Today, the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to Al Gore (and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – The IPCC).
We’re very happy for him at RAN.
And we think he belongs in jail.
Specifically, he should go to jail on RAN’s November 16-17 Day of Action Against Coal Finance.
As reported in Nicholas Kristof’s NYT column on August 16, Al is on record as saying: “I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers … and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.”
So we’re calling him out and asking him to put his peace prize where his mouth is. We’re telling Al Gore that we want him to get arrested, Nobel prize around his neck, for blocking the construction of coal-fired power plants.
But we’re telling him to do it strategically.
By the time the bulldozers are on the ground, it is already too late. We need to stop these projects before they start and the best way to do that is by preventing them from being financed in the first place. The coal industry depends on Wall Street. So we’re going after the industry’s biggest funders: Citi and Bank of America.
Rainforest Action Network, Coal River Mountain Watch, Appalachian Voices and thousands of supporters are mobilizing to stop Bank of America and Citi from financing coal extraction and the construction of those coal-fired power plants.
Coal is Over. Fund the Future.
If you, too, think Al should be arrested, go ahead and sign our petition asking him to be arrested with us. If Al is going in the slammer, we’re going with him. Will you join us?
PS – you don’t actually have to be arrested to be a part of the Day of Action – everything counts – from teach-ins to flyering to photo-ops and more!
PPS – After Thomas Friedman just wrote an arrogant column in the New York Times claiming that there is no Youth Activism anymore (whaaa?) he is invited to get arrested with us too…or he can keep writing articles about why young people don’t do activism anymore, instead of actively participating in and supporting young people doing activism.
praxis makes perfect 
I’m all about diversity of tactics, and most certainly diversity of PEOPLE in any movement. But damn. Me, You, Al Gore, and Thomas Friedman standing hand-in-hand in front of a Bank of America office? That’s pretty crazy…
-Matt
Great that you are pushing people to act. But it’s true that this young generation is not nearly as active as we older folks think they should be. We are surprised at the lack of miltance and motion against the war. Instead of getting defensive about it, you should think about why it is. Might not be anything you can do anything about really. I’m not just comparing with the Sixties but with the Eighties too.
In any case, right on to you for acting as you should be.
[…] media stunts and humor… About a week ago, we issued some statements challenging Al Gore to do civil disobedience on a RAN day of action coming up. I hope to write an analysis soon about […]