Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Keystone XL
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Category Archives: Activism
Opportunities from bureaucratic conflicts
One lesson from the Keystone XL protest is that bureaucracies often suffer from inner tensions and conflicts of interest. Actions taken by one segment of a large structure may conflict with the wishes of another segment, and that can create opportunities for those who wish to create change.
In Washington D.C., Park Police had responsibility for the area of sidewalk where the protest was taking place. Faced with plans to protest every morning for two weeks, they wanted to try to deter participation. For that reason, they decided to transfer the people who were arrested on the first day to central booking and have them held over the weekend until they could see a judge.
Central booking is the responsibility of a different police force, and they did not appreciate having to deal with dozens of peaceful protestors, priests, grandmothers, scientists, and so on. Partly as a result of their objections, participants on all subsequent days were released within a few hours of being arrested.
Given the strength of the organizations that want to dig up and burn all the world’s fossil fuels, those who want to avoid doing so out of ethical concern for future generations will need to make use of contradictions like the one between the preferences of the Park Police and those of the city police. By making effective use of strategies that take advantage of such contradictions, smaller groups of people with fewer resources may be able to achieve greater success.
Joe Oliver on the right to protest
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver expressed an encouragingly democratic view on the recent Keystone XL protest on Parliament Hill: “I’m not saying everyone who’s protesting is (an extremist). And everyone who’s protesting has a democratic right to get out there and express their view in the public square. This is Canada. I don’t have any quarrel with that at all.”
Action from principle
Wen Stephenson discussing Thoreau: “Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary.”
Participant accounts of the Keystone protest
Bill McKibben and the organizers of this summer’s protest against the Keystone XL pipeline are encouraging people who participated to post an account of their experience.
I will link interesting ones as they appear.
Here’s a good one to start with: A Minor’s Reflections on the Keystone XL Pipeline and Civil Disobedience by Ariana Shapiro.
Religion and the Keystone XL pipeline
One interesting element of the Keystone XL protest in Washington was the composition of the group of people who came to participate. There was a big First Nations presence, and there was a specific day in which the First Nations played a prominent role in the whole event. There was also a large religious delegation arrested on the same day as NASA climatologist James Hansen. If I recall correctly, that was the Monday after the weekend when the organizers were jailed, and that was the day when momentum really returned, with numbers over 100.
Personally, I am deeply skeptical about religion. I think the factual claims made by religious texts and officials are often demonstrably false, and that makes me question why they should be considered an authority on any subject. I also worry that belief in an omniscient god may stop people from believing that we could wreck the world by burning fossil fuels. You certainly have to wonder what a benevolent god would have been thinking in making fossil fuels so useful and abundant, but adding a deadly hidden catch that would not make itself obvious for several centuries. If you don’t have any concern about the possibility of catastrophic outcomes, there is much less reason to be concerned about climate change. If a friendly god is watching over us, surely we will not accidentally cook the planet.
But, I digress.
The religious delegation definitely helped the protest, both in terms of numbers and in terms of legitimacy. There is something about getting arrested with a bunch of prominent religious figures – apparently including someone who was the equivalent of a bishop in the United Church – that makes it seem obvious that your ‘crime’ was defensible and probably praiseworthy. If the movement to stop dangerous climate change is to succeed, we need allies who see climate change as one important issue among many. If there are religious organizations that have or can work climatic protection into their theology, I think those in the climate change community should encourage and appreciate their help.
Pressure from Obama’s base
Many ardent Obama supporters are disappointed by how he has failed to prioritize environmental and climate change policies since being elected. There has been no major domestic climate change legislation, and America helped to make the Copenhagen climate change conference a flop.
Recently, a group of citizens visited one of his campaign offices to send the message that unless Obama starts to do better, they will be unwilling to work for his campaign.
It seems plausible that politicians take core voters for granted, given that such voters are unlikely to vote for their opponents. Applying pressure through campaign offices seems like a clever strategy because it reveals the ways in which dissatisfaction among core supporters can make itself felt in ways aside from how they vote. To a large extent, Obama’s victory was the consequence of having people excited about him raising money for him and convincing other people to support him with their votes. If those organizers stay home in 2012, it could have an effect he notices.
Operational security and the Keystone protest
Operational security is a bit like tradecraft — it is the set of techniques an organization uses to avoid being subject to the will of its opponents. It includes systems where existing members vouch for newcomers, secure channels of communication, and so on.
One notable thing about the Keystone XL protest in Washington is that there was none of that. All the information was online: when and where to show up for training, the aims of the organizers, the tactics to be used, the real name and photo of everyone getting arrested, and so on.
Regardless of how they felt about Keystone XL or civil disobedience, anyone who wanted to could have come to the training, to the action itself, and to the jail where participants were released.
That openness was necessary to bring together, train, and organize 1200 participants in 15 days. It is also evidence of the strong moral arguments for what was being done. The act of civil disobedience is open defiance against an unjust law, rule, or organization. The strength comes from the clear moral case of the participants and from their dedication.
The open and inclusive character of the Keystone protest were evidence of both of those qualities.
Leaving Washington
After volunteering for the entire Tar Sands Action protest against the Keystone XL pipeline, I am returning to Canada this afternoon.
All told, it was a really valuable experience. I met a lot of people who are passionate about climate change, as well as people who are skilled at organizing events of this type, which is quite an undertaking and accomplishment.
I very much appreciate how friendly and open everyone was with me. It was a pleasure to be part of this effort.
Ottawa action against the Keystone XL pipeline
There is now a website up for the action happening in Ottawa on September 26th: OttawaAction.ca.