Civil disobedience training camp comes to Coburg
By Andrew SegalEUGENE, Ore. - A different kind of summer camp is taking place outside Coburg this week. Climate change activists from across the West Coast have set up shop and are learning some unique skills as they prepare for a "day of action." Participants in the Climate Convergence -- an international movement that says it's up to individuals to oppose fossil fuels -- are spending eight days of "low impact living and high impact action." They've set up solar panels, a communal kitchen, and workshops. "Corporate and government responses to climate change aren't going to save us," said activist Monica Vaughan. "And communities have to work together to come up with solutions that work for us." But the Convergence is about more than just talk. It's about taking steps toward change, including teaching some pretty intense methods of civil disobedience, like tree climbing. "These skills can be used in tree sits," said activist Will Munger. "But the same skills, the tree climbing, the line and rope skills, can also be used in things like banner hangs, office occupations." Activists are also shown how to lock their arms inside steel tubes, so police can't remove them from a site. "What we hope to accomplish is to educate people on to how they can do these direct actions and civil disobediences with the hope that they're going to go out and organize it on their own," Munger said. It all leads up to a day of action on Monday. "[We'll be] targeting anybody that we see involved in any kind of climate change issue," Vaughan said. "That could be from forest destruction, to dirty energy projects, to the dams." Members of the Convergence are particularly opposed to liquified natural gas. But they won't tip their hand as to exactly what they'll be going after -- they only say that civil disobedience will take place in both Eugene and Portland. |
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