Climate Change Protests Echo the Suffragette Protests

Why does it seem like climate change protests (Just Stop Oil, Last Generation, Extinction Rebellion) are just yelling into the void? I can think of three reasons: (1) the elites (Davos and tech billionaires, for example) think that it’s too late and too difficult; (2) climate protests almost never address the fact that there are too many people on the planet, and the elites see catastrophes as a way to reduce the Brown and Black population; and (3) political change takes time and imaginative tactics until the opposition becomes exhausted, but we don’t have that time. 

 I’m reminded of the Suffragette protests over a hundred years ago, (rather than – say - the Black Civil Rights movement or the national liberation movements of the 1950’s and 1960’s), because when I look at photos of climate change protests (Google Images), mostly I see women of all ages and colors. Where are the men?

There is the same rage at the indifference of mostly older White men who resent being asked to sacrifice, the same men who control political and economic power - and the police - and who are probably the only ones who could make a significant difference to carbon emissions. Instead, those men think they may as well party on since there’s nothing much to be done. The stupid ones think a few billion deaths is probably necessary; the smart ones don’t think the public is willing to sacrifice. This denial leads to the perennial “activist dilemma” for protesters: how confrontational and disruptive or violent should they/we be in the face of such selfishness?

 The fact is, protesting – especially confrontational protesting - is the only thing that works, and it works for both sides of the political spectrum. Think farmers and their tractors in Europe, gilets jaunes, etc. I don’t care how many people are offended by young protesters throwing soup at famous paintings; it works. Without some violence, nothing ever changes. 

Can we learn anything from the Suffragettes’ struggle? It was the steady progress throughout the 19th century (New Zealand, Australia), accelerated (or delayed) by World War I and World War II, that led to women (and working class men) getting the vote in the U.K. and the U.S. and then in other countries. The women persisted and the men in power became exhausted by it, and they changed direction to try and co-opt it. That gives me hope. In the meantime, I will be doing what I can, and reading some more science fiction, since it’s more prescient than our news media and political culture.

Also see The Rokeby Venus.