Airports, Wall Street, and the Olympics in the sights of climate activists July 6, 2024
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- Jul 5, 2024
- 3 min read
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Airports, Wall Street, and the Olympics in the sights of climate activists
PARIS: Climate activists in the United States and Europe are planning protests at airports, banks, and the Olympic Games, in a summer of actions that they defend as necessary, even if their tactics differ.
From blocking highways to spray-painting Stonehenge megaliths and throwing food at works of art, some climate activists have turned to more provocative tactics since the Covid-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to the mass marches spurred by Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future movement.
The last 12 months have been the hottest on record and, with areas of the world blanketed in extreme heat, activists are targeting high-polluting corporations and commercial interests.
The A22 Network, an alliance of activist groups committed to non-violent protest, said it was planning to disrupt airports in eight countries during the northern hemisphere summer.
Protests are planned in the UK, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, the US, Scotland, and Norway, UK-based activists from the alliance told AFP.
Global aviation is responsible for around 2.5% of global carbon emissions, more than the annual carbon footprint of Brazil and France combined.
"Our resistance will put the spotlight on the biggest users of fossil fuels and call on everyone to act with us," Just Stop Oil, one of the groups that has adopted more controversial forms of protest, said in a statement.
UK police said they had pre-emptively arrested 27 Just Stop Oil supporters before the protest even began, under laws that make it illegal to conspire to disrupt national infrastructure.
But Gabriella Ditton, a spokesperson for the group, said the arrests had not deterred them.
"As we face the huge crisis we find ourselves in, we can't stop," she told AFP.
They are demanding that governments sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, which seeks to halt the expansion of fossil fuels and phase out coal, oil, and gas.
In the US, activists have taken to Wall Street and barricaded the entrances of major banks and companies that finance, insure, and invest in fossil fuel companies.
The organizers of "The Summer of Heat" campaign have promised "non-violent, joyful and relentless direct action to end fossil fuel financing" in the coming months.
Notably in Europe, Extinction Rebellion (XR), once famous for closing bridges over the River Thames in London, has shifted its main focus from mass civil disobedience to creating an inclusive grassroots movement.
This summer, they are calling on the governments of the UK and France to set up citizens' assemblies on climate and nature, while picketing the companies that insure the fossil fuel industry.
Gail Bradbrook, the co-founder of XR, told AFP that the new approach to climate activism strives to "reach more ordinary people" and do "the deeper work of local organizing".
However, they are planning "mass occupations" over the summer - including one at the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris on July 26.
The organizers in France say this could last several days, but would be "more visible than disruptive", but gave no further details about the planning.
Which approach is best to draw attention - and which is best to promote change - has been the subject of debate, especially after polarizing stunts targeting famous landmarks.
When two Just Stop Oil activists threw orange cornmeal at Stonehenge in June, "they got a lot more media attention than if they painted airfields," said Dana Fisher, a sociologist at American University in Washington DC.
The aim of these "shock" actions "is to make people angry", said Fisher. The more people talk about the protest, the more they discuss the climate issue, she added.
Several studies carried out in the UK and Germany have shown that public concern about climate change remained the same - or even increased - after acts of civil disobedience, even if the majority of people did not support these actions.
"Historically, there is substantial evidence to show that the radical flank drives support for the cause and moderate factions," said Fisher.
But between "sticking you to something, blocking a bank, or throwing soup, which is more effective, we don't know yet," she added.
For Jamie Henn, co-founder of the campaign group 350.org and director of Fossil Free Media, "confrontational tactics work best when they confront the source of the problem".
"Spreading the word that we can finally get rid of fossil fuels needs to be one of the top priorities of the climate movement," he said.
Laura Thomas-Walters, a social scientist at Yale's Climate Change Communication Program, said that political change has been achieved by "targeting the people of power who sustain the status quo, and we need to do that in a sustained way."
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