I’ve been off for about 5 weeks and I can’t tell you how refreshed I feel. The five months of touring in North America were good, but I came very close to reaching burn out. I made it home a day before a spontaneous insurrection that rocked the streets of downtown following the loss of the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup finals. Couldn’t expect a better welcome.
Even though I’ve been mostly relaxing – riding my bike, going to the beach, reading Octavia Butler – I did do some work at Sutikalh, a protection camp that successfully halted the building of a ski resort eleven years ago. Supporters continually provide material support to keep this gorgeous area from being developed. I joined a group of about 30 anarchists to help build a cabin, dig a trench for an outhouse and split wood among other tasks.
This week myself and some comrades, embarked on a mini tour of BC to screen END:CIV in Lillooet, Prince George, Smithers and Moricetown. Like most of BC, all of these areas are rich in what capitalists call “resources” and have been exploited for hundreds of years to extract wood and minerals or to dam the rivers for hydro electric generation.
But the issue that has people talking in BC is the proposed pipeline that will bring dirty tar sands oil to the pacific. This pipeline will be over 1,000 kilometres long, and will bring deforestation and potential oil spills to rivers and indigenous communities along the way. It will also create a corridor with high oil tanker traffic that would threaten one of the most beautiful ecological regions left in the planet, the coast of British Columbia.
Even though the pipeline has not been approved, communities are getting ready to oppose it. The final stop on our tour is Moricetown, where members of the Wet’suwet’en nation are holding their second action camp to build resistance against the proposed pipeline.
Finally, here’s a clip from Aric McBay, who is featured in END:CIV, debating conservative talk show host Brian Lilley on Canada’s SunNews, our Fox News equivalent.
Stay tuned for more updates and dates for the END:CIV tour of Japan in the following weeks.
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