It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a blockader!

Photo: Tar Sands Blockade/Creative Commons

Diboll, TX - Tar Sands Blockaders halt construction of Keystone XL pipeline with aerial tree blockade. Late Wednesday night blockaders set up two "dump platforms" nestled 50-60 feet in the air with a perimeter of intricate life-lines spanning 80-100 feet. The blockaders are sitting in solidarity with the Idle No More First Nations movement. 

    The first day of blockading ended with a ten hour stand-off between protesters and police and led to the arrest of five individuals, including one of the tree-sitters who was brought to the ground by a cherry picker. The tree blockade comes just weeks after the end of Tar Sands Blockade's 85 day tree blockade near Winnsboro, TX. 

     Tar Sands Blockade Spokesperson Ron Seifert says using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop construction of TransCanada's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is necessary for our collective future. 

Photo: Tar Sands Blockade/Creative Commons

     "Institutional methods of addressing climate change have failed us," explained Ron Seifert. "Rising up to defend our homes against corporate exploitation is our  best and only hope to preserve life on this planet. We must normalize and embrace direct, organized resistance to the death machine of industrial extraction and stand with those like Idle No More who take extraordinary risk to defend their families and livelihoods." 

     Angelina County authorities said the second protester is still atop the "dump platform" deep in the woods. They plan on coming back in the morning to retrieve the blockader. 

     This is the first direct-action of 2013 for Tar Sands Blockade, who is entering their sixth month of civil disobedience against the Keystone XL pipeline. Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of climate justice activists and Texas and Oklahoma landowners using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop construction of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline. 

Want to get more involved with TSB? Make a donation and join the campaign. 

Photo: Tar Sands Blockade/Creative Commons