The battle over the climate is escalating, and nowhere more than in Western Australia, where a new generation of protesters is prepared to break the law to make their point.
When this happened Meg O'neil ran around town exclaiming how fearful she'd been. But the cops were there, at her house, waiting for the activists.
And whats happened since? Has the Woodside exec been hassled? I haven't heard about anything more. The activists have though. Who should actually be afraid of who in this situation?
When they glued themselves to the streets it was broadly criticized that the protesters were not targeting the ones responsible for climate change. That was already bs because people who choose a car for mobility are responsible for a part of climate change. Now when they are protesting against people who are even more responsible, like in this case, people like you criticize them for that. It seems like you would prefer if they would not protest at all.
I'm criticising them for being completely ineffective. Worse than that even - counter productive, because they undermine effective climate change activism.
I have read 4-5 books on political theory, most of them on Marxism and various sects of anarchal socialism. Probably two dozen journal articles.
My favourite author is some guy out of a French university who published on contemporary civil disobedience a couple of years ago. And I certainly like the classics; Thoreau, Gandhi and ML King.
My favourite critic of nonviolent protest is Fred Hampton.
You may well ask: ‘Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation
Those are a lot of great suggestions for how to do better that you've proposed. I look forward to seeing you implement them. I especially liked how concrete and well laid out your plans were. Thank you for your contributions.
I totally had you? Like I'm some tricksky little hobbitses that almost made you think taters was nice until I said a mean thing too?
Their using offensive words wasn't my main problem with their post, it was the suppressive dismissal of protestors, so you pointing out my hypocrisy of also being a meanypants doesn't really bother me. The planet is dying, they're mad that people are mad, and you're mad I didn't say "that's a ridiculous position" in a nice enough way? K.
I totally had you? Like I’m some tricksky little hobbitses that almost made you think taters was nice until I said a mean thing too?
No not at all, I am mad (depressed would be more precise) about climate change as well and I do agree with you, except for the small offensive part at the end. I think I communicated that pretty clearly and you somehow misunderstood. You should calm down a little, I am not your enemy. I understand how angry you are because I was extremely angry too until being depressed about it became dominant. I just think that the tone people use on lemmy matters and I don´t like the toxic reddit style tone I am seeing here, that´s all.
I'm sorry you're feeling depressed, really. It can be depressing, what's happening globaly. Your feelings are valid considering the circumstances, but I'm sorry they're causing you pain. I hope you feel a sense of peace and renew your fighting spirit for Earth. I didn't mean to mischaracterise which negative emotion you felt about the tone of my post, I should have been less specific when I said "mad". Sorry for that.
I do agree that tone is important, and my tone could have been better, you're right. In fact, I've been warned I violated rule 2 in private by a mod. I've promised to try to do better. Hopefully this comment has kept to that promise but I'll abide by whatever the mods decide.
Tone is important, but content of the message is, in my opinion, more important than the tone. I don't think you're my enemy, I just think you're letting the decor distract from the architecture and engineering.
What a thoughtful response. I really appreciate how you offered multiple points in which the protestors could improve their messaging. Your insightful critique is sure to bring success in combating man made climate change. Thank you for your help! ( Was that friendly enough, NakedMole?)