Happy Nice Mall

The polluting industries will not abandon their disruptive business models until they are exposed to the public. Unlike people who live thousands of miles away and whose lives have been disproportionately affected by climate change for much longer than we in the Global North, I and many others were born or now live where some live. The world’s largest polluters have headquarters, including Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron and Total. This positional privilege, combined with our responsibility for our historic carbon debt, means that a variety of tactics, including acts of civil disobedience, can be used in the homes of polluting companies to hold them accountable. for their crimes. This privilege also gives these companies direct access to their power structure: their finances, their lobbying power, and their social leave to operate.

It won’t be easy. After all, many people in the past and today have struggled for their rights and freedoms under much more difficult conditions. Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a friend from Sudan, spent years in Australia’s offshore immigration detention centers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. During this time, the detainees organized tirelessly and faced the Australian government policy of keeping asylum seekers there. Eventually most of them were released. A friend from Kenya, Phyllis Omido, and her community in a Mombasa slum began the fight against lead poisoning by a local factory. She was attacked, arrested, and even had to go into hiding after her lawsuit against the government brought more threats against her. In the end, he and his community prevailed, and several toxic waste smelters were shut down.

Speaking for one’s rights is a death penalty In many countries. Traditionally, democratic nations seem to follow a similar path, criminalizing items and activities associated with protest and civil disobedience. In the wake of the 2016 protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, several US states have enacted laws that criminalize trespassing around oil and gas pipelines. In response to protests against coal mining, Australia passed a law in 2020 criminalizing locked devices that activists use to attach themselves to each other, railroad tracks or other objects. And last summer, police officers in Germany arrested other activists in Lützerath over changes in 2018 to a security law known as “Lex Hambi” in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The law, which allows police to detain people for up to seven days to verify their identities, was made in part as a response to climate activists who hide their fingerprints to avoid their identity.

This may be the first time some people have felt such a lack of control over our personal and collective futures. Many of us, especially those of the white middle class, are not accustomed to uphill battles against unequal power structures. Most of us have not been taught how to build community and collective strength in a situation where luck is stacking against us.

In other words, our privilege is being tested. Fortunately, this privilege can also give us the tools and determination to meet this challenge.

I look forward to facing the police and RWE’s security in Lützerath. In reality, I would rather go back to my old life and travel around Antarctica in a science support role. But I know that my privilege gives me responsibilities not only to communities struggling for survival, but also to the global community of all living things. The fight for global climate security is now on our doorstep. To be successful, it will need a culture of resistance and a clear vision of justice and solidarity.

Carola Rackete is a Europe-based ecologist and social justice activist. His book “Now is the Time to Act” was published in English in November 2021.