'Funeral for Our Future': 26 Arrested Blockading TransCanada Office

Published on Monday, March 11, 2013 by Common Dreams


'Funeral for Our Future': 26 Arrested Blockading TransCanada Office

Escalating resistance to Keystone XL: 'If President Obama will not reject the pipeline, we will stop it ourselves.'

- Jon Queally, staff writer

Climate activists in Westborough, Massachusetts were being arrested on Monday after blockading the entrance to corporate offices of the TransCanada corporation, the Canandian tar sands pipeline company hoping to receive approval for its controversial Keystone XL project.

Calling it a "Funeral for Our Future" and carrying a coffin emblazoned with the words “Our Future,” the protesters held flowers and sang an elegy as they marched in procession. As supporters gathered outside—chanting and singing songs in unison—dozens of protesters were inside where they refused to move, despite warnings from local police.

At least 26 people were arrested, according to the media members of the Tar Sands Blockade, which was liveblogging developments.

"We must stop it. We will stop it.” - Isobel Arthen, participant

“If the tar sands are extracted and burned, it will wipe out my future and the future of my entire generation,” said Will Pearl, a Tufts University freshman arrested in the action. “If President Obama will not reject the Keystone XL pipeline, we will stop it ourselves. We will rise up and resist—from the backwoods of Texas, to corporate offices in Massachusetts, to the steps of the White House.”

As each person arrested was brought from the building and put into a waiting police vehicle, those outside sang:

They are digging us a hole

They are digging us a hole

Six feet underground

Where the pipeline will go

They are digging us a hole

They are digging us a hole

Six feet underground

Where are future will go

Will lay down our bodies

We will lay down our souls

But we won't stand by and watch

While they dig us a hole

According to organizers, the blockade is part of a leadup to national solidarity actions expected to take place the week of March 16th-24th in which protestors from across the country are expected to target the offices of TransCanada, its investors, and political backers.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Isobel Arthen, a junior at Mount Holyoke who participated in Monday’s action. “The total carbon contained in Canada’s tar sands exceeds all the oil burned in human history. If we develop these incredibly dirty fossil fuels, my future will be marked by superstorms, untold numbers of climate refugees and climate-related deaths, and ultimately an uninhabitable planet. The planet is already the hottest it’s been in 4000 years. How hot will it be when the Keystone pipeline delivers over 800,000 barrels of tar sands a day? We must stop it. We will stop it.”

Footage from outside the Transcanada offices as arrests were made inside:

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"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs