FAQ: What’s the role of civil disobedience in the climate movement?
Spray Paint, Soup, & Stopping Traffic
We’re 1 week away from COP27 (here’s a good explainer on what that is). During the lead-up to this event, we’ve seen a string of intriguing civil disobedience activities in the climate space. The UK climate coalition Just Stop Oil has been spray painting luxury car stores, caking the king, throwing soup at a Van Gogh painting, and closer to home, a new climate group Restore Passenger Rail have been blocking motorways and tunnels.
But why do they have to damage property and disrupt things?
My own initial reaction upon seeing these news stories was, “I agree with the message, but what about the people impacted? Why did they have to do it in such a disruptive way?” However, I have changed my mind after reading up more on the history of media in social change movements. Have a read of this Martin Luther King quote from the black civil rights movement:
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season”.
- Martin Luther King
It’s also interesting to note which media outlets dismiss these protests as illegitimate (and yet don’t critique other ones of similar disruptiveness, how curious), the intent is always the same: to direct public attention towards the “how”, away from the all-important “why”. This misdirection or tone policing shifts the focus to “but did they do damage” instead of “they’re right, this is a problem”.
MLK’s deductions are echoed by the climate protesters we’re seeing in the news today. Below are two examples from home (the Restore Passenger Rail protests) and afar (the Van Gogh Soup protest).
Multiple people told us, “take your protest to Parliament.” We have. We’ve tried everything. This is the last resort.
- Phoebe Wright, Wellington school teacher & Restore Passenger Rail protester
We need to disrupt the status quo to get to where we need to be.
The kinds of direct climate action that we’re seeing more often nowadays is an effective and legitimate tactic to demand the change we so urgently need. We will need to disrupt the status quo to see the changes we want implemented.
Critiquing the method of protest is often a way to direct attention away from why the protest may have felt necessary. The reason is often that all other forms of peaceful and indirect protest have been ignored or suppressed.
Civil disobedience is about much more than just attention.
Civil disobedience has many functions, alongside drawing public attention (a scarce resource in an increasingly distracted world) towards an issue.
It escalates the consequences of current actions.
This communicates the severity of the issue and demands a response from targets.
It costs the opposition money.
Damage to property and disruption to business operations makes involvement in fossil fuels a risky investment, with lower forecasted returns, higher insurance premiums, and potential for bad PR.
“Let the capitalists who keep on investing in the fire know that their properties will be trashed.” - Andreas Malm, How To Blow Up A Pipeline
It complements pacifist action.
Actions that are seen as “extreme” work by pushing the Overton Window, so that demands that were previously seen as unthinkable or radical now seem acceptable.
“The civil rights movement won the Act of 1964 because it had a radical flank that made it appear as a lesser evil in the eyes of state power. [..] Next to the threat of black revolution - Black Power, the Black Panther Party, black guerrilla groups - integration seemed a tolerable price to pay.” - Andreas Malm, How to Blow Up a Pipeline
There were similarly militant branches within the women’s suffrage movement. We often forget that radical action has played a key role in social movements throughout history.
The right to protest is not protected for many people around the world.
These acts of rebellion are particularly pertinent at the moment, because this year’s COP27 is held in Egypt, where it is not safe to protest or to critique the authoritarian government, and tens of thousands of environmental and human rights activists are held in political prisons. Protests like the ones above in countries where the right to protest is protected also provides international solidarity and support to the work of activists who live and fight climate change in much riskier areas.
If we have the freedom to speak and to protest, we can use that power to hold governments and corporations to account. People who are already devastated by the impacts of climate change may not have this option. It is up to us to make sure that public attention is focussed unwaveringly on those who are choosing profit at the cost of environmental degradation and rampant global warming.
In conclusion: A necessity, not a nuisance
Creative direct action can convey the severity and urgency of the situation, have a direct financial impact on the target, and complement the wider movement. While it might not be for everyone, it is an important role that forces change from those who hold power.
Informative article. Where does the community draw the line on what is acceptable as a rebellious act? It seems as if damaging private property is ok so carrying out illegal acts is fine. But where does it stop? If this is justified, I could imagine there will be someone who could easily justify physical violence in the name of saving the planet.
The parallelism with MLK and Women’s vote is very interesting. I have to admit that my 1st reaction to the actions was WTF but having passed some time, they were very good to create discomfort in society regarding the current status quo