A new chapter was added to the storied history of resistance against the coal industry on Saturday with not only the largest direct action against mountaintop removal, but also one of the harshest crackdowns that anti-strip-mining activists have ever faced.

Mountain Mobilization organizer discusses police crackdown following historic action

by Bryan Farrell
Waging Nonviolence
July 31, 2012

A new chapter was added to the storied history of resistance against the coal industry on Saturday with not only the largest direct action against mountaintop removal, but also one of the harshest crackdowns that anti-strip-mining activists have ever faced.

More than 50 people taking part in the Mountain Mobilization in West Virginia — a week-long regional gathering meant to unite affiliated groups and allies — shut down Appalachia’s largest mountaintop removal site for three hours. Meanwhile, West Virginia State Police made 20 arrests, set bail at $25,000 per person and allegedly beat 20-year-old West Virginia native Dustin Steele while he was in custody. Police also forced those who didn’t get arrested to walk for four hours down a public road rather than let their arranged transportation pick them up, thereby subjecting them to harassment from pro-coal demonstrators.

Waging Nonviolence spoke with Mathew Louis-Rosenberg, an organizer with the RAMPS (Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival) Campaign, which put together the Mountain Mobilization. Louis-Rosenberg discussed the situation of the jailed activists, whether the crackdown is a sign of the movement’s strength and how it will affect actions in the future.

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