San Jose, CA – On Saturday, April 18, over 20 people gathered in front of the Microsoft office in Mountain View to protest the company’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine, ICE’s deportation operations as well as their development of AI data centers causing ecological destruction.

Protestors held signs like, “San Jose: Divest from Alphabet and Microsoft” and “We will not be complicit.” Organizers hung up a large banner saying, “No U.S. tax $$ for Israeli occupation.” The crowd chanted, “Free Palestine” and “Microsoft you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide!”

Jack McCann, member of San Jose Against War, spoke to the crowd highlighting how Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian people also destroyed their ecology and water infrastructure.

McCann said, “Israel could not commit crimes on this massive scale without the digital infrastructure to collect and store data on who to kill next. Microsoft helps Israel by providing this technology that is essential to their crimes.”

Nassim Nouri of the Santa Clara County Green Party stated, “We have a government that is taken over by billionaires – by corporations like [Microsoft] – that put profit over people, planet and peace! They think nothing of taking lives and shedding blood of the people locally through ICE and abroad through Israel.”

Marcel Knightly of San Jose Against War said, “This is not just about data centers and contracts, it is about a system where corporations profit from war abroad and extraction at home, it’s about working-class communities being forced to sacrifice their water, electricity, health and dignity to executives can expand their empires.”

Philip Nguyen, member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke on how the climate crisis is built into the capitalist system, saying, “Endless wars and the sharpening climate crisis are both the natural outcome of the capitalist system, which is driven by unrestrained profit with no regard for human life or the future of our planet, and working and oppressed people all over the world will be the ones to suffer the consequences.”

Nguyen continued, “And that means that all working and oppressed people must unite to take on our common enemy once and for all. We must build a militant, fighting movement against these evil corporations and corrupt politicians and their endless wars.”

To commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day, Donna Wallach of San Jose Against War read quotes from an article describing the torture and sexual violence that Palestinian prisoners experience in Israeli prisons.

John Duroyan from Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University (SJSU) spoke to the crowd, saying, “The number one emitter in the world is the U.S. military, and we must never forget that the climate struggle is inseparable with the anti-war struggle. Now SJSU is working with known war-profiteer Alphabet to open an ‘AI Center for Social Good’ on campus which the students will be mobilizing against.”

The crowd continued to chant outside the office building and cars driving by honked in solidarity.

#SanJoseCA #CA #EarthDay #AntiWarMovement #Environment #Palestine #SJAW #Divestment #Microsoft

Tacoma, WA – Dozens of protesters rallied and marched for a strong climate commission in Tacoma, Washington in observation of Earth Day, April 18.

The crowd carried picket signs demanding a “strong climate commission” and “system change not climate change” as they marched from Point Defiance to Dune Park. Chants like “Cut the carbon emissions! Empower the climate commission!” echoed through the parks.

“The 'end of living' mentioned by the ancestors is not a distant threat – it is the reality of our current path if we do not act,” said River Bandi, a member of the Ojibwe Nation and the Climate Alliance of the South Sound. “Let us leave this rally not just with signs, but with a vow: to act like we belong to the Earth. To protect the web as if our lives depend on it – because they do.”

Dune Park is built on a remediated Superfund site, the historic site of the Asarco copper smelter which spewed dangerous heavy metals and chemicals all over the South Sound region for nearly 100 years.

Attendees highlighted the importance of workers’ rights, indigenous sovereignty and climate justice. The city’s climate commission currently has no legal power and big businesses in Tacoma routinely take full advantage by violating treaty rights and polluting working-class communities, as well as building and maintaining projects in the interest of profit rather than the people of Tacoma.

“The oversight and policy we need in Tacoma to protect our air, land, water, and to protect us from a climate catastrophe doesn't exist,” stated Phil Harty, another member of CASS. “We demand a strong climate commission that can fight back against all attacks on the environment, that can respect the treaties and Indigenous sovereignty, that can ensure green jobs, and that protects the trees of Tacoma.”

A wide range of community organizations were represented at the march, and speakers highlighted the need for uniting together to fight against the big corporations driving environmental disaster in Tacoma and beyond.

“It's clear this climate catastrophe isn't an accident; it's a direct result of the system that we live under. U.S. monopoly capitalists profit, while the working people of the world face the consequences,” said Ari Pahoundis, an organizer with Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

The fight for a strong climate commission continues as community members gear up to launch a citizen’s initiative to get the issue on the ballot in 2027.

#TacomaWA #WA #Environment #EarthDay #CASS

Minneapolis, MN – On April 18, hundreds took to the streets of Minneapolis, to celebrate Earth Day and demand an end to capitalism’s relentless attacks on the planet. Organized by the Climate Justice Committee along with numerous coalition partners, the rally and march was held under the banner “Earth is for everyone – No one is illegal.”

The march began at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis and travelled to The Commons park, where speeches and tabling were held. Minneapolis-based band Van Cleaver provided music for the afternoon.

Speakers covered a range of topics, from the Trump administration’s attacks on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, to how climate change is a driver of immigration and displacement.

Tracy Molm of the CJC said, “ At a time when communities are facing environmental destruction, displacement, and escalating political attacks, this Earth Day action makes one thing clear: the fight for the planet is inseparable from the fight for human rights.”

Aizar Cabrera from MIRAC drew a connection between climate change and the immigration, saying, “When humans harm our planet, through pollution, deforestation, mining, and countless other atrocities caused by their manic greed they permanently disrupt ecosystems and destroy livelihoods, forcing people to leave their homes to survive. And when these climate refugees come here, seeking the safety and prosperity they have lost to climate change and natural disasters, they are vilified and told to go back to where they came from.”

The attacks on the Boundary Waters proved to be an energizing issue for the attendees. Chris Knopf, the executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters, gave a fiery speech excoriating Representative Pete Stauber’s use of the Congressional Review Act to overturn a moratorium on mining in the Boundary Waters watershed.

Knopf stated, “We in Minnesota have proven that hardship is not what defines us. What defines us is how we respond. Our strength, our resilience, our resistance have inspired the nation and the world.”

Knopf continued, “Trump, Stauber, and those in power in Washington DC are no match for the people of Minnesota. They are no match for you. We in Minnesota know how to stand up to Trump. We’ve done this for months now. We will stand up for the Boundary Waters; we will stand up for our clean water.”

A member of the CJC stated, “Our planet has a disease. And that disease is capitalism. A virus that corrupts…that works for the 1% instead of us. Our forests and wetlands, burned for beef production, stripped and polluted for minerals and drained for data centers. Our rivers and aquifers drained for oil pipelines and animal agriculture, rising oceans used as a dumping ground, and overfished until all that is left is waste and water. If you kill the planet you kill the people! The vision of the ruling class is a frightful new world where we own nothing, have no rights and have to remove the parts of us that make us human: empathy, community, critical thinking, love, in order to survive under the constant, deadly watch of corporate overlords.”

The event concluded with pizza for all, more music from Van Cleaver, and an invite to future events, including MIRAC’s May Day march on May 1.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Environment #EarthDay #ClimateJusticeCommittee #BoundaryWaters #BWCA

Chicago, IL – An energetic crowd of protesters gathered in Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago to celebrate Earth Day, April 21, and protest the construction of a mega-warehouse in South Tacoma, Washington. The mega warehouse is currently under construction by the Chicago-based real estate company Bridge Industrial.

Russel Dahlman, of Chicago and the Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United, explained, “We are proud to stand in solidarity behind our siblings in labor- the Teamsters Local 28 and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367- who are opposing environmentally racist practices in the form a mega-warehouse that would devastate the natural environment in the primarily Black and brown neighborhoods of Tacoma, Washington.”

Dahlman was one of several speakers who tied the fight for environmental justice at the Bridge Industrial mega-warehouse to the broader people's movements. The programming included speeches from organizers focused on students, labor and racial justice.

“As organized labor, we stand up for our communities, and we fight for the resources we deserve, including education, healthcare, good-paying union jobs, clean neighborhoods and healthy foods. Our ability to live a safe and healthy life shouldn’t be determined by our zip code or tax bracket,” Dahlman continued, stressing the importance of solidarity between the labor and environmental movements.

Jimmy Rogers from Students for a Democratic Society at University of Illinois – Chicago (SDS UIC) discussed how solidarity around the globe is imperative. “As we celebrate this Earth, I am reminded of the Palestinians who loved this Earth and their land so much they'd rather be buried in it than to leave it to the hands of the Zionist war criminals.” Rogers went on to describe how environmentally destructive the Israeli occupation has been.

Chants of “We believe that we will win” echoed between the Chicago skyscrapers. This chant was characteristic of the rally – optimistic, energetic, and determined to fight environmental injustice with solidarity.

That rally closed with the crowd singing the classic labor song Solidarity Forever – with a verse altered to reflect the mega-warehouse:

“Bridge Industrial will destroy us if it means they’ll make a dime. But they’re running off our labor, stolen land and borrowed time. Tacoma and Chicago will defeat them when our power is combined! For the union makes us strong!”

#ChicagoIL #TacomaWA #Environment #Labor #EarthDay #Teamsters #UFCW #SDS

Minneapolis, MN – On Sunday, April 21, a march of approximately 300 people from the Twin Cities metro area marched, blocking traffic for Earth Day.

The Climate Justice Committee (CJC) and Anti-War Committee (AWC) led the march. It drew attendees from the nearby Little Earth indigenous-preference housing complex, the surrounding East Phillips neighborhood, and Camp Nenookaasi, an encampment of the unhoused which has been forced by the city of Minneapolis to move many times.

The crowd took the street, making its first stop directly in front of Smith Foundry. Speakers from the neighborhood highlighted the impact the metal foundry has on the neighborhood, from increased asthma and heart disease rates in children to the putrid smells that emanate from it.

Evan Mulholland of the CJC stated, “It’s not right that the neighbors and workers are unprotected from pollution while the profit flows directly to the owner, Zynik capital in Canada,” highlighting the OSHA violations Smith had recently been fined for. Mulholland reminded everyone that “green capitalism is not going to fix white supremacy.”

The march then headed to the site that Mayor Jacob Frey wants to develop into a new 3rd Precinct building for the Minneapolis Police Department, despite residents strongly opposing a new site without meaningful police reform. The previous site had been burned during the uprising after the murder of George Floyd. Danielle Korby from Twin Cities Coalition for Justice explained the necessity for community control of the police to prevent developments, which would force neighbors in need of community resources to enter a building filled and staffed with the most violent gang in the city.

Stacey Gurian-Sherman, speaking for Minneapolis for a Better Police Contract, pointed out the deep connections between the Israeli Defense Forces and police techniques in the United States, including Cop City and similar militarized training facilities soon to be erected across the country. The crowd marched on, chanting “IDF, KKK, MPD, they’re all the same!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

At every stop, the Mexica Dancers danced and blessed the area, doing medicine work, expressing their desire for real change for our planet and neighbors, and were received by cheers by fellow marchers.

As the march came to an end, anti-war and workers’ right activists pointed out how monopoly capitalism is the driving forces behind climate change, and thus we cannot stop one without stopping the other.

Tracy Molm of the CJC and Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Twin Cities concluded the event with remarks on the negligence of the Democratic and Republican Parties on climate change and Palestine, rousing the crowd with an invitation to march on the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention later this year.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Environment #EarthDay #ClimateChange #CJC #FRSO #DNC2024 #PeoplesStruggles #Housing #AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine

Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Anti-War Committee (MAC) hosted an anti-war rally and march on April 22 to commemorate Earth Day. The rally highlighted the need to fight back against the sources of environmental destruction: namely, the capitalist war machine and the corporations that put profit over people and planet.

The determined group braved a late April hailstorm and marched to a local Chase Bank, where they filled the space with fiery chants of “Chase Bank you can't hide, stop funding Line 5!” Chase was chosen as the destination because of their partnership with war profiteer Raytheon and the funding of Line 5 and other oil pipelines that desecrate indigenous sacred sites and contaminate the environment through oil leaks.

At Chase, local organizations spoke in support of the rally. The speakers included Farzad Ghodsi from Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, Ryan Hamann from Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Dr. Alexandra Skeeter from the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba, Rory Donovan from the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UW-Milwaukee, and Blake Dee from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR).

The speakers shared important perspectives on the links between climate change, war and capitalism. On the U.S. military, the largest polluter in the world, MAC speaker Farzad Ghodsi said, “The United States military exists not to defend the people from threats, but to defend the profits of the oil and gas companies whose products they use in great quantities every single day. They have a mutually beneficial relationship that is harmful to every living thing on the planet.”

Rory Donovan from SDS echoed Ghodsi’s words on the U.S. military and highlighted a pressing student concern around the recent University of Wisconsin Board of Regents decision to increase tuition, supposedly due to a lack of their own funding. They connected this to militarism, explaining, “Our government doesn’t step in because the money is all tied up in the military, so they have to squeeze it out of us instead. For shame! We know there is more than enough money to subsidize education.”

Others spoke on socialist countries such as Cuba and their incredible efforts around environmentalism and sustainability.

The topics were wide-ranging, but the speakers were resounding in their rejection of the narrative that climate change can be solved through reducing personal consumption or individual acts of goodwill such as picking up trash. Working-class people are not to blame for climate change, and as Ryan Hamann from FRSO stated, “Capitalism does not exist in the abstract, nor does it act in the world as some sort of independent force. Its perpetrators and proponents, its facilitators, have names and addresses.”

The Milwaukee Anti-War Committee took the fight right to Chase Bank, declaring that anti-war and environmental causes cannot be separated. The Milwaukee Anti-War Committee says, “People and planet over profit! Save the planet, end all wars!”

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #EnvironmentalJustice #EarthDay

Minneapolis, MN – 80 people rallied and marched, April 23, to celebrate Earth Day in Minneapolis, despite rain clouds. The was organized by the Climate Justice Committee and centered around important struggles in the ongoing fight for climate justice. The rally started outside a chain link fence surrounding the closed Roofing Depot factory that is subject of a struggle between the city government and neighborhood activists.

While the fight to stop Line 3 – which carries tar sands oil, the most toxic of petroleum products – is better known, the local fight to turn the Rooftop Depot building into an urban farm is also about community control of resources in the climate justice struggle. The demolition of the Rooftop Depot will result in the release of clouds of arsenic dust so that the city of Minneapolis can build a heavy equipment yard. The East Phillips neighborhood is home to many oppressed nationalities and is designated as a Green Zone by Minneapolis.

The action was interspersed with music by Garbanzo & Chickpea of “Pipeline Blues” fame and by Jo Poeschl and it opened with dances by Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue, an indigenous group from South Minneapolis. The opening land acknowledgement by a seventh-grade student and CJC supporter set the tone when they stated that “we are organizing for climate justice to save the planet from global warming and to end environmental racism.”

After the opening ceremonies, Tracy Molm from the Climate Justice Committee pointed out, “There is hope, and it won’t come from the Democratic Party or from big corporations trying to ‘Go Green’ – it comes from us coming together and demanding more! From the over 800 people who put their bodies on the line to slow construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. Hope also comes from the East Phillips Urban Farm Initiative.”

The president of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI), Dean Dovolis was full of spirit and enthusiasm as he announced that two community organizations, representing the East African and Asian communities, committed $3 million each just in the past week. He added “this has become a $7 million cause of community ownership of green culture of aquaculture, of agriculture. Meaning everyone in this community will be able to participate. This will bring 750 jobs to the community.” Currently, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is standing in the way; he is demanding to move more pollution into the neighborhood and ignoring the pollution from demolishing the building on the site.

The event also included excellent speeches from Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee member, Diana Hernandez, who spoke about climate refugees and the role environmental destruction plays in immigration. Meredith Aby-Keirstead from the Anti-War Committee spoke of the role of the U.S. military in climate change – they are the largest institutional polluter and are left out of carbon emissions agreements like the Paris Accords. Maddy Eguizabal from SDS at the University of Minnesota and Kelly Thomas from Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar made the connection of the role of police in oppressed nationality communities that are also targeted by polluting industries and said the solution is community control both of the police but also of resources.

The group marched around the neighborhood to honks and lots of support. Chants included, “What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!” “Urban farm, not toxic harm!” and “Stop Line 3!”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #EarthDay #EastPhillips

Appleton, WI – On April 24, a coalition of seven local environmental and social justice groups assembled with more than 100 members of local communities to make demands for a livable future. The event was led by Sunrise Appleton, a youth-led movement that works to advocate the adoption of Green New Deal policies, reducing carbon emissions by building new sustainable sources of energy and infrastructure, and putting a stop to climate change.

The energy of the crowd was one of fervent anti-capitalism. At one point a speaking representative from Sunrise stated, “We are no longer asking, we are demanding” as they shift away from passive attempts at changing the system and call directly on elected officials from local governments and all the way to President Biden to begin to address climate change with a sense of urgency.

Another youth-led organization in the coalition, Youth Climate Action Team (YCAT), stated that they are “a statewide alliance of climate activists working to end environmental injustice and the exploitative systems that created it. YCAT advocates for state and local climate action while standing against resource extraction and disaster capitalism.”

Members of YCAT also brought large hand-painted banners on tall poles with statements like “Keep it In the ground,” “No pipelines,” “Stop Line 3,” and “Renewable energy by 2035.” Other signs were focused on resource extraction and its direct causal relationship to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis; “Violence to our land is violence to our bodies” and “No more man camps, no more MMIW.”

Kirsten Welch, a member from ESTHER Fox Valley and a Menominee woman, gave a powerful speech about the irreversible pollution of our waters and the violence, rape and murder of indigenous people that stem directly from the temporary housing, the ‘man camps’ built by oil and drilling companies. She stated that this is not just a crisis in Wisconsin or the U.S., but all over the world in areas where indigenous people have lived harmoniously with the land and seek to protect the sacred. Nearing the end of her speech she said that we need to “cut off the head of the black snake.” The black snake is what water protectors and indigenous people commonly call pipelines.

Other groups in the coalition were the Fox Valley Sierra Group, Citizen Action Northeast Wisconsin, PopEarth, and Our Wisconsin Revolution. But other groups like Food Not Bombs Fox Valley and the Wisconsin Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression mobilized to support this action. Many of these same groups will be attending the upcoming May Day rally in Appleton on May 1.

#AppletonWI #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice #EarthDay

St. Paul, MN – Over 200 people gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol grounds, April 17, to demand climate justice from the Walz and Biden governments. The event was organized by the Climate Justice Committee of Minnesota.

The native dance group Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue opened the rally with a performance punctuated by a brief address from member Susana De León, expressing gratitude for us all being able to experience “a day with sun, a day with wind, a day with fire, a day with water,” all essential elements of life, she remarked, that future generations may not live to enjoy if we don't care and fight to preserve the environment that fosters them.

A heartfelt speech delivered by 12-year-old sixth-grader Audrey Keirstead formally acknowledged the lands as stolen from the Dakota people, and explicitly denounced the genocide, displacement, violence and injustice perpetrated then, and shamefully still today. “We agree with the Iroquois philosophy,” Keirstead, said, “that the decisions we make should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future.”

After her statement, members of local activist groups took the microphone to speak up about the many issues derived from increasing ecological degradation. Subjects ranged from environmental racism to the U.S. military as top polluter in the world and the Line 3 tar sands pipeline.

“Until the grass grows and the river flows, Mni Wičoni, water is life,” said Gabriel Black Elk, from Native Lives Matter as he described how the ravaging of Grandmother Earth affected indigenous people, from the destruction of the Black Hills for gold “to these nasty-ass pipelines we call the black snake.” Black Elk also took a moment to acknowledge the most recent native stolen life murdered by police just two days ago in Maine, while undergoing a mental health crisis.

Both Veterans for Peace as well as the Anti-War Committee explained the devastating effects of the U.S. war machine on the planet. Much accountability was placed before the current administration. Misty Rowan from the Anti-War Committee said that “Joe Biden isn’t just breaking promises, he is hinting at what is to come – which is more wars and more occupation. His budget proposes more military spending than Trump, not less.”

“There can be no climate justice without racial justice,” called Katherine Gould, from the Climate Justice Committee, “Governor Walz and other politicians have completely ignored the demands of native nations to stop Line 3. Across the country, landfills and other environmental hazards are disproportionately located in communities of color. Climate refugees are turned away by the most polluting country of the world. Enough is enough. It is time for the people to lead and it is time for real change.”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice #EarthDay