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We are members of and , groups that are working to stop tar sands mining from beginning in Utah. As tar sands mining is scheduled to begin in Utah in 2013, we deeply valued the chance to visit the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas several months ago to gain insight from other grassroots organizers. Finding solidarity across such a distance inspired this piece.

On January 10, Oklahomans marched on a section of the Keystone XL pipeline in Stroud, Okla., to launch a direct action campaign against the project. Just three days earlier, more than 100 activists stormed into the Houston headquarters of TransCanada, the corporation contracted to build Keystone. Meanwhile, a new tree-sit went up to block the path of the pipeline鈥檚 construction in Diboll, Texas. These actions represent the spirit of Blockadia鈥攁 vast but interwoven web of campaigns standing up against the fossil fuel industry and demanding an end to the development of tar sands pipelines.

Blockadia鈥檚 campaigns are building a unified front larger than anything the environmental movement has ever seen.

Blockadia is a place where the future of the environmental movement is being negotiated. In this vast region of proposed tar sands pipelines鈥攑articularly the Keystone XL, which reaches from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico; and the Northern Gateway, which extends from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia鈥攃ommunities are engaged in struggles that draw strength from one another. From a to the of the Save the Fraser Declaration in Vancouver, these communities have been ramping up their efforts in recent weeks.

Complemented by the recent firestorm of actions for indigenous rights by the Idle No More movement across Canada and the world, Blockadia is bringing a renewed emphasis on social justice to the environmental movement.

The efforts of communities throughout Blockadia share three main characteristics that make the struggle against tar sands pipelines different than any environmental campaign in U.S. history: the normalization of direct action; the involvement of rural and indigenous groups along with more typical 鈥渁ctivists;鈥� and the ability of tar sands extraction to motivate even those who tolerated conventional oil pipelines.

Through these qualities, Blockadia鈥檚 campaigns are building a unified front larger than anything the environmental movement has ever seen, making the struggle potentially winnable despite the steep odds against it.

1. Normalization of direct action in land defense

The communities along the pipeline routes have come to accept that it鈥檚 OK for people who don鈥檛 fit into a typical activist stereotype (think young, urban, and highly educated) to practice civil disobedience to protect their land. In Texas and elsewhere, rural landowners and others who never imagined themselves diving into direct action are doing so because it鈥檚 their only recourse to protect their homes and families. In Texas, landowners such as the 78-year-old Eleanor Fairchild have stood in the way of bulldozers.

First Nations in British Columbia are prepared to physically block construction of the pipeline, if it comes to that.

鈥淒irect action is scary, it鈥檚 technical, and it does require some knowledge and skill sharing,鈥� says Ron Seifert, spokesperson for the Tar Sands Blockade. Nonetheless, when all other strategies have failed, locals have embraced it.

Blockadia isn鈥檛 just a Texas thing. Geraldine Thomas-Flurer, coordinator of the Yinka Dene Alliance鈥攁 group of six First Nations that stands against the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry tar sands from the Alberta mines to the coast of British Columbia鈥攕ays the First Nations in this region are prepared to physically block its construction if it comes to that. Over 130 First Nations have signed onto a declaration prohibiting the pipeline鈥攖he Save the Fraser Declaration鈥攖hat was coordinated by the Yinka Dene Alliance.

鈥淢any of our chiefs have said that they would lay down their lives in a nonviolent way if it came to that,鈥� Thomas-Flurer says. 鈥淧eople have said they would die for this. I would die to stop this.鈥�

Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska, a group that defends the rights of bread-basket landowners facing TransCanada鈥檚 legal team, makes a similar point. 鈥淚f construction were to start in our state, you would see people doing civil disobedience, no doubt.鈥�

Some Nebraskans traveled to Washington, D.C., for the protests against the Keystone XL in August 2011, which ended in mass arrests.

鈥淪ome of the old timers say they鈥檝e never picketed in their entire lives,鈥� Kleeb says. 鈥淚 could definitely see these [people] blocking roads with their pickup trucks or blocking roads with themselves and their neighbors.鈥� She also pictures locals moving cattle into the pipeline鈥檚 path to stop construction, techniques that take advantage of the flat landscape and available resources.

2. Involvement of rural communities and indigenous peoples

Another way Blockadia differs from earlier movements is that local people are taking leading roles because they understand how the pipelines will affect their lives. This stands in stark contrast to other high-profile environmental campaigns鈥攕uch as protests against mountaintop removal in Appalachia and the efforts to block logging in the Pacific Northwest鈥攖hat culminated in bitter hostilities between non-resident organizers and locals who felt their livelihood was under attack.

Locals are not showing up holding pro-pipeline signs in this struggle. That鈥檚 due to the effective outreach concerned locals have made to their own communities.

Ron Seifert, spokesperson for the Tar Sands Blockade, emphasizes that local people began working to stop the pipeline years ago. Only later did non-resident activists come in and join with locals, who had already been drawing publicity toward the issue.

Geraldine Thomas-Flurer says First Nations and non-indigenous people are working together in solidarity in British Columbia. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a unified voice,鈥� she asserts, adding that the majority of the public in the province stands firmly against tar sands pipelines. 鈥淚 never thought I would ever see the day that we would come together. Relationships are changing, stereotypes are disappearing, there鈥檚 more respect for one another. If anything, this Enbridge Northern Gateway has unified British Columbia.鈥�

Labor is also joining the opposition. Dave Coles, president of Canada鈥檚 Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union, says a huge portion of workers in Alberta鈥檚 tar sands industry stand firmly against tar sands pipelines. 鈥淲e represent thousands and thousands of members in the tar sands,鈥� he says. 鈥淥ur members who work in the tar sands are unanimous in their support for killing this thing.鈥�

Another reason why counter-protests haven鈥檛 taken hold in the U.S. is that locals know they鈥檙e fighting a foreign corporation.

Not only do energy workers understand that the energy sector鈥檚 economic boom and bust cycle will eventually put them out of a job, he says, but they hold that the pipeline would be detrimental to Canada for economic reasons, as well as for human rights and the environment.

Although TransCanada and Enbridge have tried to launch counter-campaigns in support of the pipelines, these have not been successful. Enbridge launched a massive campaign to draw support for the Northern Gateway, but Thomas-Flurer says that it hasn鈥檛 been working.

鈥淓nbridge tries to stir the pot,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e gonna try to divide and conquer. We鈥檝e been there, done that. It鈥檚 old hat to us because it鈥檚 happened to our people throughout history.鈥�

The building trades sector has also attempted to launch counter-protests, says Coles, but these have been driven by leadership rather than workers, and thus lack momentum.

Seifert adds that TransCanada鈥檚 propaganda campaign has been largely ineffective. 鈥淲e have yet to be met with counter-protests,鈥� he notes, saying the credit for that belongs to 鈥渓ocal communities who have spent years building awareness.鈥�

Another reason why counter-protests haven鈥檛 taken hold in the U.S. is that locals know they鈥檙e fighting a foreign corporation. According to Kleeb, 鈥淵ou constantly hear ranchers and farmers say, 鈥楬ow in America can a foreign corporation take land that my ancestors homesteaded, that portions of their family died for in the Dust Bowl?鈥欌��

In British Columbia, First Nations are also fighting against an invasive power. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never signed a treaty,鈥� Thomas-Flurer says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never ceded our land. We鈥檝e never gone to war. We鈥檝e never given up title to our traditional territories. And the law is on our side.鈥�

3. People who tolerated fracking and oil pipelines are drawing the line at tar sands

Many of those rising up against tar sands pipelines tolerated other industries that environmentalists consider highly polluting. But the dangers of tar sands pipelines are too hard to ignore.

Tar sands pipelines carry diluted bitumen鈥攖ar sands oil鈥攁long with highly toxic solvents that are necessary to make the thick slurry flow through a pipe.

Earl Hatley, Riverkeeper of the Grand River in the Waterkeeper Allliance and member of the Cherokee Nation, is leading a battle against the Keystone XL in the Oklahoma courts. 鈥淚鈥檓 not against oil and gas pipelines,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 just couldn鈥檛 sit back in my watershed with all the problems that I鈥檓 facing and watch the pipeline go through.鈥�

In Texas, one of the landowners who has been most outspoken about the pipeline鈥攁nd who was arrested in October for standing in the way of a bulldozer鈥攈as been invested in the oil industry for much of her life, says Seifert.

鈥淓leanor Fairchild is the widow of an oil geologist, and her family was involved with the oil industry, and she鈥檚 not opposed to pipelines categorically or fossil fuels categorically,鈥� he says.

Though Texas is known for its allegiance to the oil industry, many people felt betrayed by the industry鈥檚 deception.

鈥淭ransCanada misrepresented its pipeline to everyone,鈥� Seifert explains. 鈥淚t never mentioned to anyone that it was a tar sands pipeline, ever.鈥� Tar sands pipelines carry diluted bitumen鈥攖ar sands oil鈥攁long with highly toxic solvents that are necessary to make the thick slurry flow through a pipe.

鈥淎 lot of people didn鈥檛 know what tar sands were at first, but they were outraged when they found out,鈥� Seifert says. 鈥淭hey were outraged that they were never told what will be in the pipe.鈥�

The future of Blockadia

Whether these unique factors will add up to a victory is anyone鈥檚 guess. Some seemingly key ingredients to success鈥攐nes that other campaigns like the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s achieved鈥攁re still absent. This issue hasn鈥檛 cracked popular media, and as a consequence, few people besides environmentalists and front-line communities have heard about it. Tar sands hasn鈥檛 become a campaign issue in electoral politics, either.

Why We鈥檙e Putting Ourselves on the (Pipe)Line With the Tea Party
Occupiers, Tea Partiers, landowners, and environmentalists are challenging construction of the Keystone XL pipeline鈥檚 Gulf Coast segment鈥攖ogether.

Nevertheless, the three unifying factors of Blockadia form a vital foundation that gives this movement a chance not only to block the proposed tar-sands pipelines, but to radicalize the environmental movement as well. With historically marginalized people stepping into the forefront of the movement, and historically privileged groups fighting for rights they once took for granted, momentum is building.

The coming months will show whether Blockadia can win the hearts and minds of the broader public, catalyzing neighboring communities into action and creating the overwhelming support that would be required for the campaigns to achieve their ultimate goals.

In the meantime, throughout Blockadia, people are more fully comprehending and articulating the intertwined nature of social justice and environmental issues, and working together on these causes. The active engagement of people in the frontline communities is giving environmentalism the heart it desperately needed, connecting movements for the healthy survival of communities to movements bent on protecting our land and water.

Interested?

• From snow to glacier, from river to delta, and back again. Now, that centuries-old cycle has been interrupted by the tremendous volume of water required to extract oil from the Alberta tar sands.
• This fall, 150 women gathered in the desert town of Moab, Utah, to discuss the changes we would need to respect the rights of future generations.
• How the state鈥檚 fight for clean water is reshaping its political landscape.