From It’s Going Down
Block the flows of fossil fuels and capital. Build connection and new worlds through struggle. Fight where you can. Connect with other people about it. May 12-19, and also every other moment.
In our daily lives, in the ecosystems we live in, in the ever stranger and more violent weather patterns we are subject to, and in even the most mainstream of capitalist media, we are bombarded by increasingly dire proof of what we’ve known all along: catastrophic climate change is happening and will only amplify as more fossil fuels are extracted and burned. A host of other environmental and human crises affect us at the same time. In the face of this, we are given three official options: denial, despair, or delegation to those who “know better,” those whose “job” it is to fix these problems—through the same means that got us into them.
But all over the world, brave and compassionate souls have shown that we can also choose defiance. From resistance to mountaintop removal in Appalachia, to rebellion against Shell Oil in the Niger Delta, to pipeline blockades all across North America, and to anyone in any corner of the world who has stood their ground against those who threaten their lands with plunder and devastation, we have a thousand examples of people moving beyond and against the state to defend what they love and what nurtures them.
In resistance, we strengthen the human and non-human bonds that keep us alive and thriving. In the US, we saw a generation re-awake through direct opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. The state will always seek to divide and disempower us through fear and co-option—let’s remember that we can outwit their strategies through action, care, and strength of heart.
This is a call for a multitude of diverse actions against the infrastructure of the fossil fuel economy. The capitalist project of destruction and dispossession oftentimes feels omnipotent, and it pays to remind ourselves how vulnerable and interconnected this complex system really is. So, an invitation to act in the way that feels most relevant to each person or community’s experience and context. At least we can take solace in the fact that there’s no shortage of options!
Some questions/points to consider:
– What fossil fuel infrastructure is active in your area? Pipelines, mines, refineries, wells, machinery, rigs, supply chains, capital…
– Where are the chokepoints and vulnerable areas? What can be done to achieve the most disruption relative to risk?
– What’s the social context where you live? What affects people’s lives directly and what resonates? What’s your relationship to the land and the people there?
– Any struggle needs a wide variety of tasks to survive, amplify, and generalize. Organization, publication, cooking, writing, art, networking, reflection, clandestine and open direct action of many types, festivity, all sorts of logistical support… What are the characters and needs of struggles in your area? What are you capable of and inclined towards?
– What does indigenous life and struggle look like in your area? What has it looked like historically?
In direct opposition to their world, we build and strengthen our own worlds and selves.
Please do what you can to translate and disseminate this through your networks and media. Modify it to fit your context, put it up on posters, talk to your friends. Communiques and action reports vigorously encouraged.
For life and joy, against the machinery of death!
We need all hands on deck in the so called “Hudson Valley.” Come join Hudson Valley Earth First! for a climb/action camp as we continue the fight against the Valley Lateral Pipeline and the Corporate Power Ventures Power Plant in Orange County, New York. We are looking for folks to come join us for this campaign in order to help build capacity for this fight, and for the fight against future infrastructure projects in this region. Feel free to join us at any time- just email us to let us know when you can come through. Otherwise, we’ll see you at camp from January 19- 22.
Enbridge’s plan for line 10 is to replace 35 kilometers of pipeline running between Hamilton and Binbrook. The line is 55 years old and has been the source of many “smaller” leaks in the area, each of which wreak irreversible damage on the surrounding ecosystem. Enbridge of course has no concern for the watershed or communities around the pipeline, and wants only to increase profits and so they are nearly doubling the diameter of the pipeline in order to accommodate more oil. The expansion of this pipeline means an increase in Tar Sands extraction. It’s important to remember that even when pipelines aren’t actively spilling, the oil trudging through them poisoned millions of gallons of water an hour in its production. The Line 10 project is part of Enbridge’s larger pipeline expansion plan which (as predicted) has been rubber-stamped by Canada’s farcical National Energy Board. The only meaningful accommodations that Enbridge has been forced to make have nothing to do with conservation of life or land, but rather preserving the integrity of two upper class golf courses which Enbridge has agreed to build around so as not to disturb any games this summer. These are the values reflected by Canada’s only environmental oversight on this project – protect wealth at all costs, disregard anything that stands in the way.
Our occupation of S/A Energy’s headquarters lasted from about 6am until 2pm. Spirits stayed high throughout the day as we warmed our toes by the fire, showed off some slick dance moves, and enjoyed a hot homecooked taco buffet out of the back of a pickup truck. We were kept on our toes by the perpetual shenanigans of the police and S/A managers who were desperate to see the work day continue as planned. One of the most dramatic moments came when a line of S/A work trucks attempted to make a back-door escape across a snowy field and over a roadside ditch. Though one truck made it out, some fast moving bloackaders were able to head-off the second truck, and watched as it oafishly rolled back into the ditch. A loud crack let us know that the axle of the truck wasn’t happy, and the spinning of the tires let us know that the truck wouldn’t be moving anywhere without a tow. We laughed and celebrated the thought of S/A sabotaging their own work trucks in such a cunning plot.