Category: RT Newswire

USE ME! Essentially, this is a catch all for everything. This is probably the ONLY category where things that are not directly related to Rising Tide affiliates/allies should go. For example if a coal company goes out of business (and we didn’t directly cause it) it should probably only go here.

More than 2 dozen disrupted Mountain Valley Pipeline construction work site in Montgomery County, Virginia

  By , ,

cross-posted from Appalachians Against Pipelines

More than 2 dozen disrupted Mountain Valley Pipeline construction work site in Montgomery County, Virginia

This morning, people in Montgomery County, Virginia entered a work site and disrupted construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. People carried banners onto the easement reading “Join the Resistance”, “No Pipelines on Stolen Land”, and “Down with the Capitol, Doom to the Pipeline”. More than 2 dozen people walked onto the active site and stopped work.
One local who participated in the work stoppage was quoted as saying “Today we are taking a stand against a corporation (equatrans midstream) that has been given a free pass by corrupt representatives of the government, through must pass legislation known as the fiscal responsibility act to destroy, pollute and plunder the wealth of the region, the land and the people. A project with over 500 environmental violations , who could not through the normal legal process get this project completed!!”
This work stoppage occured on the first day of the renewed construction of the pipeline. Work on the pipeline had been tied up due to permitting issues, but has been fast tracked through the courts as part of the recent debt ceiling deal. Originally slated to be completed in 2018, the project has been delayed by five years and is 3.5 billion dollars over budget due to spirited opposition by local pipeline fighters.
Another local who participated in the work stoppage said “The government has decided once again to sacrifice the people and climate of Appalachia to fuel extractive industry. The people of this region have a long history of resistance to industrial destruction, and we don’t intend to back down now.”
The morning after July 4th, pipeline fighters carried signs referencing solidarity with indigenous groups and saying “No Pipelines on Stolen Land”.. Stolen land refers not to the eminent domain to build the pipeline, but to the history of colonization and land theft from people indigenous to so called North America. The Mountain Valley Pipeline and the climate destruction it has caused is a continuation of this legacy of colonization and destruction.
Join the resistance: bit.ly/AAPIntakeForm
Donate to support resistance: bit.ly/supportmvpresistance

Columbus, Ohio: Land Defenders Occupy Corporate HQ of Nationwide Insurance Demanding– STOP COP CITY

  By , , , ,

cross-posted from EF! Journal

On the morning of June 29th a group of activists stormed the lobby of Nationwide headquarters, urging the company to stop insuring the controversial “Cop City” project proposed for Atlanta, Georgia. The group chanted, distributed flyers, and asked to meet with executives of the company before being escorted out by security.

Cop City is a $100 million police training facility proposed by the Atlanta Police Foundation. The project would involve clearing hundreds of acres of the Weelaunee Forest – the largest urban forest in the country known and locally as the “lungs of Atlanta.” A wide ranging coalition of activists have been resisting the project for three years, with some camping out in the forest in hopes of delaying construction.

On January 18th, one of these activists, Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran, was shot and killed by police while in their tent. An independent autopsy, performed by a retired Georgia State Police medical examiner, found that Tortuguita was shot while sitting cross-legged with their hands up.

Olympia, WA: Five Forest Defenders Lock Down in the WA Dept. of Natural Resources Headquarters!

  By , , ,

cross-post from 350 Portland

Five activists locked themselves together in the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources headquarters! Theyd demanded Commissioner Franz meets with them in person, and protest the DNR’s logging of legacy state forests!

PODCAST: Three Atlanta Legal Workers Arrested For Alleged “Financial Crimes” w/ CLDC’s Lauren Regan

  By , ,

cross-posted from Green and Red Podcast

Since the murder of forest defender Tortuguita last January, we’ve seen an escalation on the Stop Cop City by both activists and police. 34 people have been charged with “domestic terrorism.” Atlanta police have cracked down on the smallest of demos resisting the project. Meanwhile, it’s been revealed that Cop City would cost twice the amount originally asked for by the Atlanta Police Foundation. And 54% of Atlanta area residents oppose the project (with only 34% supporting it) in recent polls.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/42tLlQI

This past week, three members of the Atlanta Solidarity Committee were arrested for alleged “financial crimes” by the state of Georgia. The Solidarity Committee is a bail fund that exists to support people arrested for protest-related actions. They began during the 2020 uprisings after the police murder of George Floyd and have been a pillar of support through the Stop Cop City campaign. Gov. Brian Kemp, and other politicians, has portrayed the movement to stop Copy City as a criminal organization. They are now targeting the campaign’s legal and bail support for “charity fraud” and “money laundering.”

In our latest episode, Scott talks with Lauren Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center (@CLDC), about what’s happening in Atlanta. They get into the intent of the authorities, other legal avenues they are pursuing to eradicate the Stop Cop City Movement and possible national effects.

Bio// Lauren is the Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney at the Civil Liberties Defense Center. She is a national expert in the defense of political activists, particularly those engaged in the climate, environmental, indigenous and animal rights movements. She is a trial lawyer who handles state and federal criminal defense, SLAPP defense, grand jury resistance, and federal civil rights litigation against police and government agencies for violating the rights of activists and organizations.