I knew the kids weren't messing around the first time I heard them sing -- a low, slow, foot-stomping dirge, part spiritual and part worksong:
They are digging us a hole. They are digging us a hole. Six feet underground, Where our future will go. We will lay down our bodies. We will lay down our souls.
They are digging us a hole.
Six feet underground,
Where our future will go.
We will lay down our bodies.
We will lay down our souls.
UPDATE 5:45 PM: The group of eight activists has been removed from TransCanada offices and taken to Westborough Police Station. Spokespeople for the group say they are unaware of the charges at this time. The group is mostly still chained together with one or two of the chains broken by the authorities.
This week in the Phoenix, Wen Stephenson profiles Naomi Klein -- "black-clad and sharp-tongued mistress of the global anti-corporate left, friend to Occupiers and scourge of oil barons" -- as she turns her attention to the cause of climate justice. Below is a longer excerpt from their conversation -- about Klein's alliance with 350.
A few months ago, New York City cops were dragging Occupy Wall Street activists through the streets and parks of lower Manhattan. In a series of brutal assaults on civil liberties and skulls alike, officers appeared to be abiding orders barked by sadistic brass monkeys who were more interested in suppressing speech than they were with keeping peace.