Miriam Kashia of the Climate Defenders Five, wrote this statement to read in court Tuesday, November 12th. The prosecuting attorney objected to her reading a pre-written statement, a document which explains why Miriam was protesting at Trump’s Fundraiser and “trespassed” onto HyVee property. We have posted her statement below: GUILTY OR NOT-GUILTY: YOU DECIDE On November 12, I and four others were tried for a simple misdemeanor trespass. Our “crime” was for entering a privately owned parking lot while protesting for climate action at a
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Ed Fallon was interviewed by Chris Robinson of nozyproductions at Bernie Sanders and AOC’s Climate Summit in Des Moines November 9th.
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“Women's right to vote. Civil rights. Stopping the Vietnam War. Environmental protections. The Women's Movement. LGBTQ rights and marriage equality. These and so many other significant social justice shifts were accomplished because ordinary citizens were willing to take to the streets, and in many cases, willing to commit civil disobedience,” said Kashia. "History tells us that this is what has turned the tide.”
The judge and prosecutor have both said this will be an important trial. The more support we gather, the greater our impact.
Bird Dogs Kathy Byrnes and Ed Fallon were interviewed by Isabella Murray for the Iowa Starting Line website at Sanders’ Climate Summit with guest speaker Alexandria Oscario-Cortez. They discussed Bernie’s possible status as the new “Climate Candidate” and what he could do more on his campaign regarding climate change. The following is excerpt from the article: Kathy Byrnes, director of Birds & Bees Urban Farm in Des Moines, said she doesn’t yet know if Sanders can take the ‘climate candidate’ title. “If Bernie would bump
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Since June, Dakota Access has been pressuring the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to allow it to double the flow of oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline. To its credit, the IUB has refused to be pushed or rushed. In September, IUB members Geri Huser and Nick Wagner voted to require Dakota Access to file an amendment to its permit.
Meanwhile in other states, Big Oil continues to push hard for legislation to punish peaceful, non-violent pipeline protesters. Last year's fight at the Iowa Statehouse recently garnered some attention in Wisconsin, where our coalition with labor has not gone unnoticed.
This article featured our favorite agitator-in-chief, Ed Fallon, talking about the latest pipeline protest laws and how the labor unions are now worried about what these prospective laws mean for ALL protesters, including members of labor unions. Excerpt from Urban Milwaukee: Ed Fallon, a former Iowa legislator who now heads an environmental advocacy organization called Bold Iowa that focuses on combating climate change, says that his organization and the union have often found themselves on opposite sides where the pipeline project was concerned. The project,
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Big kudos are due to Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer for talking briefly about climate, despite the lack of a single climate question from the moderators. Tiny kudos to Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, and Amy Klobuchar for at least mentioning climate in their responses to other questions.
We've got a quick update for you this week on some important developments. Please read and share.
CLIMATE JUSTIFICATION TRIAL.
DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE (DAPL).
CLIMATE BIRD DOGS.
IOWA'S ANTI-PROTEST LAW.
JESSICA AND RUBY.
The Iowa Climate Defenders Five (Todd Steichen, Martin Monroe, Miriam Kashia, Kathy Byrnes, and Ed Fallon) appeared before a judge today only to have the trial rescheduled for November 12 at 1:00 at the Polk County Justice Center, 222 5th Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Before the trial, the five held a press conference outside the building.
