With Chris Hedges prompting the process, we examine where we are how we got there, and what we may need to do next. A three-part series on escalating action to force state action on the climate crisis + Chaco Action Now!
Don’t Despair!
“We live in capitalism; its power seems inescapable—so did the divine rights of kings.” ~~~Ursula LeGuin.
“Action is the antidote for despair.” ~~~ Joan Baez
Urgent Action Deadline Today: Protect the Greater Chaco Canyon
Yesterday a group of Retake supporters met near Chaco Canyon to tour fracking activities that threaten Chaco Canyon and the other sacred sites in Navajo Nation, and are laying waste to the local economy, the health of its residents and the air, water and land of their community.
When done, the indigenous activists who led the tour asked one thing: Take less than 1 minute out of your day today to sign a petition in support of their lawsuit to stop the surge in fracking leases being approved by BLM. Your action may not alter the course of history, but it will send a message to our indigenous allies, that we support their efforts to restore the sanctity of the greater Chaco Canyon region.
Click here to sign the petition. This action will take 30 seconds to complete.
This Week’s Actions & Opportunities
Legislative Preview: Preparing for 2020
In today’s New Mexican, Milan Simonich points to the NM State Senate as the likely reason, the legislature will once again fail to legalize recreational marijuana. Simonich’s discussion of the reasons for legalizing recreational marijuana understate significantly the number of jobs that would be created (estimated at 13,000) and the level of state revenue that would be generated ($100M), but he is spot on in his recognition of how the NM Senate and 6-8 Democrats in Name Only (DINOs) have virtual veto power on all legislation, making the path to success on this bill challenging.
To find out more about the likelihood of legalizing marijuana, decriminalizing abortion, creating a state public bank, and increasing revenues for children and working families, we offer a panel discussion tomorrow evening. Read on.
How to successfully advocate for the issues you believe in! Tuesday, Oct. 29, 6:30 pm- 8:30 pm, Center for Progress & Justice, 1420 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe. Retake Our Democracy will host a panel discussion with nonprofit advocacy experts to inform you about their legislative priorities for 2020 and to help us prepare for the 2020 Legislative Session. Panelists include:
- Bill Jordan, Government Relations Officer, NM Voices for Children
- Mary Feldblum, Executive Director, Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign
- Paul Haidle, JD, Senior Policy Strategist, A.C.L.U.
- Elaine Sullivan, Board President, Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity (public banking)
- Fred Nathan, Executive Director, Think New Mexico
Moderator, Paul Gibson, Co-Founder, Retake Our Democracy
Discussion will focus on policies related to child welfare, healthcare, civil rights, abortion decriminalization, public banking, tuition-free college, early childhood funding, and how grassroots advocates can best support their legislative priorities. We will also ask our panelists to think outside their specific issue area and comment upon how their work is aligned with and supports movement toward a just transition.
RSVP by TODAY by emailing to retakeresponse@gmail.com. Panel will be live-streamed via the Retake Our Democracy Facebook page. For more details and to RSVP on Facebook, click here.
Youth United for Climate Crisis Action: Call to Action Protesting the Governor’s Non-Response to YUCCA Demands–Time to Escalate
October 30, 4pm. Roundhouse Rotunda. Youth from YUCCA will update you on the status of their actions, including their plans to escalate direct action to insist upon a dialogue with the Governor. At the close of the protest, some of YUCCA youth and supporters will march to the public hearing on produced water being held at 6pm. We need to support our YUCCA youth and participation at their Friday noon strike actions has not been nearly strong enough. This would be a good day to join them as this is a day things escalate.
A Look Back at Last Week’s Posts
Beginning on Thursday, Retake used Chris Hedges as our launching pad into a
Is the Fracking Industry About to Go Bankrupt?
Tuesday, October 24. Wishful thinking? Maybe not according to two Resilience reports that cite the Wall St. Journal and other credible financial sources as pointing to a dramatic fracking bust….and soon.
The post reviews evidence that gas and oil industry greed and their deep financial debt may compound to undermine the fiscal stability of the entire industry. May it be true. I did it, a short blog. Click here to read the full post.
What We’ve Been Doing for 50 Years Isn’t Working Because We are Abiding by Their Rules. We Need a New Approach to Resistance
Thursday, October 24. We featured Chris Hedges who serves as the canary in the coal mine, offering a clarifying call to a different kind of action that rejects the rules of the game entirely.
Hedges lays out in painful truths, exactly how little substantive change has been achieved over the years, the degree to which the system is impervious to the usual tactics, and how urgently we need to face that reality. Time to disrupt the machine. This was one of the most read posts in quite some time and also had a large number of very thoughtful comments. If you missed this post, I highly recommend taking it in. Click here to read the full post.
Since Polite Protests Don’t Work, What’s Next? Part II
Saturday October 26. Hundreds of you read and commented on Thursday’s post. Your comments greatly amplified on Chris Hedges’ view that we need to tear up the playbook and embark on serious disruption. Today we discuss what this could look like.
We lay out how we need to add a new strategy to the existing Retake strategies to address the urgency of the climate crisis and we begin a conversation about what that might look like. Click here to read the full post.
If the Regulatory System Is Corrupt (It Is), What Do We Do? Part III
Sunday October 27. Today’s post focuses on the regulatory system and how it has been organized entirely to serve the interests of corporate America. The CELDF has been training communities for decades to fight the rigged regulatory process. We have WIPP, LANL, Holtec, Produced Water, & Mining regulatory processes in NM: Time to figure out this rigged system.
The post includes an excerpt from CELDF’s Common Sense, a guide to the ins and outs of the regulatory system and then three brief videos that outline how CELDF approaches this system and trains community leaders to develop strategies to achieve greater local control over corporate forces that seem to have unchecked capacity to frack, pollute, leak, extract and leave when done. Very interesting video about the Law of Nature. Click here to read the full post.
Categories: Uncategorized
Over at Naked Capitalism, they show how little coverage of protests, will get picked up by our media.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/10/global-protests-round-up-authoritarian-adaptation-data-gathering-role-class.html
It is no wonder there is no real action, more than half of the population is uninformed, the rest are either invested in the dysfunction, or unable to take a day off of work.