End US Oil Addiction!!

 Rally and Demonstration

 Saturday, January 10, 2004

 12:00 Noon

 Los Angeles Auto Show

 LA Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street

 

Our over reliance on cars endangers us all. Pollution from our primitive, gas-guzzling vehicles poisons our air and damages our health. The economy shudders with every increase in fuel costs. In LA, predominantly working class communities and people of color are reliant on under funded mass transit systems and are hard pressed just to get from home to work. People around the world are put in harm’s way by wars and conflicts spurred by oil dependence.

 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Using existing technologies, the auto makers could give us cars and trucks that would go much farther on a gallon of gas, which would improve our environment, our economy, and our health. In addition, the more viable our mass transit systems are, the more cars we get off the road. Fewer cars mean fewer air toxics in our children’s lungs and in our environment.

Yet the auto companies refuse to increase the fuel economy of their vehicles. And public officials continue to resist calls for improving mass transit. It’s time for this to end.

 

 What You Can Do:

 Join with bus riders, environmentalists, community activists and others

 to:

… double the average car fuel efficiency by 2010

… double LA MTA’s bus fleet to 5,000 and

… cut by half the 8 million cars in LA to 4 million.

Come to a rally at the Los Angeles Auto Show January 10 and join the call for no more business-as-usual.

 

For more information, contact: Labor/Community Strategy Center, 213-387-2800 or Global Exchange, 415-558-9490.

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Although people outside the environmentalist movement would look at such a protest as ridiculous, especially in a city

such as L.A. that was built on the notion of a car culture, there is actually plenty of validity to such a stance. The lack of fuel efficiency in vehicles sold in the U.S. is directly connected to market interests in the automotive industry and the petroleum industry. Modern L.A. with its freeways was predicated on the notion that the two industries could work together to create a society where people are dependent on motor vehicles, whether in individual cars or in public transportation. Relative to countries such as Japan and the U.K., one can see the peculiarities in how in both countries the price of gas is ridiculous by U.S. standards, but yet more fuel efficient vehicles are commonplace as are other forms of public transit, such as metros and subways.

Here in the U.S. we have ("had") cheaper gas, but the fuel efficiency of our autos is pathetic. And to make matters worse, U.S. consumers are indoctrinated into a self-centered mentality that could care less about fuel efficiency.

so, youre going to protest the fucking l.a. auto show? get a life liberals!

I kind of agree with the above comment, though not with the commentor.........re: auto show.........probably better things to be protesting right now (like Iraq? like Bush?).

Re "liberal"...........well, I for one, am very proud to be a "liberal"......for me, the term implies youth, and idealism.

And, for me, "conservative" implies....well, how can I say this the right way.........well, just old!

Older liberals seem young to me, while young conservatives seem very OLD (as in "elderly").

Protesting the automotive industry is directly related to iraq and Bush. This is not just an environmental issue, this is a global justice issue. 40% of U.S. oil consumption is used in the transportation sector. Do the math - If iraq has the worlds second largest oil reserves - whose interests are served by invading? Answer: to a large degree the automotive industry. It's all connected in the web of U.S. economic hegemony. By protesting the LA auto show, demanind more fuel efficient cars as well as less cars and more money for public transportation (which is also a class and race issue, becuase poor people of color depend on public transportation) you are pulling the rug out from under the economic motives of war and empire. Actions like these are strategic actions to put a road block in the way of greed and neo-colonialism (and yes I can define that if you'd like). You want to be an anarchist and "fuck shit up" to change the world - think again. Revolutions take planning weither you like it or not.

Just some thoughts.

peace y'all

-Levi