Opposing Keystone XL Pipeline—And Debating the Solution to Environmental Emergency
September 23, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From readers:
A crew of revolutionaries went to the Draw the Line Against Keystone XL Pipeline protest in Seattle on September 21. This was part of actions across the U.S. in over 175 different places called by 350.org, the environmental group founded by Bill McKibben.
Draw the Line Against Keystone XL Pipeline protest in Seattle on September 21. Photo Special to Revolution
We had studied and discussed the Revolution article “Four Points for Bill McKibben” and thought the September 21 action was a great opportunity to impact on and seek to transform people’s thinking by engaging in the points of debate Raymond Lotta brings out in that polemic. We wanted to do this while also joining in with and learning more from the active movement of resistance around Keystone XL, the tar sands and overall environmental crisis. When we heard that McKibben himself would be at the Seattle action, we felt it was even more important to be there with this piece and word about the movement for revolution.
We printed 1000 copies of the “Four Points” as a flyer, with the revcom.us article “Keystone XL Pipeline—Powerful Interests, Big Stakes” on the other. We also brought the special Revolution issue on the global environmental emergency. About 800 people came to the event, and we got the flyer to about half of them. We would introduce the flyer saying that these actions around Keystone were very important, but there is a real need for debate around what Lotta is raising in his polemics with McKibben—and then get into the points with people.
Draw the Line Against Keystone XL Pipeline protest in Seattle on September 21. Photo Special to Revolution
Many people we talked to wanted to have this debate and thought there was a need for it. Others didn’t. When we ran down how oil wasn’t a rogue industry but foundational to a whole system of capitalism, some said, “I totally agree, the corporations are greedy,” and that what was needed was to develop community and new ways of bringing forward grassroots efforts for renewable energy. So we’d get into this—what is the difference between that view, and what Lotta is arguing for in "Four Points"? One person said, when we ran down the "Four Points" with them, “That’s the raw truth, but people don’t want to hear it.” Several people wanted to pursue this debate in various ways or possibly help bring a panel discussion on this to their campus.
A big question people raised was, “How can we change where people are at?" Often people tended to see no difference between the ruling class and the masses of people—lumping them together and seeing everyone as individuals that simply lacked the “political will” to make the hard decisions to stop environmental destruction. But the "Four Points" flyer and special issue of Revolution on the environmental emergency were tools to open up the debate and popularize the movement for revolution and the new synthesis of communism brought forward by BA.
One woman from Idaho exclaimed with wonder off of hearing about "Some Key Principles of Socialist Sustainable Development," which is in the special issue, “Imagine that—caretakers of the planet.” (One of the key principles is "Valuing the Planet, Becoming Caretakers of the Planet.") But then she wondered how this was really possible—things had really gone so far in destroying the planet, she was surrounded by backward people, what could she do... So we got into how there is an actual way out through revolution, and that she could be hooked up with the movement for revolution through the revcom.us website.
There were a number of workshops held—on nonviolent civil disobedience, building opposition to fossil fuel exports in the Northwest, ocean acidification, developments around other environmental threats in this region, etc. There was some important information coming out, but there was a noted lack in these discussions of really grappling with the larger picture of the scope and urgency of the problem and how it could be fundamentally addressed. In one workshop, the view presented was that there was real success in stopping coal burning plants and that people need to just keep on with efforts focused in this region. We raised how the U.S. has actually massively increased its exports of coal and that the direction of things on the part of this capitalist-imperialist system is not a new age of renewable energy sources, but a new age of burning of unconventional fossil fuels. We also got into how fossil fuels were not a rogue industry but foundational to the operation and interests of capitalism-imperialism itself. What's needed is revolution—and we are building a movement for this revolution. There was some back and forth over how could one could argue “we’re winning this fight” when atmospheric level of carbon dioxide—the main gas contributing to global warming—hit 400 parts per million recently and is continuing to rise more rapidly. Things divided out—some people didn’t want these big questions to be the focus of discussion, and instead wanted to talk about smaller “my backyard” topics, while others told us they agreed or came up to the get the flyer.
The rally had some important and heartfelt exposure and calls for urgently increasing resistance to not just Keystone XL but all other forms of fossil fuel projects—from stopping plans for building coal train export terminals, to opposing fracking, tar sands, etc. It was really important that issues and struggles were being connected from the stage from a number of speakers—not just opposing things piecemeal or one at a time. Indigenous activists spoke passionately about the destruction of their lands and cultures by the tar sands oil extraction in Alberta, Canada, and how there are tribes on both the Canadian and U.S. sides of the border are mobilizing together and making plans for coordinated resistance to Keystone XL and other ways the environment is being ruined.
A speaker for the local 350.org group called out to people: if you know they were going ahead with plans to build the huge terminal for coal exports in Bellingham, Washington, how many of you would show up and put your body on the line to stop it? Hundreds raised their hands. A young woman speaker posed to people what they would tell their grandchildren when they asked, "What did you do about the climate crisis? Did you do nothing, or did you sit on the train tracks?” Another speaker said, “We should stop calling this climate change and change it to climate emergency.”
There was a large feeling of the urgency of acting right now to stop the climate emergency, and that we didn’t have much time. A speaker from Friends of the Earth said what was needed is resistance like that to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle in 1999. Others drew an analogy to the civil rights movement, saying there was a need for such a society-wide movement.
We were struck in many ways by the desires and aspirations among people to defend and protect the environment. At the same time, the problem was seen by most people as either “greedy corporations that have undue political influence” or as a lack of “political will”—that people themselves haven’t been wakened to put pressure on Obama and others to make them “do the right thing.” McKibben put out that if the Keystone XL battle could be won, this could give Obama a “bargaining chip” to open up international climate negotiations. But as Raymond Lotta put it, "In reality, the force on Earth destroying the planet is capitalism-imperialism... Oil is not a rogue industry. It is part of a larger system that operates according to certain capitalist rules and imperatives."
Into this situation, we raised the need for a real revolution and a new system. We carried a large bright banner saying “No Tar Sands, No Fracking, No Coal—We Need Revolution to Save the Planet! www.revcom.us” and started chants like “Climate emergency, Revolution—Nothing less!” What we did was just a beginning but also was an indication of the real potential, as well as tremendous urgency, to enter into the growing tumult around the environmental crisis and repolarize for revolution.
Draw the Line Against Keystone XL Pipeline protest in Seattle on September 21.
Photo: Damien Conway
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