Between The Lines - Jackie Thomas: Opponents of tar sands oil extraction and the Keystone XL Pipeline form cross-border alliance (Week Ending March 8, 2013)

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.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

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.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

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.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

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.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

Tar Sands Opponents Form Cross-Border Alliance to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline

RealAudio MP3

Posted Feb. 27, 2013

Excerpt of speech by Jackie Thomas, chief of Saik'uz First Nation in Canada, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus at the Feb. 17, 2013 Keystone Pipeline rally in Washington, D.C.

Leaders of native nations in both Canada and Oklahoma were among the speakers at the “Forward on Climate” rally in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 17, which saw an estimated 35,000 to nearly 50,000 people supporting the demand that President Obama deny a federal permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would transport dirty tar sands from Alberta, Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, mostly for export.

The southern leg of the pipeline, already under construction in Texas, has generated powerful local opposition through groups such as the Tar Sands Blockade. Tar sands have a much bigger carbon footprint than other fossil fuels. Groups like the Sierra Club and 350.org, main sponsors of the Washington protest rally, have been calling on Obama to live up to his post-election pledges to tackle climate change and nix this project.

One of the native leaders who spoke at the rally was Jackie Thomas, a chief of the Saik'uz First Nation in northern British Columbia. She is a co-leader of the Yinka-Dene Alliance, a coalition of first nations and others working to stop the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline from taking tar sands from Alberta through British Columbia to the Pacific Ocean for export. In this excerpt from her talk, she addresses the problems tar sands extraction has already caused and about the alliances that are growing in Canada and the U.S. to stop the tar sands pipeline projects.

JACKIE THOMAS: I am a mother of four, and a grandmother of one, and I was raised by my own grandmother. She was a traditional medicine woman of my people, and I learned early on the value of our environment. And what she told us is that when we take care of the land, the land will take care of us. If we destroy this land, we will destroy ourselves. I speak on behalf of the Yinka Dene Alliance. We formed an alliance to stop the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, which plans to bring tar sands oil to the coast of British Columbia, which will then be put on tankers to go to the Asian markets. It puts at risk my neighbors to the east of me, that live at the tar sands. The government doesn't recognize these people, and these people have been dying of mysterious cancers, their water is polluted, their animals are sick, and Mother Earth is sick. Our Alliance is using our own laws to protect our lands, and for centuries we have done this. We created the Save the Fraser Declaration. Currently we have 135 First Nations in Canada signed up to this. We have built alliances and will be signing international documents with other nations of the indigenous world in the future. We have also been endorsed by many municipalities in Canada,most recently, the city of Vancouver, Mayor Gregor Robertson, made a proclamation that Dec. 13, 2012, was Save the Fraser Declaration Day for the city of Vancouver. This was very brave, because my government -- the Canadian government -- has been calling me an environmental extremist, a radical and an enemy of Canada. All I want, and my people want to do, is protect this land, and this water, that is sacred. This water that we're talking about has no color, this water that we're talking about is not just water for my own people. It is water also for my neighbor ranchers, my neighbor farmers, who live next door to me. It's a human issue, and it impacts everyone. We are all connected. Enbridge really has brought our communities together in Canada, because we've had oil spills and you've also had oil spills in this country, because oil will spill, it's just a matter of when. They've spilled in the Kalamazoo, in Red Deer, Alberta, in the territories of the Lubicon Cree, in the Northwest Territories, the Dene brothers and sisters I know from the Northwest Territories, and of course, who can forget Exxon Valdez. Of course also, in most recent memory we've had the BP spill, which was on the news day after day, month after month. Never in my life have I ever seen white and native work together until now. Thank you, Enbridge, for doing this work for me. (laughter).

In Canada, First Nations are always expected to be the sacrificial lambs for our government in terms of the economy -- like the economy is a human being, like the economy is more important than our land and our water. Water is a non-renewable resource, and we can't take it for granted. The Yinka Dene Alliance have never signed a treaty; we have never gone to war; we have never ceded our territories in British Columbia, and we never will. Under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, the Yinka Dene Alliance have not given our free, prior and informed consent to this project. In Canada there's a judicial review process going on right now. While the process is still underway our government has made public statements to the effect that this project will go through. Over the past year my country has made changes to environmental laws that has eased the burden for industry to [in]discriminately go forward with these projects, and part of our Idle No More movement also has been to let the general public know that we cannot keep taking out of greed; we should only take out of need.

I'm here to ask you and to ask the world to help us. The Canadian government has made it clear they will approve Enbridge. We need your help to stand with us. We need your prayers. I need someone to stand with me as the bulldozers come. I'm laying down my life. (cheers)

This segment was recorded and produced by Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus. Learn more about the issues related to tar sands extraction and the Keystone XL pipeline by visiting ForwardonClimate.tumblr.com and the other links to articles and websites below.