‘One Nation Under Surveillance’

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... Risks escalate for climate catastrophe “I ask you, how many times does Barack Obama have to lie to you before you get it?” journalist and author Chris Hedges asked the crowd of over 200 gathered in Torpe Theater at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) on March 31. Hedges was the keynote speak­ er at the 2nd annual civil liberties conference there, which was titled “One Nation Under Surveillance.”

Barack Obama’s presidency has shown that Demo­ crats are just as insidious as Republicans—if not worse. Obama has deported two million immigrant workers, expanded a massive national and interna­ tional spying program, and imprisoned more Black workers than were incarcerated during the days of apartheid in South Africa.

Again and again, Obama has supported corporate in­ terests over the interests of working people. His abil­ ity to do so has largely depended on a massive repres­ sive apparatus, which Hedges pointed out, “primarily advanced and protected the profits of corporations, and solidified state repression and further imperialist expansion.”

The one-day conference was politically sharp and insightful, which flowed from the experience and di­ versity of guest panelists who included Robert King of the Angola 3; Lynne Jackson of Project SALAM; author and professor Dr. Khalilah Brown-Dean; Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project; and many more. The event was initiated by the Connecti­ cut Coalition to Stop Indefinite Detention, ACLU-CT, CAIR-CT, and United Action-CT, and hosted by the CCSU Youth for Socialist Action. Dozens of other or­ ganizations endorsed and sponsored the conference.

Student organizer Daniel Adam opened the proceed­ ings by illustrating the continual erosion of civil liber­ ties in the U.S. “Before we begin,” Adam stated, “I want to take a moment to consider the context of our con­ ference. On the one hand, there are the most recent outrages:

“In just the last month, in the midst of NSA revela­ tions, a federal judge threw out a challenge to the NYPD-CIA campaign of mass surveillance of Muslim American community institutions, businesses, and campus groups. He claimed the only harm done was by the press who reported the spying. Northeastern University has suspended its campus Students for Jus­ tice in Palestine and begun proceedings to expel mem­ bers for an educational campaign they carried out on campus.

“This month, the federal government sent an officer to the workplace of Majida Salem to begin garnishing her wages as part of her husband’s punishment for (continued from page 1: “Risks escalate for climate catastrophe”) and complete ecological collapse. Time is running out, yet little or nothing has been done. Instead, capitalist industry, now centered in China and India, continues to belch out massive amounts of greenhouse gases, while scientists are becoming increasingly alarmed by the effects.

Last month, the Climate Science Panel of the Ameri­ can Association for the Advancement of Science issued a call to action, stating that “we are at risk of pushing our climate system toward abrupt, unpredictable, and potentially irreversible changes with highly damaging impacts….” Also, a group of British climate scientists held a Radical Emissions Reduction Conference and called for “revolutionary change” on all levels, and bottom-up as well as top-down action. They are right about bottom-up action. It’s exactly what is so desper­ ately needed.

Rising CO2 levels We are rapidly approaching a doubling of pre-indus­ trial carbon levels of 275 parts per million (ppm). For a second consecutive year, atmospheric carbon diox­ ide concentrations rose to over 400 ppm at Mauna Loa Observatory. Last year, levels exceeded the 400 mark in May, when there is a natural peak just before veg­ etation in the Northern Hemisphere begins summertime photosynthetic activity, carbon absorption, and growth. However, in mid-March, 2014, CO2 levels hit 401.6 ppm two months ahead of time, and it is expect­ ed that daily values could rise even higher this spring.

This troubling prospect is before us because the world emitted 40 billion tons (36 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide last year, a 2.1% increase over 2012. The United States, with its ravenous consumption of goods that are largely manufactured in China, has the world’s largest per-capita emissions and a carbon footprint of 17.6 tons (16 MT), compared with two tons (1.8 MT) for the people of India. Adding to that supporting charities for Palestinian children. Her hus­ band, Ghassan Elashi, is serving 65 years in prison as part of the Holy Land 5.

“And in recent weeks, prisoners have again orga­ nized hunger strikes against cruel abuses in Georgia and Colorado Special Management Units and in a de­ portation center in Washington State. The advancing militarization of local police featured a trip last month by the LAPD to Israel for training in the use of domes­ tic drones and other handy skills.”

Another student organizer, Nicole LoPriore, empha­ sized the historical continuity of government repres­ sion: “We are meeting as the nation opens up its com­ memoration of World War I. This is important to think about because the domestic repression that stemmed from that conflict was brutal.

“Here in Hartford, when pacifist speakers at a mass meeting in the Socialist Party hall opposed conscrip­ tion, the speaker and the whole audience were round­ ed up and thrown in jail. The Hartford jails became the holding pens prior to deportation for hundreds of union leaders of Russian descent who had been lead­ ing the fight for the eight-hour day. Entire organiza­ tions like the Industrial Workers of the World were completely crushed by the work of government spies and provocateurs, jailing, and deportations.”

Although workers and students face a difficult battle are the enormous plumes of methane emanating from the Siberian Arctic seafloor.

The planet continues to warm up, despite a slight leveling off in the mean global surface temperature. This is deceptive since vast amounts of heat are be­ ing stored in the deep oceans due to a speed up in the South Pacific trade winds that are pushing warm ocean waters down to greater depths. Therefore, there is no “pause” in the warming—as the climate-change deniers like to harp. In fact, 2013 was the 37th consecu­ tive year of above normal global temperature, which registered at 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit (14.6 C), roughly a degree warmer than the 20th-century average. This was the case despite the absence of an El Nino last year and Earth’s currently experiencing a solar minimum. Frenzy of fossil fuel extraction The worsening situation can be blamed on the frenzy of carbon-intensive and resource-intensive fossil fuel extraction, as drillers go after what’s left of the planet’s proven reserves, regardless of the cost to the climate or the environment. The mad scramble for what’s left has turned communities everywhere into energy sac­ rifice zones, with tar sands extraction, the fracking of tight shale oil and gas, silica-fracking sand mining, and deepwater offshore drilling.

BP has just gotten permission to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico even though clean-up there is far from over. Plus, there is the transport of the fossil fuels via pipelines, trains, and tankers, which has led to toxic spills and devastating explosions and fires.

The latest form of extreme energy extraction is un­ derground coal gasification (UCG). In order to get at deep underground coal reserves that cannot be con­ ventionally mined or strip mined, developers hope to pump air into the formations, set fire to the coal, cap­ ture the gaseous emissions embedded in the seams, and then at the surface separate the methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen to be used (Above) Keynote speaker Chris Hedges.

to defend their civil freedoms, past and recent history shows us that it is not impossible. Lynne Stewart, the People’s Lawyer, unjustly imprisoned for defending a man who was a target of the so-called War on Terror, won her release from prison on grounds of rapidly failing health. Her release was largely due to tens of thousands of calls, letters, protests, articles, and de­ fense forums.

Conference participants also learned how young immigrant rights activists have taken to the streets, demanding an end to deportations of undocumented workers. Their slogan is: “Don’t Deport My Mother!” These bold activists have even chained themselves to buses filled with immigrant workers headed for de­ portation. It is important that we do everything in our power to build and support their efforts.

“Educate, organize, and mobilize” were three lessons clearly drawn from the day’s activities. In that spirit Daniel Adam concluded, “This can be the future. A future where we roll back this offensive against our rights, and build a society where democratic rights can be exercised by every community—people with or without papers, those criminalized by the state, and low-wage working people fighting for more pay and benefits.” n for energy and chemical feedstocks.

Just imagine hundreds of out-of-control coal fires smoldering within the bowels of Earth and what that might do to aquifers and seismic faults—not to men­ tion the subsidence it could cause at the surface! In UCG trials in the United States, groundwater contami­ nation was found from escaped benzene and toluene. Building a movement Tens of thousands of grassroots activists have been struggling to stop this madness and save what is left of Earth’s climate by attempting to halt the Path of De­ struction that is the pipeline network.

Preventing TransCanada’s Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline from being built across the Great Plains is a major part of that effort. Landowners and tribal peoples along the proposed route have formed the Cowboy and Indian Alliance and will be trekking to Washington, D.C., where they will set up camp near the White House to make their opposition known to KXL. The encampment is the lead-up to what will hopefully be a large “Protect and Reject” demonstration on the National Mall on Saturday, April 26, to demand that the Obama administration nix the project once and for all.

With April being Environment Month and with the 44th Earth Day occurring, many local activists are plan­ ning events as part of the Global Climate Convergence. The Convergence will begin on April 22 and go through May 1, when environmentalists will join the May Day Marches for immigrants’ and workers’ rights—One Planet, One People, One Future!

In Europe, where fracking is ominously growing, Global Frackdown and other grassroots movements are conducting Climate Spring actions to opposed ex­ treme energy and campaign for climate justice. Wher­ ever you are, we strongly urge you to join the struggle to Save Mother Earth and to get out in the streets! n For further reading: “Capitalism Damns the Envi­ ronment.” Order this pamphlet for $3 (plus $1 post­ age) from Socialist Action, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

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