Or send a check payable to: "Mountain Justice - General Fund"
PO Box 86, Naoma WV 25140
ANTI-MTR ACTIVISTS NEED YOUR HELP
Non-violent protestors are facing steep fines, court fees and jail time for the escalation in civil disobedience. Can you help support
the brave men and women who have put it all on the line to stop the crime of mountaintop removal?
Any amount you can give will help - $5, $20, $50 or as much as you can afford.
Or send a check payable to: "Mountain Justice -
Legal Defense" PO Box 86, Naoma WV 25140
Come to Appalachia for your alternative spring break and learn about coal, coal mining and the history of one of America's most fascinating - and misunderstood regions.
Appalachia is home to the headwater streams that provide millions of Americans with their drinking water - as well some of the world's richest and most diverse forests, which are being blown apart for coal.
Meet Appalachians fighting to save their beloved mountains and do service work helping low-income Appalachians
A unique combination of music, visuals, and community involvement,
"Still Moving Mountains: The Journey Home"
unleashes the passion and urgency empowering the movement against mountaintop removal at this critical moment. The
album includes all facets of the movement for justice and progress in Central Appalachia.
All proceeds from the album go to assist grassroots organizations like Mountain Justice and
local community groups to help raise awareness of the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining.
UBS Wealth Management targeted by nonviolent protest.
Knoxville, Tennessee May 24th, 2013
This morning, activists associated with Mountain Justice, Radical Action for Mountain Peoples' Survival (RAMPS), and Hands Off Appalachia! entered the Gay Street branch of UBS wealth management services and refused to leave. Inside the office, three activists locked themselves to a large paper maché puppet depicting an investment banker. The non-violent protest was in opposition to UBS' funding and supporting of the harmful extractive process known as mountaintop removal coal mining.
"Mountaintop removal coal mining requires intensive injections of capital investment. That capital comes at the cost of the people of Appalachia. I've engaged in this non-violent act of protest against UBS' funding of mountaintop removal to exhibit our dedication to ending their funding and support of an industry that is devastating Appalachia and killing it's residents." — Ricki Draper, Hands Off Appalachia! And Knoxville Resident.
UBS provides funding and investment services to Patriot, Arch and James River Coal Companies. Those three companies, operate active strip mines in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.
"I'm sick and tired of seeing my home get blown up for corporate greed — and UBS is bankrolling the blasting of my community. UBS, listen up: My family’s not a profit margin, our mountains aren’t collateral damage, and we want you out of here: Get your hands off of Appalachia," said West Virginia resident Junior Walk.
posted May 24, 2013 BRISTOL, VA. and KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Two protests in two states targeted different parts of coal strip mining today. Five Mountain Justice and RAMPS activists, including West Virginian Junior Walk and Kentuckian Emily Gillespie, shut down the entrance to Alpha Natural Resources' headquarters this morning with a 250-gallon water buffalo, full of dirty water and converted to a lockbox, as well as a concrete-filled 55-gallon drum. Another three activists with Mountain Justice and Hands Off Appalachia, including Knoxvillian Ricki Draper and Kentuckian Lou Lepping, locked themselves to a giant paper maché puppet of a fat cat banker in front of UBS' Knoxville office.
"Alpha-Massey has been getting away with poisoning my community's water and gambling our lives for profit with their unsafe Brushy Fork sludge impoundment, so we're bringing the dirty water to them," Walk said, "Alpha-Massey has locked Appalachia to dirty water, backed by the state government of West Virginia."
“Voices
for Appalachia”
Written and Narrated by Hundreds
An Appalachia Portrait-Story Project
In early March of 2008, The Portrait-Story Project came for the first time to the Southern Highlands of
North America. The results, now available for posterity have come to be known as "Voices for Appalachia - A Portrait-Story Project - Written and Narrated
by Hundreds." (voicesforappalachia.org)
These portraits indicate every community that The Portrait-Story Project bottom-liners had the privilege of co-generating content with during their nearly
two years of travels. Dozens of households embodied this "art-media-social phenomenon" by inviting these creatives amongst themselves, kin, neighbors and associates,
supplying them with bed, board and morale for their volunteer service and then asserting their narratives upon the original drawing of themselves. As awareness of The
Portrait-Story Project spread throughout Appalachia, it tended to keep manifesting, provided specific request or an explicit desire to participate, which happened by
word of mouth or e-mail, and hospitality upon arrival.
On these Appalachian Portrait-Stories we have a panorama of expressions: snippets of everyday life, celebration of the land and culture and struggles for
empowerment or at least survival - as handwritten by those living it. In a few cases where an otherwise able participant stated their illiteracy, a relative by
blood or marital commitment volunteered to write their words for them and annotated so.
We are very proud to be able to present this body of over 500 Appalachian Portrait-Stories originals. If you have adequate interior wall space within
Appalachia to exhibit the bulk of this original art and handwriting at approximately eye level, and desire this precious, unique collection for your public
event, then contact United Mountain Defense; umdvolunteerhouse [at] yahoo.com or 865-689-2778.
There
is a manmade ecological disaster of geologic proportions occurring
in the rolling mountains of the southern Appalachians; its
called mountain range -- or Mountain Top Removal (MTR) mining.
It is the ultimate in theft of a people's heritage -- the
destruction of watersheds -- and the annihilation of one of
the most diverse places on earth.
Mission Statement
Mountain Justice seeks to add to the growing
anti-MTR citizens movement. Specifically Mountain Justice
demands an abolition of MTR, steep slope strip mining and
all other forms of surface
mining for coal. We work to protect the cultural and natural
heritage of the Appalachia coal fields. We work to contribute
with grassroots organizing, public education, nonviolent
civil disobedience and other forms of citizen action.
Historically coal companies have engaged in violence and
property destruction when faced with citizen opposition to
their activities. Mountain Justice is committed to nonviolence
and will
not be engaged in property destruction.
We work together to create diverse and sustainable economies in
Appalachian regions traditionally dominated by the coal industry by
supporting businesses, jobs and ways of living that are not environmentally
or culturally destructive and are nourishing to the social and biological fabric of healthy communities.
Though our work is focused in Appalachia, we oppose dirty energy and environmental injustice everywhere and we support clean energy and just economic transition for all. Seeking to eradicate, rather than simply shift, the burden of environmental injustice, MJ works to build solidarity and mutually-supportive relationships with communities where extraction and energy generation take place beyond our region. As coal becomes more politically and commercially volatile, industrial and political power-brokers are attempting to position natural gas, often sourced by hydraulic fracturing, nuclear energy, tar sands, biomass incineration, and other forms of resource extraction as clean and just alternatives.
Mountain Justice rejects this fallacy outright and supports those who resist these dirty, dangerous energy sources and also those who are working to implement truly clean energy solutions. We also recognize the native peoples who are the original inhabitants of this land. Accordingly, we seek to support the struggles of indigenous communities who are facing injustice daily at the hands of extractive industries.
In early March of 2008, The Portrait-Story Project came for the first time to the Southern Highlands of
North America. The results, now available for posterity have come to be known as "Voices for Appalachia - A Portrait-Story Project - Written and Narrated
by Hundreds." (
On these Appalachian Portrait-Stories we have a panorama of expressions: snippets of everyday life, celebration of the land and culture and struggles for
empowerment or at least survival - as handwritten by those living it. In a few cases where an otherwise able participant stated their illiteracy, a relative by
blood or marital commitment volunteered to write their words for them and annotated so.
