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"LOCKDOWN," is a ten minute documentary by Mutual Aid Media on the Tar Sands Blockade -- a group of activists and landowners in Texas who have built a campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. This short documentary follows activists as they plan an action camp, lead workshops, and execute a lockdown.

Follow this link to background information on Houston's toxic East End, more info on projects going on in Manchester such as the Free Store, and photos from other events. For more information contact greencircleas@riseup.net

On Thursday, December 27th, in Houston, TX residents of the Manchester neighborhood joined in unity with anarchist community organizers, Tar Sands Blockaders, Occupiers, leaders from TEJAS (Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services), and hunger strikers Diane Wilson and Bob Lindsey, now in their 33rd day of a sustained hunger strike to protest Valero’s involvement with the Keystone XL Pipeline and ultimately their presence in this community. Movements like Occupy Wall Street have given rise to resistance movements that aim to prove that another world is possible.

Anarchists and Tar Sands Blockaders have been organizing in Houston’s toxic East End. For the past two months they have been working to cultivate a community of resistance in the fence-line neighborhood of Manchester. This was most recently displayed when residents of Manchester cheered on Diane Wilson and Bob Lindsey, after they chained their necks to industrial trucks outside this Valero refinery during a TSB action. People came out into the streets and began chanting, “Shut down Valero! Protect Manchester” and, “What do we want? Clean air! When do we want it? NOW!” Diane and Bob began a hunger strike immediately after being arrested for their actions. They were taken to the Harris County Jail where they were made to endure torturous and illegal conditions.

Anarchists and Tar Sands Blockaders helped to facilitate the gathering based on principles of mutual aid and solidarity. A barbecue was held less than one block away from the Valero refinery that poisons the neighborhood.

A sign proclaimed, “EVERYONE WELCOME! TODⒶS BIENVENIDⒶS!” and was accompanied by a free store containing many warm clothing items, books from Tony Diaz’s project, Librotraficante, live music from an Occupy Wall Street member, and toys for children collected and donated by Cherri Foytlin.

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Occupy Denver stands in solidarity with The Tar Sands Blockade, and is calling for national and international mobilization and solidarity actions against the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Tar sands giant TransCanada has begun construction on the southern leg of the Keystone XL. Leading NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen has called the Keystone XL “game over” for the climate, and Americans are already feeling the heat. The pipeline will make TransCanada rich while encroaching on ranch lands, poisoning Texas’ working class communities, and destroying the environment that makes the lone star state so beautiful.

Kick off the new year by demonstrating your resistance to Keystone XL!

Join us for another mass action in Southeast Texas on Monday, January 7th, including a 3 day training camp leading up to the big event. Our trainings and events are open and include roles for everyone ready to defend our homes from toxic tar sands.

RSVP right now so we can know how many people to expect.
tarsandsblockade.org/jan7/

SCHEDULE (Jan. 3rd – 8th):

Thursday, Jan. 3rd – Travel & Arrival
Friday, Jan. 4th – Day 1: Direct Action Training Camp
Saturday, Jan. 5th – Day 2: Direct Action Training Camp
Sunday, Jan. 6th – Day 3: Direct Action Training Camp
Monday, Jan. 7th – Mass Action to Stop Keystone XL
Tuesday, Jan. 8th – Debrief and Depart

Questions? Contact: 972-439-5310, TSBComms@riseup.net

Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of Texas and Oklahoma landowners and climate justice organizers using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop the construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

As a grassroots campaign, we are funded entirely by the generosity of individual donors. Meaning that every dollar of your contribution goes directly into stopping TransCanada and the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline where it matters most. The Tar Sands Blockade is one of the most important resistance actions in the nation. If you can’t join us, you can still help. Please consider donating.

Wish List tarsandsblockade.org/donate-3/wishlist/

WePay wepay.com/donations/tsbdonate

And please join our E-Action to help continue to spread awareness and support our people on the ground.

[Via OWS]

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, New Yorkers are showing the best of humanity, self-organizing to provide mutual aid in spite of the establishment's continued failure to turn the lights back on. Free kitchens were distributing hot meals within hours. Thousands of pounds of food, clothing, and other donations have been distributed across Red Hook, Staten Island, the Rockaways, and Coney Island. Cleanup of flood damage has begun, and volunteers continue to go door-to-door in the neglected buildings that still lack heat and electricity. Of course, this encouraging response does not minimize the true scope of tragedy this storm has left behind. We must continue to provide for each other and, as we do, show the world that another way of relating to one another is not only possible, but necessary in the face of economic and ecological catastrophe.

But we must not forget that the twin catastrophes of climate change and capitalism are deeply interconnected. The market sees only resources to be extracted, not a world to be shared or communities to be protected. The 1% continue to push for (and the banks continue to finance) more coal, oil, and natural gas, and they don't care how many mountains they must destroy or communities they must frack to increase their profits. Wall Street-owned politicians from all political parties are complicit, competing only about who will drill more. The result is a warmed planet and warmed oceans where superstorms like Sandy are increasingly common. And when the storms hit, we aren't all impacted equally. In New York and across the globe, poor and marginalized communities, already suffering from austerity and dismantled social services, are always hit the hardest and the last to receive aid from the established channels.

In response to the failure of the State and capitalism to provide for our needs, relief work like #OccupySandy is a beautiful, necessary, and logical response for social movements who are committed to replacing economic and social injustice with solidarity and people-powered solutions. But the 1% would be glad to have an army of volunteers to replace the safety net they cut and clean-up the mess they created. If we want to protect ourselves from the next storm or BP-style spill, we have to continue building the structures of mutual aid and support that will deal with crisis equitably. But we must also build a mass movement to address the systemic problems that create climate crises. After Sandy, we are not merely rebuilding the status quo; we are building a new world. This is why Occupy Wall Street stands in solidarity with the on-going Tar Sands Blockade and other direct actions to stop the destruction caused by greed and profit. In Texas, activists have held a tree-sit for 50 days and are calling for solidarity actions across the world. Over 20 cities have already answered the call. Occupy Wall Street and Occupy the Pipeline will join with many others to protest dirty power on November 17.

In New York and New Jersey, many of us are busy supporting those who have been left in the dark by Sandy. But we encourage everyone who is able to take action! See below for more information about the Global Campaign Against Fossil Fuels in New York on November 17th and the Tar Sands Blockade day of action on November 19th. To find out how to help the recovery efforts, check out interoccupy.net/occupysandy.

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