Bioneers 2010: Dispatch from an Earth Community Movement

Once again, the 3-day Bioneers mother-ship has landed and departed, and a thousand pods of social and environmental change have dispersed across the globe, refreshed and re-energized.  Or to use the less technological metaphor by Janine Benyus, founder of the Biomimicry Institute,

“This is kind of a seasonal migration ceremony, Bioneers.  If we were migrating birds, this would be our staging ground, where we come and talk about what we have hatched this year and what breeding was like.”

The Bioneers Conference, hosted in San Rafael, CA on what is the ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok, is a leading-edge forum presenting breakthrough solutions for people and planet.  Over its twenty-one years Bioneers has become a global community of some of the most dedicated, passionate, and creative thinkers and leaders facilitating a wiser way forward for the earth community.

Farmers, students, social justice workers, scientists, artists, musicians, writers, entrepreneurs, indigenous leaders, environmental activists, peacemakers, and a motley assortment of engaged citizens come together to learn, network, and re-energize their efforts in creating a just and resilient world.  The topics discussed range from organic farming, green chemistry, and women in the media to cross-cultural education, traditional indigenous knowledge, and local democracy.

The experience is as intellectually stimulating as it is personally transformational. Over the next few days I will be discussing some of the most visionary and exciting projects, ideas, and people at Bioneers, including the Million Kid March, the new shift in environmental and community protection using a rights-of-nature framework that is taking root across the world, the Dreaming New Mexico local foodshed & fair trade work, the One World Youth Project that is creating a new paradigm for cross-cultural education, new models of clean energy, the transformation of urban landscapes and the work of Andy Lipkus and the TreePeople, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots programs in 120 countries, the heroic ethnographic work of Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey, the first female fellow of the National Geographic Society, and the move to amend the constitution to limit corporate person-hood and restore free speech for people alone.

Here I want to highlight what I take to be some of its core themes and messages and hopefully in the process capture some of the spirit of Bioneers.

1) Urgency of Action: All the signals from the biosphere and indicators from our body and economy are in: the time is past due for massive shifts in how we do things.

“This moment beckons us all to think big,” said Bioneers co-founder Nina Simons. “To match all we are each capable of with the needs of a planet” in peril.

Another panelist, Ami Marcus from Mt. Shasta, whose community is fighting corporate raiding of their water and manipulation of their weather, said, “It is not enough to feel it here,” she said, pointing to her heart, “we must codify it in our structures on the ground.”

And that takes the hard work of speaking out, organizing, speaking face to face with our neighbors about the issues, of challenging the status quo, saying yes to things not yet born but are in our imaginations, not accepting no, and of not waiting on leaders to come.  It means scaling up the work we are doing already. It means moving beyond bumper sticker activism and clicktivism.

Bioneers co-founder Kenny Ausubel invoked Winston Churchill: “It’s no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”

The Four Years. Go campaign was presented, a global effort to awaken the best of our collective awareness and action.  It is based on the premise that what we do or don’t do in the very short term will effect generations to come and that we have the solutions at hand, but we need all hands on deck.  The mission is to empower “individuals and organizations to set and reach goals that will cause a positive global tipping point by 2014, setting humanity on a new path toward a socially just, environmentally sustainable, and spiritually fulfilling future.”  As the video suggests, it is not a new organization, it represents goals for every organization.

Connect with Four Years. Go on Facebook and on Twitter.

We are urged to plug-in, co-create, and act with fierce determination. We are the leaders. As one speaker urged, “Whatever you do, wherever you are, find a way to be ever more involved.”

“When I say Chevron, you say, ‘Clean up!’, When I say BP, you say, ‘Pay up!’”

On August 30, a couple hundred people snaked through downtown San Francisco to confront Big Oil and demand accountability for the damage they have done to impacted communities worldwide. It marked the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It was also the largest non-violent direct action since the BP oil disaster.

After a die-in on a mock oil spill in front of Chevron’s offices with Rev. Davis from the Richmond community (site of Chevron’s refinery) reminding us that “liars, crooks, and killers also come in three-piece suits,” we visited the EPA to demand the comprehensive enforcement of the Clean Air Act, which gives the agency authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.  The crowd then marched to BP’s offices at Mission St. and New Montgomery, where citizens presented an open letter to the CEOs of all the major oil companies.  Activists from a coalition organized by Mobilization for Climate Justice West blockaded the doors while others claimed the intersection with a giant parachute.  Engaged citizens rallied on each of the four corners to lend their support.

I was among 15 people ultimately arrested and taken to a holding cell for little over an hour, cited, and released.  I explained why I was willing to engage in a non-violent direct action in a previous post on Ecolocalizer. For many it was the first time being arrested in a non-violent direct action. As Lauren Thorpe, an activist with Greenpeace, explained,

“Monday’s action is particularly significant for me because I have come to the point in my life where I am willing to risk arrest for my beliefs. I believe the time has come for action beyond words to really show my commitment to stopping the status quo of our unsustainable, unhealthy and unfair fossil fuel-based economy. I won’t be alone on Monday either — I’ll be standing side by side with fellow activists, some whom have been risking arrest for decades and some of who are new to it just like me. As I start to mentally prepare for Monday, I remember the rich history of non-violent direct action and civil disobedience that has significantly changed both politics and public opinion on some of the most pressing issues of our times.”

In addition to learning some great new chants and making new friends, Monday’s action was a strong signal that the climate justice and clean energy movement is alive and well.  After a year of Senate non-action on a climate and energy bill, record temperatures, and environmental disasters ranging from Michigan, West Virginia, and the Gulf in the United States to Pakistan and Russia, it is clear that the environmental movement is transforming itself and awareness and action is growing stronger by the day.

We can gain additional wind in our sails this week from the strongly intoned voices of a handful of kick-ass environmental leaders.  Bill McKibben of 350, Philip Radford of Greenpeace, and Rebecca Tarbotton of Rainforest Action Network sounded the clarion call for stepping up our actions, saying, “Time is not on our side, so we’ve concluded that going forward mass direct action must play a bigger role in this movement, as it eventually did in the suffrage movement, the civil-rights movement, and the fight against corporate globalization.”

And environmental activist Tim DeChristopher issued his own stirring call for mass mobilizations. Known as Peaceful Bidder #70, DeChristopher is famous for disrupting an auction in 2008 by bidding for oil and gas leases on parcels of federal land despite having no money to pay for them.

DeChristopher writes,

“The more I advocate for stronger and bolder action from climate activists, the more I see the need for real human connections.  No amount of social media can match the empowerment of being in the streets with thousands of other people who share our passion.  That’s why mass mobilizations that engage in bold action are so important for our movement…The strategy of appeasement and compromise has thoroughly failed, and the discouragement of the climate movement is undeniable.  For years we have been told to kneel and beg, and it has left us empty-handed. Now it’s time to stand up and fight for our right to a healthy and just world.  Obedience to injustice is the ruin of the soul, and our movement desperately needs some rejuvenating disobedience.”

After several postponements, DeChristopher’s trial (dubbed the “Climate trial”) has been set for December 13. A mass convergence is planned in Salt Lake City to support DeChristopher and to elevate awareness and action on climate and energy policies.

Indeed, more mobilizations are on the horizon. In a couple weeks, Appalachia Rising is organizing an national response against mountain top removal coal mining.  October 10 (10/10/10) is an International Day of Action, organized by 350.org and thousands of communities around the world to demonstrate local solutions to climate change. And the Climate Summit in Cancun (COP16) kicks-off on November 29, with mass mobilizations planned.  Indigenous delegates will also bring the message of the People’s Declaration from the Bolivia’s climate summit.

Back to the intersection of Mission and New Montgomery: one of the most moving moments for me was sitting in the intersection, being present with so many other concerned and engaged citizens.  From one side I heard the police give their final warning to disperse and from the other side I heard the powerful testimony of people from impacted communities and poems about mother earth.

One side had a bullhorn, money, and the force of law; the other side had the truth and the moral voice of people defending a livable future through empowering nonviolent action.

One spoke more clearly and with more authority than the other.  And it will only continue to get louder.

More photos of the day’s events can be found Rainforest Action Network’s Flickr page.

Oakland’s Road to Detroit: US Social Forum briefing

Oakland’s “Road to Detroit” was launched Tuesday night at a meeting about the US Social Forum, hosted at the Workforce Collaborative. From June 22-36, thousands of individuals and organizations from all over the country will converge in Detroit to share solutions to the economic and ecological crises. The meeting was meant as a briefing for those just entering into the forum process and as a place to get next steps and information for those who have already started planning.

The U.S. Social Forum is not a conference, a point repeatedly driven home by Alicia Garza, one of the faciliators, but rather a movement building process. The slogan of the United States Social Forum is “Another World is Possible, Another U.S. is necessary” and is seen by participants as a space of convergence where collaborations can be made and actions can be planned.

“It’s a movement building process. The idea behind the social forum is to bring together all of our different segments, all of our different sectors, all the work we’re doing, and strategize how we’re going to build a better world,” Garza said.

The Detroit convergence will tbe the second ever Forum in the United States; the first one was held in Atlanta in 2007. The US Social Forum is part of the wider World Social Forum process, started a decade ago and held in a different city in the global south each year at the same time world financial leaders meet for the World Economic Forum.

“It’s about time the people of the world got together because the corporations have been getting together and making their plans,” said Maria Poblet of Causa Justa/Just Cause.

During a discussion of what the Forum is and the reasons for participating, facilitators emphasized five tracks: 1)convergence, 2)action and transformation, 3)collaboration between movements, 4)international solidarity and common struggle, and 5)strengthening local capacity.

About 50-60 people attended and dozens of area organizations were represented, including Causa Justa/Just Cause, Bay Localize, People’s Grocery, POWER SF, Poor Magazine, Center for Political Education, Asian Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadeship (AYPAL),  Catalyst Project, School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL), Bay Area Code Pink, Peace and Freedom Party, La Raza Centro Legal, Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition, Youth Speaks, Making Contact/National Radio Project, Asian Committee for Reprodutive Justice, and the Green Party.

Takeaways:

A Bay Area-specific website: The Road to Detroit

Workshop proposals are due next week, April 20: If you plan on submitting an activity or a workshop, do it ASAP. You must be registered before submitting and the process for both is simple.

Detroit 101 Workshops: May 19 (SF) & May 28 (Oakland): In preparation for the Forum, SOUL, in conjunction with POWER and CJJC, is offering a free workshop to Bay Area organizations and individuals planning to attend the Forum in June. The workshop will cover the history and context of Detroit to better prepare USSF participants for engaging with the host city and the local movement. Contact sergio@schoolofunityandliberation.org to RSVP or get more info.

Oakland’s Road to Detroit: A Briefing on the United States Social Forum

There’s less than 80 days until the United States Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan–are you ready?

Come to a briefing about the United States Social Forum, where you can find out about what’s happening there, what you can do to help, resources for getting there, and what other groups are doing to pave the road to Detroit!

When: Tuesday, April 13, 6:30-8:30

Where: 1433 Webster Street, Oakland

Whether you are working for affordable housing, public transit, food access, healthcare for all, clean energy, economic alternatives to capitalism, labor rights, peace, immigration rights, media justice, sustainable cities, or wnat to learn more about these issues, there’s a place for your voice and energy.

The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and changes history.

We must declare what we want our world to look like and we must start planning the path to get there. The USSF provides spaces to learn from each other’s experiences and struggles, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, build relationships, and align with our international brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world.

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Resurrecting King’s Dream: Anti-poverty campaign kicks off March to Fulfill the Dream

Sunday marked the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, cutting short his dream.

But it also marked the launch of a historic march from New Orleans to Detroit by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) to resurrect Dr. King’s dream of ending poverty in the United States.

The March to Fulfill the Dream seeks to highlight the critical issues facing tens of millions of poor people in the United States, including lack of affordable housing, health care, and living-wage jobs.

I hereby submit my objection: Reflection on 7th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion

So we have arrived at yet another anniversary of the United States invasion and occupation of Iraq. Again we observe milestones of inhumanity. We’ve reached over 1000 U.S. soldiers dead from our occupation of Afghanistan. We read weekly reports of the murder of innocent civilians by U.S. soldiers, war planes, and unmanned drones.

Again we headed to (a few) city centers and registered our complaints. In my heart I was really hoping we’d have a robust turnout on March 20 like the March 4 Day of Action for Education.  But in my head I knew that the anti-war movement has mostly shrunk to the point where it consists mostly of the core activists.

The march and rally wasn’t puny, but it wasn’t significant either.  The local CBS headline ran, “100′s Protest…”  Once the march began, it was closer to a couple thousand, but, well, you get the idea. A couple hundred, a couple thousand, apples and more apples. The point is it should be millions, along with coordinated direct actions and strikes.  We saw a glimpse of the possibility 2 years ago when the west coast longshoreman stage a strike on the 5th anniversary, stopping the ports at least for a time. That’s the sort of thing decision-makers notice.

Shortly after I arrived, Daniel Ellsberg spoke, after having keynoted at the Plumber’s Hall down Market Street. Two years previously, on the 5th anniversary, I had been in jail with Ellsberg, after multiple direct actions broke out across the city. The turn out that year was tremendous.  Yet much of it was anchored around anti-Bush sentiment. Perhaps that anger and that personality was something more people could organize around. Its perhaps much harder to organizer for peace under Obama.

Not to say that there wasn’t a good size and diverse group. This year, unions and teachers and Latin American activists were represented.  Churches, and families, and schools made their appearance. I was happy to note Lake Merritt neighborhood association against the war and a SF Pentecostal church were pounding the pavement.  The marchers met up with the striking workers at Hilton in solidarity half-way.

But I’ve racked my brain trying to figure out why so few show up, why the peace movement is much smaller than it should be. I know there is lots of frustration out there. Was it lack of interest? Is war and occupation passe’? Are the majority of people merely passive consumers now rather than active citizens? Afterall, more people turn out to shop at Westfield Mall than to support a sane, peaceful foreign policy.  Why protest war when you can play Call of Duty? More people turn out for Michael Jackson vigils or sign up for celebrity gossip alerts than peace list-serves.

Or is it actually support for the “good war” in Afghanistan and a mistaken perception that the war in Iraq is winding down? Is it the dampening effect of Obama-philia? Afterall, we have a peace president, right? Perhaps people have other things on their mind, like finding a job. Or keeping the crappy one they have to work overtime to pay the rent in the Bay Area. Perhaps the organizing was simply poor? Perhaps the main fragments of the peace movement can’t agree. Perhaps the main “host”-ANSWER Coalition–turns some people off?

Protest has become routinized, as Naomi Wolf has put it. It has become ritual.

Or maybe people just think they won’t make a difference regardless of what they do. How often have you heard, “What difference will it make?” It’s a good question. Then again, so is the rejoinder, “What difference will not protesting make?”

Perhaps people have come down with a nasty case of protest fatigue. After 8 years of protesting under Bush and now over a year under a President who is continuing and increasing militarism, it’s no wonder some are pretty damn tired. Obama has signed the biggest military budget ever, he has escalated the wars/occupation in Afghanistan, he is expanding military bases in Columbia, he is increasing money for nuclear weapons, he has been silent (in his actions) on the Palestinian issue–all this should be sufficient to shake any peace-minded Obama-voters out of their hope-cage.

Trust me, I completely understand. I too feel it. In fact, I was fairly unenthusiastic about going on March 19 to the rally and march.

Yet, in the end, I couldn’t not go because I have to at the very least say to myself and whoever else is listening,”I do not accept this! I refuse to allow normalization of a permanent war economy. I reject these values and stand for something more humane, more just. I hereby submit my objection.”