From It’s Going Down
Block the flows of fossil fuels and capital. Build connection and new worlds through struggle. Fight where you can. Connect with other people about it. May 12-19, and also every other moment.
In our daily lives, in the ecosystems we live in, in the ever stranger and more violent weather patterns we are subject to, and in even the most mainstream of capitalist media, we are bombarded by increasingly dire proof of what we’ve known all along: catastrophic climate change is happening and will only amplify as more fossil fuels are extracted and burned. A host of other environmental and human crises affect us at the same time. In the face of this, we are given three official options: denial, despair, or delegation to those who “know better,” those whose “job” it is to fix these problems—through the same means that got us into them.
But all over the world, brave and compassionate souls have shown that we can also choose defiance. From resistance to mountaintop removal in Appalachia, to rebellion against Shell Oil in the Niger Delta, to pipeline blockades all across North America, and to anyone in any corner of the world who has stood their ground against those who threaten their lands with plunder and devastation, we have a thousand examples of people moving beyond and against the state to defend what they love and what nurtures them.
In resistance, we strengthen the human and non-human bonds that keep us alive and thriving. In the US, we saw a generation re-awake through direct opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. The state will always seek to divide and disempower us through fear and co-option—let’s remember that we can outwit their strategies through action, care, and strength of heart.
This is a call for a multitude of diverse actions against the infrastructure of the fossil fuel economy. The capitalist project of destruction and dispossession oftentimes feels omnipotent, and it pays to remind ourselves how vulnerable and interconnected this complex system really is. So, an invitation to act in the way that feels most relevant to each person or community’s experience and context. At least we can take solace in the fact that there’s no shortage of options!
Some questions/points to consider:
– What fossil fuel infrastructure is active in your area? Pipelines, mines, refineries, wells, machinery, rigs, supply chains, capital…
– Where are the chokepoints and vulnerable areas? What can be done to achieve the most disruption relative to risk?
– What’s the social context where you live? What affects people’s lives directly and what resonates? What’s your relationship to the land and the people there?
– Any struggle needs a wide variety of tasks to survive, amplify, and generalize. Organization, publication, cooking, writing, art, networking, reflection, clandestine and open direct action of many types, festivity, all sorts of logistical support… What are the characters and needs of struggles in your area? What are you capable of and inclined towards?
– What does indigenous life and struggle look like in your area? What has it looked like historically?
In direct opposition to their world, we build and strengthen our own worlds and selves.
Please do what you can to translate and disseminate this through your networks and media. Modify it to fit your context, put it up on posters, talk to your friends. Communiques and action reports vigorously encouraged.
For life and joy, against the machinery of death!