Tag Archives: civil

Tar Sands Blockaders tell their own story in a new documentary

by BayalaHillesland628 Posted on February 22, 2013

Tar Sands Blockaders tell their own story in a new documentary

By Susie Cagle

If this past Sunday’s Forward on Climate rally showed a lot of love for President Obama, it showed even more for the nonviolent direct action going down in East Texas. Throughout the day, activists blockading construction of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline received big support from even the most law-abiding demonstrators.

But though their civil disobedience might seem mainstream within the climate movement, the blockaders are taking some seriously big risks out there, and a new documentary shows just how big. The nearly hour-long film by Garrett Graham was produced in collaboration with the blockaders and includes footage they shot themselves, from some places where journalists might fear to tread lest, you know, pepper-spray, choke-holds, etc.

You can watch the whole thing right here:

And if President Obama approves the northern leg of the pipeline and construction moves forward? Well, this sign from Sunday’s rally might be prescient:

resistkxl

Pretty straightforward on climate action, eh?

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The budget turmoil may mean no meat inspectors — and no meat

by nension Posted on February 11, 2013

The budget turmoil may mean no meat inspectors — and no meat

By Philip Bump

In every respect, the sequester is dumb. If you’re only vaguely familiar with the term as it’s being used this month: God bless you. But a little background is in order. The recently ended 112th Congress wasn’t mature enough to come up with a plan to reduce the deficit (even though it had declared that the deficit was a big priority), so it decided to build a time bomb. “If you don’t come up with a budget plan in the spring,” it said, “this thing’s gonna blow, slicing over a trillion dollars from the budget over the next decade.” The 112th Congress then laughed maniacally and did nothing for the rest of the year. Now the 113th Congress is standing around holding this big bomb, sweating nervously, mad at the previous Congress (which was almost entirely the same people).

Oh, you don’t care? Good, slash government, you say? Cool attitude. But also: Say goodbye to all of the meat you eat. From Reuters:

The Obama administration warned on Friday that across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect in March may result in furloughing every U.S. meat and poultry inspector for two weeks, causing the meat industry to shut down.

By law, meatpackers and processors are not allowed to ship beef, pork, lamb and poultry meat without the Agriculture Department’s inspection seal.

Remember before when you were like, “Who cares about budget cuts?” Now, you do. Ha ha.

Shutterstock

Can you even imagine going a day without delicacies like this?

Here is a spoiler: This is an obviously empty threat on which the president would never follow through. Obama is 51 years old. He’ll only be 54 when he leaves office. Do you think he wants to spend the rest of his life being known as the president who allowed the United States to go without meat for even an hour? When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, he suggested that the move would lose the South for Democrats for a generation. If Obama let America run out of meat, he’d lose the entire United States for Democrats for about a century.

Reuters adds this bit of trivia:

Americans consume more than 200 pounds (91 kg) of meat apiece each year, an average of slightly more than one-half pound a day.

Gross.

But, it could be worse. We could be Europe.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Sierra Club OKs law-breaking in battle against Keystone

by MayeskiLatouf679 Posted on January 23, 2013

Sierra Club OKs law-breaking in battle against Keystone

By Susie Cagle

The Sierra Club seems like the kind of folks who button the top button, not the ones who hang out on the barricades. Until now.

For the first time in the hallowed green group’s 120-year history, it will be engaging in civil disobedience at the Feb. 17 Washington, D.C., rally against the Keystone XL pipeline. Is the Sierra Club really getting wild? Well, probably not. The group won’t say what the civil disobedience will be exactly, but it will be invite-only (!), it’s been approved by the board of directors, and it’s a one-time-only event.

A 2011 Keystone XL protest at the White House.

From the Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune:

Next month, the Sierra Club will officially participate in an act of peaceful civil resistance. We’ll be following in the hallowed footsteps of Thoreau, who first articulated the principles of civil disobedience 44 years before John Muir founded the Sierra Club.

Some of you might wonder what took us so long. Others might wonder whether John Muir is sitting up in his grave. In fact, John Muir had both a deep appreciation for Thoreau and a powerful sense of right and wrong. And it’s the issue of right versus wrong that has brought the Sierra Club to this unprecedented decision. …

The Sierra Club has refused to stand by. We’ve worked hard and brought all of our traditional tactics of lobbying, electoral work, litigation, grassroots organizing and public education to bear on this crisis. And we have had great success — stopping more than 170 coal plants from being built, securing the retirement of another 129 existing plants and helping grow a clean energy economy. But time is running out, and there is so much more to do. The stakes are enormous. At this point, we can’t afford to lose a single major battle. That’s why the Sierra Club’s board of directors has for the first time endorsed an act of peaceful civil disobedience.

The Keystone XL pipeline fight has seen all manner of extralegal resistance over the last year from far scrappier characters than the Sierra Club. But for some people, engaging in civil disobedience can be a transformative, radicalizing experience. They say it’s one-time-only now, but what happens after they get their first taste of pepper spray?

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Exxon makes up with Iraq just in time for the discovery of a billion barrels of oil

by oks23po Posted on January 22, 2013

Exxon makes up with Iraq just in time for the discovery of a billion barrels of oil

By Philip Bump

expertinfantry

An American soldier stands near a 2006 oil field fire near Kirkuk.

Tensions between the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and that country’s government are high — in large part thanks to oil. ExxonMobil’s recent agreement to explore drilling within Kurdish territory sparked a ferocious response from Iraq. One military officer suggested that exploration would be “a declaration of war.”

It’s no secret what prompts such fury. There’s an enormous amount of money in the Iraqi oil fields; some of those disinclined to be generous to our former president suggest that opening Iraq’s oilfields to American companies was a motive for Bush’s initial invasion of the country. Both Kurdish and Iraqi leaders would like to maintain control over those inky streams of money, reinforcing ExxonMobil’s tricky position.

Last week, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson sat down with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in an effort to repair relationships between the two. It’s an important consideration. When Chevron announced an extraction deal in Kurdistan, Iraq banned the company from exploration elsewhere. From the Associated Press:

Iraq announced the meeting between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson in a brief statement following the talks in Baghdad. It offered few specifics, saying that the men discussed the company’s activities and working conditions in Iraq.

Tillerson said Exxon was eager to continue and expand its work in Iraq and “will take important decisions in this regard,” according to the statement. …

A spokesman for the Kurdish regional government, Safeen Dizayee, downplayed the significance of Monday’s meeting.

“What is important is the results of this meeting, not the meeting itself,” he said. “We have not seen any change in Exxon Mobil’s policies regarding its work in Kurdistan.”

Another recent announcement provides additional incentive for ExxonMobil to mend fences. From Agence France-Presse:

Iraq said on Sunday it has discovered deposits of crude equivalent to one billion barrels of oil after the first exploration work by state-owned firms in almost 30 years.

The deposits were found after exploration in Maysan province, in southern Iraq near the border with Iran, and could potentially make a significant addition to Baghdad’s already substantial reserves.

There’s no indication that ExxonMobil knew about the new discovery prior to Tillerson’s meeting. But it reinforces the value to the company in staying on the Iraqi government’s good side. ExxonMobil’s politics are the same in the Middle East as they are here: work with and support anyone that makes it easier to suck oil out of the ground. Civil wars are bad for business.

Update Patrick Osgood, correspondent for Iraq Oil Report, clarifies (and takes issue with) the report above.

We’re working to verify Osgood’s assertion that the billion-barrel find has been misreported.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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