March

100,000 Workers Protest Belgian Labor Reform

November 7, 2014 Raf Cassert, www.ap.org Resist! Belgium, Labor Unions, March

One of Belgium's biggest postwar labor demonstrations brought about 100,000 workers to the capital on Thursday to protest government free-market reforms and austerity measures that they claim undermine Belgium's vaunted welfare state. For two hours, the demonstrators peacefully marched down the main thoroughfares of central Brussels to protest government policies that will raise the pension age, contain wages and cut into public services. Violence marred the end of the march, with police firing tear gas and the water cannon to break up incidents. No casualties were immediately reported. "They are hitting the workers, the unemployed. They are not looking for money where it is, I mean, people with a lot of money," said Philippe Dubois, who came from the industrial rust belt of Liege. The unexpectedly massive march opens a monthlong campaign by the trade unions against the business-friendly governing coalition and is to be capped with a nationwide strike on Dec. 15.

The Act Of Doing Speaks Volumes

November 3, 2014 Cheryl Mcnamara, www.rabble.ca Organize! Climate Change, Energy, Environment, March

For Fernando, joining the March was a matter of standing for something too. Fernando is from the south east side of Chicago, an area that he describes as a toxic environment due to heavy steel mills, trucking and landfills. He found the Climate March while searching for a Native American healing walk. Fernando is part Prairie Band Potawatomi and Spanish. Joining the March in Chicago, Fernando realized that in walking to Washington, D.C., he was giving voice to people in his community who are concerned about local environmental impacts but are too busy with work and family to take action. As a Native American, he also feels accountable to multiple generations. "For seven generations my ancestors prayed for me and my family," he said. "When I pray for my future generations, I realize that I'm praying for generations that may not exist because of our accelerated global issues. I want to do something, and not be your average consumer and drive a gas guzzler."

Support Building For 2014 Million Mask March On November 5th

September 8, 2014 Justin King, www.theantimedia.org Resist! Anonymous, March, Politics, Protest

On November 5, 2013 the streets of major cities around the world were flooded by masked protesters affiliated with the Anonymous collective. Anonymous is preparing to hold another coordinated mass protest one year later, and are finding support from new places. 44 Fires, the British heavy metal band, not only allowed their music to be used in a video promoting the March, but even plans to perform at one of the Marches in the UK. The anti-establishment band shares a similar vision with the collective, and they certainly see some of the same culprits as causing the problems. The musicians hope to “delete the elite” and describe their music as a “juggernaut coming to destroy the political elite.” Bruse Small of 44 Fires spoke with Anti-Media about the video: Anti-Media: So a video featuring one of your songs has been adopted by Anonymous to promote the Million Mask March. How do you feel about that? We feel very honoured they are using one of our songs seeing as we hold the same ideals, hopefully that resonates in the song.

Join The People’s Climate March

September 6, 2014 Daniel Adam, www.socialistaction.org Organize! Climate Change, Labor, March, New York City (NYC), Protest

The People’s Climate March, scheduled for Sept. 21 in New York City, is poised to live up to its promise of mobilizing the largest number of people that the U.S. has ever seen against the mass production of greenhouse gases. With more than 1000 endorsing organizations, buses scheduled to leave from more than 200 locations, alongside chartered trains (including three leaving from Connecticut and one from San Francisco), over 200,000 Facebook invites, and countless meetings and events around the country, the march will create major advances for the climate movement. By marching, participants will affirm for all to see that, at root, climate change is not a matter of isolated individual consumer decisions but of institutional forces that refuse to respond to the will of the majority. They will show that climate activists can go beyond local organizing on dispersed projects and can come together to articulate their vision. The absence of mass demonstrations for many years kept the movement from forging a visible political expression—until the marches against the Keystone XL pipeline in 2012 and 2013. This had allowed climate change to appear like a fringe issue of the relatively well-to-do, or simply something beyond the scope of human intervention. September will mark an advance from the fringes to the mainstream, and from paralysis to action. In particular, the participation of more than 30 unions presents a ground-breaking opening for labor and the climate movement. Endorsers include the Communication Workers of America, the Amalgamated Transit Union, 32BJ, the United Federation of Teachers, Transport Workers Union 100, US Labor Against the War, and other formations including machinists, electrical workers, farm workers, and a variety of food and service workers.

Environmentalists Plan Epic Climate March In NYC For Sep. 21st

July 31, 2014 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Organize! Climate Change, March, New York (NY), UN

The People’s Climate March will surge through Manhattan on September 21 with an expected quarter million individuals in attendance. Times Square will be the site of the historic gathering as many will travel from across the country to support UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s ambitious goals to reduce global warming pollution. The People’s Climate March will take place during a UN meeting on climate change attended by delegates from 168 countries.“The UN Secretary General has asked world leaders to finally make some real progress on climate change,” said Robert Orr, UN Assistant Secretary General. The UN conference, scheduled for September 23, will hail experts on the risks for not acting now. “Time is not on our side,” said Moon. Organizers at 350.org have joined with over 490 groups, including unions, ecumenical groups, and grassroots organizations. The plan is an “all-inclusive family oriented event” for everyone, says Paul Getsos, National Coordinator with 350.org. “We want to engage a wide range of constituencies and communities,” he said. Getting national coverage is the key to building on foundations already laid down by environmental groups. “We want to be in Times Square because there are huge media markets that look there,” said Getsos.

Unions Gear Up For Climate Mega-March

July 26, 2014 Jenny Brown, www.occupy.com Organize! Climate Change, Environment, Labor, March, Unions

A major climate change march in New York on September 21 may be a tipping point for labor movement participation in global warming activism. Climate initiatives are still controversial in the labor movement. But dozens of unions in New York, jarred by memories of Superstorm Sandy, have lined up to join the People’s Climate March, planned to coincide with a United Nations summit that will draw world leaders to the city. “Let’s be clear, climate change is the most important issue facing all of us for the rest of our lives,” said John Harrity, president of the Connecticut State Council of Machinists, which endorsed the march. “Climate protection is the single most essential issue for us now,” said J.J. Johnson, a Service Employees (SEIU) 1199 retiree, at a June union planning meeting. The U.N. meeting “provides us an unusual opportunity,” Johnson said. “There is no way that we should fritter this away.” With 400,000 members and 85,000 retirees, 1199 is among the biggest unions to sign up so far. Others are AFSCME’s District Council 37 and the New York State Nurses Association. Members of NYSNA have direct experience with climate catastrophes. They’ve volunteered help in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, and close to home in devastated communities on Staten Island and in the Rockaways after Sandy.

1,000+ March To Halt Fracked Gas Exports

July 14, 2014 Sandra Steingraber, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Fracking, March, New York (NY), Protest

I’m Sandra Steingraber, and I bring you greetings from my big-hearted friend, Bill McKibben, who sends you his love. And I also bring greetings from the unfractured state of New York. That’s where I live. I was born and raised in the Midwest, but it was New York that taught me how to fight. And we New Yorkers Against Fracking pledge our support, assistance and solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Maryland who are fighting the LNG terminal in Cove Point. Our destinies are intertwined. Our success depends on yours. Maybe you’ve heard of a little farming community in upstate New York called Dryden. Dryden is located across the lake from my own village. And a few years ago, Dryden became one of the first towns in New York to use zoning laws to ban fracking within its municipal borders.

Hundreds March Against Corruption In NH

July 9, 2014 Suzanne Laurent, www.seacoastonline.com Resist! Corruption, March, Money As Speech, New Hampshire, Politics, Protest

A wind-weary, but determined crowd, arrived at Fort Constitution Saturday afternoon after a 16-mile walk along the New Hampshire coast in support of New Hampshire Rebellion's nonpartisan movement against monetary corruption in the nation's capital. The N.H. Rebellion, founded by Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law School professor, is a movement that considers unrestrained money and the influence it buys in Washington, D.C., to be the root of the nation's current political and governmental dysfunction. The goal of the walk was to bring hope for change, said N.H. Rebellion Executive Director Jeff McLean. Many walkers met at the ending point at Fort Constitution to be bused to the start of the walk at Hampton Beach. A busload of 20 walkers also arrived from the Boston area. Decked out in red, white and blue stars and stripes, Debbie and Garritt Toohey of Rye were among the walkers gathered at Hampton Beach. “We need to bring awareness about what the federal government is and isn't doing,” Debbie Toohey said. “People need to pay attention and listen.”

D.C. March Against Fracked Gas Exports

July 9, 2014 Chesapeake Climate Action Network, www.salsalabs.com Resist! D.C., Fracking, Gas, March, Washington, Washington D.C.

On Sunday afternoon, several thousand activists from across the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond will join the first-ever Washington, D.C. rally against the gas industry’s controversial push to export fracked and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from U.S. coastlines. As a key decision nears on the Cove Point export terminal proposed in Lusby, Md., just 50 miles south of the White House, protesters will call on President Barack Obama and his Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to halt approval of all LNG export projects and protect communities from the surge of new fracking wells, pipelines and planet-warming pollution they would trigger. The July 13 “Stop Fracked Gas Exports” mobilization is uniting communities on the front lines of the gas industry’s proposed fracking-pipeline-export build-out. The Cove Point terminal would be the first on the East Coast and could incentivize a dramatic expansion of fracking activities across the Marcellus shale region. FERC, which could decide on whether to approve the Cove Point terminal as early as this August, is currently reviewing 14 export terminals proposed throughout the U.S.

Update: On The Road To Ground The Drones March

July 7, 2014 Ralph Heibutzki, www.vcnv.org Resist! Drones, March, New York (NY), Protest

For Grand Island, N.Y. resident Alice Gerard, there are many compelling reasons to oppose America’s use of drone aircraft - starting with the personal side. “In my opinion, there are two kinds of people in this world - there are my friends, and friends that I haven’t met yet. I can’t see killing my friends, especially the ones that I haven’t met yet,” Gerard said. Gerard was among 44 people who came from Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Kalamazoo, Minneapolis, Tennessee, Seattle and the United Kingdom who lent their collective voices to “On the Road to Ground the Drones,” a 160-mile protest march aimed at raising public awareness about the issue. The route began at Boeing’s corporate headquarters in Chicago, Ill. - a company that makes drones - and continues through Watervliet, Paw Paw and Kalamazoo today, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Marchers will then proceed through Galesburg-Augusta on Friday, and wrap up their efforts in Battle Creek. Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a Chicago-based peace group, sponsored and coordinated the activity - which paused for a break Monday night at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, 1753 Union, Benton Harbor.

March Protests Threat Oil And Gas Industries Pose To Drinking Water

July 1, 2014 EcoWatch, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Louisiana, March, Oil and Gas, Protest, Water

A group of concerned citizens walked 155-miles in eight days from Grand Isle to Baton Rouge, along Louisiana Highway 1. They arrived at dusk Friday via the east bank levee of the Mississippi River and headed to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s mansion yesterday for “Flood into Baton Rouge,” an event focused on water quality issues and threats to clean drinking water by the oil and gas industry in communities throughout the state. The march was organized in response to Governor Jindal’s signing of SB 469 into law (Act 544) earlier this month. Although the purported intent of the law was to kill the lawsuit filed against 97 oil and gas companies by the South Louisiana Flood Protection Authority–East, the law was so hastily and broadly written that Attorney General Caldwell and more than 100 legal scholars from across the nation urged the governor’s veto because as written, the law might jeopardize the state’s claim to environmental penalties that will be levied against British Petroleum (BP) from the 2010 BP Macondo explosion, according to march organizer Mike Stagg. Exempting the oil and gas industry from liability for their share of damages to the coast and jeopardizing the state’s claim to BP penalty money, leaves the state with a Coastal Master Plan that has a Phase I price tag of $50 billion and no revenue stream for its implementation.

People’s For Mother Earth, Resistance To Tar Sands Walk

June 26, 2014 Jon Milton, www.rabble.ca Resist! Canada, Capitalism, March, Religion, Tar Sands

It's four in the morning in Kanehsata:ke on the 14 of June. The sun is not up yet, but it is coming soon. The Peoples for Mother Earth are waking up early to watch the sun rise with prominent figures from the reserve. It's still dark, but the marchers are ready for what will be a big day. Emotions were turned up that morning. The previous afternoon (June 13), the marchers had completed their 700 km walk across the province from Cacouna to Kanehsata:ke -- a symbolic and strategic form of resistance to the Tar Sands and the prospective pipelines which will carry them through Quebec. The early part of that day had been spent on a prolonged workshop about potential actions which could follow the march. Many ideas were put forward, and some are currently being worked on. The march had seen a group of people, most of whom did not know each other beforehand, form friendships which will last beyond the project's completion. The marchers were at once happy at the march's successes (including anti-pipeline municipal resolutions passed in at least five towns along the route of Energy East), and sad that the month-long journey was coming to an end. As the group departed Saint Scolastique for Kanehsata:ke, its members were treated to a ceremony by Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, a renowned Inuit poet and activist.

Migrants March To EU Summit On Migration

June 26, 2014 Canape Cunytv, www.youtube.com Resist! Brussels, European Union (EU), Immigrant Rights, March

Whether in Italy Germany or France, migrants face common problems. They live without freedom of movement or the permission to work with the constant threat of deportation. Despite these conditions, migrants are taking collective action. A coalition of groups from across Europe has marched and converged in Strasbourg. They are now marching together to the EU summit on migration in Brussels. Migrants exercise their freedom of movement by not respecting borders that do not respect them.

Time to March Against Fracking and FERC!

June 10, 2014 Ted Glick, www.tedglick.com Organize! Fracking, March, Protest

The July 13 March on Washington to Stop Fracked Gas Exports (http://stopgasexports.org) is happening at just the right time. Sign up and make plans to come and bring others! The reason this date was initially chosen was because, in May, the federal agency which needs to approve proposed export terminals for natural gas announced that it would be making a decision by sometime in August about the proposed Cove Point, Md. export terminal. What is that federal agency? It’s FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a little-known but very important entity that, among other tasks, approves or rejects gas industry proposals for interstate natural gas pipelines and compressor stations and related infrastructure, as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and export terminals. Actually, that possibility of a rejection is essentially a theoretical possibility, because FERC has approved virtually all proposals brought to it by the gas industry for the infrastructure it says it needs. FERC is a rubber stamp agency, but two new developments over the past 10 days may well be harbingers of some badly-needed changes.

Breaking Climate Silence: One Step At A Time

June 9, 2014 Rivera Sun, www.truth-out.org Educate! Climate Change, March, Protest

Two thousand miles lay ahead for the nearly 40 marchers who departed from Los Angeles in February and will arrive in Washington, DC, in November. Their feet tell the story of walking a thousand miles for climate justice. Their eyes look across the United States. The Great March for Climate Action threads through small towns, big cities and wide-open wilderness. In each area, local residents join the marchers, who also visit schools, churches and community organizations, raising awareness about the causes, effects and impacts of climate change on our society. If left unaddressed, climate change could reach catastrophic levels, heralding the collapse of modern civilization and ultimately, the extinction of the human species. Critics of the march say it is mainly symbolic, yet in one small Northern New Mexico town, the climate marchers had a tangible effect: The local newspaper reported on their arrival. While this may seem insignificant, the newspaper in question, like many others across the country, does not report on the subject of climate change. The arrival of a cross-continental delegation of climate marchers who have been traveling through major cities, small towns and the state capitol of New Mexico received one of the first mentions of climate change by the newspaper. This is one of the main goals of the climate march: to raise awareness of the issue in a nation that is ill-informed and often ignorant of the science and reality of climate change.

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