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Meet The Backbone Campaign
What is the Backbone Campaign?
The Backbone Campaign is a grassroots effort to embolden citizens and elected officials to stand up for progressive values. We are expanding the political dialogue by providing creative tools for citizens and the progressive movement. The backbone symbolizes an interlocking agenda, a coalition, and the personal courage necessary to fight for a future worthy of our children.Accountability for BP: Lessons From London
Featuring James Marriott
Without new citizen actions, elected officials will not hold BP - and other oil companies -- fully accountable for the devastation and destruction they have caused. Without effective pressure from citizens, the Obama Administration and Congress members won't pass laws with teeth, laws that move our country rapidly away from burning fossil fuels.
Who are BP's leaders, what are its government ties in the U.S. and in its home base, London? How are BP's fortunes linked to governments, to other oil companies, but also to ordinary people's communities, pension funds and personal finances? We cannot count on mainstream media to learn most of this important information.
For our 78th Conversation, we spoke with James Marriott, a co-director of London-based PLATFORM. James was our guest four years ago in a Conversation about art and activism. But PLATFORM also became a prominent oil watch group when it launched Unravelling the Carbon Web in 2000.
James Marriott is an expert on BP. In this Conversation, we asked James to share his perspective and knowledge on BP in this critical time.
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Transforming Catastrophe into Opportunity: A Conversation on Gulf Eco-Crime, Big Oil, & Carbon Tax as a Tool to Transition Off Fossil Fuels
Featuring Antonia Juhasz, James Handley, and Kathy Callan
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Now That the Theater Has Ended, Real Talk about Real Health Care Reform
Featuring Dr. Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Esq.
For this Conversation, we were honored to speak with two of the country's prominent single payer leaders, Dr. Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. Margaret Flowers is a Maryland pediatrician and Congressional Fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program. Kevin Zeese is executive director of Prosperity Agenda.
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Corporate Personhood & Amending the Constitution
Featuring David Cobb
David is part of an exciting new effort underway that is uniting organized labor, environmentalists, peace and social justice activists, and yes, Greens, progressive Democrats, Independents and principled conservatives.
The coalition is called The Campaign to Legalize Democracy and the initial campaign is a call to amend the U.S. Constitution to strip corporations of their illegitimate claims to any constitutional rights. movetoamend.org We are very proud that Backbone Campaign is participating as a Key Partner on this effort.
| NEW RESOURCE - Backbone
Campaign now has a growing collection of creative resources at our Challenge
Corporate Personhood Action-In-A-Box online toolkit. |
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Creative Tactics for Land & Sea
Slideshow of a great week of training
Photos from 2009 Tour:
Recent Past Projects:
Audio shorts (2-3 minutes each)on how to challenge candidates on key progressive issues at QuestionsForTheCandidates.org
Progressive response to the Wall Street Bailout at ThanksHank.org
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Announcements
Attend the 2010 - Localize This! Artful Action Camp
Campaign Strategy and Creative Tactics,
Non-Violent Direct Action Training,
Rappelling, Tripod, Blockades,
Kayak Safety & Water-Based Tactics,
Giant Puppet & Banner Building,
Drumming for Demonstrations, diy Silk-Screening and More!
Where: on BEAUTIFUL Vashon Island, WA
(20 min. Ferry from Seattle)
When: August 8-14, 2010
(Main workshop days are M-F the 9th-13th)
Cost:
$25 suggested donation per day - OR - $100-300 sliding scale for the week.
(Food is included, so please do your best - but NO ONE will be turned away for lack of funds.) For those who cannot attend the entire week, please indicate which days you plan to attend on the registration form.
On site camping (Bring a tent and sleeping bag.)
REGISTER HERE TODAY!
NEW Action-in-a-Box for Boycott BP & Carbon Tax Actions
UPDATED 6/20: Backbone E.D. appeared on Fox Business calling for BP's corporate capital punishment, and Federalization of abatement and clean-up efforts. Strong citizen actions have resulted in stronger leadership from the Obama Administration.
As the situation evolves, so must our tactics and demands. This is the time to celebrate our recent victories and evolve the Boycott BP with a set of unified demands.
Here are some ideas:
"Debar BP" - No more US taxpayer money for the corporate criminal. Read article Fueling War by Jeremy Scahill (here)- Demand 8 rather than 2 relief wells to maximize chance of success.
- Redirect all Big Oil federal subsidies to clean, renewable energy;
- Institute a "Separation of Oil and State" calling on all candidates to refuse or return any campaign money from Big Oil & Gas
- Create a national plan to be fossil fuel free by 2050;
- Institute Carbon Fee & Refund system to make clean renewable energy competitive w/fossil fuels.
Action-in-a-Box Toolkit - Create a fun and easy action!
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Backbone Does Detroit - 2nd US Social ForumImagery for Actions & Friendships for Future Collaborations:
Like Backbone Campaign, the US Social Forum is appropriately shifting activists' focus from DC to We the People. Led by people of color and attended by practically every serious progressive grassroots organization in the country it was not a question of whether to go, but what to bring. Though it was a financial stretch for Backbone Campaign, it was the perfect place to show what we have to offer and build for future collaborations.
Backbone Campaign provided multiple images for the opening march with a particularly positive response to the Penta-Gone's transformative vision for dismantling empire and building a just and sustainable security. The giant globe returned to the streets with Count Bleed-Ya-Dry to support a Jobs with Justice Rally the next day. Even our big Fish puppet got into the act traveling atop old sturgeon streams with the Matrix Theater's water reclamation celebration. And we ended with a bang - or a POP! - as Backbone augmented the final action against the municipal incinerator with windmills in the parade and a 60 foot helium powered banner flying parallel to the stacks, reading POISON.
Like Backbone Campaign, the US Social Forum is appropriately shifting activists' focus from DC to We the People. Led by people of color and attended by practically every serious progressive grassroots organization in the country it was not a question of whether to go, but what to bring. Though it was a financial stretch for Backbone Campaign, it was the perfect place to show what we have to offer and build for future collaborations.
Growing Our Local Green Economy
Backbone Campaign is collaborating with Vashon Island Growers Assoc, and Sustainable Vashon to organize a day long consultation with Kevin Danaher, author of Building the Green Economy (also founder of Green Festival, Global Exchange and the proposed Global Citizen Center), and Ben Hewitt, author of the The Town That Saved Food.
Join us at 3-5 PM at the Open Space (a.k.a. "O") for a 2 hour presentation by Kevin. Please RSVP so that we know how many chairs we will need, etc.
Join us 7-9 PM at the Vashon HS Theater for the combined presentation.
Backbone Celebrates May Day in Baltimore
Last Month a team of Backbone artists traveled to Baltimore to help design and build imagery for our wonderful allies, United Workers.
Last weekend Backbone returned to help United Workers implement their May 1st Our Harbor Day. A day of celebratory participation plays and processions culminated in the appearance of Harriet Tubman who led the final March for Human Rights to Baltimore's Inner Harbor, where United Workers is organizing a Human Rights Zone. Check out the inspiring photos, video, and blogs link to below.
Wars and Congress: Now What?07/27/2010 David Swanson
On Tuesday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill already passed by the Senate that funds a $33 billion, 30,000-troop escalation in Afghanistan. The vote was 308 to 114. What could the good news possibly be?
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Blood on Our Hands
07/21/2010 David Swanson
The most massive and brutal crime committed on this planet during the past decade has been the invasion and occupation of Iraq. And we're seeking to wash the blood off our hands without so much as an "Out, damn spot!"
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Howard Zinn's The Bomb
07/19/2010 David Swanson
The late Howard Zinn's new book "The Bomb" is a brilliant little dissection of some of the central myths of our militarized society. Those who've read "A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments," by H.P. Albarelli Jr. know that this is a year for publishing the stories of horrible things that the United States has done to French towns. In that case, Albarelli, describes the CIA administering LSD to an entire town, with deadly results. In "The Bomb," Zinn describes the U.S. military making its first use of napalm by dropping it all over another French town, burning anyone and anything it touched. Zinn was in one of the planes, taking part in this horrendous crime.
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The Crematorium of Empires
07/15/2010 David Swanson
On Wednesday U.S. senators from both political parties asked the president's representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke what in the world the goal could be for the ongoing war. He had no answer.
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When Teachers Unions Back War Escalations
07/12/2010 David Swanson
On July 12th I received an Email from the American Federation of Teachers with a soft pink headline and an image of a heart. It said: "Pink Hearts. Not Pink Slips." That sounded nice. The text continued:
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The Peace Movement's Progress
07/04/2010 David Swanson
The peace movement has made significant progress in the United States since its low point of late 2008.
The Backbone Campaign P.O. Box 278, Vashon, WA 98070 206-408-8058 ©2007 Backbone Campaign