Which way for the climate movement?
2017Michael Schreiber 2017-05Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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VOL. 35, NO. 5, MAY 2017 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. $1 / CANADA $2 On April 29, more than 200,000 people marched in Washington, D.C., in a powerful show of determina tion to rescue the earth from the ravages of climate change. Over 370 sister marches took place simul taneously across the United States and in countries around the world from Britain to Brazil, and from Mexico to Kenya and the Philippines.
The size of the crowd in Washington far surpassed earlier expectations by the organizers and the Na tional Park Service. At precisely 2 p.m., virtually the entire march, which at that point extended more than 20 blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House, grew quiet as people sat down as an ensemble. Drums kept the rhythm as the marchers thumped their chests to show that while coming from many backgrounds, their hearts beat as one.
In addition to the colorful puppets and banners car ried by organized contingents, most of the marchers brought hand-lettered signs, with slogans reflecting a variety of related social concerns (such as “Black Lives Matter”) in addition to that of the environment.
Although the organized trade-union contingents were meager, spirited groups of Native Americans, LGBTQ people, and communities of color—including a number of Washington, D.C., youth—made their presence felt.
“In the face of a federal administration that would rather reap profits than protect people, our commu nities are rising up,” Jeremiah Lowery, climate jus tice organizer with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said in a press statement on the eve of the march. “In Washington, D.C. and around the world, it’s low-income communities, communities of color, and workers who are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis they did the least to contribute to.”
There is no doubt that the threats by the Trump ad ministration to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords and to rescind environmental measures put in place by Obama—which themselves were far from ad Lou Ann Merkle (Photo) Philadelphia-area activists joined the crowd of 200,000 on April 29 in Washington.
equate—were responsible for swelling the numbers of people who joined the demonstration.
Only three days before the April 29 actions, Trump and Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke released plans to open federal land across the country, including his toric and sacred Native American sites, to fossil fuel mining. At the same time, the administration revealed its plans to roll back environmental protections in ocean waters in order to increase oil exploration and drilling. Twenty-seven areas on land and sea would lose their designations as National Monuments.
“Six months ago, my kids woke up to half a foot of water in our living room,” said Cherri Foytlin, director of BOLD Louisiana and spokesperson for the Indig enous Environmental Network. “Now, Trump wants to open up the Gulf Coast to even more offshore drill ing. But we have a message for him: we are not afraid, (continued on page 10, in “Mumia fights for a new trial”)
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INSIDE SOCIALIST B&H strike — 3
U.S. bombs Syria — 2 Big agriculture — 6 Countering the right — 7 May Day events — 4 & 5 War threats on N. Korea
James Connolly — 9 Mumia Abu-Jamal — 10 Canada News — 11