The addition of a $40,000 fine and felony charges for media caught closer than 65 feet to oil recovery operations, is not just a clampdown on the media, it is also a sign of growing resistance from residents and activists, everywhere.
The White House Thursday enacted stronger rules to prevent the media from showing what's happening with the oil spill in the Gulf Coast.
CNN's Anderson Cooper reported that evening, "The Coast Guard today announced new rules keeping photographers and reporters and anyone else from coming within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms out on the water or on beaches -- 65 feet."
"You build it, they will come" is a popular phrase that can be modified for this occasion: You resist, they will repress. There has been growing resistance, protest, outrage and shared information through independent sources on the Gulf river of oil, and this has the Obama administration worried.
First and foremost are the widespread voices of outrage over BP's control of this response, from day one, and apparent limiting of resources to address this disaster. In my view, the administration gave away its political power when it implemented it's interpretation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, allowing BP to construct a response that has done more to attempt to hide the extent of the spill, than anything else. More information as to the contours of this corporate control of the oil leak response can be found in my diary from yesterday, Corporate States On the Gulf of Mexico":
When Larry Everest and I disrupted the Orleans Parish BP Open house, we served to help create an opportunity for folks to openly ask questions of the Coast Guard and BP, particularly on the use of dispersant, and comment publicly. Usually, the way these open houses have been conducted, has not allowed any public comments or public questions of officials. There are usually just opening remarks from politicians, the Coast Guard, and then usually some sort of public apology from a BP official.
This open house was to be a bit different however. Before New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu could conclude his opening remarks, I confronted Landrieu on his sister, Senator Mary Landrieu's, declarations as recently as March that offshore drilling is "safe". Mitch informed all of us that his name "is not Mary", and he believes the Horizon rig was not safe. Larry Everest then intervened and demanded a public townhall question and answer session, and then read our demands from the Emergency Gulf Summit out loud in front of everyone there. The Coast Guard, to answer our questions, re-read a portion of the demands out loud. Larry turned to me and said, "You know, this is pretty heavy that they're having to read our demands out loud". Indeed.
Next, when the BP official began his public apology, one woman said loudly, "Can you just stop with the apologies by now?". There were several informed public commentators, who pointed out the toxicity of the dispersant, and the fact that BP has used bioremediation in other spills, but not on this one. This same woman spoke to me afterwards and said that we're just going to have to apply bioremediation on the oil utilizing our own efforts.
These voices of outrage began on day one and have increased, despite the best efforts to portray the administration as on top of this crisis "from day one". In New Orleans there have been rallies, marches, emergency summits, forums, angry and outraged talk radio. Thousands on their own are writing letters, chatting online, sharing information, posting on facebook. "They" listen and watch all of that folks, "They" monitor situations, and what they are hearing and seeing here must be cause for alarm. In Florida, protests have numbered in the hundreds, and appear to be constant and steady. 800 protesters in Pensacola joined the Hands Across the Sand protest sponsored by the Sierra Club. The anger is palpable.
The silent protest was as peaceful as the green Gulf waters, but the underlying anger came through loud and clear.
"All I Want 4 X-mas is My Beach Back!" read one sign, held aloft by a young girl. "Boycott BP," read several others.
On Saturday, in broiling heat, about 800 people gathered at Casino Beach to participate in "Hands Across the Sand," an international endeavor to oppose offshore oil drilling and promote clean energy. A previous protest in February drew about 250 participants to Casino Beach.
At noon, participants trudged past scattered sunbathers and BP cleanup crews to stand on the oil-stained sand at the water's edge. There, they joined hands to form a long, human chain. Facing the Gulf, the protesters — men, women and children — stood quietly for 15 minutes, as small tar balls tumbled in the ankle-high surf.
Yesterday I was listening to WTUL, the Tulane radio station in New Orleans, very popular source of alternative news and music. A young woman, a musician, was being interviewed and playing some of her music. The topic got onto the oil spill. Then came the tears and rage. This crisis for many marks a "sea" change in attitude and belief for thousands all across the country. No more will environmental issues, for one, be relegated to part-time attention. People are waking up to the environmental threats in their own cities and states. Fracking is just one of them. The Obama administration recently approved more mountaintop mining as well. The Obama administration also senses the change in tone of the people regarding environmental issues, and threw some funds at solar investment.
Corporate media has actually done a decent job of covering the river of oil, particularly Anderson Cooper, Huffington Post, McClatchy news service, and others. Alternative media, blogs, email lists, facebook have been important sources of information, often digesting certain situations and issues before it hits corporate media. No felony fine for going to the beach where cleanup operations are taking place can stop this flow of information, analysis, speculation, outrage and anger.
Repression is always a sign that the powers that be are listening, digesting, and getting worried. We ramp it up, they ramp it up, we ramp it up again, and so on. I can tell you here in New Orleans that with every sign or symptom of repression, we will answer, and are answering with our words and protests. Yesterday a small protest and march through the French Quarter, winding up at Halliburton headquarters on Canal Street, before making a stop at Deepwater Horizon Joint Incident Command in the CBD, took place in the late afternoon with scarcely any notice and very last minute. I got there late so missed it. While sitting in a coffeeshop in the French Quarter, I chatted with two young people who begged me to make sure these kinds of actions get more press beforehand, so that more can take part.
A couple of weeks ago, several of my colleagues "penetrated" the Deepwater Horizon Joint Incident Command Center, located on the 14th floor of a certain building in New Orleans, and presented our list of demands from the Emergency Committee to Stop the Oil Disaster. These courageous men and women were quickly surrounded by BP goons, all very large and not smiling. A couple of well dressed BP flaks told the people they would have to leave because they were "in our space". Our folks politely told them to get their oil out of our space, in so many words. The BP flaks took the list of demands and everyone was escorted out of the building, no arrests.
Not everyone in Louisiana supports the oil industry for jobs. Our Emergency Committee to stop the Oil Disaster, as part of our demands, calls for an end to offshore drilling, and replacing those jobs with massive public works, and initially, full compensation. We either rapidly transition from dirty jobs to clean jobs, or expect more environmental catastrophes, each one seemingly getting larger and more tragic for life on the planet.
Meantime, the repression of media and activists on the Gulf coast will be digested and analyzed and talked about, and either way, for the Obama administration, this is not good news. Threats to throw media and activists in jail just don't add up when the real criminals who caused this catastrophe continue to walk around free, and I'm not just talking corporate criminals. There are a few government officials who should be held criminally liable for this disaster. I'll let you decide who they are. The Obama administration could have done the right thing for the people, from day one. Now its up to the people to demand accountability.