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Bill McKibben Jailed After White House Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Vermont environmental author and activist Bill McKibben went to Washington, D.C., in hopes of getting attention by getting arrested. This weekend he got that and more: a surprise two-night stay in jail.
McKibben and 64 other protesters kicked off a two-week sit-in at White House on Saturday to oppose a $7 billion, 1,700-mile oil pipeline planned to cross the nation’s Great Plains.
U.S. Park Police had warned demonstrators that each would be arrested and quickly released with a $100 fine for trespassing. But after authorities learned that more than 2,000 people from all 50 states plan to join the protest sometime between now until Sept. 3, they jailed McKibben and his peers until a court hearing Monday — all in hopes of deterring future participants.
The police action, however, didn’t appear to stop pipeline opponents. McKibben used his one phone call from jail to tell fellow protest organizers that despite heat in the nation’s capital, all arrested were in good spirits and urged their peers to continue on.
“This was a powerful day,” McKibben said in a written statement. “It’s not the easiest thing on earth for law-abiding folk to come risk arrest. It’s hot out here today, especially when you’re wearing a suit and tie. But it’s nowhere near as hot as it’s going to get if we lose this fight.”
The Obama administration is debating whether to approve the pipeline from Canada’s tar sands to Texas refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. Supporters say it will expand the nation’s energy supply, while opponents counter it will raise emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that are warming the planet and warping precipitation and wind patterns.
McKibben and colleagues are fearful the Obama administration will permit the pipeline just as it recently opened much of Alaska to oil drilling and approved coal mining on federal land in Wyoming. Lacking money for advertising or lobbying, they’re inviting supporters to join them in Washington in hopes of luring the attention of the press, public and president.
“This pipeline has emerged as the single clear test of the president’s willingness to fight for the environment,” McKibben said in a weekend statement. “We’ve already succeeded in nationalizing this fight in a way no one thought was possible. It’s not just a group of people along the pipeline route who are opposing this project anymore. People from all 50 states will be joining us over the coming two weeks.”
After a Saturday rally at Lafayette Square Park, McKibben and supporters moved to a sit-in on the sidewalk in front of the White House. There they unfurled two large banners that read “Climate Change is Not in Our National Interest: Stop the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline” and “We Sit In Against the Keystone XL Pipeline. Obama Will You Stand Up to Big Oil?”
Police, issuing warnings to clear the area, first arrested a young woman from Wasilla, Alaska — hometown of Republican politician Sarah Palin — and then McKibben and colleagues on charges of failure to obey a lawful order.
Authorities transported the group — which included Vermont Law School professor and former White House official Gus Speth and gay rights activist Lt. Dan Choi — to a booking station before transferring all but about a dozen D.C. residents to the city’s Central Cell Block.
The protesters are scheduled to appear in court Monday, at which time their lawyers expect them to be processed and released — perhaps after each paying $100 or more on the initial charge of failure to obey a lawful order and up to $500 more on an additional charge of blocking passage.
Before the sit-in, police had said participants would be arrested and face only a $100 fine before being released the same day. But authorities since have expressed concern that the protest would divert their attention from events leading up to the Aug. 28 dedication of the capital’s new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial.
Protest coordinators at TarSandsAction.org responded in a statement: “As the dedication of the MLK Jr. memorial approaches, the sit-in outside the White House is a reminder that the great American tradition of civil disobedience is not just history. The participants are coming not with deep pockets or a partisan agenda, but with the simple idea that their voices should be heard. They will not be intimidated or deterred.”
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53 Comments so far
Show All"McKibben and 64 other protesters kicked off a two-week sit-in at White House"
65 protesters. Impressive!
From a pledge of 1500? What the hell happened?
Two-weeks worth of arrests may well add up to 1500.
CBS is reporting that 34 folks have already been arrested in a second wave.
Sorry to harp on this, but McKibben sold out some of my friends from Unity college in Maine, and is late to the civil disobedience party.
Earlier this year, after being told politely to fuck off by the White House when trying to return Jimmy Carter's solar panels to the roof, McKibben and a bunch of eager, bright-eyed students could have seized the moment by chaining themselves to the White House fence with the panels.
Instead, he vetoed the action, accepting Obama's promise that solar panels would be back on the White House roof before the end of spring. It's almost fall, and no panels.
I think protesting and being active for solutions is a far more pro-active positive stance than protesting the problem.
Message to the young: Stop trusting old farts. Our instincts are better than their sold-out "wisdom".
I think you'll find all over the world that folks who realize what is going on, know that we have reached the point where the strongest action is to humiliate by developing an unending stream of people who realize these powers that have driven us to the brink are wholly ready to stamp on the accelerator and drive this baby over the edge. Dignity, documentation tight as a drum and ALWAYS being strengthened - because ergoat - at the end of the day what you have is your dignity, the truth, and your capacity to love and carry on creatively.
RE: Stop trusting old farts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No. Stop trusting liberals.
"<" then "p" then ">" for paragraph breaks. :)
So these are the fixes that people are using when the CD forum doesn't allow paragraphs? The lack of functionality for posting here is getting very tiresome!
So, what happened to Jimmy Carter's solar panels? You all still have them?
Maybe Bill McKibben will be ready to chain himself and Carter's solar panels to the White House fence after he is done with this two weeks of civil disobedience.
Ecoeng wrote:
Actually Jimmy Carter's solar panels (installed in 1981 if my memory is correct) can't possibly still be working even if Bill McKibben does still have 'em. Not only would those panels have been of much poorer efficiency by today's standards . . . .
* * * * *
My Reply:
Ecoeng,
I know.
I am just about certain that Bill McKibben was using Jimmy Carter's solar panels as a "newsworthy" symbolic prop in his effort to call attention to the fact that the Barack Obama White House is not particularly focused on renewable energy, global warming, and climate change.
While I am not quite so pessimistic about solar panels as you are, solar hot water, geothermal, and wind turbines appear to be better alternatives at this time.
A few of the panels which heat water (solar thermal), were procured and installed on the roof of the cafeteria at Unity college by Peter Marbach in the mid 90's. There rest were in storage somewhere. I am unsure if the panels are still operating or even still on the roof. (my guess is not). Needless to say, the manufacturer of these (like all the others) have long since gone out of business and any parts are impossible to find. Many of these type panels were used on nursing homes etc. during the green rush back during the Carter admin.. Being involved in renewables myself during the first bush admin., I had received many calls to repair these systems, as I said before, parts and components were impossible to find as they were no longer made and any salvaged systems usually had the same failed components.
The rush for 'green' during the Carter admin. failed in part by Reagan policies but the main reason were numerous problems with half baked untested designs, poor siting and and the rush to profits by 'green' profiteers.
I am seeing that all over again and that goes for industrial scale 'green' too.
The roof on your house probably has a useful life of 25 years. Does that make it a scam? Should you not put roofing on your house?
I've seen statistics that say the energy payback period for PV cells is 2 to 5 years. In other words, after that period of time the panels have produced as much energy as it took to produce them.
My experience with PV panels is that they pay for themsleves in about 5 years, in milder climates.
They have a certian capital energy requirement to build, but so do nuclear, coal and oil power generation.
Your arguments stink, but they do have that touch of racism that I've come to expect from your posts.
Your armchair critiquing is ridiculous. McKibben is out there doing positive actions all the time; some of his efforts are going to be imperfect, unsuccessful, or fall flat. But he keeps strategizing and trying new things. You should applaud such courageous people, not tear them down.
So, I'm interested to know what 'pro' action you and your wise, young friends have taken recently to remedy what ails us???
This isn't arm-chair critiquing: my ass is out on the streets of the Bay Area, protesting police violence, austerity measures, for freedom of information and communication, and too many more to list.
So, yeah, even if I weren't out on the street and organizing, why would my critique of McKibben be any less valid?
I know a thing or two about what inspires people: vision of what could be, versus just being against something, the former will always win in pro-active momentum.
What you are and others are accusing me of (without proof), basely attacking an action without offering solutions of my own, is exactly what McKibben is doing: attacking a energy "solution" pipeline while abandoning a renewable positive energy change protest.
While going to jail for this tar sands protest is brave, and I guess commendable (foolish), it's a misdirection of energy.
If you want Obama to listen to you, Mr McKibben, your going to have to either start a bank or a defense contractor business. He will then sit, come, and rollover on command.
You should send McKibben your list of approved wardrobe items. Maybe the next time he breaks the law he won't also offend your highly refined sense of fashion too.
He's out there getting arrested for something he believes in ... that's not f*n real enough for you?!? Protesting and getting arrested in a suit and tie is "less effective" than what exactly? Less effective than if he had worn clothes that were pre-approved of by yourself?
Un-fricken-believable.
What the hell are you going on about? Do you want a bunch of young anarchist brats out there wearing all black with hoodies and militant scarves? Or a bunch of eco-loving hippies in their clown plants and dreadlocks? The attire choice does nothing to dispel the numbers, principle, or magnitude of this action in DC. And it prevents naysayers from writing it off. I think it's one of the finer, more savvy aspects to this action, in fact.
We need YOU to grow the f*ck up, yohocoma. Go instigate violent protests and be belligerent (or whatever point it is you're trying to make) on your own time.
What exactly do you mean by "fighters" anyway? If protesting and getting arrested is too "weak" for you then what is your solution? Are you proposing some kind of left wing Brownshirt group?
Folks - you are witnessing a police state - do you really fully understand what that means? You are positioning yourself precisely where the dynamics want you. From the tone of some of the comments - there are some cards missing from the deck.
I don't think I even fully understand your second sentence. ;)
Who are the "dynamics"? And are you addressing McKibben et al or the commenters?
It isn't clear to me why they were arrested, other than the police telling them to move on. We have some kind of polite fascism here where you have the right to do this and this and this but it all comes with asterisks and fine print.
In the crazy reaction to the events of 11 September 2001, loitering -really just being- in the park across the street from the WH or on the sidewalk on the WH side was made illegal. Presumably to prevent folks from launching RPGs at the Rose Garden. ;)
bugmenot wrote:
It isn't clear to me why they were arrested, other than the police telling them to move on. We have some kind of polite fascism here where you have the right to do this and this and this but it all comes with asterisks and fine print.
* * * *
My Reply:
bugmenot,
Check out Howard Zinn's 1990s talk called "Second Thoughts on the First Amendment" particularly the part about "prior restraint" for his perspective on the fine print.
See "Free Speech: Second Thoughts on the First Amendment" from the book Declarations of Independence by Howard Zinn as excerpted by Third World Traveler.
URL: www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/FreeSpeech_DI.html
The audio version of Zinn's talk is available at Alternative Radio and may give the listener a better sense of Zinn's sense of humor.
URL: www.alternativeradio.org/products/zinh006
I first heard "Second Thoughts on the First Amendment" a year or so ago on my way out of Tampa, FL broadcast by the alternative radio station WMNF 85.5 FM.
Excerpt from “Bill McKibben Jailed After White House Tar Sands Pipeline Protest” by Kevin O’Connor:
Police, issuing warnings to clear the area, first arrested a young woman from Wasilla, Alaska — hometown of Republican politician Sarah Palin — and then McKibben and colleagues on charges of failure to obey a lawful order.
- - - - -
Excerpt from “Bill McKibben Jailed After White House Tar Sands Pipeline Protest” by Kevin O’Connor:
The protesters are scheduled to appear in court Monday, at which time their lawyers expect them to be processed and released — perhaps after each paying $100 or more on the initial charge of failure to obey a lawful order and up to $500 more on an additional charge of blocking passage.
* * * * *
My Comment:
So, spending huge amounts of your own money or other people's money including money from that corporate treasury you can write checks against in order to drown out other people's speech with the speech of your choice is not illegal, but making a "public nuisance" of yourself so that someone, somewhere (not necessarily in D.C. of course) just might hear you amidst all the propaganda and listen to you is illegal.
That's the U.S. Supreme Court for you.
Looks like they are getting good coverage so far. :)
My search turned up 444 articles including CBS News, The Globe and Mail, Agence-France Presse, the CBC, and the Washington Post.
A big, stupid project like this pipeline really is tailor made for the eco-folks to use as a wedge into combating the whole damned polluting system.
The trick will be to emulate the OTHER side of the Civil Rights direct action sit-in protest with intentional arrests example:
Make the choice to build or not build the pipeline a basic test of moral authority and human decency.
Obama cannot be allowed to approve the pipeline and promise to do better later this time. It must be boldly and repeatedly stated:
"Mr. Obama, this pipeline is hurting YOUR OWN CHILDREN!"
What sort of man would harm his own children for ad money from oil men? THAT must be the question that this action gets USAns asking each other.
-matti.
Bulletin! Bulletin! .....
Obama comments on arrests made in Washington D.C. while coming off the golf course on his Martha's Vineyard vacation...
"MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. PURRRRRRR. MEOW. MEOW." ....
That was corporate lemming Kitty Cat (formerly called President) OBAMA speaking out about the arrests of many tax paying U.S. citizens protesting against very serious corporate short-term profit making policy leading eventually to death, misery, and, utter destruction for all via the policy shift to tar sands energy development vs. its alternative >>> sustainable energy development ... MEOW!
Ha!
Definitely an early front-runner for Thread Winner! ;)
(MEOW!)
This mandatory suit and tie stuff is just ridiculous.
What will Mckibben and the organizers do if I don't show up at the CD action without a suit and tie; call the police on me?
I seriously doubt it.
McKibben et al are taking a page from the Civil Rights Struggle handbook with the "respectable clothes" thing. I'm not sure how effective it will be in this situation. But I'd bet just office casual would satisfy them.
The goal is really "no freaks looking freaky" but they can't just SAY that, it would be rude. ;)
Yes it's true; McKibben must be a sell out, or a tool of the state because he doesn't wear clothes that you approve of ... The people on here commenting about Bill McKibben's attire are beyond ridiculous.
Just like those segregated lunch-counter protesters in the 60's -- right? -- who insisted on wearing a suit and tie when they launched their sit-ins. Dude, does that mean they were they really tools of The Man???
I agree, the armchair critics on this site look like clueless clowns. There are those who actually show up for protests, and those who ... well, you know who you are.
pjd412 wrote:
This mandatory suit and tie stuff is just ridiculous. What will Mckibben and the organizers do if I don't show up at the CD action without a suit and tie; call the police on me?
* * * * *
My Reply:
pjd412,
Mandatory?
I seriously doubt Bill McKibben is going to interfere with your right to be arrested.
Look, some of you want to harp on McKibben "selling out" and his wearing a suit and tie...ok, if that's your gripe, but at least he is out there and taking risks. I don't know him personally, but I assume that like most people he'd rather NOT spend time in jail, but that's where he is. I'm not, and you're not either. He could be writing a book from the comfort of his home or office.
The point is the action he and others are taking is a start, and there will be others here who will certainly show the commitment to bringing attention to this issue that other activists have in the past on other issues.
I say tip your hat to McKibben, don't rip into him. Think he's wrong, or a sell-out? Then YOU go do something bigger and better.
I've been disappointed by McKibben pulling punches in the past.
But if he and his cohorts take this action as the phase 1 of an escalating plan that it should be, I will readily support them.
Exactly. Well said, haleatus. I don't agree 100% with McKibben's philosophy or strategy or politics, but my hat is off to the man for actually putting his ass on the line on this issue. That's more than I can say for most of the armchair critics on this site, who seem to be more interested in scoring points by demonstrating their political purity and cleverness than by actually taking action when the right opportunity arises.
Talk doesn't boil the water, as the Buddhists say.
Every single protest in the U.S. since GWB & GWB II took office has failed. The Spark will not come from the usual suspects that lurk in and around D.C. chatting-up protest ideas while sipping lattes.
Chose your battles wisely.
moonpie wrote:
Every single protest in the U.S. since GWB & GWB II took office has failed.
- - - - -
My Reply:
Why?
Because each one of them failed to remove GWB or GWBII from office and topple capitalism?
* * * * *
moonpie wrote:
The Spark will not come from the usual suspects that lurk in and around D.C. chatting-up protest ideas while sipping lattes.
- - - - -
My Reply:
Wow, your description nails Bill McKibben to the wall!
Not!
Nevertheless, you are right.
"The Spark will not come from the usual suspects that lurk in and around D.C. chatting-up protest ideas while sipping lattes."
* * * * *
moonpie wrote:
Chose your battles wisely
- - - - -
My Reply:
Always a good idea. In fact, virtually a platitude.
Police rationales for arrests these days, which effectively nullify speech and assembly Constitutional rights, tend to be either based on matters of convenience (clearing up for Martin Luther King Day) or they fall into the deterrent strategy category (strike fear in others). So, you've got an army of police that routinely process people in this way and not much questioning about such behavior. Does keeping sidewalks clear of crowds trump Constitutionally protected speech? Apparently so.
Two-day detentions without due process now appear to be standard practice. The explanation is that the bureaucracy can take that long, even though it's a violation of habeas corpus.
The police, in the most benevolent interpretation, are just dumb actors doing a job for others up the authority chain. This is just donuts and coffee and overtime to them, and maybe someone's promotion. Washington itself has no conception outside of oil politics, so even if they heard the protest by McKibben and others, they wouldn't listen. And that's also true of the Democrats that McKibbben supports.
Something else must be tried. It's not that people shouldn't protest - it's that they need to take control. The nonviolent approach would be third-party politics. Let's try that. Why continue to appeal to people in Washington who won't act on behalf of the public interest?
As one of many Canadians who oppose the tar sands developpment in Alberta, I want to thank you Americans who are facing police action for your opposition to the Keystone Pipeline. Gangster oil from Alberta is extracted with little regard for the environment in Alberta, and the industry is bankrolling a bunch of knuckledragging Conservatives who run our country. It is a dispicable situation, and it is heartening to see people with the guts to actually do something about it.
Freespeaker, I truly wish we were doing more. I wish all of Canada would wake to this movement of corruption and be more vocal. Maybe you are and ...why would I expect anyone here to report it? Keep fighting. Don't become idiotic cynics like so many Amerikants who develop, "why bothers". So many have just sat down on their keisters and failed to do anything but bitch about tv or cell reception...or the lives of the r&f...
sad state of affairs. People will eventually get what they have earned from doing nothing.
News release from Canadian Broadcasting Corp. about how Provincial and Federal Gov'ts are ignoring scientific evidence about cancer rates in Native communities downriver of the tar sands . Worth seeing the corruption at local level, letting dirt poor native people die of cancer rather than hold the oil industry accountable.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/08/19/edm-cancer-oilsands-fort-chipewyan-study.html
Geez, folks are really becoming so fricking cynical. I don't understand the attacks on McKibben. Instead of just bitching why don't you get your tired asses away from your computers and to DC and join the protest (and maybe spend a night or two in jail)!
Right there you are SrStar. In the true fashion of so many who, as we speak are in jail now for protesting at the OakRidge Nuclear plant in Tennessee that Obusha just awarded another gazillion to to make more bombs, giving up their freedom, even life. Sr. Jackie Hudson OP Presente'.........
If we don't act we will be run over by something that will murder the world.
The ramification domino effect of the tar sands is mind boggling. By destroying habitat for billions of birds, the bug eating machine goes down over the US. Then Monsanto and Dupont, Dow or ADM, in collution with the USDA, will fumigate and poison us all the more. The deathly hollow whisper of human life will eventually drift into oblivion.
Our actions are the only hope because NO ONE at the top or near the top riding around in pockets...gives a damn.
1-202-456-1414 Make the call.
"But authorities since have expressed concern that the protest would divert their attention from events leading up to the Aug. 28 dedication of the capital’s new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial."
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King
Most appropriate, my guess is that MLK Jr. wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Nagamaki, good observation, and SOOOO true.
nagamaki wrote:
"But authorities since have expressed concern that the protest would divert their attention from events leading up to the Aug. 28 dedication of the capital’s new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial." "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Most appropriate, my guess is that MLK Jr. wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
* * * * *
My Comment:
nagamaki,
Right you are!
Thanks for the Martin Luther King quote.