The #Occupy movement has gained major momentum, and Ruckus is doing our part to help it grow – stronger, smarter, tougher.  Our folks have been on the ground since Day 1 in New York and other cities across the country, helping provide training and strategic and technical support, and we’re participating in a national process with allies to coordinate support efforts for Occupations across the country. (Read more about Ruckus’s support for Occupy here: http://ruckus.org/article.php?id=800)

And of course, we have been doing our part here in our hometown, Oakland, which has captured the world’s attention after the excessive police crackdown and subsequent mass resistance and resilience, including the the first General Strike since 1946!

The General Strike was a huge victory and proved once again how powerful the 99% is when we turn out in full force!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011, was a historic day in Oakland, CA.  After Occupy Oakland’s encampment was shut down by police using excessive force early on the morning of October 25th, the camp was reclaimed on Wednesday, October 26th, and over 3,000 people attended the General Assembly that night, approving a proposal for a city-wide General Strike Nov. 2!

Ruckus was happy to join forces with LeftBay99 – a loose group of local Bay Area community-based groups coming together to support Occupy Oakland and engage their community members in the movement – to pull off a series of actions throughout the day November 2nd, in honor of the General Strike, to “Occupy the Banks and Foreclose on the 1%!”

After the first convening at Grant-Ogawa Plaza at 9am, the “I Will Survive…Capitalism” flashmob kicked off the morning march around 10am, marching to the State Building with a youth delegation to protest cuts to education, and then off to Wells Fargo, one of the leaders in home foreclosures, funding for private prisons and immigrant detention centers.

At noon, folks reconvened at the camp, and started the afternoon march to Occupy another set of Banks – Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.  Ruckus climbers scaled street lamps to hang a banner saying, “Occupy the Banks” across the intersection of 20th & Webster streets in front of Chase, while a team of community members whose homes are being foreclosed on by Chase staged a ‘move-in’ action on the bank – setting up a couch, coffee table and other living room furniture in the middle of the street in front of Chase (‘you’re kicking us out of our homes, so we’re moving in on you!’).

After awhile, the Brass Liberation Orchestra accompanied a second round of the “I Will Survive…Capitalism” flashmob before leading the crowd of over 1,000 people onto the Bank of America, and deployed a giant balloon banner with our friends at RAN reading “Defend Human Dignity: Challenge Corporate Power” that led the march the rest of the way back to the Camp later that afternoon.

The day of course culminated in the truly mass marches to the Port of Oakland to shut down all operations at the Ports for the night.  Some reports say 50,000 people marched and danced the three miles to the ports from Camp, and it was truly an unforgettable experience, marching in a sea of thousands at sunset.

November 2nd proved our power in numbers.  Check out this great video about the day overall!

What calls us to action?

I have been watching, crying, writing and talking of Egypt – and Tunisia, Jordan, Syria, the entire region – non-stop. I am most familiar at this point with Egypt, because of the news coverage and because of who happens to be in my immediate community.

While I wouldn’t write this just anywhere (I am not impressed by groups using other people’s revolutions to promote their work), amongst the network I can’t shake the feeling that we’re watching Ruckus’s vision come to life in a way we must all learn from.

Ruckus has had several visioning sessions over the years, imagining the long-term impact and presence of the network. One core piece of the shared vision we developed was of a future where Ruckus didn’t need to exist, because the spirit and practice of nonviolent direct action was normalized amongst the people.

The response to injustice, in our envisioned future, would be creative, nonviolent actions that resulted in tangible changes in people’s lives in real time. If something happened that disrespected democracy, like a stolen election, we would stop the society from functioning until justice came to pass.

We see this vision as being out somewhere beyond our lifetimes.

The current series of uprisings throughout the Middle East, particularly the current moment in Egypt, feels like that vision come to pass. It induces such hope in me to know it can happen, it is possible, and it is beautiful. It’s not something that happened overnight, and its not some thing easy or romantic – it started with small protests in Tunisia, singular facebook videos and solidarity pages, with fatal action as people self-immolated in protest of repressive regimes. It grew because the actions connected to a shared experience of suffering and faith, of people knowing they deserved, and were, better.

To me this is the civil rights struggle of the modern era, the uprisings people will refer to in the same breath as they mention the lunch-counter-sit-ins. Then: waterhosing blacks. Now: waterhosing men in prayer. Then: inviting people into a shared non-violent vision. Now: same, nationwide.

We must recognize the parallels, especially in terms of the roles that non-Egyptians can play to take action in solidarity, and to take leadership from, the people of Egypt, and of the region as other regimes shake at their foundations.

Revolution is different there than it will be here in the US – in Egypt 90% of the population is living in poverty and there’s been one president for 30 years, so people have a heightened sense of injustice. In the US, people accrue debt instead of facing their poverty, or internalize the poverty as if they did something wrong instead of seeing it as a failure of the government to develop a sustainable people-oriented society. Stolen, or even poorly attended, elections – these are like a skeleton we put quickly into our dark family closet – how would it look for us to violently promote something abroad that we hardly practice at home?

I hope every country is having moments of self-awareness, collective awareness, inspired by Egypt.

We can learn so much from what is undeniably a mass, strategic, nonviolent expression of people’s power. Each day I learn so much, and am politicized by what I see happening half a world away. I am humbled and thrilled by what we are learning in this moment.

The lessons will keep coming. Here are some lessons that stand out to me:

- Every protestor I’ve seen interviewed on Tahrir Square – regardless of gender or age – is on message speaking about their nonviolent action and their demands. Everyone realizes that their actions, their bodies on the square, their self-generated media, their demands (dropped by banner), these all have political weight. And that when years of voting have not yielded results, these actions will.

- It is a practice of patriotism, for the Egyptians on Tahrir Square. This reminds me of how Jimmy Boggs says of the US – “can’t nobody run this country better than me.” Egyptians in the street know they can do better than Hosni Mubarak, and with that rooted confidence they appeal to the army, to the police, to their neighbors, to the international community. They don’t say, ‘we have a perfect solution.’ They say, we have to stand up together and push off the weight of tyranny so we can see the people we are, the possibilities for this country.

- Good actions can win over the whole world. For they are winning the cultural campaign soundly – not just with the strength of facts (the horrors of Mubarak have been exposed before, just as the horrors of US domestic and foreign policy are fairly well known), but with the emotional, spiritual commitment of the action.

- If the timing is right, then the real demands can emerge instead of gutted compromises.

- A mass distributed How-To manual can work wonders (evidenced by the peaceful protests, the flowers for the Army, the cleaning up of litter).

- How illogical a corrupt government can be, to try and keep a tyrant in power (or any of his appointees) during a transition phase.

- There is joy in the shared experience of holding a liberated zone, no matter how far away you are holding it – all of us watching and listening and sending our support and resources to those front lines in Tahrir.

- One of the main challenges of modern revolution is getting folks to believe that decentralized, leaderless, horizontal movement is not only possible, it already exists.

- Even if oppression has been normalized, there is a way to appeal to the part of people who want justice. That way, in this case, was the challenge of Assmah, the persistence of the protestors of Tahrir, and the vulnerability of Wael Ghonim.

I learn more each day that Ruckus is on the right path, with a long way to go, and many teachers.

After months and months of planning, and weeks of the Ruckus team doing on-the-ground prep here in Detroit, the 2010 U.S. Social Forum is finally under way!

It all officially started off yesterday with the big Opening March down Woodward Ave, the main thoroughfare through Detroit, ending at Cobo Hall with the Opening Ceremony.

Ruckus’s team has been working hard to prep for the big actions this week, by building art, banners & props, preparing chants, street theatre and choreography, coordinating overall action plans, logistics, security, tactical comms & media, recruiting volunteers and participants, and making sure everyone in Detroit knows about the actions and comes out to support!

We’ve had art-building workshops every day for the last week in various churches and community centers throughout Detroit, where youth and adults from different neighborhoods have come through to build their own pieces for the Incinerator Action, as well as help build a mass of tall sunflowers, as well as one giant sunflower, and a giant mock-incinerator (come help us tear it down on Saturday!).

In addition to all the action prep, our folks are already running non-stop facilitating workshops, trainings, and Peoples’ Movement Assemblies, coordinating overall USSF security, and helping with the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus! It is an action-packed, fast-paced, high-energy week, to be sure.

This morning Democracy Now aired an interview with Ruckus Director Adrienne Maree Brown, the National USSF Coordinator, about the Forum, Detroit, and the Allied Media Conference.  Check it out!

Here’s what’s coming up:

TODAY, JUNE 23:
10-12 Creating a Tactical Spectacle, and Rehearsal for a Restaurant Workers Defense Flashmob (Cobo W1-51)

12-1 Incinerator Action Art Build- come join the “Sunflower Greenhouse” to build more giant sunflowers for Saturday’s big action! (Cobo Basement: Michigan Room)

1-3:30 Bannermaking for the Friday action against Chase Bank (anti-foreclosure, in solidarity with southern tobacco farmworkers) (Cobo Basement: Michigan Room)

1-5:30 Tar Sands Peoples Movement Assembly (Cobo W2-70)

1-5:30 Take Back The Land Workshop (incl NVDA trng) (Cobo D2-08)

6-9:00 Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) Training for Incinerator Action Volunteers (you don’t have to sign up ahead of time!) – Cobo W1-51

6:39-9:00 Opening Plenary, featuring Adrienne Maree Brown and Carla Perez (from Ruckus and Movement Generation) discussing Ecological Justice

6-10:00 Flashmob Rehearsal! If you want to join a fun, creative, participatory action to defend local restaurant workers (tomorrow night), come to this rehearsal and plug in! (Cobo Basement: Michigan Room)

THURSDAY, JUNE 24

10-12:00 Direct Action Strategies for Climate Justice and Community Resilience (Cobo DO-7A)

10-12:00 Boycott Divest Sanction Israel Workshop

12-1:00 Action Art Building (Cobo Basement: Michigan Room)

1-5:30 No More Marches, No More Rallies! Workshop (Cobo Do-03B)

1-5:30 Take Back the Land Peoples’ Movement Assembly (Cobo D3-19)

5:30pm Meet at Joe Louis Statue in Cobo Hall to head out for the Flashmob! (attend rehearsal Wednesday night at 6pm in Michigan Room!)

6-9:00 Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) Training for Incinerator Action Volunteers (you don’t have to sign up ahead of time!) – (Cobo W1-51)

6-10:00 Incinerator Action Art Build (Cobo Basement: Michigan Room)

6-8:00 SmartMeme Re:Imagining Change Book Launch Party (Majestic: 4201 Woodward)

8:30pm-2am Indigenous Environmental Network & EMEAC Fundraiser (Magic Stick: 4201 Woodward)

FRIDAY JUNE 25:

9:45am-12pm Action Against Chase Bank (anti-foreclosure, in solidarity with southern tobacco farmworkers) – meet at Grand Circus Park & Woodward, across from the Central United Methodist Church

12-1:00 Action Art Building (Cobo Basement: Michigan Room)

1-5:30 EcoJustice: Clean Air, Good Jobs & Justice Peoples’ Movement Assembly (Cobo D3-28)

3:30-5:30 Transforming Power Workshop (TWW-5)

5:30-10pm Final Incinerator Action Art Build! Come learn the chants, choreography, and put the final touches on props, action plans, and volunteer roles! (Cobo Basement: Michigan Room)

9pm-2am Leftist Lounge Party – Eastern District

SATURDAY, JUNE 26

7:30am Volunteers gather

9:00-12:00 Clean Air, Good Jobs & Justice! Action against the largest Waste Incinerator in the world! Meet at 5201 Woodward Ave by 9:00am to march and plant sunflowers in the community along the way to stop the incinerator!

12:00-5:00 Final National USSF Peoples’ Movement Assembly and USSF Closing Ceremony (Cobo Hall)

Hey folks, check this call out from the folks in the Olympic Resistance Network. Get involved…any way you can!

CONVERGENCE FEB 2010

ALL OUT AGAINST THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES! The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver & Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, from February 12-28 2010. We call on all anti-capitalist, Indigenous, housing rights, labour, migrant justice, environmental, anti-war, community-loving, anti-poverty, civil libertarian, and anti colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents. We are organizing towards a global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the 2010 Olympic Games. * BASIC SCHEDULE: The basic plan thus far is: – Conference and People’s Summit on Wed Feb 10- Thurs Feb 11 – Fri Feb 12: Take Back Our City! “Welcome” the 2010 Olympic Torch with Free Games, Free Speech, and Free Food! Beginning with a festival at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 3 pm, followed by a parade and protest to BC Place Stadium. Details, including childcare arrangements, at: http://2010welcoming.wordpress.com/

- Autonomous days of action on Sat Feb 13 and Mon Feb 15 including

anti-corporate actions, rallies to oppose militarization, and more.

- On Sun Feb 14th, we will be standing with the 19th Annual Women’s

Memorial March to honour all the missing and murdered and women in the

DTES (this is not an anti-Olympic protest). Details at:

http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/

We will also be updating our website with additional anti-Olympic events

occurring during the month of February:

http://olympicresistance.net

or

http://no2010.com

* LOGISTICAL INFORMATION:

We are working to coordinate the logistics to host this convergence. For

information on billeting (whether you are in need of billeting or can

provide billeting), travel and border information, legal updates, food and

childcare arrangements, community spaces, welcome package, and more,

please check

http://olympicresistance.net

frequently for updates.

* SUPPORT THE CONVERGENCE AND GET INVOLVED!

1) Sign-up for our low-traffic list (1-2 emails per week) to stay updated

on upcoming events, meetings, and actions. Please email

olympicresistance@riseup.net

and ask to be added to our announcement list.

2) If you are part of another group (artist, activist, community, union,

campus etc) and are planning any kind of activity or event to oppose the

Games during Jan-Feb 2010, please do let us know so we can stay in touch.

3) Host an anti-Olympic educational on your campus or at your next

conference. Or invite a speaker to your next meeting to discuss what your

group can do. We are able to provide educational materials including

films, tshirts, comics, buttons, stickers and more!

4) Get involved in the Olympic Resistance Network or other anti-Olympic

groups in your neighbourhood or campus. The ORN has regular General

Meetings on Sundays as well as many committees.

5) Spread the word about the convergence! Forward this notice to your

contacts, join our facebook group

(

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22399134613&ref=ts

), download

posters and flyers about the convergence from our website and pass them

on!

6) Please donate! Hosting this convergence requires significant funds,

including legal defence funds. You can donate securely through PayPal on

our website:

http://olympicresistance.net/content/send-us-money

or cheques

can be made out to Olympic Resistance Network and mailed to ORN, 6 – 1857

Kitchener St, Vancouver, BC, V5L 2W5. Email

ornfundraise@riseup.net

to

arrange direct deposits or other queries.

* WHY OPPOSE THE GAMES:

The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place on unceded Indigenous land. Far

from being simply about sport, the history of the Olympics is one rooted

in displacement, corporate greed, and repression. As Olympic promoters and

sponsors seek to present their sanitized corporate brand image to the

world, the real impacts of the Games are apparent to everyone:

* Expansion of sport tourism on Indigenous lands

* Increasing homelessness across the province and especially in

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

* Misdirected public spending and debt totaling $6 billion while funding

for the arts, educations, and health care are suffering cutbacks

* Corporate bailouts and corporate profits for companies with some of the

worst social and environmental records.

* Threats to basic civil liberties and free speech

* Union-busting and vulnerable working conditions for migrant labour

* Unprecedented destruction of the environment

* Unparalleled $1 billion police and security spending that is turning our

city into a militarized zone.

Watch: Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics:

http://vimeo.com/4872922

Hey y’all, Sharon here. This is my attempt at a blog post summarizing what Ruckus was up to in Copenhagen this month. There was A LOT happening in a short time. If you want stories, well you’ll just have to come to a Ruckus camp…

A few months ago, the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) began a conversation with us about providing action support for their delegation to Copenhagen. The delegation included representatives from Indigenous Nations across North America. Myself, and Ruckus board member Heather Milton Lightening staffed the Indigenous support team.

Based on conversations with IEN, we arrived in Copenhagen with a few goals:

* to highlight and escalate negotiations in ways that support Indigenous vision and demands

* ensure Indigenous leadership in actions and mobilizations that could advance a climate and ecological justice agenda

* train IEN staff and allies to form their own action teams and execute their own direct actions in furthering their campaign work

We also came in with the goal of coordinating 4 actions in Copenhagen during the span of COP15 (we actually pulled off 5): a framing action to set the message “Respect Indigenous Rights”; an action calling out the US and its whacked out energy policy; an action around the Canadian Tar Sands; and an action around REDD’s (read IEN’s booklet on REDD if you want to know what it is and its impacts).  In addition we were looking to ensure Indigenous voice and leadership within other civil society actions.

A word about how we work: we took our direction from IEN and by extension, the Indigenous Caucus (recognized as stakeholders by the UN).  While direct action was being used as a tool to escalate IEN’s campaigns, the Indigenous People’s Power Project (IP3) was also brought along as an offering to the caucus to support actions the caucus wanted to engage in as a body. We briefed the caucus on an almost daily basis about IEN-initiated, and civil society actions that were taking place where Indigenous participation was strategic. We took our cues from the decisions made during those briefings. Its important to note that most of the members of the Indigenous Caucus are no strangers to direct action on their home turf, having to regularly intervene on threats to their homelands. That said, embracing direct action as a strategy within the UN was stepping into new territory for the caucus.

Indigenous Initiated Actions:

Framing Action: Respect Indigenous Peoples Rights

This action took place on the second day of COP 15.  A simple action was staged in the main hallway of the UN complex otherwise known as the Bella Center. We were there to elevate the voices of the Indigenous Peoples, who are recognized stakeholders in the UN process, and to make our presence known to the negotiators roaming the hallways, wheeling and dealing. We wanted to frame the action in such a way that was dignified, respectful of where we all come from, but that said we were here and we meant business.

You have to be permitted to do an action inside the UN and we were testing the waters with UN security to see where they were drawing their lines. Here’s how our permit read:

“This is a cleansing ceremony for conference party leaders to cleanse their minds & spirits; for clarity, compassion, strength & perseverance in coming out of the COP negotiations with a binding commitment to Save Mother Earth”

We whipped up 2 banners over night. It would be the first of many late night banner painting sessions:

We assembled with our banners, our prayers, and our message.

Check out this interview with Ben Powless, Mohawk from Six Nations Canada and one time Ruckus trainee: youtube

On December 10th, day 4 of COP 15, International Human Rights Day, and the day Barack Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize, Indigenous Peoples stepped out with something to say. We were calling out the US and its energy policies which escalate ecological devastation and cultural genocide not only for Indigenous People in the United States but also globally.

More late night banner fun with good results:

A scroll with a letter to Obama was prepared and delivered to a representative from the US Embassy. Democracy Now told the story pretty well.

And check out Faith Gemmil and Wahleah Johns on the NBC nightly news:

As usual, our press team kicked out some jammin media of our own: IEN Pitch Engine and a video of our own

And if you’re curious, here’s how the scroll read:

Dear Ambassador:

As the United States President Barack Obama accepts his Nobel peace prize today, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and First Nations Peoples come to Copenhagen to speak out against the United States energy policy that is detrimentally affecting our lands, health and livelihoods. We represent the following Nations: Mathais, Colomb Cree Nation, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Cree, Nakoda, Blackfoot, Ojibwe, Pit River/ Wintu, Neets’aii, Gwich’in Athabascan, Navajo, Mikisew Cree, Dene, Inupiaq, Oneida, Mayan, and Yaqui.

We support a full and effective participation of Indigenous people within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

We support the free, prior and informed consent, including the right to oppose the extraction of fossil fuels by destructive industries.

We call for the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and other international human rights instruments and agreements.

We strongly call for a moratorium on all new exploration for oil, gas, coal and uranium as a first step towards the full phase-out of fossil fuels, without nuclear power, with a just transition to sustainable jobs, energy and environment.

We support vibrant green economies: the U.S. assisting Indigenous communities to help supporting a just transition into a green economy, freeing ourselves from dependence on a carbon-based fossil fuel economy

We support the most stringent and binding emission reduction targets: Carbon emissions for developed countries must be reduced by no less than 40%, preferably 49% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 95% by 2050. We call for national and global actions to stabilize CO2 concentrations below 350 parts per million (ppm) and limiting temperature increases to below 1.5ºc.

We oppose false solutions: These include nuclear energy, large-scale dams, geo-engineering techniques, clean coal technologies, carbon capture and sequestration, bio-fuels, tree plantations, and international market-based mechanisms such as carbon trading and offsets, the Clean Development Mechanisms and Flexible Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol and forest offsets.

Signed,

Indigenous Peoples of North America

International Human Rights Day: Implement Indigenous Peoples Rights

After the US Embassy we headed back to the Bella Center for another action.  The co-chairs of the caucus proposed a human chain in commemoration of International Human Rights Day. It just so happened that the youth caucus were doing a “rainstorm” action just before ours and a blending of youth and Indigenous people was quite a treat.

Unfortunately UN security wasn’t as excited by this swarm of people as we were. So off we went, around the bella center!

I got a “yellow card” for this action; meaning UN security flipped out on me because we moved our human chain around the Bella Center. It was quite the joke around the action team for the next few days…

Faith Gemmil vs Ken Salazar

The day wasn’t over yet for Faith Gemmil. She heard Ken Salazar, secretary US Department of the Interior, was giving a press briefing. With the help of her new friends over at NBC (see the nightly news link above) she managed to get in and address Ken Salazar. Check out the video that was captured as Faith asked her question.

Rolling out the welcome mat for Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper

This was our much anticipated action of the COP. We had first nations folks in the house from tar sands affected communities, and allies from the UK and Canada were also rolling deep. Together with our friends at Rainforest Action Network we decided to roll out the welcome mat for Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and pay the Canadian embassy in Copenhagen a visit, just to let them know we were there. We also thought we’d bring him a welcome basket, with some useful things, like treaties, literature on the tar sands, even one of our “Respect Indigenous Rights” placards (translated into Danish for his convenience):

Oh, did I mention more late night banner painting (Heather is a machine!)

Here’s the press release our action media team pulled together. On the way to this action I got a phone call from Danish police, informing me we were not allowed to assemble at the embassy. Unfortunately for them, there were already about 20 people gathered when we got there, dozens more on their way, and we had no intentions of stopping. After all, we were only there to welcome Harper, drop him a gift basket, and let him know there’s always the opportunity to do the right thing.

Smart Meme helped us pull a video together too (in addition to their incredible support during COP15)

Also, around Canada and the UK folks were marking Canada’s oily footprint in their home cities. Check out the UK solidarity action.

NO RIGHTS NO REDDS

This was the last day we knew most of us would have access to the UN. It was also the morning after President Evo Morales of Bolivia had arrived in Copenhagen. Bolivia came to the COP with the most aggressive targets of any government. They also came with a message: RIGHTS FOR MOTHER EARTH.

Delegates from Bolivia came to the Indigenous Caucus with a request for support for a welcoming ceremony and action they wanted to do. We thought it would be a good time to pull out our NO RIGHTS NO REDDS!!! Shirts.

This was also the day of the Reclaim Power action, so at this point, it was all about keeping the energy up until our friends marching outside reached the bella center.

Indigenous Participation in civil society actions:

Marching through the streets of Copenhagen

Watch Tom Goldtooth’s rap at the rally at the end of the march.

RECLAIM POWER

In solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Bolivia, we joined them in leading the Reclaim Power march out of the Bella Center to join our comrades on the outside. Here are some of the days highlights

And a  few from outside

EJ Groups at the US Embassy

Well, we didn’t think we’d go to the US Embassy twice in one trip, but we thought it’d be worth it to unite with our friends in the Environmental Justice movement in the US. Oh yeah, we had one more delivery for Obama:

And of course, there’s an awesome video

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS…
We’re already in conversations about COP 16. Help us get there! Donate to Ruckus today…

So we’re day 3 into the climate talks, and the lay of the land is fascinating. Copenhagen is not just expensive when it comes to food and drink – there’s also a steep cost for folks who engage in actions. Fines and deportation are the two pendulums swinging, and we have to plan our actions in a way that makes an impact throughout the entire process. So what are we doing?

We’re bringing it.

Yesterday there was a framing action inside the UN, in the main hallway between the NGO display area, and the climate negotiation space. The message was: Respect Indigenous Rights. Ruckus/IP3 is in Copenhagen to support the Indigenous Environmental Network and thereby the Indigenous People’s caucus, which is a recognized body within the UN, and a powerful participant in the proceedings. Our goal is to highlight and escalate negotiations in ways that support indigenous vision and demands, as well as ensure indigenous leadership in the actions and mobilizations that advance a climate and ecological justice agenda.

In addition to the actions and mass mobilizations we came here to do and support, new action opportunities are arising every day. As shit hits the fan inside the UN halls, delegations from all over the world are in careful strategic processes, trying to determine when, how and if they will have to walk out, and action will raise their voices loud enough to be heard inside the halls of negotiation.

As usual, we’re not trying to be reactionary, or act for the sake of action – we want to act for the sake of movement building and shifting the balance of power and the direction of the planet when it comes to climate.

It’s exciting to be here with so many amazing organizers and organizations – our friends from Smartmeme are here supporting messaging as the situation changes. Our friends from IEN are shaping policy daily – check out this video of them on Democracy Now.

More to come!

Sharon!

This November 30th marked the 10-year anniversary of the WTO shut-down in Seattle in 1999.  It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since the iconic Democracy –> / WTO <– banner drop that kicked off that amazing week of people coming together to take over the streets and show the bosses in suits that people come before profit.

Now, on the 10th anniversary, Ruckus is once again sending our folks to join thousands of others from around the world at another momentous convening of world governments:  the COP-15 climate talks in Copenhagen.

Throughout the past decade, much has changed and much remains the same – both movement-wide, and within our organization.  Since the WTO, Ruckus has grown and shifted in many ways.  Our work today may appear slightly different, but at the heart of it all we remain steadfast in our mission to provide activists with hands-on tools and skills to take strategic, effective, creative nonviolent direct action in order to improve their communities.

We know that our work isn’t finished – there are plenty more folks and communities who need these tools.  But in order for us to keep fulfilling all the requests we receive, we need YOUR support.

So check out this short video about our work and some of the amazing actions that have been made possible through Ruckus’s training program and action network over the years.

Then get out your wallet and take one of the quickest, simplest actions you can: donate today!

The Ruckus Society – Take Action: Donate Today!

Many thanks to Anita Sarkeesian for producing this video for us!!!

CANADIANS TAKE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE
Occupy Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice’s office

Go to the Blog: www.canadaclimatejustice.wordpress.com for info and updates

Six people are currently occupying Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice’s office to demand the Canadian Government push for climate justice at the up and coming climate treaty negotiations in Copenhagen, to be held this December. Five citizens hail from Prentice’s riding. The sit in began at 10.00am, and is now in its’ fourth hour.

The people occupying the office have refused to leave until the Minister agrees to push for a just, ambitious, and binding climate deal in Copenhagen that listens to the science, and is led by those who are most directly impacted by the climate crisis.

“While our government continues to delay action on climate change, millions of people will die or become displaced due to the climate crisis. Canada’s obstructive approach to the international climate negotiations, and our refusal to recognize the scientific reality of global warming in our own climate policies, tells the world that the Canadian government doesn’t care about the lives of those currently affected by the climate crisis,” said David Wilson, one of the citizens occupying Prentice’s office. Phone calls, letters, rallies… They haven’t done enough to solve the greatest environmental problem facing our generation. We must put more pressure on the Government to act and push for a just, ambitious, and binding deal that reflects the science, and is led by those most directly impacted by the climate crisis.”

Inaction on climate change is already displacing and killing millions the world over, and exacerbating existing problems like global poverty, hunger, disease and armed conflict over resources. The UN estimates there will be over 150 million climate refugees by 2050. In Canada, warmer temperatures have already ravaged BC’s pine forests. Communities in the Canadian Arctic face the complete transformation of their landscape and way of life. Across the country, the increasing severity and frequency of climate caused events like droughts and flooding will impact our food production and livelihoods. Canada’s children face a future where much of our living systems have collapsed, and they will be forced to shoulder a burden of immeasurable injustice.

“For this country with such a proud tradition of protecting the planet to become the global symbol of dirty fuels and unsustainable practices is heart breaking,” asserted University of British Columbia Professor Patrick M. Condon. “At some point citizens have an obligation to say enough is enough. Change can happen, and it must. Apartheid was broken by just such a spirit. Segregation was broken by just such a spirit. We can do no less. With the climate crisis the stakes are even higher.”

JOIN THE ACTIVISTS AND TAKE ACTION FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE

Phone the office and demand that Prentice give into the protesters demands that Canada commit to a just, ambitious and binding climate treaty in Copenhagen that listens to science and is led by those most directly affected by the climate crisis: 403 216-7777 or email Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca

Organize your own direct action at your local elected officials’ office.
Go to the Blog: www.canadaclimatejustice.wordpress.com or email canadaclimatejustice@gmail.com for more information.

Write op eds and letters to the editor about the importance of taking direct action to make sure the Canadian Government solves climate change.

MEDIA COVERAGE SO FAR

Hell No, We Won’t Go – Globe and Mail

Environmentalists occupy minister’s Calgary office – CHQR Newsroom

PHOTOS

Flickr

Did you catch that moment of unity last week in Singapore at the APEC summit? Leaders from across the Earth boldly stood, in their matching shirts, unified in their resolve to “walk back” expectations about the Copenhagen Climate Conference next month?

Sheesh.

But who needs to go summit-hopping over to Denmark when you can stay home and fight the largest and most destructive project on planet Earth? Right here in our very own back yard. That’s right–we’re taking about the Tar Sands. The dirtiest most carbon intensive oil on this here planet.

Check out our latest music video:  The Tar Sands Blow

If you ain’t ready to open up a big old can of Tar Sands Whuppass by the time it’s over, then we don’t deserve to call ourselves Popular Agitators no more.

Crank your speakers to 11 and click here:  The Tar Sands Blow

Thanks Huffington Post for a visit to some of our favorite direct actions