On Wednesday, May 12th, Seize BP held a protest in front of the BP offices on New Montgomery Street in San Francisco, to demand that the U.S. government seize BP and all of its assets. BP is involved in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is still leaking 5 to 25 thousand barrels of oil daily into surrounding waters. Other corporations involved include Transocean and Halliburton. On Friday, May 14th, Act Against Oil will demonstrate in Berkeley at the site of a new BP building under construction next to the UCB campus. Read More | Related: Protesters march on White House against offshore oil drilling | Latest updates on BP oil blow-out

On the 11th of May, protesters outraged by BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf marched on the White House. As Reverend Yearwood (from Louisiana) pointed out at the protest, five years ago, the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricane Katrina,and now BP’s unnatural disaster is compounding the damage. Already tarballs from the spill are washing up on shore. Meanwhile, fish are considered too dangerous to eat and fishing jobs are sinking as fast as BP’s blown-up oil rig. Expansion of Offshore Oil Drilling is Dead

The Cajun "paradise" lost in southern Louisiana: The entire Gulf Coast wetlands ecosystem is a delicate and profound balance of tides, winds, and ocean temperatures. It's almost cosmic. Tides push and pull vast and deep columns of water through narrow passes into lakes and bays and back out to the open ocean. This is a marine cardiovascular system on a continental scale, one supporting waters that roil with life. Winds move shallow layers of salt water toward the shore and push back with undercurrents of brackish and freshwater from lakes like Pontchartrain, Borgne, and Salvador. The coastal prairies and cypress swamps breath. Water temperatures and salt concentrations from the edge of the continental shelf and as close as the shallows of Chandeleur Sound and Barataria Bay trigger complex movements of sea life, telling them when to spawn and where to feed. Larger seasonal shifts provide signals to migratory birds, ushering them to land upon horizon-to-horizon beds of grass where they feed from the bounty all around... Read More

RELATED - Volunteering report (May 1st): I think we are all biting at the bit trying to figure out a way to help, and one of the sad truths for our wetlands is they aren't like a beach were you can run out and try and help. Protecting the wetlands takes time, planning, dedication, and legislation... The organizations in Alabama and Mississippi seem to be doing the best work so far. They are cleaning beaches, blocking inflow points for critical areas, they seem to be providing outlets for volunteers readily. For Louisiana wetlands I expect volunteer opportunities to open up in the next couple days as the horror unfolds... Read More

Yesterday and again today (Thursday) here in Philadelphia we are waking up to a city that is (by virtue of a snowstorm) making an extraordinarily unusual citywide Shabbat.

Only a blizzard brings Shabbat to an American city. But that is a reminder of how profound is the need for "Free Time for a Free People. " Overwork and its misshapen twin, disemployment, are both the symptoms and the causes of an unfree society. It is no accident that in our story of Liberation from Mitzrayyim, the Tight and Narrow Place, the first change in the life of the Israelites -- even before Sinai - is the practice and celebration of Shabbat.

What follows is part of a statement on "Free Time for a Free People" that in 2001 The Shalom Center initiated and won broad support for. You can read the full statement here, with sections on the biblical origins of Free Time, its spiritual and economic aspects, and the path toward organizing support for social change toward "free time." For an entire section of articles on this question, click here.

January 28, 2010 Severe Ice Storms and Freezing Temperatures Have Knocked Down 3,000 Utility Poles – Tribal Residents Have Been Without Electricity, Heat and Running Water for Six Days.

EAGLE BUTTE, S.D. – The Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has declared a State of Emergency in central South Dakota, an Indian reservation approximately the size of Connecticut with nearly 15,000 Tribal members. The Tribe is still awaiting Presidential disaster declaration.

Days of ice storms and strong winds have downed over 3,000 utility poles across the reservation. Thousands of already impoverished tribal residents have been without electricity or heat for five days, with wind chill factors well below zero. Experts estimate it may be as long as a month before all areas have electricity restored.

“Making matters worse,” said Tribal Chairman Joe Brings Plenty, “the loss of electricity has also knocked out the Reservation s aging water system. We have no running water on the entire Reservation, it is also affecting of Reservation communities such as Faith, whose water is supplied from pipes running through the Reservation.”

Help needed.

More information: DISASTER DECLARED ON THE CHEYENNE RIVER SIOUX INDIAN RESERVATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA by Larry Smith | | More on American Indian Airwaves (February 1, 2010, 8pm). Go to KPFK Audio Archive and find the show by title and date.

It has been a devastating winter for weather-related disasters. While there has been a lot of information about (and vital response to) the situation in Haiti, there's another emergency closer to home, one which calls for solidarity with the indigenous people of South Dakota and surrounding areas.

The past weekend's ice storms brought down 2,000 to 3,000 utility poles on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, knocking out an already shaky resource infrastructure.  Crews are working feverishly, but electricity may be out for up to 30 days in some areas. With no electricity, no heat, no running water, and a wind chill below zero the situation is growing more difficult. The bulk of those most affected by the storm are located on reservations in Pine Ridge, Standing Rock, Eagle Butte and others. This is an urgent state of emergency. Read more & donation information

The 29th monthly newsletter of the Boston Anti-Authoritarian Movement is out! Available here as always for free as a PDF and in plain text. Also, look for free hard copies in all the usual places. In this issue: Angelica workers win strike By Jake Carman Iran: Stand Up! Fight Back! By Joseph Caye Capitalists, Global Warming, and the Climate Justice Movement: Reflections on COP15 By James Herod Anarchists and Workers Put Greek Government in Tight Spot By Sublett December 6th: Boston Stands with Greece By Jeff Reinhardt The 9th NEAN Assembly: A Report By Dykonoclast Harvard Workers Confront Racism By Geoff Carens, Union Rep. HUCTW/AFSCME Local 3650 Sabaté: A Short Memorial of a Man for whom Defeat Meant Nothing By Jake Carman

In the wake of the failure of the governments of the world to come any substantial consensus on what to do about climate change, and in view of their failure to even discuss real solutions to climate change, members of Eugene's Black Tea Society staged a solidarity action in the form of a banner drop. The COP15 talks only served to reaffirm what many of us in the climate justice movement already knew: that the so-called "leaders" of the world have no intention of rising above petty national bickering to solve the most urgent crisis of our time. In the face of government collaboration and inaction it is the responsibility of every human to rise to the defence of mother earth. We are but the crest of a rising tide of popular discontent which will sweep away the old order, replacing it with one based in mutual aid, sustainable living, and cooperative economics. Our survival depends on it.

Civil society, NGOs, island nations and nations from the Global South all demanded a "FAB" - fair, ambitious and binding - deal from this month's COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen. But as the summit concluded Friday, the only proposals on the table were none of the above. Some world leaders remained at the summit well past midnight, hashing out a document many are calling a "COPout." Others, such as President Obama, scurried to the airport to escape the climate crime scene that is Copenhagen's Bella Centre. At 2am inside the Centre, dozens of people chanting "Climate Justice Now!" held pictures of Obama with "Climate Shame" printed across his forehead.

The mass movement for climate justice on the streets of Copenhagen was, predictably, met with brutal force by the Danish Politi. Even accredited delegates were savagely beaten back with batons while attempting to walk out of the Bella Centre. In response, a call for solidarity actions prompted demonstrations worldwide. In Minneapolis (photos), a small group marched for climate justice on Nicollet Mall Friday night, just before the start of the city's popular "Holidazzle" parade.

Solidarity Reports from other US IMCs: Houston | Bay Area | Washington, DC ( 1, 2) ||| Full reports from COP15: IMC Denmark | Climate IMC | icop15.org aggregator | PDF of Copenhagen Accord - "recognized" by UN, to be adopted by national parliaments

With activists in Copenhagen dealing with a week of police brutality and mass arrests, DC activists finally put points on the board on Thursday, Dec 17. Greenpeace surrounded the US Chamber of Commerce with mock police vehicles and crime tape, while young climate activists occupied the US State Dept demanding action on global warming…

On Saturday, December 12th (the day 100,000 demonstrated outside the UN climate talks in Copenhagen), Houstonians gathered at Mecom fountain to join the international "Vigil for Survival" called for by the 350 movement. Participants marched from Mecom fountain down Montrose, stopping to freeway blog a bit on the 59 bridge, then all the way to Westheimer and back.

Global UN Climate negotiations are proceeding in Copenhagen with over on hundred heads of state expected to attend in the next week. 2009 was the fifth hottest year on record, and scientists are saying a Climate Treaty is more urgent with global carbon emissions still increasing and acidification threatening marine biodiversity.

On December 12th, 100,000 people took to the streets of Copenhagen, but around 3pm police charged into the march and made arbitrary arrests of an estimated 1,000 people. Further protests are occurring over the next week inside the conference center and on the streets.

Medics including two qualified paramedics, two Red Cross cadets and other trained first-aiders from the UK, Norway, Germany and other countries were stopped in a series of incidents in the Christianshavn area. They were searched three or four times each, photographed and held in cages at Valby temporary police station for 6 hours. Arresting units included numbers 702 and 724.

The detention (not full arrest) was under the Danish Police Act, which permits preventative detention of people thought to be 'a danger to public security' or 'likely to cause a public disturbance' (approximate translation). But police told people they had been detained specifically because they were medics, in order to stop them providing first aid at demos.

One group of seven was initially told they would be released after being searched, but the police unit commander then received orders from his superior to detain the group.

With lobbyists from sHell and Exxon infesting the global climate conference in Copenhagen, DC area activists from Avaaz have started building an Ark on the Mall for the rising seas sure to come. READ MORE | RELATED: 100,000 march for System Change not climate change in Copenhagen with mass arrests | Indybay Roundup | Medics targeted at Cop15 protest

Anarchists, climate justice activists and foes of global capital are converging on Copenhagen to resist the UN COP15 climate talks that are aimed at creating false hope while in fact continuing business as usual. This space will have the latest updates from that struggle.