Posted by david soori on October 10, 2009, 0:14:19 Link: http://blogs.greenpeace.ca/?p=1982
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Why Civil Disobedience & Why Now
By Bruce Cox, Executive Director of Greenpeace Canada
Why in the world would a group of global citizens from Alberta to Berlin to Rio, drop everything and leave their comfy homes (and lives) to come to the tar sands and volunteer to put themselves on the line? Why would I do it?
This past weekend I returned from Canada's own Mordor, the tar sands: a cold, dark, otherworldly place full of fire and brimstone – indeed, we dubbed the bridge spanning the massive Suncor Millennium site the “bridge to climate hell”.
Alongside over 20 other activists I took part in a peaceful non-violent direct action at Suncor’s major mine site and upgrading facility in the tar sands. This was the second of three recent actions at tar sands facilities resulting in nearly 40 people arrested to date. Charged with “mischief” I spent 32 hours in jail at the Fort McMurray police station. Released on condition that I “behave” myself and stay out of the Wood Buffalo jurisdiction (the centre of tar sands destruction and an area about the size of southern Europe!) I am scheduled to appear in court in early November. Suffice to say, jail was not pleasant but it’s not supposed be.
So why would volunteers give up their warm beds and risk the elements, arrest and a police record? Why would Greenpeace want them to? And why do these peaceful acts of civil disobedience elicit such heated commentary on the web and in Tim Hortons?
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http://blogs.greenpeace.ca/?p=1982
The pacifists message is getting through
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