The Liberty Tree Foundation has a new service called Frontlines. Several times a year, we will send out an appeal not for our ongoing work, but instead on behalf of partners who are on the frontline of the democracy movement in the U.S.A..
On September 24th, eight brave blockaders climbed into 80-foot trees and refused to come down until the tar sands pipeline was stopped for good. Today, the day after Christmas, they are still there.
Keystone XL is dirty and dangerous. 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 the TransCanada corporation rich while encroaching on ranch lands, poisoning Texas’ working class communities, and destroying the environment.
Why are we at Liberty Tree asking our members and supporters to send money elsewhere? Isn't Liberty Tree in the midst of an end-of-year fundraising campaign (yes we are), and aren't we worried (yes we are) about keeping the lights on?
Frankly, we've started our Frontlines service because different people are on the frontlines of the democracy movement at different times.And the people at the frontlines need support, not exploitation.
At Liberty Tree, we remember when the big out-of-state money-making 527s and 501(c)4s began raising money off of the Wisconsin uprising. They raised tens of millions. Wisconsinites on the frontlines saw little of those dollars. Because of that experience, and many others, we've decided to help critical frontline campaigns when we can.
Sincerely,
Ben Manski
Founder, Liberty Tree Foundation
for the Democratic Revolution
|
"My face is hot under this bandana. This coffee is gritty and cold but I’m so ridiculously thankful for the people on the ground who are supplying us."
TransCanada has been cutting down trees just 20 feet away from the blockaders.
"TransCanada not only has shown complete disregard for the health and safety of families living along the route of its toxic pipeline its also endangering the lives of our friends in the trees by operating heavy clear-cutting machinery dangerously close to the tree blockade. This corporation has proven time and again that they are willing to plow over anything, or anyone, who stands between them and their profits."
Police threatened to tear gas and send in police dogs to attack Glen for barricading himself inside a mile-long section of the KXL pipe:
"I’m barricading this pipe with Tar Sands Blockade today to say loud and clear to the extraction industry that our communities and the resources we depend on for survival are not collateral damage. This fight in East Texas against tar sands exploitation is one and the same as our fight in the hollers of West Virginia. Dirty energy extraction doesn’t just threaten my home; it threatens the collective future of the planet."
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment