We The People are speaking up ....
From an Essay by Micah Fink, Alternet, January 18, 2018
As millions prepare to return to the streets on Saturday, January 20, for a reprise of last year’s Women’s March — the largest mass protest in American history — people of conscience are actively debating critical questions about the power of protest. Are mass protests and civil disobedience still effective? What are the most effective strategies for achieving lasting social change? What is the connection between protest movements and electoral politics? Do we need more marchers or mayors?
The “Power of Protest,” a new documentary film we’re launching on Kickstarter, seeks to answer these questions in the Trump era. The film will follow a year in the life of contemporary social movements like the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, Gays Against Guns, Lancaster Against Pipelines and Indivisible to see how they frame and pursue their objectives during a period of intense social turmoil leading into the 2018 midterm elections, and beyond.
We will also hear from strategic leaders of the civil rights movement, the Tea Party movement and the recent struggle for marriage equality to explore how social and technological changes are transforming what environmental activist Bill McKibben, one of our project advisers, calls the “rapidly evolving new science” of non-violent protest.
Case Studies in Resistance
The Kickstarter campaign we’ve produced offers a sample of our approach. It tells the story of a small but influential group of activists fighting to stop construction of the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline in the heart of Central Pennsylvania’s Amish country.
The 184-mile pipeline is designed to carry fracked gas from the Marcellus shale fields in Northern Pennsylvania to Maryland and the Gulf Coast for industrial use and export to foreign markets. Its original route passed right through the backyard of Mark and Malinda Clatterbuck, whose house sits in a shady hollow in rural Lancaster County.
Mark, a professor of religious studies at Montclair State University, and Malinda, a Mennonite minister, are unlikely activists. But after a land agent for the pipeline knocked on their front door in March 2014 and tried to bully them into leasing their land, their living room quickly became ground zero for local resistance.
The opening gambit of Lancaster Against Pipelines was to pass a local ordinance to prohibit the pipeline. But even though the majority of their neighbors supported the ban, Mark says, the town lawyers discovered it was illegal to pass legislation that “discriminates” against fossil fuel companies, and the effort failed.
Next, they tried to convince federal regulators to stop the project based on its potential for environmental damage, but even with support from the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, construction was approved in September 2017.
“The issue that really frustrates me,” says Malinda, “is that Williams, a company based in Oklahoma, has the right to come into our community and do what they want on my land and I don’t have the right to say no, you can’t do that on my property. That’s unconscionable to me.”
“Nonviolence to us means no violence against people and no violence against possessions, so we’re not doing damage to equipment,” says Malinda, whose direct action inspirations include Martin Luther King Jr., Daniel and Philip Berrigan and John Dear. “It means that we use our bodies to stand in the way of equipment that’s destroying the land in our community.”
“Basically, we feel like our resistance highlights a moral crisis,” says Mark. “And that moral crisis doesn’t come to the surface unless there’s confrontation.”
“I think there’s nothing more patriotic than what we’re doing,” he concludes. “Throughout the history of our country, as we all know, principled resistance, principled protest, is really the bedrock of democracy.”
On board: Danny Glover, Bill McKibben, Roberta Kaplan
By setting the efforts of activists like Mark and Malinda Clatterbuck alongside the work of the Women’s Marchers, Black Lives Matter, Gays Against Guns and Indivisible, we hope to better understand the moral and social tensions now reshaping American politics—while also mapping out the most effective tools and strategies now available for a new generation of activists.
We’ve assembled an advisory board that includes civil rights veteran Danny Glover, environmental activist Bill McKibben, lawyer Roberta Kaplan, and veteran journalists Ray Suarez and Rory Kennedy.
The time is ripe to understand the power of protest.
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Support the “Power of Protest” Kickstarter campaign. Get more information and share suggestions for movements or stories.
>>> Micah Fink’s most recent film, “Beyond Borders,” explored the lives of undocumented Mexican-American families in the U.S. and aired on public television stations around the country in 2016. He has produced documentaries for HBO, CNN, ABC News, National Geographic Explorer, National Geographic Wild, and PBS Wide Angle.
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The Doomsday Clock Is Now Just Two Minutes to Midnight
From Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch.com, January 26, 2018
Scientists announce the new Doomsday Clock setting at the National Press Club on January 25th.
The symbolic Doomsday Clock is ever closer to midnight, or the end of the world, scientists announced Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
The clock is now two minutes to midnight based on the predictions of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit organization that informs the public about threats to its survival due to nuclear threats, emerging technologies and climate change.
“This is the closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday, and as close as it was in 1953, at the height of the Cold War,” the group said.
Last year, the Clock ticked forward an ominous two and a half minutes to midnight mostly thanks to President Donald Trump. The nuclear danger of a Trump presidency, combined with his and his administration’s climate denialism, heighten the risk of a global catastrophe, the group warned then.
As for this year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists explained that the clock moved forward another 30 seconds because “in 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world security situation more dangerous than it was a year ago—and as dangerous as it has been since World War II.”
“The greatest risks last year arose in the nuclear realm. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program appeared to make remarkable progress in 2017, increasing risks for itself, other countries in the region, and the United States,” the group continued. “Hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions on both sides have increased the possibility of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation.”
“On the climate change front, the danger may seem less immediate, but avoiding catastrophic temperature increases in the long run require urgent attention now. The nations of the world will have to significantly decrease their greenhouse gas emissions to keep climate risks manageable, and so far, the global response has fallen far short of meeting this challenge,” the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said.
Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, called on immediate global action to rewind the clock.
“It is urgent that, collectively, we put in the work necessary to produce a 2019 Clock statement that rewinds the Doomsday Clock,” Bronson said. “Get engaged, get involved, and help create that future. The time is now.”
Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/doomsday-clock-2018-2528611887.html
Hempfield school board member cited in 3 incidents involving flaggers at pipeline construction site
LINDSEY BLEST, Lancaster OnLine, Lancaster County, PA, July 13, 2018
A member of Hempfield School District’s board has been cited with disregarding flaggers’ commands in three incidents at a pipeline construction site over the past few months.
Daniel K. Forry, 77, of Prospect Road, Columbia, was recently cited with summary counts of harassment, disorderly conduct and obedience to authorized persons directing traffic, according to the Lancaster County district attorney’s office.
The citations were filed regarding Forry’s refusal to comply with flagger’s directives at an Indian Head Road work site, according to the district attorney’s office. The incidents happened on three occasions: March 16, March 31 and June 2.
On March 16 Forry was cited with disorderly conduct after he tapped a flagger with his front bumper, according to the district attorney’s office. He had refused to comply with a flagger’s directive not to pass due to workers on the road.
On March 31 Forry got out of his vehicle and yelled in a flagger’s face, according to the district attorney’s office. Forry did this “because he does not agree with the pipeline,” an officer said in his citation. He was charged with harassment.
On June 2 Forry ignored a flagger’s directions and hit the flagger while driving around him, according to the district attorney’s office. He was cited with violating obedience to authorized persons directing traffic.
No one was injured in the incidents, according to the district attorney’s office.
The citations were sent to Forry by West Hempfield Township police July 3. Reached by phone Friday, Forry said he does not talk to reporters.
Forry’s son, Daniel L. Forry, is the district’s chief operating officer.
School board President Bill Otto in a statement Friday said Forry’s actions were “outside his responsibilities as a Board member,” and that the board and district “do not condone his actions and will seek further details and information before making any further comment.”
At the district most recent school board meeting Tuesday, the citations against Daniel K. Forry were not discussed publicly. The board convened an executive session for three legal matters and personnel issues, but Forry was not discussed in those, either, according to district spokeswoman Shannon Zimmerman.