Dear fellow activists and friends,

Here is a quick update on Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activities, before a tar sands oriented newsletter in a few days.

WIRT on Twitter

We are now on Twitter: Follow us at WildIdahoRT.

WIRT Events Calendar

Wild Idaho Rising Tide and our allies are ready for a non-stop #FearlessSummer, full of events expanding the movement against extreme energy, with powerful convergences, training camps, and actions for a livable future!  On our new website page, a calendar lists and links to activities in the Northwest region and in which WIRT activists will participate, including emerging solidarity actions with our comrades across the continent.  Visit this constantly updated events page often and get involved in grassroots resistance to the root causes of climate change!  For more information about nationwide Fearless Summer initiatives, view the Energy Justice Network calendar.

Oil/Tar Sands Speaker Protest (April 17)

The last time that the Alberta tar sands industry visited Moscow, we blockaded it, hurled protest signs at it, and gestured at its escorts.  We were nicer this time but no less insistent that it is wrong and that it should stop its pillage immediately.  See the photos and descriptions of WIRT’s latest action.

Bidder 70 Screening & Tim DeChristopher Discussion (April 22)

Thanks to each of you for attending and/or assisting the simultaneous, nationwide screenings of the documentary Bidder 70 and the live-streamed discussion with Utah climate activist Tim DeChristopher on Earth Day.  Almost 40 people participated locally in this seminal show and conversation hosted by WIRT and Gathr Films in Moscow.  As anticipated, Tim’s question-and-answer session inspired climate activists and community members continuing our struggles against dirty energy development in the Northwest.  KRFP Radio Free Moscow recorded and aired Tim’s talk during the April 22 Climate Justice Forum radio program, about an hour later on the same evening.  We offer our gratitude and congratulations for a successful event and encourage you to listen to Tim’s incisive and insightful, first public appearance after almost two years in federal prison and watch the following videotaped excerpt.

Tim DeChristopher: Clip 1 Next Step in the Climate Movement (May 2 Bidder70 Film video) Continue reading →

Fellow activists, friends, and supporters,

The colonial conquest mindset of dirty energy developers and their minions only seems to intensify, as they trespass upon and seize lands from northern British Columbia (B.C.) to the American Gulf Coast.  The life of these places mutually abides with the people who care for them, not with those who despoil them.  We must collectively continue to escalate resistance to the selfish and destructive ways of fossil fuel corporations and consumers.

This one of several belated Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) newsletters describes the tar sands and coal opposition of indigenous, Rising Tide, and other allies, current as of mid-April with a few topic-specific exceptions.  Expect another few extensive messages about early 2013 tar sands developments, dirty energy accidents, and Idaho legislative and fracking news, before we summarize late April happenings and launch another phase of our Idaho anti-fracking campaign in coming weeks.

INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE

Ta’Kaiya Speaks for First Nations Youth at Idle No More (January 12 video)

An 11-year-old First Nations girl from North Vancouver, B.C., Ta’Kaiya Blaney, spoke out for youth at an Idle No More protest at Vancouver City Hall on January 11.

Journey of Nishiyuu

With two guides, six young men under the age of 20 of the Cree Nation in Quebec walked almost 1000 miles across Canada, from the southeast shores of Hudson Bay to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, between January 16 and March 25.  In a quest-journey supporting Mother Earth, the mission of Idle No More, and the indigenous rights of the true keepers of the lands, waters, and winds, the fierce, young warriors sought to unite and empower historical allies, restore traditional trade routes among First Nations, and revive the ancestral voices and truth of sacred teachings.

Indigenous Organizers to Hold Round Table Meeting on Tar Sands Resistance and Decolonization (January 30 Earth First! Newswire)

Tar Sands Blockade activists recruited indigenous delegates from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Houston’s toxic East End, Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, northern B.C., and other Canadian locations to attend the annual Earth First! Organizers’ Conference and Winter Rendezvous.  Coordinators requested contributions to fund the travel expenses of indigenous, anti-tar sands, land defenders representing struggles against Alberta tar sands mining and proposed pipelines extending west, south, and east to the coasts.  Although we wished to participate in this international round table, the isolated, frontline, tar sands opposition campaigns in Utah and the Northwest could not send attendees. Continue reading →