Beyond Dale Vince on the climate crisis. Voting & protesting are both possible
The protests of Just Stop Oil have been effective at placing climate change firmly on the political agenda. While direct action is one way of making a point, there are others. What the sociologist Charles Tilly called the Repertoire of Contention includes petitions, marches, rallies and strikes. They can be less dramatic than stopping the M25 but they too can get a message across.
Tilly sees a hierarchy of contention and protest from the petition to riot and revolt. The world doesn’t work like that. People can petition and take direct action at the same time, and often combinations of protest strategies can bring at least some results. The key is to start protesting in the first place.
In this sense the decision of Dale Vince who has been funding Just Stop Oil to switch to supporting a Labour Election victory is one-dimensional. Both voting and protesting are possible at the same time
As Hackney SWP point out climate protest would flourish better without funding from rich businessmen, and with grass roots funding. The same applies to voting Labour. The more the motivation comes from the bottom up and the less from links with business the more likely it is something will be done about climate change
Leave a Reply