Michael Moore just got very sick. Josh Fox was nearly killed in an auto accident. Both are two of our most beloved friends, & greatest voices (socialist-worker, environmentalist, peace advocate), both involved the media. Presidential election year. Oil+Gas companies and midstreams companies are all tanked and desperate. Holy shit. Probably a coincidence!
This is intelligence. We don't want to get lost in conspiracy theories, but we also want to consider all possibilities. This is pragmatism. We are at War.
We do not want this war. But it is bring brought to us, to our homeland. We are being destroyed utterly by fossil fuel infrastructure, on a scale which makes the Great Pyramids seem like Tinker Toys.
The industrial capitalists perceive them as "our leaders", which of course they are! And so they go after them with PR bullies like Tom Shepstone or Rick Berman. And if you look at third world nations like Nigeria, and also throughout American history, the Fossil Fuel Industry (inc. coal) has used more physical gangster techniques, paid mercenaries (Pinkertons), physically assaulting people and sometimes even murder.
Ken Sero-wiwa was kinda like me. He did independent media, and exposed the toxic assault his country was suffering under mostly US Oil+Gas companies. Ken was assassinated, executed, hanged by his own fascist government. (Fascism is the merger of Corporations and the State) Judi Bari's car was bombed.
So what many people may not understand is that people like Michael Moore and Josh Fox take on great personal risks in order to do this work. They are not only smart, but crafty, and also brave.
What the industrialists do not understand is, that YES while these people are our great leaders, this movement to protect the earth's climate, the clean air and water, is far beyond one person. There is really no point in Ad Hominem attacks, because it doesn't weaken the movement. It only strengthens our resolve.
Right now our government, CHARTERED to protect and serve the people, is allowing the rapid industrialization of our countryside, forests cut. farms converted to industrial sites, and wetlands filled in. Many streams cut with mechanical trenching machines. FERC is rubber stamping permits to allow companies like Williams Company (with Cabot Oil and Gas) to destroy a forest: 500,000 precious trees, not only because of each tree's aesthetic value, their function as a source of food and shelter for 10,000 living beings, lungs of the earth, or carbon sequestration.
But also I believe these trees have an intrinsic right to exist.
Private property is being seized to build pipelines to serve corporate profits. (We know now much of this gas is for export). Water and air are being contaminated on a vast scale for this. Winter took a spring break here in the NorthEast US, just a little downwind of Porter Ranch. The ice caps are melting at rates far exceeding even the worst-case models. Vast numbers of people are being displaced from their homeland forming a human wave, a diaspora spanning continents.
Friends, just in case.... here is my advice-- Please stay in close contact with y/our dearest friends, allies, teachers, trainers & natural leaders in the climate movement. Find out their needs and nurture them.
In the Eastern wisdom tradition of Yoga, which I study and practice, the great Swamis are venerated and cared for by the community. It is believed that when when we do service for our teachers, we honor them, and we are also doing service for the Earth, and to God.
Remember-- There is strength in numbers. In labor unions, and in the uniform services, we say, "I got your back, brother/sister".
Josh and Michael-- You are cherished by many. Thank you for your service and bravery. Your work inspires me. You set the bar high in excellence. I strive to make media like you do, with truth, compassion, and humor. I strive to the level of public service you have achieved.
You are both, IMO, Heroes.
-- BH in Binghamton
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