Bay Area IWW Endorses August 3rd "Summer Heat" Action in Richmond, California!

At its July business meeting, the Bay Area General Membership Branch of the IWW endorsed the following event:

This May marked an ominous milestone on our rush past the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  As CO2 exceeds 400 parts per million, the moment has come to do “hard, important, powerful things” to stop the large-scale burning of fossil fuels. These are the words of the organizers of 350.org’s national Summer Heat campaign—Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Winona LaDuke, Sandra Steingraber, and Rev. Lennox Yearwood, who are asking that we turn up the heat, show up and speak out “to the industry that’s wrecking our future.”

As part of Summer Heat events all across the country (see JoinSummerHeat.org), 350.org and its allies invite you to come together in a momentous West Coast mass action to declare our collective resistance to fossil fuels. We hope this will be one of the largest climate justice protests ever. Please join 350 Bay Area, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Communities for a Better Environment, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, No Keystone Action Council, Idle No More, San Francisco Solidarity, Urban Tilth, and Gathering Tribes on August 3rd and 6th to stand with the people of Richmond, California who are in the frontlines in our common fight for the health and safety of our communities, and against accelerating climate change.

On August 3rd, three days before the one-year anniversary of the Chevron refinery explosion and fire, we will gather at 10am at the Richmond BART to march to a spirited rally with national and regional leaders in the fight against climate catastrophe.  (Full schedule is at JoinSummerHeat.org/bay; bus available for non-walkers.) The rally will be followed by a march to the gates of the Chevron refinery with the following demands:

• NO KEYSTONE XL TAR SANDS PIPELINE.
• NO MORE LIFE-THREATENING HAZARDS. Chevron and other Bay Area refineries shall prevent future spills, fires and explosions by retrofitting with the best and safest technology available.
• NO REFINING OF DIRTY CRUDE.  Refining high-sulfur, low-quality tar sands and fracked oil increases greenhouse gas emissions and toxic air pollutants. It also seriously corrodes refinery machinery, which contributes to major industrial accidents.
• NO MORE CORPORATE TAX EVASION.  Chevron shall pay its fair share of taxes to City, County, State and Federal agencies, and stop all frivolous litigation relating to these matters.
• NO MORE POLLUTING OUR DEMOCRACY.  Chevron invests more in lobbying and manipulating elections with outrageous campaign contributions than it does in plant safety. Big Oil’s injection of mega-bucks into the political process ensures its continuing domination of energy policy.
• A JUST TRANSITION FROM DIRTY FOSSIL FUELS TO UNION JOBS IN CLEAN ENERGY.              Government and Big Oil shall invest in high-quality union jobs in clean energy for local residents. Chevron needs to support Richmond’s long-term transition to a renewable energy-based economy that’s good for people and the planet.

Because of the urgent need to reverse climate complacency, some of us have committed to exercising our democratic right of non-violent civil disobedience and will risk arrest at this event.  To this end we will be holding a series of trainings in Non-Violent Civil Disobedience before August 3rd.  For those who choose not to make this commitment, we will maintain a safe zone for demonstrators well away from any risk of arrest.

On August 6 at 5:30 pm at Richmond’s Civic Center Plaza, we will solemnly gather to commemorate--on the exact time of the one-year anniversary--the explosion and fire that nearly killed nineteen workers and sent 15,000 Bay Area residents to local hospitals seeking medical assistance.  Chevron's Safety Inspector reported significant corrosion of their pipes a decade ago.  Chevron was negligent, and our community is continuing to pay the price. [Video]

Richmond has experienced the local, immediate impacts of a ruthless extractive industry, as have countless other communities in North America and across the planet.  But all of us everywhere are caught in the trap of carbon-dependency. We are coming together to say that we can live differently--sustainably and equitably.  But if we are to survive, we must change course now.

Thank you in advance for taking action with us!  We look forward to hearing from you by July 15th.

There will be a Labor Contingent at this event.

For further details, please see Labor and Community Battle Chevron over Environment.