Hamilton: NEB Pipeline Hearing Gets Glitterbombed

from It’s Going Down

On October 18th, 2016, the National Energy Board (NEB) held a hearing in Hamilton over Enbridge’s Line 10 pipeline expansion plan. The NEB is a sham organization that exists only to lend legitimacy to destructive industrial projects. Even the federal government has trouble justifying this group of corrupt bozos, who have proven themselves willing to approve any project regardless of environmental or human risks. In this instance it’s the scumbags at Enbridge who need a rubber stamp from the NEB to increase the capacity of their Line 10 pipeline, running from Hamilton to New York State. Like everything Enbridge does, this project is a terrible idea that will only contribute to global warming, environmental destruction, and the expansion of the Alberta tar sands. And as usual, Enbridge has ignored the sovereignty of impacted Indigenous communities, preferring instead to pay them off when possible or ignore them when they stand in the way.

Needless to say, we are against this project.

Fuck Enbridge and everything they do, and fuck the NEB.

Instead of letting this infuriating charade of a hearing go unchallenged, a group of 15 of us stealthily made it to the third floor of the Crown Plaza Hotel where the hearing was taking place and attempted to force our way into the conference room. Because nearly every NEB hearing in recent history has been interrupted by rowdy party-poopers, this session was strictly closed to the public and guarded inside-and-out by dozens of local and federal cops, as well as private security goons. As soon as we were within sight of the room, we were swarmed by a team of heavy-handed cops who once again showed their allegiance to Enbridge by trying to remove us. We were able to hold our ground for 20 minutes, scuffling with the cops while they pushed us, grabbed our hair, beat us with their hands, and choked us. In one spectacularly gross move, Sergeant Michael Donaldson showed off his Kung-Fu skills by kicking a woman in the crotch. That piece of shit has become the new laughing stock of Hamilton, both for his cartoonish posturing and for his cowardly, unprovoked attack on an Indigenous land defender. We won’t let you forget that one, you piece of shit.

Nevertheless we defended ourselves and each other, managing to stick around long enough to disrupt the hearing with our voices and air horns. By time we decided to walk away, the cops were smothered in thick layers of glitter, covered in scratch marks and bruises, and one cop was suspiciously missing his hat and left holding a broken radio.

Though we weren’t able to shut down the hearing, we at least reminded the NEB and Enbridge that they can expect resistance at every turn. Our message to them is simple: we would rather see you all drown in the Niagara river than let you pump anymore oil underneath of it. And to the cops who put on uniforms every day to protect these vultures, we offer nothing more than a middle finger and a face full of glitter.

Solidarity with Standing Rock and land defenders everywhere.