Between The Lines - Ron Seifert: Civil Disobedience Protest to Stop Texas to Oklahoma leg of Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline (Week Ending Oct. 12, 2012)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Construction in Texas Target of Nonviolent, Civil Disobedience Actions

RealAudio MP3

Posted Oct. 3, 2012

Interview with Ron Seifert, spokesperson with Tar Sands Blockade, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Last week, a group of local Texas environmental activists and their supporters from around the country began a nonviolent direct action protest to stop construction of the 435-mile southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is scheduled to be built between Cushing, Okla. and Port Arthur, Texas. The pipeline is being built to bring tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Some protesters have been arrested, while others are maintaining a tree-sit on the property where TransCanada is starting construction.

The Keystone pipeline is organized into a four-phase project. The first two phases were completed a few years ago. The company constructing the pipeline, TransCanada hoped to build phase 3 – the portion from Texas to Oklahoma – and then move on to build phase 4, the pipeline that will extend into Canada. The Obama administration delayed approval of phase 4 pending further environmental review. That was in response to one of the largest environment-themed protest campaigns in many years that included the arrest of more than 1,200 persons in a series of nonviolent civil disobedience actions in front of the White House just over a year ago. That protest was followed by a November action where some 10,000 activists surrounded the White House in order to persuade Obama to put a hold on the project.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Ron Seifert, a spokesperson with the Tar Sands Blockade coalition, who talks about support for and opposition to the pipeline project in Texas – and the latest news on the protest actions there.

RON SEIFERT: One of the primary concerns we face from East Texans, and Texans in general, is how this pipeline will affect their limited water supply. We all know Texas is a drought-stricken region, although East Texas tends to be a little greener and have a little more water; it's not the typical desert environment we're used to seeing in all the cowboy movies. Nonetheless, this pipeline will cross all the major water sources for the big metro areas in Texas; the aquifer that feeds the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, as well as Houston and most all of east Texas are directly along the lines of the proposed pipeline. Not to mention the sandy soil that exists in East Texas would be easily permeated by an oil spill. People don't necessarily know that this product, tar sands, is not crude oil. It's a different substance, a synthetic slurry. Tar sands is solid in its natural state; it has to be boiled and diluted with chemicals, gas condensates and all sorts of nasty, carcinogenic, toxic chemicals. And additionally it's pumped at very high pressure, at roughly 1,200 psi – 50 percent higher pressure than a conventional pipeline. It's being blasted at high pressure through a steel pipe; it's a recipe for disaster. So, clean water and arable soil in East Texas are part of our commons that Texans hold near and dear, not only because of what it means to them as farmers and ranchers and landowners in the area, but what it means for their collective communities and their future overall.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Ron Seifert, in terms of jobs, in terms of energy security – importing energy from Canada rather than the Middle East – has the project generated much support among the local population. Are the protesters out of the mainstream, or are locals behind it?

RON SEIFERT: Well, there's an interesting conflict of traditionally conservative values that exist around this pipeline battle. Yes, it's true that in Texas and Oklahoma there's a lot of support from the ground up for the oil and gas industry and the value of unfettered energy expansion – that mankind has the right to cultivate any energy and the earth, to bend the environment to our will without consequence. But there's also this strong traditional conservative value of land rights and property ownership, and now these values are at conflict because of the pipeline. What's going on is a multinational company is unilaterally taking land, whether you want to give it or not, to run this pipeline through. So what has been constitutionally protected land rights are being trampled in the interest of energy expansion.

So when it comes down to it, when local community folk, small town everyday people, that traditionally do support oil and gas, have to choose between their own homes and their own ranches, and the oil and gas industry – especially at the multinational level that's not bringing any local support for their economy, you find a lot of folks think this idea of using eminent domain to bolster and increase private gain for a private corporation is unacceptable.

From a land rights point of view, you have a lot of folks turning away from this project and supporting eminent domain reforms, taking a stand against the idea that a foreign corporation can seize American property for its own private gain, and that the government is going to be complicit in that transaction. It's really unconscionable and it's offensive to a lot of people around here. So we do have this kind of unique alliance – so you have environmentalists and climate activists coming at this from one angle, and conservatives – folks who affiliate more with Tea Party politics – feeling that big government or big corporate multinational industry having these powers, having these tools of eminent domain is unacceptable, that it's a freedom that we're entitled as Americans the right to our properties and they should not be imperiled with such nonchalance.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Can you please just summarize what's been happening with the protest on the ground?

RON SEIFERT: So the Tar Sands Blockade is a rolling, nonviolent civil disobedience campaign, and on multiple occasions individual blockaders have put themselves in the way of construction, to literally stop the Keystone XL Pipeline from being built. That's been met with different levels of police response, from, on one occasion, the police doing nothing and washing their hands of it and walking away and leaving the blockaders to hold the construction site; to the worst case, police brutalizing blockaders, choking them, putting them in stress positions, pepper-spraying them, tazing them – virtually torturing them. What's going on now and has been going on for the last week is our aerial tree blockade – tree village – and a timber wall have been constructed standing over 500 feet of the proposed pipeline route, tying in more than a dozen old-growth trees; nine different blockaders are sitting in trees or along a catwalk of this free-standing wall of wood that was constructed in the middle of the forest. And those folks have dug in, they have ample food and supplies for weeks, and they're willing to do whatever they can to stay as long as it takes to stop the pipeline, and raise enough awareness not only to encourage folks to come and join them in Texas, but to send the message: Resistance is possible.

Find more information on the campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline by visiting Tar Sands Blockade's website at tarsandsblockade.org.

Producer’s note: Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus participated in and was arrested at a nonviolent civil disobedience protest action against the Keystone XL Pipeline project at the White House in September 2011.