This is an in intimate discussion with Lisa Fithian & Jason
Ahmadi conducted Oct 31st 2011 over coffee, early in the morning. None
of us had had much sleep in the previous 6 weeks. Get Lisa's insight on
the history of violent and non violent protest. Also, a detailed
analysis of the potential pitfalls of the Occupy Wall Street movement
and how they can be avoided. organizingforpower.org
Fault Lines tells the definitive history
of Occupy Wall Street from its early days through the movement's rapid
spread up to the brutal crackdown by state authorities.
While I was waiting for Occupy DC to get evicted I met up with some Occu Hopping folks who interviewed me extensively about the start of OWS, the technology and future of the movement. FluxRostrum's OWS day 1 video
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.
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.
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
A little bit of Union History, morals & ethics in regard to the Blair Mountain Historic Battle Field; the site of the largest Armed insurrection in the United States since the Civil War. 10,000 union miners engaged in armed conflict with coal company thugs and the US Military over the Unionization of the coal mines in 1921.
"[Mountaintop removal coal mining would] wipe out a large part of the southern end of the battlefield that was occupied by the union miners."
Blair Mountain, West Virginia is the site of the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, the historic push of unionized coal miners from the north to organize the workers of the southern coalfields. Involving 13,000 union miners and 2,000 anti-union defenders, the battle was the largest armed conflict in America since the Civil War!
It remains literally a battleground: a prime location for finding historic artifacts left from both sides of the conflict. It's also, however, a battleground between opponents of mountaintop removal coal mining and the coal companies themselves.
Kenny King, a resident of Blair Mountain since 1962, explains how this historical site, which he has been working to preserve for 17 years, is threatened by a 333 acre mining permit. "[Mountaintop removal coal mining would] wipe out a large part of the southern end of the battlefield that was occupied by the union miners."
A valuable piece of labor organizing history is not the only thing that would be destroyed by mining Blair Mountain. According to King, if they strip Blair Mountain, they'll lose innumerable natural resources: "Valuable hardwood forest, herbs like the ginseng, yellowroot, cohosh, and blood root... you'll never see it again. All will be lost; it'll just cease to exist. It will be erased off the face of the earth."
If you would like to help protect Blair Mountain's many valuable assets, please take King's advice: "Let [your representatives] know that there has to be a better way than sacrificing all the mountains and forest land and historical sites just for a convenient way of producing energy."
The
Friends of Blair Mountain is a group of historians, archeologists and others dedicated to preserving the cultural and historical resources of the site of the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain in southern West Virginia.
