On Thursday, a jury in Salt Lake City declared climate activist Tim DeChristopher guilty for his interference with an oil and gas auction held at the end of the Bush administration. He faces a sentence of up to 10 years, to be determined by a judge.
The following is a transcript and video of Tim's speech outside of the courthouse after the guilty verdict was handed down. Tim's words are reminiscent of the heroes of other social movements that used civil disobedience to achieve their ends. And they're a challenge to all of us working to solve the climate crisis to consider our own willingness to go to jail for our beliefs (in fact, a website, Climate Direct Action, has been set up for people to sign up to learn more about how to take part in civil disobedience for the climate).
Here is Tim's speech:
What the world wanted to see was how you would react. And you have reacted with joy and resolve. You've shown that your power will not be intimidated by any power that they have, and that's the most important thing that's happened here this week.
Because everything that happened inside that building tried to convince me that I was alone and that I was weak. They tried to convince me that I was like a little finger out there on my own that could easily be broken. And all of you out here were the reminder for all of us that I wasn't just a finger all alone in there, but that I was connected to hand with many fingers that could be united together as one fist, and that that fist could not be broken by the power that they have in there.That fist is not a symbol of violence. That fist is a symbol that we will not be mislead into thinking that we are alone. We will not be lied to and told that we are weak. We will not be divided and we will not back down. That fist is a symbol that we are connected and that we are powerful. It's a symbol that we hold true to our vision of a healthy and just world and that we are building the self empowering movement to make it happen. All those authorities in there wanted me to think like a finger but are children are calling to us to think like a fist.
And we know that now I'll have to go prison, we know that now that is the reality. But that's just the job that I have to do. That's the role that I face. Many before me have gone to jail for justice and if we are going to achieve our vision many after me will have to join me as well.
No one ever told us that this battle would be easy. No one ever told us that we wouldn't have to make sacrifices. We knew that when we started this fight.
Every wave on the ocean that has ever risen up and refused to lay back down has been dashed on the shore, but it is the very purpose of a wave to rise up, because once it rises up above the horizon it finally has the perspective to see that it's not just a wave, that it's a part of a mighty ocean. And the sharpest rock on the wildest shore can never break that ocean apart, they can never wear that ocean down, because it's the ocean that shapes the shore.
That's what we're starting to do here today. That's what we're starting to do here this week. With wave after wave after wave crashing against that shore, we shape it to our vision. Thank you all for being a part of that.
Follow Jamie Henn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/agent350
Bill McKibben: Tim DeChristopher: Taking a Leap and Pointing the Way
Andy Stepanian: Bidder 70: Obedience Is Scarier Than Prison
Who are these heroes? They are: DeChristopher, Michael Moore, WikiLeaks, 14 Democratic Senators from Wisconsin, Media Matters, Senator Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kuchinich, Alan Grayson, Huffington Post, and an ever increasing host of people, organizations, and websites that the right is thus far unable to stifle.
Only a short number of years ago these heroes were mentioned in the mainstream media only in derogatory messages championed by the far right. Today, this is still largely true but the truth is starting to get through as the bold, true destructiveness of right wing policies and programs are being laid out publicly and unambiguously as never before. Who was it that first said that sunlight is the best disinfectant?
The people with good common sense, despite the daily bombardment of misinformation, obfuscation, and lies from the right wing message machine, are slowly starting to see the truth and are being galvanized to action. And it all starts with the heroes.
On the bright side, while increasing oil prices make exploitation more profitable, the cost to the consumer will exceed the ability or willingness to pay, which may make exploration and extraction unprofitable. Now that we're past peak oil, the economic dynamics appear to make wasting it less attractive to the average consumer.
"No one ever told us that this battle would be easy. No one ever told us that we wouldn't have to make sacrifices. We knew that when we started this fight."
God Bless You Tim
Well done, Tim.
Most of these lands are on BLM land who has a strong expectation to support extraction. One of the major things stopping extraction in the stalled process of wilderness designation via FLPMA. There was an agreement, highly questionable, formed by Gale Norton and Utah leaders to prevent any WSAs from being officially designated. That was ended by Salazar and we are seeing the beginnings of an objective and appropriate process. It is expected that at least a large portion of the inventoried lands will be protected in the "near" future. Though, that is a suspect term and time frame.
That's right. That's what happens when you break the law.
If Tim wants a job when he's sprung and he needs a place to live, he can come live and work on my farm. He'd be most welcome here as would ANY Deep Green activist that got busted. We network and we take care of people willing to make these sacrifices. He will NOT be some felon who is shunned, trust me.
The right and the GOP are lagging with environmental literacy but they are slowly catching up (hell, even Gingrich wrote a moderately-well received environmental manifesto).
I would say the right is merely co-opting the language of environmentalism without the slightest understanding or interest. I've read parts of Gingrich's work on this and was not at all impressed. There is no mention of "limits" to ecological carrying capacity, and the ideas are largely just an endorsement of "entrepreneurial" opportunism hitching a ride on issues that far transcend profit seeking. I think Gingrich hitched a ride on his co-authors coat-tail.