You Need to Escalate': Arrested Activists Get Standing Ovation at Leftist Conference in Call for Confrontations 'Every Day

The Blaze's Kathleen D'Urso Contributed to this report.

If you want a standing ovation at the leftist conference Netroots Nation, you might want to think about getting into some handcuffs.

In early September 2011, over 1,200 environmentalists were arrested in front of the White House for illegally staging a sit-in.  It lasted over two weeks and was staged in order to persuade President Obama to deny final permitting of the Keystone XL. The sit-in worked in part, as the once "sure thing" pipeline suddenly came on the executive chopping block.

Those arrested were applauded at the progressive Netroots conference this past weekend in Providence, Rhode Island.  The conference featured a panel appropriately entitled "Handcuffs, Conventional Wisdom and Dirty Oil: Activism's Big Win Against the Keystone XL Pipeline."

Panel member and environmental activist Becky Bond, who was instrumental in organizing the White House protests, decided to make a point to honor those arrested during the discussion.

"You need to escalate.  How many people here were arrested at the White House, can you stand up?"

Dozens of activists, including two of the panelists, received a standing ovation from the filled conference room.  The honor was followed by a take-home message from Bond:

"Don’t just have people get arrested one day, have people get arrested everyday.  At the White House for two weeks over 1200 people got arrested, and you know?  People would have kept coming if the organizers hadn't run out of money and been about to drop, literally."

Bond closed by outlining her tactical plan to influence policy into the future:

"Pound the President at every single public appearance, keep showing up.  Because this is how we make progress."

Watch the standing ovation below: