Examples include Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion here in the UK.
Personally, I think some charities are groups are genuine in their outburst wanting large firms to stop strangling the natural beauty for profit, however for me there is a red line that can be crossed.
Blocking roads preventing medical care, people going to work, interview and possibly a nice vacation away. This doesn’t really help but make the public look at your group in a bad light.
The same can also be said when attempting to destroy priceless art for a cheap publicity stunt knowing it’ll get clicks on social media.
TLDR - I think some groups are genuinely good whilst others are just shouting in a speakerphone, pissing everyone else off.
What do YOU think?
The planet is being destroyed and the politicians are not doing enough. So activists protest. That’s good! I can’t imagine being angry at climate activists for inconveniencing my day; after all, the real culprits are the politicians who don’t do enough!
When extreme climate collapse really kicks in, the average person will wish it were some protesters disrupting their commute for a few hours on a weekday vs literal breakdown of infrastructure and society indefinitely.
they’re not violent enough I think
Anyone doing anything to protest the climate or damage the profits of fossil fuel companies is fine by me. I can’t call everyones methods “efficient” but it honestly doesn’t matter to me, an extreme response to climate change is reasonable at this point.
This, I don’t live then e.g. throwing paint on painting because it seems kind of pointless, but at least it gets attention.
Climate change will cause more droughts, fires, and heat waves. Millions of people will die and be displaced.
There’s a handful of people who want to do something to prevent this, but, given our system, there’s basically nothing they can do to change the outcome. So they’re resorting to civil disobedience.
I think it’s fine. From what I’ve heard, these are mostly minor inconveniences. Given the scale of suffering they’re warning us about, the inconveniences don’t seem minor. Disrupting medical care isn’t acceptable, etc.
They’ve successfully gotten people talking about climate change, so it’s working.
…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.”
I think you’re MLK’s “white moderate”: our greatest stumbling block in our stride towards freedom.
They’re too peaceful and nonconfrontational.
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous.
Based. Politicians only listen when people crash the economy. Direct action has the most impact by far.
You’re right, blocking traffic and other publicity stunts are not effective.
In the pursuit of self defense, any and all actions are legitimate. This includes deadly force.
They are effective, but in the other direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re funded by fossil fuel companies.
I have no issue with disruptive and inconvenient climate actions, I think they’re one of many valid ways to draw attention and put pressure on the people who actually make decisions about such things.
I think they often go after the wrong targets, usually the working class. To their credit XR has shut down airports used by the private jets of the bourgeoisie before, which seem like the kinda thing they should be doing more of.
I think blocking roads and publicity stunts are ineffective, but there’s plenty of actually effective stuff you can do, like tree spiking or sabotaging oil infrastructure. I don’t really care if people want to block roads or throw soup at paintings but I don’t think it’ll achieve much. I guess better than doing nothing. But with the draconian punishments people are getting in various countries for this sort of protest, it really doesn’t seem worth it when you could do something that’s also criminalised but actually directly does something to prevent climate change.
Personally I don’t like how a lot of the XR-related groups are so ideologically wedded to nonviolence, to the point where they condemn and actively oppose others on the left they deem “violent” (which is usually just racialised people who acted in self-defence at a protest). I see that as a bigger problem than ineffective protests, because they’re actively withholding solidarity from those who should be aligned with them.
If you block emergency vehicles and someone dies or gets (more severe) injuries you should be prosecuted.
Generally the art vandalism just makes me feel aversion towards whatever your agenda is. But I’m not sure if I’m your target audience in the first place.
If you block me while I’m working, turns out I’m paid by the hour anyway. If you block me on my free time I’ll probably work up a rage and actively start opposing your agenda instead of listening on what you have to say.
Over all you’ll probably not convince me.
You’ll never be able to address climate change under capitalism- you have to push for socialism and then environmental protections. See: the percentage of renewable energy and battery storage that is being produced in China as they transition out of a mixed economy toward more worker control.
I think ones that block roads are counter productive and just hurt their own causes. They should go bother the actual companies or politicians. Disrupting road ways is just stupid. You have no idea who you are impacting when you do that. Nobody would find it acceptable if my version of protesting was running around spraying a machine gun in the air. Do you think blocking roads can’t get people killed?
When you block roads, it won’t kill people unless if you’re driving in on the protestors.
Protestors also typically do give leeway to ambulances and firetrucks.
When? After they’ve already backed up the road for miles? That’s not how traffic works.
How about an on-call doctor driving to an emergency case at the hospital? They going to magically see him coming and teleport everything out of his way?
You have no idea what you’re talking about.
I definitely do, thank you for the civil and not personal at all remark.
Have you not seen the videos of eg. French protestors going out the way of ambulances?
Did you literally ignore my example? How does moving out of the way of an ambulance address either of my two points? For them to get out of the way, the ambulance had to reach the protestors. In doing that, the ambulance is already substantially delayed by avoidable traffic congestion.
And the on call doctor?
That’s ok though, ignore the substance of my argument and focus on the fact that you somehow found my post insulting. Forgive me for thinking you don’t know what you’re talking about, clearly you do since you… Completely ignored my examples.
I’ve never been inconvenienced by an environmental group, personally, so I think it’s really neat they have that much time in their day for those sorts of things.
