Barlow arrested at tar sands protest on Parliament Hill, Sept. 26
The Tyee.ca reports, “Fresh from her first-ever political arrest at a Parliament Hill demonstration on September 26 against TransCanada Corporation’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Maude Barlow, chairperson of the Council of Canadians, told the Tyee in a recent email exchange that she hopes many others will follow her example of nonviolent civil disobedience.”
Barlow said, “I do see a new wave of civil disobedience coming and a lot of it will be led by Indigenous communities whose land, water and minerals are especially vulnerable to the global resource grab now taking place. Governments are like animals caught in a headlight; they don’t know how to deal with the financial, social and environmental crisis they have allowed the big business community to unleash on the world, so they are just ducking for cover. Communities and community resistance will lead the way to a more sustainable and just system.”
She notes, “The Keystone pipeline is only one of a number of pipelines being built to take Alberta bitumen from the tar sands – the dirtiest oil on earth – to other communities and countries where it will be refined and sold or exported. These pipelines will put the Ogallala Aquifer and the Great Lakes at risk and must be opposed. There is a huge fight back in Nebraska right now and we need to support the brave people standing up to this industry there. I felt that all the research and scientific reports are going unheeded so the time had come for more direct action.”
Barlow adds about her recent trip to Courtenay, BC, “My speech was both about the dangers of coal and the need to up the ante in our resistance to bad energy and mining policy coming from our governments. The community had gathered to talk about the need to start taking clear and direct action to get the word out about the Raven coal mine, so I was also sharing my thoughts on the need to be prepared to put more of ourselves on the line.”
The full article is at http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2011/09/30/Civil_Disobedience/.
On September 22, the Council of Canadians launched Brigette DePape’s report ‘Thinking Outside the Ballot Box: How People Power Can Stop the Harper Agenda and Create Fundamental Change‘. The engaging 24-page report, which emphasizes the need for non-violent civil disobedience, can be read at http://canadians.org/democracy/documents/OTBB-0911.pdf.
