San Mateo County Residents Protest Toxic Jail
In commemoration of Earth Day, community members from around San Mateo County gathered outside of the new jail site and the County Center wearing hazardous materials suits and gas masks to illustrate the toxic nature of the new jail. Carrying a giant banner that read “Jails are Socially and Environmentally Toxic,” they spoke about the ways a new jail will harm communities and the environment as well as draining the county’s budget of desperately needed resources. The new jail project will cost $160 million to build and $30 million each year to operate, and the county has not yet secured the needed construction funds.
Quakers Protest Against MTR
A Quaker group and other protesters on Tuesday asked PNC Bank to stop funding projects that use mountaintop removal to produce coal and, if it doesn’t, asked investors to divest from the sixth-largest bank in America.
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Barricades for Earth Day in the Philippines
After the number of police swelled and a truck barred the gate at the Provincial Capitol, about 1,000 activists held a barricade for a few hours in the main road of Mati Tuesday morning. They were earlier blocked several times by the police and military in two separate incidents.
“We were forced to set up the barricade because they didn’t allow us to hold the rally yesterday. We could just not leave with our quest for justice compromised,” said Karlos Trangia, spokesperson for Barug Katawhan, a movement of Pablo victims.
This is just the surface of the gumbo. Lots more Earth Day actions happened, we’re just too damn lazy to post ‘em. Send us your stuff if you think it’s post-worthy, and there will be lots more fun to come.
