Sunday protest: Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline

PROTEST SUNDAY, NOV. 6, 2011 D.C. AND L.A.
Washington Post ad: Obama, say no to tyranny; reject Keystone

• We will return to DC to encircle the White House asking Obama to reject the tar sands pipeline.

This is a call to action. It was issued by a diverse group of movement leaders. The goal is to bring together a massive rally on November 6th in Washington DC. To join the rally, sign up.

We need your help. People got out of jail in DC after two weeks of civil disobedience that led to 1,253 brave people ending up in handcuffs to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

It was the largest such action in decades. And because of their leadership, lots has begun to happen:

The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu along with seven other Nobel Peace Prize winners wrote a letter to the president asking that he block the pipeline. They acknowledged the actions of those in DC:

“These brave individuals have spoken movingly about experiencing the power of nonviolence in that time. They represent millions of people whose lives and livelihoods will be affected by construction and operation of the pipeline.”

At Pres. Obama’s first public speech since the sit-ins ended, a hardy bunch of University of Richmond students unfurled a huge banner demanding that the president veto the pipeline -- followed by similar actions in Columbus, Ohio, Raleigh North Carolina, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Wilmington, Delaware, and many others.

Meeting on the Rosebud Sioux reservation last week, Native tribal leaders from both sides of the border and private land owners from South Dakota and Nebraska signed a "Mother Earth Accord" opposing Keystone XL and the tar sands.

These are the people who started this fight, and they’re being joined by everyone right down to Nebraska Cornhusker football fans who booed lustily when a Keystone ad showed up on the Jumbotron at a recent game. The next day the university ended their sponsorship deal with Trans-Canada Pipeline.

(Amy Dewan/HuffingtonPost.com)

Even as we issue this letter, Canadian activists by the hundreds are risking arrest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. And brave protesters are trying to block shipments of heavy equipment to Alberta from Idaho and Montana.

These are remarkable signs of continent-wide protest.

Huge wildfires driven by the worst drought in Texas history have destroyed towns and killed people; the biggest rainfalls ever recorded have done similar damage in New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. There is real momentum for action and real need.

We have less than 90 days to convince the president not to approve the pipeline. We need to keep using our creativity and bodies as a part of this struggle -- to struggle even though there is no guarantee of victory. Here’s the plan in three stages... More

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