[lbo-talk] "...to reduce US dependence on foreign oil"

[Rick]

I went to one of the "Moving Planet" rallies yesterday sponsored by Bill 
McKibben's 350.org to help build a movement to force elites to take 
action on climate change.   These rallies were held simultaneously in 
dozens of the cities in the US and internationally.  The slogan was 
"LET'S GET MOVING – BEYOND FOSSIL FUELS".  By and large I enjoyed the 
rally and found it inspiring.

One speaker however framed his presentation around the need to "reduce 
US dependence on foreign oil".  We have all heard this phrase uttered by 
mainstream politicians and some segments of the fossil fuel industry for 
years, and I think the best one can say about it is that it's lame and 
un-useful, and there are some very serious dangers from it.  That it's 
being repeated by a purported environmental activist at this rally made 
me sad.  Isn't this idea exactly what the US coal industry uses to sell 
us on coal?  Isn't it what the proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline 
use to sell us on Albert tar sands?

This was just one of many speakers, and the others were quite wonderful, 
but hearing this left a bad taste in my mouth.  I'm sure the organizers 
were trying to appeal to as wide a range of the public as possible, and 
this may have helped in that task.

I want to think that there's some way such 'patriotic' slogans can be 
used, re-articulated and built upon by leftists to create a more 
progressive movement but I'm not sure.