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Kayaktivists & A Global Movement
 (Images from the #PaddleinSeattle protest) Let’s keep this momentum going. Help even the odds to stop Arctic drilling! |
by Annie Leonard, Greenpeace
The global movement stop Arctic drilling has taken a giant leap forward in the last few weeks. So much has happened it’s hard to even know where to even begin!
But I want to start with saying “THANK YOU.” Everything I am about to tell you was only possible because of the courage and support of the people like you who make up this movement.
When we started this, we knew it would be a challenge. Arctic drilling off the coast of Alaska was seen as a done deal. To stop Arctic drilling we need a movement.
And that’s what you are — you are part of a movement, and it’s clear you’re doing something right.
For months now, the people of Seattle have been making noise around Shell’s plan to use the Port of Seattle as a homebase for its Arctic drilling operations. Hundreds of people gave impassioned, intelligent, and sometimes musical testimonies at Port Commission hearings, over a thousand people marched in the street to oppose Shell’s plans, and activists “unwelcomed” Shell’s rigs on the water as they came into port.
On Tuesday, May 12 things really started to heat up when The New York Times published a series of articles and opinion pieces about Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic. Going as far as linking President Obama’s legacy on climate to Arctic drilling. Even the satirical news website The Onion got into the action.
The furor over Arctic drilling reached such a fever pitch that two days later President Obama himself felt he needed to directly respond from his retreat at Camp David and defend his decision to allow Shell to drill.
Amazing! It was the millions of petition signatures, thousands of actions and years of dedication from people like you that made this moment possible.
It didn’t end there.
Last weekend in Seattle, I joined thousands of people for the #PaddleinSeattle protest — with 500 kayaks out on the water, led by several indigenous Canoe Families and accompanied by a couple of odd-shaped houseboats, a sailboat, a very brave swimmer, and a giant musical solar-powered barge known as the Solar Pioneer.
It was a truly inspiring display of opposition that received media coverage around the world and in almost every major newspaper in the country via the Associated Press story. The event left Shell with no doubt about the scale of resistance to its plans to drill in the Arctic this summer.
We’re not letting up. There will be more to come this week and throughout the rest of the summer. If it’s the “People vs. Shell,” I like our chances.
This is why I decided to come back to Greenpeace after almost 20 years. To work alongside people like you, to make change on a global scale. I know we still have a long way to go stop Arctic drilling once and for all and to keep the fossil fuels we can’t afford to burn in the ground.
I also know — and these last few weeks prove it — that together anything is possible.
Sincerely,
Annie Leonard
Executive Director, Greenpeace USA
P.S. Wow! What a couple of weeks. From hundreds of kayaks on the water in Seattle to the spark for a global movement. But Shell is one of the largest companies in the world — and it plans to send its rigs from Seattle to drill in the Arctic any day now. The recent oil spill in Santa Barbara, California is a perfect reminder of what’s at stake. We still have a lot of work to do to stop Arctic drilling and we’ll need you with us. Can you help even the odds with your gift to Greenpeace today?
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Brandi Collins, ColorOfChange.org
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Congress will vote to expand the government’s domestic surveillance authority, which can and will be used by law enforcement against Black communities.
Last week Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) made clear why we must act to stop this legislation, “reading the FBI file on [the] SCLC & myself, I am more convinced than ever that we cannot allow government surveillance.” He and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus are fighting back against the USA Freedom Act, and all efforts to renew the domestic spying provisions of the Patriot Act.1
Rep. Lewis and the CBC need our help to block this disastrous domestic spying bill. Will you add your voice to this fight?
Tell Congress: Oppose the USA FREEDOM Act, which would reauthorize the PATRIOT Act.
After the events of 9/11, Congress rushed to pass the Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act), which gave the U.S government far reaching and unconstitutional powers to spy on American citizens. Disguised as a reform bill, the USA Freedom Act — an extension of the PATRIOT Act — grants greater abilities than ever for the government to spy on civil rights organizers, teachers, construction workers, fast food workers, you and me.2
This legislation has not “strengthened and united” our communities, instead it has made us all targets.
Since our inception, ColorOfChange has called for an end to racist practices by our government and corporations. Since 9/11, the PATRIOT Act has been used as an excuse to indiscriminately target, round up and incarcerate our Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters. There has also been a sharp increase in hate crimes against Black and brown folks who fit a certain profile. Let’s be clear — racial profiling in any form by our government is a danger to all of our communities, regardless of whether we ourselves are in the line of fire.
Just last week a federal court ruled that the government’s domestic phone-spying program— known as Section 2153— under the PATRIOT Act is illegal.4
Now Congress is trying to pass a bill — the deceptively named USA Freedom Act — to create new legal loopholes to allow government agencies to continue their mass surveillance programs, while appearing on the surface to be a surveillance reform bill. Don’t be fooled. This bill is designed to appease the public while cementing the government’s surveillance authority for years to come.
We need to oppose this bill and all other methods by which Congress might extend Section 215.
Fortunately, we have a real chance to make sure that Section 215 is never again used to spy on innocent Americans. If we block the USA Freedom Act from passing in the Senate this week, this dangerous provision of the Patriot Act will expire on June 1st. Our community can make this happen. The bill only has the slimmest of majorities supporting final passage.5 If we all raise our voices and call on Congress we can stop it.
Tell Congress: Oppose the USA FREEDOM Act today.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies have already proven with the existing law that they will exploit every loophole they can find to spy on hundreds of millions of people who are suspected of no wrongdoing. This new law will create even more loopholes that will allow them to spy not just on our phone call data but our Skype, Google Hangout and Snapchat data. Pretty much all data related to our smartphone activity will be fair game to be spied on.6
Stopping this dragnet mass surveillance is not just about protecting our privacy from the government, but it’s a crucial racial justice issue.
To protect the civil liberties of Black and brown communities throughout the country, we need to tell Congress that we know that this bill is nothing more than a Trojan horse.
SEND CONGRESS A MESSAGE: We do not stand for mass surveillance in our communities.
Thanks and Peace,
–Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Dallas, Evan and the rest of the ColorOfChange team.
May 21, 2015
Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.
References
1. “Critics blast NSA phone records bill as ‘fake reform’,” Computerworld, 5-15-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4813?t=9&akid=4382.1174326.LMEC_c
2. “Here’s What’s Wrong With the USA Freedom Act,” The Nation, 5-6-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4814?t=11&akid=4382.1174326.LMEC_c
3. “Verizon forced to hand over telephone data – full court ruling,” The Guardian, 6-5-2013
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4815?t=13&akid=4382.1174326.LMEC_c
4. “N.S.A. Collection of Bulk Call Data Is Ruled Illegal,” The New York Times, 5-8-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4816?t=15&akid=4382.1174326.LMEC_c
5. “Patriot Act on life support,” The Hill, 5-17-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4817?t=17&akid=4382.1174326.LMEC_c
6. “Congress’s Orwellian spying “reforms”: Why the government wants to outsource its surveillance to your Internet provider,” Salon, 4-30-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4818?t=19&akid=4382.1174326.LMEC_c
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STOP … Cat dissections
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Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org … bill o’reilly
We all know Bill O’Reilly has built a career by making false claims about parental violence and neglect, and it’s impact on Black families.
Yet, according to multiple reports, Bill should probably be worrying about his own family. Details of his incredibly nasty divorce from ex-wife, Maureen McPhilmy, have gone very public, including a bitter custody battle and allegations of physical abuse in front of his children. 1
The situation is particularly appalling considering O’Reilly’s track record of viciously attacking Black families. Even if the domestic violence allegations are proven false, O’Reilly’s divorce saga still reflects that O’Reilly is hypocritical in his analysis of unmarried Black families. In the past year alone, he has accused Black communities of allowing 9-year olds to do drugs2 and embracing pathological patterns of violence, and even claimed that “the reason there is so much violence and chaos in the Black precincts is the disintegration of the African-American family.”3
With such an influential platform, O’Reilly’s relentless attacks, biases, and harmful mistruths about Black families cannot be tolerated. Over the coming weeks we will be talking to advertisers about their continued sponsorship of The O’Reilly Factor; if they don’t respond, we will begin naming those advertisers publicly. We need to know you’ll stand with us.
Check out our original email below.
Thanks,
Rashad
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