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Conservation groups are abandoning direct action (www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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https://archive.is/DW5lX

In a bygone era, the battlelines were clear. Today’s story is different and those once-distinct battlelines are blurred.

Insiders say mainstream environmental non-government organisations are increasingly enmeshing themselves with big carbon traders and there is a revolving door between industry, government and environmental charities. And if it has been such a successful strategy, where are the results?

Throughout conversations for this piece, it was clear many within the movement knew the current approach to 100 per cent renewable energy was reproducing the harm they were seeking to eliminate, but there was an unwillingness to say anything too critical out of fear of being branded a climate denier or a handbrake to planet-saving progress.

“The beauty about climate change policy is that it’s actually easier, for example, than debating the politics of what makes a fair tax system, because the science tells us what will deliver a safe climate and what won’t,” says Richard Denniss, executive director of The Australia Institute. “^___^

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Legacy conservation groups are abandoning radical protests, collaborating with business groups and government for a seat at the table.

We need pro-environment people who are pushing businesses and governments through "official" channels. That's important to have. These are the people who direct the specifics of legislation and regulation, who interface with the governments and businesses to ensure they're doing the right thing.

But we also need radical protests. We need people to physically stop the damage from being done at the sites of the polluters. We need people to whip up anger among the general public. To bring things to a point where the politicians and polluters have no choice but to turn to that former group and say "what do we do?"

The Greens movement in Australia started as a result of direct disruptive action. Against the damming of the Franklin River. I highly recommend season 3 of the ABC podcast "Dig" if you want to learn more. Politics and direct action are inherently linked. Unfortunately it's tricky, because back then protesters would be thrown in a cell for the night to get them out of the way, and maybe charged with a minor misdemeanour; but today (thanks in part to law changes brought about as a result of those actions) disruptive protests can often bring criminal charges against the protestors. It's asking a lot more of people to protest today than it used to.

It doesn't help that our media environment is so intensely anti-protest that people will almost instantly turn against a protest, even saying things like "I would have supported their idea, but because they inconvenienced me now I'm against them". 🤮