Hamilton,ON: Blockade in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation

Cross-posted from Wet’suwet’en Strong: Hamilton in Solidarity

pics via https://twitter.com/RisingTideTor

BREAKING: Rail and Road Block in Hamilton in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation

Dish With One Spoon Territory
Victoria St & Birge St

Hamilton, ON:“If we are serious about Indigenous rights and reconciliation, then we find ourselves in a time where we must position ourselves against the government to resist the state’s ongoing colonial practises. Unfortunately the state is corrupt and only understands money. Since we don’t have any, we must aim to cost them some.”

Those were the words of Trish Mills before approximately 100 people began blocking a key road and rail artery on Victoria Ave. N. this morning.

The group of more than a hundred Wet’suwet’en supporters began the day at JC Beemer Park before taking to the streets.

The Wet’suwet’en are at the centre of a dispute with industry as well as the provincial and federal government over the development of their lands. The Wet’suwet’en have never ceded nor surrendered their land, and point to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling (Delgamuukw v British Columbia, [1997]) that recognizes the sole discretion of territorial development belongs to the traditional Hereditary Chief and clan system – not band councils.

CGL has only obtained consent from band councils which were established by Canada under the Indian Act, often under duress.

On December 31, 2019 Justice Marguerite Church granted an interlocutory injunction, effectively criminalizing any individual trying to prevent industry from accessing or developing the territory. The RCMP has since set up an exclusion zone, controlling who can enter the area – including an attempt at restricting air space.

“Injunction and provincial permits aside, Canada has no jurisdiction or authority on unceded lands. Their interference with the Wet’suwet’en Nation on behalf of industry is appalling,” said Natali Montilla, one of the media spokespeople for the event. “We support the Chief’s demands: the Coastal GasLink project needs to be permanently stopped, and the RCMP must leave the territory immediately.“

As group members began settling in, sound equipment and food tables were set up as organizers promised hot food and drinks, live music, and public discussions and teach-ins for the afternoon.

Makwa, a media liaison for the event who is Nahua and Anishinaabe (Bear Clan), pushes for an even broader understanding: “Indigenous Nations across Turtle Island have been subjected to the same abuses, violence, and corruption that the Wet’suwet’en are facing now, so we’re also here to push for reparations for every single Indigenous Nation who has been subjected to colonial interference and violence.”

Bay Area: Trouble-makers Shut Down Chase Branch Over Climate Crisis and in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS SHUT DOWN CHASE BANK TO ‘STOP THE MONEY PIPELINE’ TO FOSSIL FUELS

On the heels of Goldman Sachs and Blackrock announcements to divest from oil and gas, pressure is mounting on JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest funder of fossil fuels   

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 31, 2020 —Dozens of local activists launched the ‘Stop the Money Pipeline ‘campaign in Bay Area today with creative disruption at Chase Bank at [location to be disclosed]. These citizens are demanding that JPMorgan Chase – the largest funder of fossil fuels worldwide  – defund fossil fuels immediately to protect the planet. The action was coordinated by the Bay Area Climate Coalition, which includes Extinction Rebellion SFBay Area, Rainforest Action Network, 350 Bay Area, 350 Silicon Valley, XR Youth, Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Front Bay Area, and Diablo Rising Tide.

According to the “fossil fuel finance report card” published by a coalition of environmental organizations, JPMorgan Chase is the world’s top banker of fossil fuels. The bank has provided over $195 billion in financing to fossil fuel companies since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. Activist and actress Jane Fonda is helping to lead the call to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to stop funding the destruction of the planet.

Anthropogenic climate change, created by emissions from human activity being trapped in the earth’s atmosphere and heating the globe, is causing the collapse of natural systems leading to forest fires, sea level rise, flooding, increasing storm systems and the extinction of species. Communities in California are feeling the impacts of climate change as deadly forest fires.

Other leading financial institutions are recognizing that the risk associated with destroying the planet is bad business. In December, 2019 Goldman Sachs announced that they were formally banning investments in coal and oil, including ceasing to fund Arctic drilling, and would be investing $750 billion in sustainable and climate focused initiatives over the next decade. In January, 2020 Blackrock, the largest asset management firm in the world, joined Climate Action 100+, an global group of investors mobilizing around climate change, and Chairman Larry Fink wrote in his 2020 letter to CEOs “we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance. The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance.”

While critics maintain that these financial institutions need to do more, it may only be a matter of time before the other shoe drops with mounting pressures from consumers, civil society and the very climate itself.

Chase customers are cutting up their credit cards as part of the #CutTheChaseChallenge. The Bay Area Climate Coalition recommends investing with socially and environmentally responsible banks or local credit unions. “A lot of people don’t know where their money sleeps at night. Moving your investments to align with your values is one of the biggest things you can do for the planet,” said Extinction Rebellion activist Sandra (last name omitted for privacy).

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Montreal: Freeway Blockades in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

pic via MTL Counter-info

cross-posted from Montreal Counter-Info

In the middle of rush hour, Thursday morning, about fifty people blocked an exit of Autoroute 720 in downtown Montreal, in solidarity with indigenous Wet’suwet’en people struggling against the construction of a pipeline on their unceded territory. Barricades were lit on fire at the corner of St-Marc and René-Levesque in order to block car traffic. A #WetsuwetenStrong banner was hung from highway signage to express solidarity with indigenous sovereignties.

This action takes place in the context of events organized in support of the Wet’suwet’en who have been resisting the destruction of their territory for over ten years. In Montreal and across Canada, many actions respond to the call for solidarity made by the Wet’suwet’en in response to the RCMP action preventing access to their territory on January 13th.

In the middle of rush hour, Thursday morning, about fifty people blocked an exit of Autoroute 720 in downtown Montreal, in solidarity with indigenous Wet’suwet’en people struggling against the construction of a pipeline on their unceded territory. Barricades were lit on fire at the corner of St-Marc and René-Levesque in order to block car traffic. A #WetsuwetenStrong banner was hung from highway signage to express solidarity with indigenous sovereignties.

This action takes place in the context of events organized in support of the Wet’suwet’en who have been resisting the destruction of their territory for over ten years. In Montreal and across Canada, many actions respond to the call for solidarity made by the Wet’suwet’en in response to the RCMP action preventing access to their territory on January 13th.

The Canadian state, via its armed forced and colonial justice, is attacking the Wet’suwet’en land defenders in order to ensure the deployment of 670 km of the Coastal GasLink liquified natural gas pipeline.

In this critical moment, let’s continue to respond to the call of the Wet’suwet’en and support their struggle by all means necessary.

More info at https://unistoten.camp

#WetsuwetenStrong

Guelph, ON: Community Members Occupy Royal Bank of Canada in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

cross-posted from NorthShore Counter-Info

From Dee Colonize (Facebook page)

The Wet’suwet’en Nation is currently engaged in an ongoing struggle to protect their unceded, sovereign territory from the Coastal Gaslink pipeline project (CGL) and the Canadian State. Although the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation have not consented to the CGL pipeline, the BC Supreme Court has violated Wet’suwet’en Law by allowing the RCMP to invade Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory to pave the way for Coastal Gaslink’s construction of a natural gas pipeline. In an era of so-called “reconciliation” the Canadian state continues to occupy unceded Indigenous lands while violating and dismissing Indigenous sovereignty.

One year after the Wet’suwet’en people experienced a violent, militarized RCMP raid of their territory, there are threats of another raid. Updates from the Unist’ot’en Camp have revealed that the RCMP are blocking media, food, medicines and important winterizing gear from entering the camp as well as not allowing Wet’suwet’en people and their allies to leave the camp. Now more than ever we must stand with the Wet’suwet’en Nation as allies and accomplices in their resistance against industry. Following a call for solidarity actions from the Wet’suwet’en Nation in what we now know as Northern British Columbia, around 40 community members occupied RBC in protest of its role in financing CGL and fueling the ongoing violence on the Wet’suwet’en Nation and their lands.

The aim of occupying this space is to send a clear message to RBC, as well as all other financial institutions involved, those being TD and HSBC, to stop funding the violence and destruction that Coastal GasLink and the RCMP are inflicting upon Wet’suwet’en people on their unceded lands. We know that RBC, TD and HSBC are currently acting as financial advisers to the shareholders of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Project. By helping to fund the CGL pipeline project, RBC, TD and HSBC are directly implicated in and responsible for the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en land defenders, the violation of Wet’suwet’en law, the RCMP’s ongoing attacks and the destruction of unceded Indigenous lands.