Peaceful Uprising has just made some solid connections in a community that could massively benefit from our assistance.
This past weekend, January 27-29, Peaceful Uprising members Dylan Rose Schneider, Rachel Carter and Deb Henry joined George Gage (director of the upcoming Bidder 70 documentary film) in Winona, Minnesota as special guests of the Frozen River Film Festival. Clips of Gage & Gage Productions‘ Bidder 70 were being showcased as a part of the yearly festival. Peaceful Uprising was invited to participate in a Q&A with the audience regarding Tim DeChristopher’s actions during the 2008 oil and gas auction, and to speak to the role that PeaceUp played in building a community of support and resistance in response to intimidation of our friend. FRFF additionally asked PU to teach a workshop on the Core Values and History of Civil Disobedience to complement the themes presented throughout the Bidder 70 film clips.
On Saturday, Dylan, Rachel, and Deb had a full room of folks for our workshop. We discussed the overarching timeline of Civil Disobedience from Sophocles’ Antigone in 497 BC through the US Labor Movement, Civil Rights era, anti-Vietnam War efforts, past Tim DeChristopher’s action to the Occupy movement of present day. We compared civil disobedience and direct actions, “power over” versus “power with” (in terms of leveraging community organizing and shifting power dynamics to promote effective change) and the evolving “self-purification” that all activists go through as they determine their levels of commitment. We finished with a lively conversation on violence and the role that desecration of our environment and intimidation play in an accurate definition of violence. There were lots of curious, engaged questions and folks stuck around afterward to continue the dialogue.
That evening, Henry Lystad from Mountainfilm in Telluride (and George’s softball team’s clinch hitter) introduced George and Peaceful Uprising to the audience of about 75 people at the screening of clips from Bidder 70. George introduced several minutes of film that had been screened previously, but then introduced a section of mostly unseen clips highlighting Peaceful Uprising. The Q&A that followed was so engaging that nobody left despite its running a half hour overtime, ending at 10:30 PM! Among the many thoughtful questions were: does PeaceUp have a fiscal sponsor? (which allowed Dylan to describe the fraud on the part of our former fiscal sponsor that was recently made public and which caused us to lose everything); did George think his style of filmmaking could have affected the turn of events? (George and the ladies responded that we do not believe it did); what was the significance of all the orange sashes? (why, solidarity and branding). The panel was great fun and went fantastically.
Throughout the Festival, Dylan, Rachel and Deb spoke to people about our nascent Peaceful Uprising Communities of Resilient Resistance (PUCORR) project. Having a set of activism tools exported to them is very relevant to Winonans right now. Time and again we were told about the furor brewing locally about efforts to mine silica sands from the region.
Silica sands happen to be the best type of sand for natural gas hydraulic fracking fluids due to the roundness of grains and their ease of rolling and flowing. The Driftless Region (the bluff areas on the banks of the Mississippi in Minnesota and Wisconsin) happens to have the best and most abundant deposits of silica sands in the country estimated at between $200-$300 billion in profit. The mining and shipment process poisons the air with ultrafine, cancer-causing silica particles and undermines water aquifers in the region. Indeed, there is a pile of cleaned, ready-for-shipment silica sands, uncovered and unmonitored, right on the edge of Winona’s business district and close to schools and homes. This knowledge brought home to us the importance of further developing our PUCORR program right away! Local issues aren’t just local when it comes to carbon-emitting industries. Our fellow foot soldiers need help.
On Sunday, Rachel and Deb were taken by our very helpful local host, Will Hesch, to a local quarry within city limits that was grandfathered in to allow silica sand mining (other lands that don’t already have any type of extraction are awaiting approval). We were able to see close up how the solid layer of beautiful Winona limestone rock is being blasted away to expose the sand layer below. Historically, quarries have focused on harvesting the high-quality, marble-like limestone the region is famous for. It seems from the site we visited, that only some of the limestone being blasted away is being harvested. They seem more intent on extracting the valuable silica sands below without the consent of the adjacent community.
Will introduced Rachel and Deb to Mary, a fine artist who was forced to sell her lovely house (itself built from the gorgeous local limestone) to the mine, lest the value of her nest egg property be totally lost since it is immediately adjacent to the quarry. Already, houses in a valley below the quarry are being damaged – even shattering their foundations – by the explosive blasting above.
Thanks to our visit, lots of Winonans are now sporting PeaceUp shirts and Bidder 70 hats. Winonans are anxious to hear more from us and more about Peace Up Communities of Resilient Resistance. We have already been asked to come back next year, when the final cut of Bidder 70 will screen there. We have already accepted the invitation with – as is usual for us – abundant joy and resolve.
Dylan, Rachel, Deb and George would like to lovingly thank Crystal Hegge, director of the Festival, who invited us there after meeting Dylan at Mountainfilm; Amanda Weener, who arranged our travel and lodging; Will Hesch and Jeanine & Eric Sorensen for being amazing hosts and helping us get oriented; Devon Sei and Daryl Lanz for driving us the long way from and back to the Minneapolis airport; and the Winona State University Alumni House for the cozy lodgings.
Bidder 70 is due for release in Spring of 2012.
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