‘A new phase’: why climate activists are turning to sabotage instead of protest
www.theguardian.com
Tougher laws said to be inspiring clandestine attacks on the ‘property and machinery’ of the fossil fuel economy
  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
    38·
    1 day ago

    He said new laws further criminalising disruptive protests had made traditional, accountable methods of activism increasingly unsustainable, and a clandestine approach increasingly attractive. He pointed to the case of activists from JSO who received sentences of four and five years – reduced on Friday after an appeal – for organising road blocks on the M25.

    This is exactly what myself and many others said would happen. If you punish peaceful (but disruptive) protests as hard as, say, murdering the CEO of exxon, you might as well go for the murder.

    I don’t really want to live in a world where vigilantes are murdering the entire board of oil companies, but i also don’t want to live in a world with big oil companies destroying our climate.

    • dumblederp@aussie.zone
      21·
      1 day ago

      I know which of those worlds I would prefer though. The last politician I voted for wasn’t because I liked them, it was because the other choice was much much worse.

  • Nanook@lemm.eeEnglish
    28·
    1 day ago

    I see nothing wrong. Sabotage is a time honoured form of protest.

  • 5714@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    13·
    1 day ago

    Clandestine sabotage requires more skill or a very different type of skill set.

    Once sabotage skills are refined and not jailed away, saboteurs and mass activists can regroup to form a symbiosis of protection and attention.

  • Tattorack@lemmy.world
    12·
    1 day ago

    It’s about damn time. This is much better than throwing soup at painting like an absolute dumbass.

    • dumblederp@aussie.zone
      12·
      1 day ago

      That got the message out though. People were more interested in the damage to art than the damage to the planet.

      • Tattorack@lemmy.world
        6·
        1 day ago

        I’ve said this before; anyone that attacks art for a statement is on the wrong side of history. The only point they proved was that they were complete morons.

        Now, sabotaging equipment… Or throwing soup at oil barons… NOW you’re talking.

        • hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net
          1·
          3 hours ago

          Exactly.

          The problem with protesting is that it’s begging people to kindly do ask you ask. In the case of oil, you’re the “people” you are asking are a social cancer. The people doing the work are literally destroying their children’s future for money today. They couldn’t possibly care about anything you could do or any argument you could make. Very few relationships are really zero sum games, but this is one.

          They exist or we do, there can be no common ground. There can be no negotiation. These are corporations we’re fighting, not people, and corporations don’t care about anything.

          I’m glad people are waking up to the fact that there can be no rational dialog. It’s life or death, for humans and oil companies. They must be stopped, and stopping means death for the oil companies. They will not, and cannot, listen. They must be forced to stop or we all die.