TresSugar

Protesting the Weather: Climate Change Activists Storm Capitol

LibertySugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:01:03 -0800

Activists braved the cold and snow yesterday to participate in Capitol Climate Action Day. The day of civil disobedience focused on getting the capitol's power plant to ditch coal for natural gas. Participants cut off access to the plant's entrances and refused to leave when asked. The group followed action guidelines, which included a ban on violence and damage to property.

NASA's chief climate scientist Dr. James Hansen took some heat for encouraging the act of civil disobedience. The scientist, who claimed the Bush administration muzzled him, thinks:

We need to send a message to Congress and the president that we want them to take the actions that are needed to preserve climate for young people and future generations and all life on the planet.

DC's nonvoting congressperson Eleanor Holmes Norton also supports the cause. She says the plant has "poisoned untold numbers of people who live in the District of Columbia." Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the plant, to switch it to natural gas. Maybe the protesters will get what they asked for.

To see more photos of the protest, read more.

View 9 Photos ›

Source

Anti-Advertising "Crusaders" Try to Sell Message in France

LibertySugar — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:30:51 -0800

The French are known for loving things just so. In Almost French, I learned that the sloppily dressed could make a Frenchman feel "unwell" - a taste for drama being another strength. So you can imagine, I'm sure, how ads plastered through metro tunnels, covering buildings, and lining block after city block make them feel.

Unwell enough that a group called The Dismantlers is protesting billboards. The self-titled "anti-ad crusaders" invite police to protests, making sure to offer a warm welcome upon their arrival. Three activists are then instructed to deface ads with messages like "Avert your eyes from ads: You risk being very strongly manipulated," which surely sounds better in French. When they're done, the police handcuff the vandalizers and the crowd applauds. A song, with lyrics written for the occasion, is sung. How very French?

To see what's in it for the protesters, read more.

The goal, of course, is to get arrested and gain publicity. Members of The Dismantlers gather funds to pay police fines, which run low since the vandalism is minimal. But once they get to court, they argue the righteousness of their cause. It's an "assault on individual liberties" and a "waste of money" (in French) - the ad industry is worth the country's entire education budget. It's aggressive, oppressive, and, besides, requires trees for paper.

The Dismantlers represent a fray in French life today. While the country elected moderate-conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and citizens enjoy the decadent lifestyle of the West, a large percentage of the population is still hostile toward the capitalist system. If "hostile" means protests filled with applause and song.

Source

Al Gore Calls For "Civil Disobedience" Against New Coal Plants

CitizenSugar — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:45:35 -0700

At the fourth annual Clinton Global Initiative kicked off yesterday in New York City, Al Gore made a perhaps inconvenient call to action: civil disobedience. Gore, surrounded by Queen Raina, Clinton, and Bono painted a grim planetary picture:

This is a rout. We are losing badly. This is the result of a dysfunctional, insane global system pattern that we have to change.

Then his plan to gain ground on the climate crisis:

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.

To see what he means, read more.

Currently 28 coal plants are under construction and another 20 more have been approved. The carbon capture he mentioned is a technology that keeps coal plant emissions out of the atmosphere by liquefying them and storing them in underground rock layers, long term. Capture doesn't exist yet in a commercial scale as the cost to implement it increases any project's budget by 50 percent.

Gore summed up his case against coal like this: “Clean coal is like healthy cigarettes - it does not exist.” Are you with Gore? Is it time for civil disobedience - or is calling for it an irresponsible act?

Source

Does Civil Disobedience Like "Critical Mass" Inspire Change?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:03:45 -0700

If you live in a city, chances are you know to avoid the streets during the last Friday of every month. That's when the event, Critical Mass, takes over with hoards of bicyclers all gathered together to ride the streets, snarling traffic, and calling attention to the plight of the two-wheeled rider. Some call it a social movement, a celebration, some a protest ride, and others, the mildly creative, "Critical Mess." Whatever the nomenclature, it's a happening that inspires passion - like this video taken at last Friday's Critical Mass ride in New York City.

In the video - especially in the slow-motion replay - it appears as though the police officer approaches the bicyclist and shoves him over. The officer has since been placed on desk duty pending investigation of the incident, but the video fully encompasses the conflicting viewpoints of mass disobedience as a means to enact change. The riders intend to disrupt order. That's the means by which they make their message heard - the thought is if enough people, a critical mass of people, follow suit and subjugate the norm, the norm will be questioned. However, from those on the other end of the "conversation," the disruption caused by these methods does more to denigrate the cause than to gain followers.

To those questioning why the police don't do more to control the event, and perhaps stop events like the one captured in the video, the Seattle Post Intelligencer had this to say yesterday: "police don't exactly have a hands-off policy, but they're not going to devote significant resources to the regular act of civil disobedience."

Is Critical Mass the perfect example of change-inspiring civil demonstration, or is the emphasis really on "disobedience?"

Civil Disobedience 2009 Edition: Resisting Home Foreclosures

CitizenSugar — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:00:47 -0800

Homeowners soon to lose that title are finding support form neighbors, community activists, and law enforcement officials alike. A civil disobedience campaign is sweeping the country, and many facing foreclosure are refusing to leave their homes.

Community activist group ACORN has launched a Home Defender campaign, training teams to organize on short notice before an officers arrives to evict a family. The teams will gather family and friends to meet at the home, while others will alert the media that a family is about to resist an eviction. ACORN is also recruiting lawyers to defend the civil disobeyers free of charge.

In some counties, government officials are refusing to enforce evictions, too. A sheriff in Ohio said: "This is a cold place in the Winter and I will not give people a death sentence for not paying their debts."

If banks and corporations get help facing the consequences of bad financial decisions, should individual homeowners get a break, too?

Source

What Is the Clinton Global Initiative?

LibertySugar — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:00:39 -0700

This week heads of state, nonprofit leaders, and philanthropists met for the fourth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). By gathering global leaders, the ex-Pres hopes they will devise and implement concrete solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges. Since 2005, CGI has committed $30 billion to programs that have impacted 200 million lives in more than 150 countries.

Some of the highlights from this year have included:

Bono spoke out about global priorities: "It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G-8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable disease and hunger."
Wyclef Jean's foundation committed to providing hot school meals for 14,000 poor children, food for 20,000 families a month, thousands of new agriculture jobs, micro-enterprise grants for 165 small businesses, 36,000 farmers with seed, fertilizer, and training, and implementation of a broad communications campaign to engage international and local Haitian musicians in the Together for Haiti Campaign.
Al Gore was joined at the opening session by Clinton, Queen Rania of Jordan, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Bono and E. Neville Isdell, chairman of Coca-Cola Co.'s board. Gore called for civil disobedience against new coal plants.
Lance Armstrong, who is planning to race in next year's Tour de France, pledged $8 million to a global awareness campaign for cancer, including a meeting that would convene in Paris after the tour.

To see more pictures from the event, including shots of Jordan's Queen Rania, the presidential candidates, Drew Barrymore, and Sarah Palin, read more.

View 15 Photos ›

Source

Energy-Conscious Homeowners Hung Out to Dry

LibertySugar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:00:20 -0700

People across the world are again drying their clothes on clothes lines, as a way to cut energy costs and contribute to conservation. According to the New York Times, some of these savvy washers are finding themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Places like Ontario, Canada, still ban clotheslines, which can be an eyesore in affluent communities. When families purchase their homes, the restriction is attached to their deeds, as a result of long-standing neighborhood covenants. (In fact, my lease bans me from hanging clothes outside!) But, the aesthetic security is not doing much for environmental or financial security.

No one has figured out a way to make machine clothes dryers more energy efficient. In the meantime, bans on outdoor drying are common in Europe and North America as a way to preserve the quality of neighborhoods. This is quite the dilemma for residents who want a clear green conscience, but aren't exactly prepared to see property values slide.

Are you re-evaluating your drying habits? Would you participate in this act of civil disobedience, if it meant saving money and the planet? Are you prepared to stare at your neighbors underwear drying in the wind?

Source

Become an Activist: Peace Rallies Held Worldwide Today

CitizenSugar — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:43:05 -0700

On this, the Ides of March and near the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, rallies against the war are being held internationally. Today, antiwar protesters gathered in London's Trafalgar Square bolstering a worldwide day of protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the organizers, demonstrations are taking place from Washington to Beirut and from Sydney to Seoul.

In Rome, the US Citizens for Peace and Justice have named their demonstration today, "The Ides of March Protest: 'Et tu Congress?'" In the United States, the antiwar movement is in the midst of 10 days of civil disobedience in Washington DC, and events are scheduled today nationwide, from Santa Barbara, CA to Charleston, SC. Dozens of international events, including Madrid, Seoul, Oslo, and Reykjavik means that peace has its passport out. If you're an activist looking for an event stateside, here's a map and calendar to help you find one.

While I wholeheartedly defend the right to protest, I wonder - do you think demonstrations are an effective way to spark change? Attention-getting, to be sure, but do you think they're effective? Will you be protesting the war today?

Source