Bidder 70 Trial – the trial of Tim DeChristopher
In December 2008, Tim DeChristopher disrupted an oil and gas auction to allay further climate change. By registering as a bidder, Tim drove up prices on many parcels and eventually won over a million dollars worth of oil leases before federal agents removed him from the room. He faces 10 years in prison. Tim’s trial will be held in downtown Salt Lake City on February 28th, and we are organizing many opportunities for those who wish to defend a livable future to do so on a variety of levels. The Countdown to Uprising Empowerment Summit begins on February 25th and will include interactive workshops, concerts, art, demonstrations, speakers, wild street theater, nonviolent direct action trainings, and more. If you have any more ideas for creative actions, workshops, speakers, street theater or stunts, contact us at climatetrial@peacefuluprising.org and we’ll be in touch.
For those who can’t make it to Salt Lake City, there will also be solidarity actions held across the country.
Click here for more.
This kind of trial is nothing but intimidation– and the best answers to intimidation are joy and resolve. That’s what we’ll need in Utah.
Southwest Earth First! 
Hey folks,
Earth First! Durango is calling an open, public meeting regarding a
solidarity action/protest/rally to coincide with the Tim DeChristopher
trial in Salt Lake City, UT. Actions will be happening in SLC as well as
around the nation and around the world. Let’s put Durango on the map!
The meeting will be in the downstairs conference room at Durango Coffee
Company from 5-7 PM on Sunday, February 13th.
Please spread the word and join us to coordinate a solidarity action/demonstration here in Durango. See you there!
~ Earth First! Durango
-PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!-
Join Durango’s progressive environmental community in a solidarity &
support rally for Tim DeChristopher at 4PM on Monday, February 28th on the
corner of 11th Street & Main Avenue in Durango. Bring signs, banners,
noise makers, plant & animal costumes (etc.), and your friends. Be
creative! For more info or to get involved, contact
earthfirstdurango@riseup.net or go to southwestearthfirst.wordpress.com
In December 2008, Tim DeChristopher disrupted an oil and gas auction to
allay further climate change. By registering as a bidder, Tim drove up
prices on many parcels and eventually won over a million dollars worth of
oil leases before federal agents removed him from the room. He faces 10
years in prison. Tim’s trial will be held in downtown Salt Lake City on
February 28th, and we are organizing many opportunities for those who wish
to defend a livable future to do so on a variety of levels.
The public land sale Tim disrupted was arranged in the final hours of the
Bush administration as one more give-away to the oil and gas industry it
supported during its reign. Everyone should remember that V.P. Cheney
came from Halliburton, as well as Bush’s ties to that same industry. The
proposed sale itself had the odor of a final payback for the oil and gas
industry’s support of the outgoing republican administration. Tim
DeChristopher understood all of this and given the opportunity tried to
sabotage the give-away sale of these “our” public lands. After the new
Obama administration came into office, new Secretary of the Interior
Salazar found that the entire sale was illegal.
Even though the entire sale was found to have been illegal, which was what
Tim DeChristopher was protesting, the government is proceeding with trying
to make his heroic action of protest worthy of jail time. Tim stood up for
the protection of the commons, the publicly owned property that is there
to serve us all. We should all find it easy to identify with him, and we
should not sit idly by while our government tries to frame his defiance of
an illegal government act as criminal, and as a way to intimidate others
from taking a stand of conscience on behalf of the commons.
The government is embarrassed by this very public trial, and wishes it
would go away, but Tim has refused any kind of plea bargain because he
thinks a jury of his peers should decide if he was justified in defying an
unjust system that is dooming us to an unlivable future. It is this kind
of peaceful, powerful, and courageous civil disobedience that is largely
missing from the climate movement. An outbreak of jury trials (and
willingness to serve time if necessary) could create a political
atmosphere that allows a reasonable governmental response to climate
change–while bringing the damaging injustices of our current system into
the spotlight. People pay attention when others make sacrifices.
Tim forced a trial so we would have a chance to show the world that if you
stand up for a livable future, others will stand with you. Can you join
us? For more info on Tim’s case and trial, as well as solidarity actions
being organized around it, check out http://www.peacefuluprising.org and
http://www.bidder70.org