VIDEO: ‘Days of Revolt’ With Chris Hedges: The Fracking Revolution Must Be Local
“People think we have a fracking problem,” Thomas Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund says. “It’s not. It’s a democracy problem."
In this episode of his TeleSUR show “Days of Revolt,” Chris Hedges chats with Thomas Linzey (far right in the photo) of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and Mark Clatterbuck (near right) of Lancaster (Pa.) Against Pipelines about community movements against the fracking industry and the actions necessary to resist corporate power.
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Linzey, the executive director and senior legal council for CELDF, explains that corporations can pre-empt or nullify community actions or can use their corporate constitutional rights to sue municipalities that attempt to pass laws to ban fracking projects.
“It’s almost like a myth in this country that we have the power to decide the fate of our own communities,” Linzey explains. “We don’t. And it’s basically because of this collection of corporate law and power that’s exercised against communities.”
“People think we have a fracking problem,” Linzey goes on to explain. “It’s not. It’s a democracy problem. It’s that it doesn’t matter what we want at the local level. It doesn’t matter that we don’t want fracking or corporate factory farms or corporate water withdrawals. It doesn’t matter because we are under a system of laws that doesn’t care what we want as a community.”
So, what recourse do communities have? And are the major environmental groups helping or hurting? Find out by watching the full video below:
— Posted by Jenna Berbeo
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