Call for Anti-Colonial Bloc Against Keystone XL, August 6th in Lincoln, NE

This is a call for an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist and anti-fascist bloc to participate in the ‘Give KXL the Boot March’ in Lincoln, NE on the 6th of August.

The Sierra Club, 350.org and other mainstream environmental groups are organizing this march, that is planned to end at the Nebraska state capitol building. This is the day before the Public Service Commission hears their final testimony for and against the pipeline, as part of the public comment portion of the KXL review, before making their decision, to approve or deny the route through the state, later in September.

For years, many people have collected signatures, spoken out against the KXL and worked with people directly impacted by the pipeline route. During this time all of the discourse in Nebraska, and in the larger climate movement as a whole, has been focused on state’s rights, the threat of eminent domain against landowners, and the contributions to global CO2 emissions this dirty tar sands oil would create. While we do not criticize the choice to focus on these tactics and talking points now seems like the time to embrace a deeper critique and sharper tactics to stop this project once and for all.

Keystone XL is part of a continued genocide against the indigenous peoples of this continent. It is yet another massive infrastructure project that represents civilization’s destruction of the ecosystems and watersheds others have called ‘home’ for tens of thousands of years. Colonialism ripped native people from this land and replaced their way of life with a new value set: capitalism, which has further disenfranchised us from recognizing the intrinsic value that soil, species and landscapes hold. The destruction of an indigenous way of life on this land was only possible because of a constant and continuous assault on native people’s right to exist. Starting with diseased blankets, open conflict and treaties signed at the end of a gun, boarding schools, state sponsored child abduction, and the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline over sacred Lakota sites.

We stand at a unique crossroads in American society as a whole. On one hand a claim could certainly be made that resistance is on the rise. Occupy, Black Lives Matter, No DAPL, and general anti-Trump actions certainly seemed unimaginable just a few short years ago. At the same time the increase in fascist extremism and white nationalism disguised as patriotism gives pause to the notion that people are ready to confront the skeletons in our collective closet. It is no coincidence that the rise of the new right and fascist tendencies comes now.

“The roots of modern fascism lie within the tyrannies of colonialism, with the horrors of racist, white supremacy.“  – Malory Nye

At a time when people are confronting the spectre of our past, others are equally willing to deny it, fly their flag and attack those that don’t fall in line. The very foundation of this nation is stained red with blood and to justify its past, current, and future greatness one has to adopt a certain amnesia and allergy to truth and animosity to those espousing it. Nationalism, made possible by colonialism, is more than happy to walk hand in hand with fascism to prop up its existence. It’s time to confront this momentum, but the realities we face, the systems we work against are wide and deep, we cannot fight this fight in a bubble.

In this moment it should be clear that this fight is not over one pipeline, but against a complex web of systems. While we wish to see this pipeline project stopped, confronting a broader history of colonialism and genocide cannot be shoved under the rug. State forces, individual fascists and political organizations continue to deny and reinforce a worldview that will destroy all the living, natural systems that Keystone will also affect. Why not confront the root of the problem and not just one arm?

This August we invite all water protectors, rabble rousers, anti-fascists, anarchists, indigenous activists and all others that feel an affinity with this call out to join us. Meet catty-corner to the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel on 13th and L at 2:30pm on Sunday August 6th. Make signs, banners and flags. Be ready to be rowdy, loud and have each others backs. Protect your identity from police and private security by wearing a mask, nondescript clothing and hiding visible marks and tattoos. It is time to say no to Keystone XL and a history of colonialism that has murdered, erased and denied a different way of living with the ecosystems we inhabit.

More info: [email protected]