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Eleven brave souls have climbed into trees and chained themselves to equipment in Texas to block the Keystone XL pipeline.
Activists climbed 80 feet to set up “Tree Village” and locked themselves to critical machinery directly in the path of the planned oil pipeline. They have pledged to stay there until construction has stopped once and for all, but living in a tree or chained to machinery, exposed to the elements, is no easy task.
Work on the Keystone XL pipeline can’t continue until the Blockaders have been removed, so Firedoglake is sending supplies to help demonstrators stay in the way for as long as possible.
Last year we helped 80 Occupy groups get through the winter, so when the Blockaders asked for help, we drew from our experience to build a state-of-the-art care package that includes light-weight woobie blankets, socks, hats, jackets, and more – but we need your help to get the package to Texas immediately.
Can you donate $10 or more to help us send supplies to the Keystone XL Blockaders?
Click here to donate: https://secure.firedoglake.com/page/contribute/kxl-blockaders
Stopping the Keystone XL pipeline is extremely important to us at Firedoglake. John Chandley and myself were arrested last year in front of the White House as part of the Tar Sands sit-in action that saw the arrest of 1,252 people — the largest act of civil disobedience so far this century.
We really respect and admire the conviction of these brave individuals who are putting it all on the line for what they believe in. We spoke with the organizers of the Keystone XL Blockade and used our expertise in supporting sustained protest to put together the following care package:
- Lightweight woobie blankets (aka poncho-liners)
- Socks
- Light wool hats
- Glove liners
- Handwarmers
- Safety Vests
- Tee Shirts
- Bandannas
- Fleece jackets
Supporting those who put themselves in harms way to defend our values is critical to sustaining a culture of resistance so badly needed in this country right now. Can you please chip in $10 to help us send supplies to the Keystone XL Blockaders immediately?
Click here to donate $10 or more to send supplies to the Keystone XL Blockaders.
We’ll keep you updated once we hear they’ve received our package. Thank you so much in advance for your generosity and support.
14 Comments
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About FDL Action
I really respect these people. It’s great to be able to use the knowledge we gained helping occupiers out to help other protesters.
More info: http://tarsandsblockade.org/tree-sit-day2/
Running a pipeline which carries this stuff across a number of states that get water from here. What could possibly go wrong?
Where is 350 and McKibbon on this. Someone asked yesterday and so far has there even been a tweet? (asks the non twitter person) Nothing on the 350 website so far.
Thank you to the brave people doing this action. And thanks FDL for finding a way for us to show support.
McKibbon is aware and is tweeting even as I type:
https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/250998698220347392
https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/250998492485541888
https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/250997478940344320
https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/250997355065794561
I was wondering since the 350.org site didn’t mention it so far. I guess I should join the twitter generation. Thanks for hyperlinking.
My deepest gratitude to the brave Blokaders.
Thank you, Jane and FDL for creating a Support movement. It feels good to be able to help.
It’s great to see FDL taking the lead in supporting this Grassroots Action since the demonstrations at the White House were so cleverly deflected. I believe this shows the real battles will be waged on the streets or in the woods in this case not in the centers of power.
I’m going to check the sites of the other enviornmental NGO’s to see if they are planning action or just commenting on events.
ok
Please report on what you find. Thanx.
Where are the Tea Party activist???
This is all about jack boot big government taking private land from individual landowners using eminent domain, not for a public purpose, but for private corporate profits, and in this case, the profits go to a Canadian corporation making profit shipping US oil to market where US crude can be refined and exported to the global market.
Canadian crude has been polluting the US regularly with leaks from the many pipelines from Canada into the US, but no one organizes protests of real active pollution. Fighting the existing pollution and getting the laws and regulation on existing pipelines would drive up the costs of pipelines and make them more expensive to build.
McKibben certainly turned the Tea Party into supporters of jack boot big government eminent domain taking of private property for foreign profits by the politicizing what should have been a right-wing hot button issue as leftist hot button issue.
Note, the difference between this pipeline and a road (or high speed rail) taking is the ownership is American to serve the public of America including the American owners of the land taken, and not taking American land as a form of colonial exploitation of Americans for alien corporate profits.
Earth First appears to be the only enviornmental group actively involved in this action. All the others i checked were silent including 350.org which mentioned the Blokade months ago.
I hope Jane continues to update this standoff and possibly expand the coverage to myFDL to gather more support.
The news needs to get out that torture and abuse are already being used to suppress the Blokade.
Jane:
Ben Franklin, one of those tortured by police yesterday, was my housemate for about a year in Houston. He’s as gentle a soul as you can imagine, loving, kind and dedicated. It hurts me to hear of his treatment.
Additionally, I believe friends of mine from Occupy Austin are participating in the tree sit.
Thank you so much for throwing the weight of Firedoglake’s support into this cause. It means a lot to me, and makes me even more proud to be part of the FDL team.