As part of the ongoing, summer and fall series of 2015 Inland Northwest Climate Activist Workshops, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) presents the Flood the System Slide Show and first organizing meetings [1]. In anticipation of the likely futile, 21st annual session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Paris, France, from November 30 to December 11, the Rising Tide North America network of grassroots activists and groups will escalate local and regional resistance against the entrenched, interconnected systems of oppression that threaten the collective survival of Earth’s life and humanity [2]. Together, we will seek and initiate alternative solutions to the failing negotiations of political elites purportedly achieving a legally binding, universal agreement on climate change deterrents from all the nations of the world.

Over just the last five years, hundreds of thousands of outraged citizens have streamed into the streets to confront the corporations, government institutions, and systems of power that create and perpetuate patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, and industrialization, and their insidious, predictable outcomes of oppression, pollution, and climate chaos. But this ever more urgent and diverse wave of resistance needs a phenomenal escalation of frontline community coordination and participation, not to mention more courageous tactical feats. As we increasingly link our concerns and actions to stop the climate crisis with allies seeking racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice for brutally policed populations and criminalized dissidents, profound social transformations are emerging.

Starting in September 2015, through the international climate change talks and beyond, Rising Tide North America is calling for myriad, mass, Flood the System actions that challenge and intervene in the economic and political systems jeopardizing planetary vitality. Through more than just ongoing protests, we beckon and encourage all to build the relationships crucial to sustaining long-term struggles, to expand popular power along the intersections of race, class, gender, and ability, and to together unleash our capacity to change everything.

Such endeavors require many voices! Please join WIRT and allies over the next few weeks for Activist Workshops featuring the Flood the System slide show and discussions:

* Saturday, August 8, 1 to 4 pm: East Bonner County – Sandpoint Library, 1407 Cedar Street, Sandpoint, Idaho

* Tuesday, August 11, 6 to 9 pm: The Attic, up the back stairs of 314 E. Second Street, Moscow, Idaho (in lieu of the August 6 WIRT First Thursday Moscow Monthly Meeting and Potluck)

* Sunday, August 16, 6 to 9 pm: Liberty Park United Methodist Church, 1526 E. Eleventh Avenue, Spokane, Washington

* Tuesday, August 18, 6 to 9 pm: Eichardt’s Pub upstairs, 212 Cedar Street, Sandpoint, Idaho (in lieu of the WIRT Third Thursday Sandpoint Monthly Meeting and Pizza)

* Wednesday, September 2, 6 to 9 pm: Main (downtown) Boise Public Library, 715 S. Capitol Boulevard, Boise, Idaho

As WIRT and allies continue to engage and mobilize regional residents for the Saturday, August 29 land- and water-based protests of Lake Pend Oreille rail bridge expansion and Panhandle and Northwest fossil fuels train transportation and terminals, we are helping to form action councils that will coordinate region-wide, Flood the System actions during fall 2015: Please join us!  Thanks!

[1] Flood the System (Rising Tide North America)

[2] COP21 – United Nations Conference on Climate Change (United Nations)