History of Environmental Resistance in the 'RGV'
Children Standing on the Proposed Site of Rio Grande LNG / Save RGV
History of Environmental Resistance in the ‘RGV’
This episode is about the history of the environmental resistance movement in the 'RGV' for the past ten years. To help me with this, I was joined by Bekah Hinojosa. A local environmental activist and organizer that has sacrificed so much in this resistance to protect our local ecology and return the land back into native hands.
The first half starts with public comments submitted in front of the ‘Brownsville’ Commission Meeting on February 7, 2023, by Sandra Trevino, Nansi Guevara, Jose Jimenez, Emma Guevara, Sara Stapleton-Barrera, Bekah Hinojosa, Juan Mancias, and Christopher Basaldu.
All supported Bekah Hinojosa and demanded the charges against her to be dropped and for the former mayor Trey Mendez to be investigated for abuse of power. The charge of a Class B Misdemeanor for allegedly spray painting on an Elon Musk-funded mural with the tag “Gentrified, Stop SpaceX” is a clear threat to her but especially others resisting the continued colonization of this area.
The second half is a discussion with Bekah Hinojosa about her experience in these environmental and indigenous struggles for justice and sovereignty.
The goal is to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. To a large extent, stop the industrialization of our coastline, that includes SpaceX. There are major achievements and current actions to stop LNG development.
“In 2021, a major lawsuit victory led by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Sierra Club, Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad, Costera, Shrimpers and Fisherman of the RGV, and Save RGV is forcing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to re-evaluate the environmental justice and climate impacts of Rio Grande LNG, Rio Bravo Pipeline, and Texas LNG. 3 Ongoing litigation and permitting delays due to community opposition continue to push back the timelines for these projects while further exposing the harms and risks they pose.”
Other major achievements discussed were the anti-LNG resolutions passed by local municipalities and special political subdivisions. They are: Laguna Madre, South Padre Island, Long Island Valley, The Town of Laguna Vista, Port Isabel, and Laguna Madre Water District.
Friends of Laguna Madre, Save RGV, Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, and residents in Cameron County have successfully pressured the Port Isabel School District to reject tax subsidies/breaks. These same community organizations were also able to convince some European banks to stop funding these risky fracked gas export terminals.
One major item discussed was how inflation was being caused by continued colonization of the ‘RGV’ and of Ukraine by the U.S. government.
The observation that capitalism always operates in dual aspects (the regime of non-violent exploitation in the core and the regime of violent expropriation in the periphery) is the key to understanding how, though swastikas may be banned and in poor taste, the entire history of the West can be described as deeply fascist:
“The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of bourgeois civilization lies unveiled before our eyes, turning from its home, where it assumes respectable forms, to the colonies, where it goes naked.” - Karl Marx, 1853-07. The Future Results of British Rule in India [web]
Defund Petition, Latest LNG Risk Report, and Anti-War Movement
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary weekend of the criminal U.S.-invasion of Iraq a major demonstration will take place at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Saturday March 18 demanding "Peace in Ukraine – Say NO to Endless U.S. Wars” and “Fund People's Needs, Not the War Machine.” Learn more about the demonstration and the 200+ organizations supporting it here.
To fight inflation we need to end the US’s massive international sanctions regime and demand they stop sending weapons to fuel the Ukraine war, and stop blocking peace negotiations.
The Wall Street Journal now says: “Gas Prices Poised to Rise Again as Sanctions on Russia Take Effect,” while global economists say the “massive shock” of the war will produce new “inflationary pressures, sapping confidence and household purchasing power.”
US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran are further impacting the market in oil and gas prices, driving up prices and driving the climate crisis destroying the planet.
It’s clear as it ever that the US’s own policies of sanctions, and the proxy war provoked by NATO policies, is directly impacting the cost-of-living crisis for working class people. Meanwhile the military industrial complex and Wall Street get richer. This is criminal — the time to act is now!
Stop the Continued Genocide with Indigenous Sovereignty
To help reclaim native lands, contact the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas through Instagram or Facebook. Please donate to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe!
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