In my point of view it is waste of time to go through reviews and prepare strategies after the completion of elections. I do read many these type of articles in http://superiorpapers.org blog also. Once a person is elected by ballot voting than he is final and right person according to Americans views and thinking.

Marla & Tim, Thank you for all of your hard work and creativity creating your organization and taking on the West Roxbury pipeline resistance in such a thoughtful and organized way. I live on the North Shore and was swamped in other social justice work so I never made it down to show my support…just reposted your actions on social media sites I maintain and made sure activist I work with knew about the good fight you were waging.

I have been following a lot of the strategy discussions, not just in the climate movement but across the broader movements for economic, social and racial justice. One of the arguments that resonate with me is that now is the time to think BIG. I believe this is true. I think people are rising up right now and the fact that Trump will be more regressive, I believe, will draw more people into the struggle – not less. Remember the civil rights movement? Remember Parchman Farm in Mississippi? They just kept coming because of the bravery that the Freedom Riders inspired – particularly the young.

I think Trump’s election is a game changer. There will be many who will risk a lot. But it has to be big and it has to be spiritually deep. I think the Standing Rock rebellion is the next iteration of the Keystone Pipeline struggle. It is a flashpoint that will change everyone who encounters it. And there is Native American leadership asking for our help.

What if we built a pipeline of resistance fighters going to the front? I see that they created a fund me page to raise $10,000 for supplies and received $1.5 million! If there are 1,000 people there now what if there were 5,000 soon who come back to their states and go on tour with materials and bring individuals or messages from the tribes on the front line. I understand that many of the warriors there see this as a life and death struggle. What could be more true of the climate resistance itself? How inspiring! I think the pipeline struggles happening all over the country are good but focusing on this historic, paradigm-shifting struggle has much more potential to draw in international support irregardless of of Trump’s reaction and galvanize a generation.

It could also be an excellent way for the Disobedience Center to draw in people who want general training in civil disobedience to prepare for the trip creating an opportunity to facilitate affinities between people to make their travel possible.

This may be way out of you mission driven thoughts. It is just some of thoughts in reaction to some of the wisdom I see on this blog.

Andree is responding to Marla’s post (which is now moved to it’s own page): http://www.climatedisobedience.org/thoughts_on_post_election_strategy_marla

Marla, I especially like what you say here about broadening the meaning of civil disobedience. It’s likely we’re entering a time when merely showing up at a protest, attending a certain church, associating with activists, or even posting radical thoughts on Facebook will be considered worthy of suppression and punitive measures. Those of us who are already in it up to are necks may have seen this coming, and be ready for the consequence (to the degree that this is even possible). But if history is our precedent, a large number of folk will shrink into themselves, and shy away from all visible protest, out of fear. This will be the really scary time—right now our numbers protect us.

I don’t know how to prevent this, but what it seems to imply is that the more vocal, numerous and clear we are now, the better will hold our movement together. This means we have to validate every small move that anyone makes to act or speak their conscience.

I love the model of Vaclav Havel, of “living in truth”: Behave, and speak, as you would if the world were exactly as it should be. He was imprisoned for years under communism in Czechoslovakia—then elected as the first democratic president when the regime fell.

Andrée

Thoughts on Post-Election Strategy from @ClimateDisobey http://www.climatedisobedience.org/thoughts_on_post_election_strategy?recruiter_id=4