traditional Indigenous round dance to the beat of the women drummers.
Global warming and climate change are caused by expanding capitalist production, consuming massive amounts of oil, coal, methane gas, gasoline, timber (logging), etc. As the News & Letters article "Climate Chaos and Capitalism" (Sept.-Oct. 2012) stated: "Until we can abolish capital, we will have no chance of avoiding climate chaos."
--Basho
In San Francisco
San Francisco--On Feb. 17 there was a Climate Forward rally at Justin Herman Plaza protesting carbon emissions, the Keystone XL pipeline, fracking and other threats to the environment. Before the rally, as some 6,000 marchers completely encircled a nearby large city block containing State Department offices, dozens of Indigenous people held a prayer vigil. One of them, a young First Nation woman from Canada, told the crowd about the Idle No More movement started by four women (see "Idle No More,"Jan.-Feb. 2013 News & Letters).
--David M'Oto
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