If John Kerry's State Department gives the okay for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline to be approved later this year, three activist groups said they are prepared to unleash the biggest non-violent civil disobedient acts ever in the U.S. as a means to persuade President Obama to reject the plan.
"To be clear, our goal is not to be arrested. Our goal is to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline," said Becky Bond, political director at CREDO, the San Francisco based socially activist mobile phone company that helps fund progressive groups.
If the State Department issues what is called a Draft National Interest Determination, which means establishing that Keystone XL is in our national interest, then CREDO, Rainforest Action Network, and the Other 98% are prepared to mobilize what they said could be more than 100,000 people around the country to perform non-violent protests.
To prove that they are not joking, the first demonstration is scheduled to take place next Monday in Chicago. Organizers said it will include some of President Obama's "biggest supporters."
They also said that nationwide training for similar acts of civil disobedience will take place throughout the country this July, including in Tampa.
This article appears in Jun 13-19, 2013.