[www-features] e toIMC-ORG FEATURE PROPOSAL: The largest act of civil disobedienc happen in the US this Monday!!!

Fri Feb 27 09:06:45 PST 2009

Article presently found on imc-ie includes 2 embedded youtube vids and 1 embedded audio MP3 from Democracy Now!

The largest act of civil disobedience to happen in the US this Monday!!!The climate camp "movement" is growing: engage, teach, learn,
demonstrate alternatives, skill share, be moved, prepare, take direct
action

 Al Gore: "I
believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil
disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants." 

Next Monday The largest act of civil disobedience will happen against global warming in the US. A large protest has been called at a coal-fired plant in Washington, D.C, 11,000 people are expected. In the days leading up to the protest, youth climate activists are organizing a conference called Power Shift ’09.
Thousands of student activists plan to lobby lawmakers on Capitol Hill,
urging them to rebuild the economy through bold climate and clean
energy policy. 

Looks like the "climate camp movement" is continuing to grow globally
and momentum is building in the lead up to COP15... Ireland too are
organising thing for this summer. Also Greenpeace´s "lawful excuse" court battle win might open the flood gates for more direct action...                  

The largest act of civil disobedience to happen in the US this Monday!!!
      On September 24, 2008, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York city:

 "If you're a young person looking at the
future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and
not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for
civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that
do not have carbon capture and sequestration." 

>From Yesterdays Democracy Now show:

Full audio is embedded at end of this article

 JESSY TOLKAN: We’re a coalition of fifty
really diverse organizations that range from young evangelicals to
young people from indigenous communities across the country to college
students. We have united around a bold vision for what we think needs
to happen on climate change.

We are pushing for aggressive, short-term reductions on carbon in our
country, on the range of 25 to 40 percent reductions by the year 2020
and 80 to 95 percent reductions by the year to 2050. We want an
immediate moratorium on coal in this country. We want unprecedented
levels of investment in clean energy infrastructure and technology. And
we really want the Congress and the President to usher in a new green
economy and help create millions of new green jobs.

AMY GOODMAN: I’m looking at a piece in the British
paper, The Guardian, about what’s happening here, this massive amount
of young people coming to Washington. It says, “The massive sign-up
drive has generated a fierce rivalry between different universities to
see who can bring the largest number of participants. With only 48
hours to go, Middlebury College trails the University of Vermont by
only four participants with 194 coming.”

Ben Wessel, who’s leading the recruitment drive at Middlebury, says, "We are bringing over 10% of our whole student body.”

Inspirational stories continue to pour in from around the country. “One
sorority in Texas has rescheduled its initiation because the dates
conflicted with Power Shift, while a group in California has started
its epic train journey across the States to avoid having to fly.” 

AMY GOODMAN: What’s the plant you’re protesting?

DANNY CHIOTOS: It’s the Capitol Coal Plant that’s just
blocks from the US Capitol. It’s providing the US Capitol and federal
buildings with heat and cooling. It’s not an electricity-generating
plant. And this plant is a symbol of where our Congress is at right
now. We need to push them to make that transition away from coal.

And it’s not just about this plant. This plant is a symbol of a bigger
problem, that we’re addicted to coal and that coal is killing people in
West Virginia, in the communities that I come from.

And we have the opportunity right now to transition to create millions
of green jobs all around the country and ensure that the transition
happens in the places where it’s needed the most, and ensure workers in
the coal industry and fossil fuels industry can find employment in
these green industries. 

Jessy Tolkan, Executive director of the Energy Action Coalition. Danny
Chiotos, member of the Student Environmental Action Coalition.

http://www.capitolclimateaction.org/ + http://www.powershift09.org/splash 

full DN! feature: Power Shift: Youth Climate Activists Swarm D.C. for Weekend of Organizing, Lobbying and Protest

http://i4.democracynow.org/2009/2/26/power_shift_youth_...swarm

+ http://blip.tv/file/get/Demnow-DemocracyNowThursdayFebr...7.mp4

Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

So read a leading article in the UK´s Independant after 6 Greenpeace
activists historic court win using "lawful excuse" in support of their
direct action of scaling Kingsnorth coal power station in Kent, the
site of last summers Climate Camp actions. On Sunday December 12, 2008
the New York Times included the Kingsnorth defence in its annual list
of the most influential ideas that will change our lives. Under the
heading ‘Climate-Change Defense, The' the newspaper said the verdict
‘shook up the world of green politics'. 

So who knows, the precedent is there (the same legal strategy was used
when the Ploughshares finally won their courtcase), there is sure to be
arrests next monday, but perhaps they will use the Greenpeace case to
back up their calls for supporting Gores calls to action...?

Eitherway, what ever happens, fair play to the US activists. I have
been in some direct contact with a few of them from Barcelona and there
is definately very exciting things happening there, yes Obama has
played a bit in the collective bold dreaming, and from that organising
to action, but its more than that. We will see how Monday goes, it
would be nice if we could let them know we support their actions and
wish them well in their direct actions, confrontation with police,
court time, and possibly jail time.

Climate change Coverage on Democracy Now! + largest act of civil disobedience against global warming in US

The DN! feature was one of 3 on the critical theme of Climate change, full show can be found at:

http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2009/2/26

The other 2 features were:

* Member of UN Environment Panel Warns Greenhouse Emissions Rising at Alarming, Unexpected Rate

We speak to Chris Field, a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about his warning that the
amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is rising more rapidly
than expected in recent years. Field says the current trajectory of
climate change is now much worse than the IPCC had originally
projected. On Wednesday, Field told a Senate panel droughts caused by
global warming could make parts of the American Southwest dangerous to
live in.

* Study Finds Unprecedented Growth in Climate Change Lobbying

A new report from the Center for Public Integrity reveals that the
number of global warming lobbyists has increased by more than 300
percent in the past five years. In the past year, some 770 companies
hired over 2,000 climate change lobbyists and spent an estimated $90
million to influence federal policy on climate change. We speak to the
report’s lead author, Marianne Lavelle.

Related infos:

Climate Camp 08 - non violant protest against coal station meets police violence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkwpQnR3Pxg

climate camp UK

http://climatecamp.org.uk/home

Beneath Heathrow's pall of misery, a new political movement is born (climate camp 2007)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/21/com...sport

New York Times: Climate-Change Defense

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/magazine/14Ideas-Sect...?_r=1

Greenpeace historic "lawful excuse" direct action and courtcase win:

Government moves in to strip juries of its power in climate protest cases

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press-releases/gover...81218

Independant: Cleared: Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change....html

Al Gore speaks out in favor of direct action

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nonviolent_d...ction

An Inconveniant Truth: Al Gores film on the stark reality of climate change

http://www.climatecrisis.net/ + trailer: http://www.climatecrisis.net/trailer/

IMC-WASHINGTON DC

http://dc.indymedia.org/

Whats all this Climate Camp stuff then?

http://itsafunnyoldworld.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/clima...camp/

Zero Carbon Caravan > COP15. Live radio project(s), zero carbon world concert(s) for a zero carbon world

http://itsafunnyoldworld.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/zero-...avan/

Irish Climate Camp National Meeting

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/90811

> COP 15

http://www.climateaction09.org/

# klimaX

http://klimax2009.org/

# UK-ClimateCamp

http://climatecamp.org.uk/

# Peoples Climate Protocol

http://peoplesclimateprotocol.aprnet.org/content/view/1...3/26/ 

We are the change: The largest act of civil disobedience to happen in the US this Monday!!!

Powershift 09: The largest act of civil disobedience to happen in the US this Monday!!!