Our roundup of links to innovative and interesting mobilisation campaigns that caught our eye (and yours) in the past few weeks:
Canadian Healing Walk calls for governments to stop reckless mismanagement of tar sands
Hundreds of activists including Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein are going into the heart of Canada’s tar sands this week – not to protest the destruction of the local environment, but to pray for the ‘healing’ of land and the people.
The July 5-6 event, dubbed the Healing Walk, will be a spiritual gathering focused on healing the land, air, water and all living things harmed by the expansion of what is already the world’s largest industrial project. While actions are planned throughout the summer in Canada and other countries, there will be no protests or protest signs allowed on the Healing Walk. Via the Guardian
Protests in Turkey include standing still
Protests led by about 50 environmentalists in late May against the replacement of Taksim Gezi Park in Istanbul, Turkey with the reconstruction of the historic Taksim Military Barracks and possibly a shopping mall continue. Most recently, images choreographer Erdem Gunduz has inspired a new form of protest — standing still in Istanbul’s Taksim square. Images of Erdem’s silent protests flooded the net, and are inspiring copycat demos. Via EuroNews
Extreme underwater noise campaign
A new campaign by OceanCare targets underwater noise. Noise caused by military sonar tests, the search for oil and gas, and giant ship propellers is harming marine life, campaign organizers state. The campaign is called “Loud. Louder. Lifeless” and is calling for a global strategy to reduce noise pollution. It is being organized by Ocean Care, Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), Ocean Mammal Institute and the Animal Welfare Institute. OceanCare has also developed the 10 steps blueprint, which it’s promoting along with its partner organizations. Via Osocio
Campaigns call for suspension of U.S. deportations
Two campaigns are putting the spotlight on the need to suspend U.S. deportations in their own ways. The Legals for the Preservation of American Culture (LPAC) is a nonprofit spoof focused on deporting the statue of liberty due to her immigration status. Led by fictional CEO Harvey Knowles Brier, the campaign includes spoof twitter accounts, websites and email threads. The fictional world was created solely to help build a larger and louder groundswell than ever around immigration in the U.S.
And so far, it’s been working. LPAC has been featured in the Huffington Post, BBC and had a spot on Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room on CNN that was rebroadcast across the country by over 40 news channels.
With the new Superman film “Man of Steel” in theaters, Define American is teaming up with the Harry Potter Alliance’s Imagine Better Network, to launch the “Superman Is An Immigrant” Campaign.
A sitting man at Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York has an interesting figure outside these days — a man meditating who says he intends to continue sitting there every single business day, three to four hours a day, for the coming weeks and months. Max Zahn, founder of the new website Buddha on Strike, says his intention is to “extend compassion to Goldman HQ employees and demand that they do the same for the worldwide billions affected by the bank’s practices.” Zahn says the ideal outcome from his effort is the formation of a massive meditation protest that helps create political space for the dramatic reform and regulation of the finance industry — especially the megabanks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Via Waging Nonviolence
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