Tuesday, September 23, 2014

"Tear Down This Wall (Street)!"




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Flood Wall Street: Sit-in targets ruiners
One day after the largest climate march in history in New York City [with 400,000 participants reminiscent of the anti-War on Vietnam demonstrations of an earlier era], protesters rallied near Wall Street on Monday to highlight the financial industry’s role in fueling air polluters responsible for the environmental degradation that is causing global warming and climate change. 
 
The action came ahead of the one-day United Nations Climate Summit today, where leaders from 125 countries will take part in the first high-level climate talks since Copenhagen nearly five years ago.

Dubbed "Flood Wall Street," hundreds of protesters dressed in blue held a rowdy sit-in on Broadway just blocks from the U.S. Stock Exchange. The demonstrators occupied the street for more than eight hours until police used tear gas and began arresting some 100 people. Democracy Now! was in the streets to cover the action. This video report contains some of the voices in the demonstration. [Pres. Reagan is famous for chiding the Soviet Union, "Tear down this wall!"]


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Vandana Shiva, Winona LaDuke, Desmond D’Sa on global response to U.N. Climate Summit
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Climate-marchAs many as 400,000 people turned out in New York City on Sunday for the People’s Climate March, the largest environmental protest in history.

With a turnout far exceeding expectations [of 100,000], the streets of midtown Manhattan were filled with students, environmentalists, politicians, musicians, farmers, celebrities, nurses, and labor activists -- all united in a demand for urgent action on climate change.

Angélique Kidjo with Amy Goodman
Organizers arranged the People’s Climate March into different contingents reflecting the movement’s diversity, with indigenous groups in the lead. Democracy Now! producers Aaron Maté and Elizabeth Press were in the streets to hear from some of the demonstrators taking part in the historic protest. More
To Stop Global Warming, Get Dirty Money Out of Politics Speaking at the People’s Climate March in NYC, independent Senator Bernie Sanders discusses a potential 2016 presidential run and how getting money out of politics is critical to addressing the climate crisis. "[Pres. Obama] can and should do more," Sanders says. "But the major impediment right now is not Obama, it is the Republican Party. We have to call them out on this. We don’t do it enough. These are people who do not even acknowledge the scientific reality because they are beholden to Big Energy money and the Koch brothers."
"This is History": People’s Climate March Organizer Bill McKibben on 400,000-Strong Turnout Co-founder of 350.org and a lead organizer behind Sunday’s People’s Climate March and global day of action on the historic protest: "There hasn’t been a political gathering about anything this large in this country for many years," he says. "And I think what it demonstrates is that climate change is at the absolute tip now of people’s consciousness."
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr: "The Only Thing We Have in Our Power is People Power" Kennedy2"American politics is driven by two forces: One is intensity, and the other is money," Kennedy says. "The Koch brothers have all the money. They’re putting $300 million this year into their efforts to stop the climate bill. And the only thing we have in our power is people power, and that’s why need to put this demonstration on the street." We also hear from Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of the group UPROSE and an organizer of Sunday’s march.
  • Anti-coal Climate Activists March with Massachusetts District Attorney who almost prosecuted them
  • StingMusician Sting: Why I am walking with the Indigenous Bloc in People’s Climate March The world-renowned musician and activist Sting stops by DN!'s three-hour special from the People’s Climate March to talk about why: "The indigenous peoples’ message has been consistent from the beginning: We are in danger," Sting says. "These people are not complacent, I am not complacent. We have to do something."
  • "Climate Change is Now": Former Irish Pres. Mary Robinson and Marshall Islands’ Tony deBrum Among the hundreds of thousands of people who attended the People’s Climate Marchwas Mary Robinson, former Irish president and U.N. high commissioner for human rights, who now heads the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice...
  • Sawant2Socialist Seattle Politician Kshama Sawant: We Need a Radical Militant Nonviolent Climate Movement Climate activists traveled from across the country and the world to take part in People’s Climate March, like Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant.
  • Heirs of Billionaire oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller join growing Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement
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