Three Rivers Climate Convergence Call to Action

Their Strategy:
Isolate themselves behind fences, barricades and police, use millions of our tax dollars to silence dissent and repress us while perpetuating the same systems that consolidate wealth and control in their hands

Our Strategy:
World Leaders will gather to construct a supposed solution to the global financial crisis and the global climate crisis, despite being influenced by the large corporations and fossil fuel producers who created these problems in the first place.

9/21-23 – The International Coal Conference– a global gathering of Coal engineers and researchers will gather to discuss how to put a green face the black heart of coal

9/24-25- The G20- World Leaders will gather to construct a supposed solution to the climate crises that those who created the problem, large corporations and fossil fuel producers in charge of the solutions.

This September the fossil fuel industry and their political supporters are descending on Pittsburgh to put a green face on global capitalism. World superpowers, whose failed policies are responsible for the economic, environmental and human rights crises, will be convening to make major political and financial decisions. They will be met by global citizens who know we need to do things differently. We’ll break through and demand real, localized and community-based solutions that come from the 6 billion people of the earth, not 20 heads of state.
The Group of 20 Nations and members of the International Coal Conference will attempt to solve our problems with the same, failed systems that caused them — legitimizing corporate controlled “solutions” to global warming and green washing the same old dirty energy sources.

The Three Rivers Climate Convergence will focus on:
– A climate camp and sustainability fair, to be held September 20-25th in Schenley Park, located at Schenley Park overlook, near Carnegie Mellon
and the University of Pittsburgh.

– Nonviolent protests and creative actions around the International Coal Conference in Downtown Pittsburgh.

– Public education events, including environmental justice film/video screenings as well as helping to promote environmental justice voices in the many public summits and gatherings that are taking place.

The convergence will gather together people united for environmental justice to share knowledge, attend workshops and plan actions and demonstrations in response to the International Coal Conference and G20 Summit. Through public education and action, the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit and the International Coal Conference aims to tie local and global climate issues together, and amplify efforts to create a just and sustainable world.  The convergence will be a model of sustainable living in the shadows of a 21st century city.

In our region, we’re struggling to stop longwall mining, mountain top removal, marcellus shale gas, the industrialization of the Allegheny National Forest, among many others. Landslide Community Farm, the One Hill Coalition and Free Ride are just three examples of the many progressive efforts that are sprouting up as alternatives to corporate solutions for climate change and sustainability.

We are asking you to join us in Pittsburgh, bringing along your skills and passions. Share valuable knowledge by teaching workshops and facilitating discussions, working on camp infrastructure, planning and executing actions, networking with other climate activists and showing Pittsburgh and the world that living collectively and sustainably can be done.

<big>Climate Camp Schedule</big>

Monday, Sept. 21
“Welcome to Coal Country“, Events led by Southwestern Pennsylvania coal-impacted communities, focusing on longwall mining and the effects of the entire coal cycle in our region Tours of longwall mining sites led by the Center for Coalfield Justice

Tuesday, Sept. 22
“Climate Ground Zero.” Rally and possible civil disobedience focused on
PNC’s national headquarters. One the nation’s largest banks, PNC
supports mountain top removal coal companies and an overall
climate/disaster profiteer.

Wednesday, Sept. 23
“Carbon-free, Nuclear Free, Corporate Free“, decentralized actions from
a menu of options.

Thursday, Sept. 24
“Our Climate is not Your Business“, climate contingent at the People’s
Uprising march on the G20 in Pittsburgh.

Friday, Sept. 25
“March for Environmental and Climate Justice“, feeder march into the
Thomas Merton Center’s People’s March.

Please join us in Pittsburgh in standing up to corporate control of climate change solutions and in defending the earth and it’s inhabitants! For more info check out www.3riversclimateconvergence.org

During the week of the International Coal Conference and G20 Summit, groups representing countless issues will arrive in Pittsburgh with their own definitions of resistance.The Pittsburgh Principles urge every movement present at this mobilization to respect the space and tactics of other groups. www.resistg20.org/principles

On privilege

Today, hyped up on four cups of coffee and two of green tea, I had the sudden realization – out of a multitude of jumbled thoughts – that the reason I do not value money is, ironically, because of my own privilege. This isn’t actually a novel or original idea or theory in any way shape or form – as is proven by the thousands of middle-to-upper-class lifestylist ‘radical youth’ that come and go; fade in and out as quickly and frequently as the seasons, while searching for meaning about and rebelling against their own privilege.

What I found new about the idea, personally, was that I realized that because I’ve never struggled for any necessity in my life, monetarily; I have never had to worry about said necessities. These were things that I have grown up with – in abundance and surely even in excess. They were always things that were ‘just there’ and although I realized, at some point, that there was a connection between my family’s abundance of necessities and the money that my parents made through their own privilege and safety of middle-class (though not unadmirable or dishonerable) professions, the fact that since my birth I have been provided with everything needed to survive and grow made it difficult to understand the simple but also incredibly complex idea that comfort (on a basic, primal level) in our society arises from money.

It is, as I just stated, a difficult and complex thing to wrap one’s head around, and easy to overlook and over-simplify when you are as privileged as I (or millions of others like me in this nation).

The point in this jumbled, rapidly-written (you should see what it looks like handwritten) thought is that I have never truly experienced poverty for it is not the same as voluntary poverty, and for that reason I have not ever felt what it must be like to need money, to want money. Is it not easy to see how folks like me, who are raised with ‘everything’ have trouble grasping this theory, that money = life, in our society? And not just grasping it, but really, truly, understanding it.

What this all made me think was this:

It has been said many times in the conferences, meetings, and caucuses that I have attended that many working class folks are not raised with the knowledge of how to spend or save their money wisely or safely. I am not affirming or disapproving this idea, merely restating the position that I have heard proposed a multitude of times.

I raise this idea or question – call it what you will.

What does it mean to be a comfortable (privileged) radical without fully understanding currency and its current importance and influence, and the resulting social implications; in regards to working class people nationally and internationally?

I think that, at some level, it could be important to experiment with comprehending the necessity of currency-for-life within capitalism, through situations such as voluntary poverty, (not in a lifestylist, arrogant, proud, or self-absorbed way) but only if the privileged person who makes the choice to live in poverty realizes that there is something inherently different about their status, simply because it is a choice.

Additionally, I think that it is important to simply step back and think about what money means to us, what it could mean to us if our economic and societal privileges were different, and outside of and beyond all of that, considering how our privilege changes the way we think about economic systems – current and future; how we must therefore listen to each other closely and in a comradely way in order to shape a vision of something better.

So You Think You Can Be President

My friend Jonathan (rebelliouspixels.com) made this great, and politically spot-on, debate remix.

Check it out!

A long break

Following my (rather intense) stint with Iraq Veterans Against the War, I made the decision to take a break from organizing for the summer.  I’ve been spending quality time with close friends – at campfires, cabins, swimming holes, backyards, basements and music festivals!  I’ve also been reading and writing a whole lot, and rather futily attempting to learn how to play the mandolin.  On Monday of this week, I’m embarking on an extensive road trip with three good friends.  We’ll be visiting friends all over the US and Canada for roughly the next six weeks.  I’ll do my best to update with some stories from the road!

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) was founded in July of 2004 by seven Iraq War Veterans. Since then, its ranks have grown to over 1,200 members – and continue to grow at an ever increasing pace – approximately 200 new members join each month.

In February of this year, I began a four-month internship with IVAW.  I was asked to come on board as an intern in preparation for ‘Winter Soldier’ – IVAW’s biggest and most successful project to date.  It is described best by IVAW itself: “Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan featured testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.”

At Winter Soldier, hundreds of veterans congregated in Silver Springs, MD – right outside of our nation’s capitol – from March 13 – 16.  Over 50 veterans testified publicly, and many more were compelled to record their experiences and submit them to IVAW’s testimonial archives.

The event was something historic to be a part of – to say the least.  The energy and seriousness of the public testimony was perhaps only rivaled in intensity by the fierce comradery that the veterans in attendance collectively experienced.  Reports of soldiers and servicemen and women watching or listening to Winter Soldier from Baghdad and an Air Force base in California added to the excitement of the event.

Following the big event, IVAW took Winter Soldier to congress.  There, IVAW members shared their experiences in front of members of the Progressive Caucus – in an event they dubbed ‘Winter Soldier on the Hill.’  Following the session, recent IVAW member Matthis Chiroux, of Brooklyn NY, announced his intent to refuse to deploy to Iraq.  Chiroux is scheduled to deploy in late June, and is one of tens of thousands of servicemen and women that have been ordered to redeploy due to ‘stop-loss’ – a policy that many are calling a backdoor draft.

Most recently, has embarked on a “State of the Union” base tour.  From their website: The State of the Union Tour will be stopping at eight military bases this summer, to entertain servicemembers and veterans with live music and BBQs, and also to provide a forum for conversation between IVAW members and troops about the occupation, GI rights and navigating the Veterans Administration.

I found Iraq Veterans Against the War to be a truly inspiring organization in the four short months that I worked for them.  Although my internship came to a close at the end of May, the lessons I learned working for IVAW will stick with me, and inspire me, for years to come.  The power of veterans’ voices is something not to be underestimated.

To learn more about Iraq Veterans Against the War, visit ivaw.org

We’re All In This Together

Like the title says.

Really, this is just the name of a song Old Crow Medicine Show plays.  I’ve never written about song lyrics before.  Perhaps it’s a little cliche to do so, but the title is so true that its hard not to write about.   This simple phrase is what I’ve been trying to keep in mind for the past month, as I’ve struggled with questions and assumptions around race recently.

My wallet was stolen and my nose was broken on a Sunday afternoon last month, fairly close to my house.  The muggers were people of color, and despite my most sincere attempts to shake it off, I become tense and afraid nearly everytime I am near someone resembling the folks that attacked me.

So while I struggle with the difficulty of shaking racist assumptions in my own life, it is helpful for me to remember – “We’re all in this together.”  American Empire and Capitalism cause poverty, competition, and individualism.  We’re all stuck in this shitty system, and some of us are affected in much harsher ways than others – which in turn cause harsher reactions.

The only way out is to find a way towards collective liberation, towards a world where we are all free from the insitutional oppression that affects all of us.

We’re all in this together!

Diversity of Tactics?

Out of context, the term ‘diversity of tactics’ seems reasonable. I support the use of a variety of different tactics, depending on both their effectiveness of accomplishing concrete goals and the scenarios in which they are used. But, when put in the context of the current movement against capitalism, particularly in the United States, ‘diversity of tactics’ represents nothing but the antithesis of long-term movement strategy.

Why is it that so many anti-capitalists insist on using tactics that, in the scenarios that they’re repeatedly used, are completely ineffective in moving our movements forward – both in terms of numbers and public opinion? Smashing windows and throwing rocks – in many cases, the use of these tactics seem like expressions of anger against capitalism and the State. Instead we should collectively be deciding the most effective ways to accomplish our goals in the long-term, bearing in mind the need for mass public support and participation in our movements in order to win.

I believe we should be concerned about building strong, lasting movements counter to the oppressive systems that we all are part of now, so that years down the road we’ll have the capacity to build something new.

Moving and Motivation

I moved out of my parent’s house approximately two weeks ago, and into my friend Matthew’s house in Lancaster. Here the rent is cheap and the people are nice. Not that my parents weren’t kind – but it’s been a welcome change to be living with people I can more closely relate to – both in politics and age.

One of the reasons that I moved out of my folks’ house was that I’ve been struggling to stay motivated in the organizing I’ve been doing in Lancaster. While it’s true that my new house is in a much more convenient location for me than my old one, I’ve come to the realization that my lack of motivation is stemming from a lot more than living in closer proximity to where most of my organizing occurs.

For one, I’ve realized that I’m slightly burnt out from the intense organizing I did this summer – especially the SDS action camp. The wonderful thing about the action camp was that most of the work I did was logistical – and so it was very easy to see the direct results of the effort I put into making it a success. Much of the organizing that is currently going on in Lancaster SDS is based in the long-term.

Additionally, I haven’t found myself particularly attached to or excited about the many campaigns we’ve begun this semester. Don’t get me wrong – I think they are all very important, relevant, and strategic. For the most part, I think my lack of motivation is mostly due to the fact that I’m no longer in school, and can’t play an active role in organizing.

Despite all of this, I’m very excited about what’s to come in the next few months. I will soon be joining the organizing task force for the War Resisters League, and hope to play much needed support roles for the Iraq Veterans Against the War. I expect the coming months to be a tremendous learning experience for me as a young organizer.

Students for a Democratic Society: National Convention and Action Camp Reports

Published in Left Turn Magazine

By Nick Martin (Lancaster SDS), Madeline Gardner (University of Minnesota SDS), Daniel Tasripin (Hunter College SDS) and Beth Blum (Philadelphia SDS)

Published on: November 01, 2007

Following a year that witnessed a new generation of young organizers adopt the name and legacy of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), chapter members from around the country converged upon Detroit for our second national convention. The convention was to deliver upon the commitment made at last year’s inaugural convention in Chicago—the new SDS would become a real live organization. The modest task at hand: agree on a vision, officially endorse national actions and campaigns, and start instituting a viable national structure.

Since its inception in early 2006, SDS has grown to more than 100 active chapters and thousands of members at high school and college campuses all across the US. The organizations’ founding tenets of participatory democracy and multi-issue youth organizing has caught the imagination of activists from coast to coast.

Heading into Detroit, organizational structures have primarily been defined on the local chapter level, with varying degrees of communication between different regions. The second national convention would bring together over 50 SDS chapters, representing a multitude of political philosophies and ideas for the best ways of moving forward. We learned that at times decision making would be tedious and tense, but always lively. Principled compromise would be the order of the day.

Long-term vision

As a new, broad organization on the left, SDS seeks to root itself in a solid anti-oppression framework. We prioritized this at the convention by spending much of the first full day in five caucus sessions organized along race, sexuality, class, gender, and age lines. Each was paired with its corresponding privilege working group. Caucuses reported back to the larger assembly and outlined some specific cultural, and political changes needed within the structure of SDS to ensure its continued growth and effectiveness.

The initial vision documents adopted by the delegates affirmed the need for SDS to be relevant to a larger audience, learn from past social movements, and be accountable to the communities we organize in or are otherwise a part of.

At the heart of the organizational structure debate was how much power any national body should hold and how to keep that power accountable. We finally decided on a (provisional) federated structure with a national delegate system. This national body will have a mostly “soft” power, such as oversight of working groups, dealing with emergencies and vetting proposals for ratification to each individual chapter.

It is now up to the chapters to choose whether to ratify the decisions made at the convention. A foundation for our organization was put in place, and it was created entirely by us. We left the convention with a strong sense that we had accomplished something to be proud of—the creation of a national organization from the ground up.

Action camps

Two weeks later, from August 13-16, SDS held its first “Action Camp” in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The four-day camp was designed to provide SDS chapter members with the skills needed to be effective organizers for the long haul.

The camp curriculum focused on grounding ourselves in organizing frameworks and an analysis of collective liberation. Workshops ranged from chapter development to media skills, meeting facilitation and movement strategy. A special emphasis was put on the role of SDS in doing anti-racist work. Trainers from organizations such as Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Catalyst Project, Beyond the Choir, RANT, the War Resisters League, Rainforest Action Network, and of course SDS, led workshops. In shared tents, around campfires, and over late night snacks in the barn, bonding and networking among the 50 SDS participants created even stronger links as we prepare for the fall semester.

At the camp, there was lively debate regarding the process of designing the curriculum and level of participant input. In the absence of a national structure, national organizing has been initiated and carried out largely by individuals and chapters. Limited experience and capacity continue to be challenges. Informal leadership, accountability, and participation are always hot topics in SDS. The camp gave us an excellent jumping off point for an honest discussion about the wide variety of needs in SDS given the wide array of experience levels and opinions. Most of us are new to organizing—we are making mistakes, learning, and growing.

Attendees observed a need for more training on direct action skills. Local trainings with chapters will be continuing throughout the fall. In addition to student mobilization for national actions, chapter level campaigns will focus on anti-war, tuition freezes/accessibility of higher education, and labor solidarity to name a few.

Though both of our national summer projects were ambitious to say the least—SDS is nothing, if not ambitious. Changing the world is always an ambitious task and we wouldn’t be in this business if we didn’t intend to win. The time for action approaches as the semester begins. SDS is clearly emerging from the summer stronger, and poised for the months ahead.

For more information about SDS, see studentsforademocraticsociety.org.

Out of Community and Love: Lancaster SDS

So this is it. We’ve managed, in a couple of years, to create a multi-issue student group with hundreds, thousands of members across the country. We’ve got a national structure and one hundred active chapters. We want revolution, we want systemic change, we want a better world – another world. A more participatory, just, equal world. And we think we can do it. But do we have what it takes?

I’d been following SDS, mostly through online news stories, for a few months prior to starting our chapter in Lancaster. SDS stood out to me as something new – something that the movement needed, but it didn’t have. A student movement for participatory democracy, framed exactly as such. I’m an anarchist that doesn’t like to call himself one. The word anarchism carries a lot of baggage with it. By the time I’d heard of the new SDS, I had figured out that any group that defined itself as explicitly anarchist would have an immensely hard time with movement building.

Those of us that started Lancaster SDS have been friends for years – most of us have grown up together, and attended the same Mennonite church since we were little. We’ve had a community from the beginning—known what it was like to grow up in a setting where we were supported and loved in the decisions we made.

In that way, among many others, we are privileged.

Lancaster County is an interesting place. It is known for its considerable old order Mennonite and Amish population, and is also considered a conservative stronghold by those on the right. Lancaster, however, also has a very unique progressive movement. It differs from many other places in that much of the activism that occurs is based out of local peace churches and religious organizations. Progressives in Lancaster are fairly united when compared to many other cities. Lancaster, as a whole, is a very different community, but it is a community that those of us in Lancaster SDS have tried to embrace, instead of reject.

We started Lancaster SDS in February of 2007. For the small core of us that started the chapter, SDS quickly was absorbed into all aspects of our lives. We thought, dreamed, and breathed SDS. And continue to do so, now. For the past 6 months, Lancaster SDS has been in the forefront of our minds all of the time. Constantly. In school, at work, when we’re together, and when we’re not.

We’re all best friends—the core group. It makes organizing exceedingly easy as well as exceedingly difficult. We hang out together regardless of whether we’re doing SDS work or not. Inevitably, almost every social get-to-together turns into an impromptu, informal SDS meeting.

I love it! I want to be an organizer for the rest of my life, and it’s the most amazing feeling to be around best friends who are just as dedicated to building a new and better world as I am.

While our group grew to about 30 members during the spring, it fell back down to about 10 people—all close friends—for the duration of the summer. We didn’t take the time to stop and think about why this happened. We were too busy planning the national action camp in August. The first weeks in August were the busiest weeks of my life. I’d never been under so much stress. Luckily, all of us had each other to fall back on. I’d never known the true capacity of our group until the week of action camp. That’s when I first realized the true potential of Lancaster SDS, and especially of the core group of us that have been doing much of our chapter’s organizing.

I was amazed at how well we learned to work together. We cleaned the kitchen when it needed to be cleaned, we emptied shit buckets when they needed to be emptied, we rubbed each other’s backs when they needed to be rubbed. We had nightly meetings—just to check in to make sure everyone was doing fine. If there were problems, we brought them up, and we tried our hardest to resolve them. Sometime during that week, I realized that this was a glimpse of the society I’d been working so hard for. I realized that our chapter truly may be something special. Partly because we’ve come from some special circumstances, but also because we’ve all realized that we’re more than a political organization. We have vested interests in each other.

It was also at the action camp that many of our worst group dynamic issues finally emerged. A few of our members expressed to the group that they were extremely unhappy with our organization. They were upset with both the insularity of our group, and the amount of informal leadership within our chapter. When we were most exhilarated, most excited about Lancaster SDS, and SDS as a national entity, we were forced to put our feet back on the ground and look reality in its face.

I feel like we’ve come a long way since action camps. Through some fairly intense and frequent meetings about group dynamics, we all learned a lot about our downfalls, and have been working to fix them. None of us realized that the intense amount of dedication we have to SDS can in some ways detract from our organization. We’d quite literally been scaring people away from joining, simply because they felt worthless when they couldn’t contribute as much as we could. Additionally, the core members the ones who had been most involved with SDS from the very, very beginning received a necessary wakeup call.

We were all asked to be more conscious about our position as informal leaders—a position that we, for the most part, hadn’t even realized we’d been occupying. Since that time, more experienced members have been working to provide ample space for newer members to grow and learn. We’re doing our best to assume positions of support, so that when inexperienced members feel they would like to play a more active role in the chapter, we can help provide them with the skills they’ll need to be good organizers.

I think its working. Already, younger students have begun playing a bigger role in our chapter. They’re taking on bigger workloads, facilitating more meetings, making more of the flyers, and making more of the phone calls. Our chapter is growing in healthy, new ways. Had we not also dealt with our group dynamic problems in the open and democratic way in which we did, I am positive that Lancaster SDS would not be as strong an organization as it is now.

Our passion for justice, combined with a background deeply rooted in a loving, supportive community has helped us immensely when it comes to organizing actions and events. As a preface, we have had no successful campaigns to speak of. We haven’t done a sit-in, or even a walk-out. None of the actions we’ve done as of yet have produced the political results we’d like them to.

On the other hand, we have had picnics and sing-alongs. We’ve worked for hours in a local community garden. We’ve never shut down a recruitment center, but we’ve had some awesome chapter dance parties. We have a study group that helps us to learn about history, about politics, and about one another. Our meetings are fun and relaxed.

Looking Forward:

I think the future is pretty bright for Lancaster SDS. We just had our first event of the year—a back-to-school picnic. Forty Lancaster youth, including the ten or so of us currently involved in Lancaster SDS showed up. I would identify an overwhelming majority of them as women. Many of those in attendance are active in school sports teams, are members of student council, or are in their school’s band or orchestra. I was exuberant that so many different students felt comfortable enough to meet together for one of our events. This leads me to believe that we’re doing something right. It affirms my belief that we’ve been successful in shaking so many of the stereotypes that come with being anti-authoritarian youth on the left.

And, of course, we’re nothing close to being perfect. We’re still mostly white, and mostly middle class. We still haven’t accomplished much—outside of movement building. But who says that can’t change? We’ve set some big goals for ourselves this year. With some dedication I think we can achieve them.

Did I mention we’re all high schoolers?

Expect some good things from Lancaster SDS in the near future.

Love,
Nick Martin
Lancaster SDS
717.413.0782
nickersmartin@gmail.com