The West Virginia cultural museum hosted a panel on the importance of
Blair Mountain to Union and Coal aficionados yesterday. During the
"official" panel there was hardly a mention of the current efforts of
out of state coal mining companies to destroy this piece of history and
the psychological & economic impact it could have as a tourist
attraction.

Best quote of the afternoon: In the school system
West Virginia history is Morgan Morgan lived in a tree and fought
Indians, the civil war and that's the end of it... never a mention of
the largest insurrection our country has seen. They don't want to teach
kids the power of organizing.

Blair Mountain use to be on the
national registry of historic places and therefore protected from strip
mining. Legally, locals may object to the historic designation if they
choose. The effort to rustle up objectors netted 2 zombies who now live
peacefully in the heart of a millionaire coal exec somewhere.

Mo'Fo'
http://www.friendsofblairmountain.org/

A few days ago someone blocked the public access road to the Blair Mountain Battle Field with boulders that were clearly brought from a mine site.  This would prevent the march from using this state road turnout off the highway as a pick up and drop off spot for Marchers who intended to walk up the Public Road to the historic site.   A small group of marchers took the initiative to move those boulders with thier bare hands.   They opened up the road while jeering miners, private security and state police looked on.  The action had been cleared by the Dept of Transportation because this turnout was an important safety feature on this windy steep mountain  road that is frequently traveled by fast moving over loaded coal trucks.

~ download

Marchers tell personal accounts of the impact o their lives from
Mountain Top Removal and the battle to save their own personal histories
and the sustainability of the land. Spirits are high as the march
passes through Madison WV.
http://marchonblairmountain.org

~ download

A counter protester tries to sabotage the generator being used by independent media at the first campsite of the March on Blair Mountain.

http://marchonblairmountain.org

~ download

Blair March Photo's by Jerry Nelson

a Global Work Party, with emphasis on both 'work' and 'party'. In
Auckland, New Zealand, they' had a giant bike fix-up day, to get every
bicycle in the city back on the road. In the Maldives, they put up
solar panels on the President's office. In Kampala, Uganda, they
planted thousands of trees, and in Bolivia they installed solar stoves
for a massive carbon neutral picnic.

Download ~ In Austin Greenpeace wrangled petition signature collectors to pressure
the government to stop building more fossil fuel infrastructure.

http://www.350.org/en/invitation