Led by Indigenous voices, all ages protest Arctic Drilling

 

 

Days of Action in Seattle against the Shell Arctic Oil Rig “Polar Pioneer”

 

Collaboration with Native American tribal musicians, paddlers, poets and storytellers

 

“The wisdom of the elders has taught us many things. Our ancestors had much time to observe and learn from the delicate balances and cycles of nature. With this profound gathering of knowledge and wisdom, they understood the importance of passing on the teachings to future generations. They knew how to learn, respect, acknowledge and share. Our ancient stories tell us that Great Spirit gave us everything we needed to live upon the land without want. As long as we respected each other  and the domain of the tree plant and animal peoples, and returned their bones to their people with gratitude, there would be no war, greed, hatred or destruction of ourselves and our sacred  Mother Earth. If we were to forget these teachings, the opposite of paradise would fall upon the land. We believe now is the time for us all to come together and remember this Time of Paradise. ”

 

Paul “Che oke ten” Wagner, Native American flutist and traditional storyteller from the Wsaanich (Saanich) tribe of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia made this beautiful statement.

He played “Living Freely on the Land” on the solar powered barge at dusk during resistance to the Polar Pioneer.

He spoke of his grandmother “she would talk to the water. I do not come to disturb, I come to cleanse my spirit.  “ About the Polar Pioneer he said “that thing over there doesn’t represent respect.”

 

 

In the Northwest the indigenous leaders and paddlers give deep resonance to our climate change protests.

 

 

 

When the “Paddle in Seattle” began on Saturday May 16. it was led by Duwamish, Tlingit, Coast Salish  and other canoes filled with tribal paddlers. Then followed 300 kayaks, rowboats, canoes, and rubber rafts, and other craft  paddling across Elliott Bay to protest new Arctic oil drilling by Shell Oil in the supersensitive Chukchi Sea on the North Coast of Alaska.

 

 

The massive oil platform, so called Polar Pioneer, is being refurbished in Seattle (it was made by the same Japanese company that more recently made our giant tunnel machine, Bertha, that has been broken down for over a year).

 

Once close to the giant Shell platform parked at Terminal 5 on Harbor Island ( it is breaking many laws because of its size and function), the kayakers joined arms and raised massive banners protesting the Shell plan. They also carried individual protest flags attached to light weight bamboo rods. Backbone Campaign, Greenpeace, Rising Tide, 350.org were all represented and led by the Duwamish people, on whose land the entire Harbor Island stands. After the swarm of the water flotilla “the mosquito fleet” , there was a party in Jack Block Park, a tiny green spot attached to Harbor Island, surrounded by high hurricane fences, an “amenity” required of the Port.

 

In front of the massive rig ,the small colorful boats collectively made a powerful statement against capitalism and exploitation of the environment.

 

 

But the exciting part of this protest is that all ages participated and it took many forms.

The Washington Youth Climate Change Challenge sued Washington State Department of Ecology for dereliction of duty.

 

On Sunday March 18 the international youth group Plant for the Planet was raising funds to plant trees and go to a climate change conference in Germany to help draft language to convince the G8 in December this year in Paris to make international policy to save Mother Earth from a climate catastrophe.

Children were encouraged to draw salmon.

 

 

Over Memorial day weekend, a college student in Bellingham, Chiara D’Angelo, age 20, strapped herself for an astounding 63 hours to the anchor chain of a support ship for Arctic drilling.

 

Art, song, dance, poetry, puppets, music, chanting are all part of Seattle’s art protest traditions. The giant scale of the signs carried by kayakers were on webbed supports so they wouldn’t blow the boats away.

The small flags with great logos for individual kayaks had carefully thought out bamboo holders or designed to tie on backs.

 

Denise Henrickson made wind sock salmon that create a fleet of salmon.

The creativity of the imagery reminded me of Occupy, and certainly these protests are directly linked to Occupy in the widespread collaborative outcry against capitalism. Issues are finally interlocking with climate change and anti capitalism. The protesters represent a wide political spectrum from the Sierra Club, to Rising Tide, and Greenpeace (5 Greenpeace activists had attached themselves to the Polar Pioneer in the middle of the ocean as it crossed from Asia). But also protesting are the city and state governments because of legal violations.

 

On Monday May 18, dance and song and art shut down work at Terminal 5  as police looked on from bicycles, many of them sympathetic.  A giant earth parachute created by tireless Lisa Marcus of 350.0rg was painted with the Arctic at the center. She also made the small kayak flags and much more. The parachute floated around as people held it. There were also seagull costumes, sea turtles, oil rig signs, and many other creative graphics.

 

The protests have continued in many forms. We had the” luminescent kayaks” on June 5, a spiritual event with prayer flags, altars and beautiful music from the solar barge. Individual kayakers carried carefully designed lanterns.

 

 

 

Then Monday June 8 there was another port blockage by brave resisters linked together. The conviction is that by causing even some delay Shell will miss the drilling season for the whole summer. They seem obliviously determined though and still tout the myth of jobs and the need for oil.

 

Certainly the most dramatic moment came when the five Raging Grannies, sitting in rocking chairs, wearing photographs of their great grandchildren, with arms connected by a large sleeve, were arrested. Alex Garland’s photographs of these events are fabulous, showing the disdainful expressions of these really senior participants in civil disobedience as the police arrested them.

 

  

 

 

Sunday June 14 Idle No More Native Women Rising, held a three hour event with singing and dancing, poetry and chanting, as well as protest shouts at the rig:

 

You will not be successful
You will not make it to your destination
You will not harvest oil from mother earth
You will not pollute the ocean
You will not pollute the sky
You will not pollute our lives
I vow that you will not be successful
You will not damage the lives of our future generations

 

The Northwest, Salish Sea from British Columbia to Oregon is on the front line of stopping Arctic drilling as well as the coal trains, tar sands, and the rest of the disastrous outdated ideas of these oblivious corporations. Virtually all of these resources are being plundered to ship to China. Sightline Institute has provided us with a map of the fact that the Cascades are in the way of this massive export of resources. Already 4 of 6 coal ports have been cancelled. The Tar Sands Pipelines are disrupted. Native tribes are successfully winning battles in the courts in Canada.

 

The Polar Pioneer departed for the Arctic on June 15. Kayacktivists delayed it long enough, that it ran aground at low tide.

 

The people must win a future for our planet.