Although we live during a time when the term ‘citizen’ has been largely supplanted by corporate misnomers like ‘stakeholders’ and ‘customers’ and ‘taxpayers,’ the concept of citizenship still lives in the hearts of many. And while we hear all the time about the ‘rights’ of stakeholders, not often are we
Continue readingTag: Civil Disobedience
Politics and its Discontents: Urban Camouflage for Canada’s Soldiers?
The past dozen or so years have left most of us familiar with the pixelated camouflage pattern, pioneered in Canada, and worn by many nations’ soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Americans are now going back to a more traditional camouflage for their combat uniforms. Canada, however, is not. We
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Five strategies to stop Enbridge’s Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline
by: Brent Patterson | First published by The Council of Canadians on June 16, 2014 A map of Enbridge’s proposed $6.5 billion Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline. Map from Mining.com The Harper government must announce its decision on the 525,000 barrels per day Northern Gateway tar sands export pipeline by midnight tomorrow.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: 400 peaceful Keystone XL pipeline protesters arrested at White House
by: Obert Madondo Nearly 400 youth were arrested on March 2 outside the White House during the XL Dissent, a non-violent, student-led action to stop TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. The students had marched from Georgetown University, where US President Barack Obama made a significant climate change speech last summer, to the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Beware the Saviour-Industrial Complex
If you’ve been a bit leery about online “change” merchants like Change.org, for example, your caution might have been well grounded. The Guardian’s Oscar Rickett explains there’s little real change to be had at the click of a mouse button. We’re living in the age of “change” as an all-purpose
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Civil disobedience as law enforcement
Historian and author Jeremy Brecher argues that activists who engage in acts of civil disobedience and risk arrest are upholding the law, not violating it. The post Civil disobedience as law enforcement appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This Is What Engaged Citizenship Looks Like
On Friday, fifty-four members of the global climate movement were arrested in Washington, DC after blockading the offices of an environmental engineering firm responsible for contributing to what protesters see as a deeply flawed impact statement on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a controversial tar sands project that has become
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Oklahoma Grandmother Locks Herself to Keystone XL Heavy Machinery
In response to Exxon Mobil’s disastrous tar sands spill in neighboring Arkansas, Oklahoma residents are engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience to halt construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline By: Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance | Press Release: ALLEN, OK – April 9, 2013 – Oklahoma grandmother Nancy Zorn, 79, from
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: In Texas, An Activist Climbs Flagpole, Hangs Banner Denouncing Alberta Tar Sands
LyondellBasell recently announced its plans to nearly triple its tar sands refining capacity from the Keystone XL pipeline as protests escalate across the continent By: Tar Sands Blockade | Press Release: HOUSTON, TX – An activist with Tar Sands Blockade climbed a 50 foot flagpole in front of LyondellBasell’s downtown Houston office
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
We act not because it’s easy, but because it’s right. Thousands of people are gathering in Washington DC today to send a message to President Obama that clean air, clean water, and a stable climate are not negotiable – the Keystone XL Pipeline must not be approved. *
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Keystone XL pipeline: Leaders in historical act of civil disobedience in front of White House
48 environmental, civil rights, and community leaders engage in historic act of civil disobedience to stop Keystone XL pipeline. Julian Bond, Bill McKibben, Michael Brune, and others arrested in front of White House in call for action on climate. By Sierra Club | Feb. 13, 2013: WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, 48 environmental,
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Sierra Club Canada statement on civil disobedience
by Sierra Club Canada | Feb 1, 2013: The follow statement originated from the January 31, 2013 meeting of the Board of Directors of Sierra Club Canada: “Sierra Club Canada is an independent body that sets its own priorities and policies. Sierra Club Canada recognizes that the climate is rapidly approaching a
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Time For Sublime Madness
Chris Hedges believes that we face a dark future. What awaits us is an era of upheaval: The planet we have assaulted will convulse with fury. The senseless greed of limitless capitalist expansion will implode the global economy. The decimation of civil liberties, carried out in the name of fighting
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Sierra Club to engage in civil disobedience to stop Canadian tar sands
by Sierra Club | Jan 22, 2013: San Francisco, CA – The Sierra Club Board of Directors has approved the one-time use of civil disobedience for the first time in the organization’s 120-year history. Recognizing the imminent danger posed by climate disruption, including record heat waves, drought, wildfires and the devastation of
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Norway’s experience with Big Oil offers lessons for Idle No More
by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Jan 21, 2013: Norway’s experience with Big Oil offers lessons for Idle No More and other progressive movements determined to stop Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives from turning Canada into a petro-state. Earlier, I blogged about a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: In Ottawa, Thousands of #IdleNoMore And Allied Protesters Demand Real Change (PHOTOS)
by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | Jan 11, 2013 7.00 PM EST #IdleNoMore’s show of people-power forced Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stay for entire five hours of meeting with First Nations leaders. More than five thousand #IdleNoMore protesters gathered in Ottawa today as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leaders held a closed-door
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: When Rallies, Flyers and Public Forums Won’t Work
They call themselves Deep Green Resistance Vancouver. They’re a group of local environmental activists calling “for militant action – including sabotage – to defend the environment.” Although they emphasize that as an aboveground organization they’ll only engage in nonviolent actions, one of the group’s stated objectives is to “shift public
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Idle No More: Map Reveals A Global Movement
Map shows places around the world where Idle No More blockages, rallies, flash mobs, teach-ins, hunger strikes and other acts of civil disobedience against Prime Minister Stephen Harper have occurred in the last few days. Says the creator of the map, Toronto-based investigative researcher and journalist, Tim Groves: Although far from a complete list,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Let’s Make a Deal
What worries me whenever I see a poll suggesting that the Harper Cons might be toppled in 2015 is how far off that day is and what impetus that gives Harper to finish his dirty deeds.Long have I suspected that Harper has calculated that, like a sneak t…
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: 1000 youth converge in Ottawa to demand just solutions to climate and economic crises
by We Are Powershift From October 26 to October 29, 1000 youth from across the country will converge at Power Shift 2012 in Ottawa to galvanize a broad movement pushing the federal government to aggressively reduce carbon emissions and tackle the corporations that are fueling climate change, building on the momentum
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