[IPSM] (Ott) Aug. 24: Show Up, Shout Out and Shut Down the Tar Sands!

[mattm-b at resist.ca]

Show Up, Shout Out and Shut Down the Tar Sands!
Demonstration and Festivities

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Dundonald Park
(Somerset and Lyon)
Saturday, August 24, 2:00pm
Bring your banners, pots, pans, drums and whatever!
DecLine 9 Ottawa
This is not a permitted march
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Free Food and Drinks
There will be music and drumming

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Speakers:

Ben Powless (Mohawk), Ecology Ottawa
Vanessa Gray (Ojibway), Anti-Line 9 Organizer

Musicians: TBA
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On August 24th , land defenders, activists and allies are putting their
bodies on the line by blockading Highway 63, which is the MAIN ARTERY that
services the tar sands production sites North of Fort McMurray! They have
made a call for an international day of action against the Tar Sands, and
Decline 9 Ottawa is organizing a protest in solidarity with the
blockaders.

It is essential to support the people who will be on Highway 63 this day,
both to honour their actions and to let the authorities know that people
across Turtle Island, and around the world will be watching them.

We are everywhere! We want to build a world where everyone fits!

We want to celebrate all of the creative, beautiful and loving ways
Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have been protecting Mother Earth,
waters, animals and future generations. We will be coming together as a
community, to show our solidarity with the protestors, and our commitment
to building a better world together. We want a movement that is stronger
in numbers, less apathetic, and more empathetic with each other and with
the natural world.
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YouTube, “Shut Down the Tar Sands Highway”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGTQ2gI3pMk

Vancouver Media Co-operative, “Shut Down the Tar Sands Highway:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/fr/video/shut-down-tar-sands-highway/18211

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Highway 63 is the main artery that services the Tar Sands production sites
North of Fort McMurray. The Tar Sands are one of the most, if not THE
most, environmentally destructive projects that exists today.

The Tar Sands exist due to the historic and ongoing colonization of Turtle
Island (North America) and the Treaties made between the Canadian
Government and Indigenous Nations. The Canadian government has never
honoured the spirit in which the treaties were made, and in practice has
unilaterally violated virtually all the agreements which it made.

We are all downstream from the tar sands, whether that’s literally or
through exposures to the many pipelines that are being built to service
tar sands industry. We are all effected: worker’s are forced to work in
dangerous and toxic environments; migrants workers are denied citizenship
rights, super-exploited, segregated from and paid less than Canadian
citizens, and often experience racism; women and women workers have said
that they frequently experience physical and sexual violence; women who
live close to the industries and refineries are subjected to dangerous
toxins that damage their reproductive systems, and have more risks of
miscarriage; children are born with birth defects, and have much higher
instances of serious physical health issues; both children and adults in
affected communities experience grave physical and mental health issues,
including cancers, post traumatic stress, developmental disabilities;
animals are disappearing, as more and more are being killed or chased away
from their natural habitats.

It is important to remember that the ecological degradation wrought by the
tar sands happens everyday, and that the scale of the destruction is so
great, and with such dire impacts for everyone, especially the environment
and directly effected communities, but also in terms of climate change and
global warming, that the Tar Sands need to be a political priority for
every person, and movement in Canada.

The movement against tar sands is at a critical juncture. Currently the
expansion of the tar sands is being significantly impeded by the fierce
resistance that pipelines have attracted continentwide. The industry’s
difficulties in moving their product West and South has led to Enbridge’s
Line 9 Reversal project and TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline Project,
both of which cut through Ontario & Quebec on their way to the East coast.
The time has come for people in our region to come together, declaring
that we will not be complicit in the exploitation of Mother Earth and that
we do not want these pipelines carrying Tar Sands oil running through our
communities.

Join us!

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For more information on:

Indigenous People: http://canadiandimension.com/articles/1760

Environment:
http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/jun08/feature_tar_sands.asp

Migrant workers:
http://oilsandstruth.org/increase-migrant-workers-canada-opens-door-abuses

Women: http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1468

Racism:
http://oilsandstruth.org/racism-tar-sands-exploiting-foreign-workers-and-poisoning-indigenous-people

Children: http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/03/22/Alberta-Family-Flees-Oil-Sands/

Health: http://oilsandsrealitycheck.org/facts/human-rights-3/

Animals:
http://oilsandstruth.org/twomouthed-fish-discovered-near-alberta-tar-sands-two-stories

General: http://desmog.ca/2013/05/15/10-reasons-canada-rethink-tar-sands

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"...education alone will not raise mass consciousness to the point
necessary for resistance." - Kevin 'Rashid' Johnson, Minister of Defence,
New Afrikan Black Panther Party - Prison Chapter