Popular support mounts for Tim DeChristopher with new music video

Support keeps rolling in for Tim DeChristopher—the recently convicted environmental activist who disrupted a federal oil and gas auction in 2008. The latest effort is a music video for a song by Alex Ebert—singer of the prominent indie rock band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. The song is not directly about DeChristopher, but its hopeful title (“Let’s Win!”) seems appropriate. The video, meanwhile, is comprised of footage from the protests outside the Salt Lake City courtroom where he was convicted last March. At the end, people are asked to visit the website of DeChristopher’s activist group Peaceful Uprising, which is calling for action on the day of his sentencing, June 23. The date also happens to be the 23rd anniversary of the day that NASA scientist James Hansen first testified to Congress about the threat of climate change. So, it is a momentous day, if not, as the organizers say on their website, “a turning point in the climate movement.” They also say:

Consider this our call to you. On June 23rd, show the world that we will not be intimidated; that it is our right to challenge the status quo; that we embrace peaceful civil disobedience as a tradition and as a vital tactic, if it means standing in the way of corporate rape and pillaging of our planet; that we will demand jury trials and empower our peers to be the true conscience of their community.

If you can come to Salt Lake City, we welcome you with open arms. If you cannot, find a federal courthouse near you. Demonstrate. Stand in joy and resolve. Show your outrage that one of our brothers could face the most severe sentence in history for a nonviolent direct action— raising a bidder paddle.

Reclaim your voice. Because you are not alone. The entire climate justice movement is standing behind you.