How To Resist

There are 100s of ways to resist, and I am a big supporter of diversity of tactics, where various approaches can strengthen each other and everyone can find something to contribute that matches their abilities. That said, people tend to have a preference for low risk performative actions that also tend to be the least effective. I have myself joined marches and large blockades in city centers to demand change, and I think these are important forms of activism to draw people in, to organize, to share knowledge, and to practice skills. But it would be naïve to believe it is enough.

I am convinced that the most powerful, effective, and promising type of action is "direct action". The anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber defined direct action as "the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free." This means, instead of appealing to authorities to change something, actually organizing to change it yourself. Direct action means blocking weapons transports to prevent genocide, it means occupying trees to prevent them from getting cut down, it means filling a boat with humanitarian aid and sailing to Gaza to break the siege. Obviously these forms of action are more demanding and they can be more risky, but the more people engage in this way, the easier it becomes. There are already many activist groups doing direct action. And those who are not able to engage in direct action themselves can still provide essential logistical, financial, and moral support to others doing so. 

Let me emphasize that for many indigenous people worldwide, their very existence is direct action in itself since them literally "holding ground" tends to be in direct conflict with the interests of the capitalist system. Indigenous people have deep connections to ecologically crucial lands worldwide and end up being forced to defend those lands against aggressive capitalist efforts to steal resources. Indigenous land defenders living on the frontlines against extractive industries risk their lives on a daily basis. And not only do they form a physical and legal obstacle to the advancement of capitalism and its insatiable greed, they also keep alive very different cultural views and practices on the place of humans in nature and on social life and responsibilities to fellow human beings. These views and practices may well be a lifeline for the future of humanity. 

The same goes for many other marginalized people whose very existence is a threat to the capitalist system and who are targeted as a consequence. Transgender people, for example, pose a threat to the hypermasculinity associated with white supremacy and the escalation of capitalism into fascism. When I use the word "activist", it is intended to also include all the people who practice resistance by existing. However, this immediately reveals a painful tension, namely the one of privilege, with some practicing activism as a choice and others practicing activism as pure necessity, as a means to survive. It's important for those of us belonging to the first group to recognize our privilege and to be reflective on the most respectful and effective ways to practice solidarity with the second group.  

Now from this it already becomes obvious that direct action doesn't automatically involve civil disobedience, i.e. breaking the law as part of protest. Simply existing usually doesn't break any laws (but let's not forget that some people are considered and treated as "illegals"). However, since direct action challenges business as usual and the assumption that capitalist interests have the right of way, the reaction to it can be extremely violent. Indigenous people living their lives in a place with resources that are desired by outsiders are not doing anything illegal, but they often face severe intimidation, violence, and legal challenges to their rights, backed by big capital. Similarly, the Freedom Flotilla sailing to Gaza with humanitarian aid, aiming to break the siege, is in its right to move through international waters. However, Israel illegally attacks the boats, abducts the activists, and has even murdered ten activists on a Freedom Flotilla boat in 2010.

Civil disobedience can certainly be part of direct action, especially when it means breaking certain laws that are either immoral (e.g. challenging segregation that is legally enshrined) or breaking laws to stop greater crimes from happening (e.g. destroying weapons factories complicit in war crimes). 

Civil disobedience is also often used as a powerful tool to appeal to authorities to change their ways, which per definition is not direct action. This is a very common form of activism, particularly by people who still believe that centralized governance could be made benign, to work for the people instead of for capital. When XR activists block roads in city centers and refuse to leave until they are dragged away by police, they are using civil disobedience to demand their government to do something about climate breakdown. XR and other similar groups like Just Stop Oil and Letzte Generation have definitely made tremendous contributions to reviving and building activist communities, and they have provoked intense public discussions about the climate and about activism, but they usually appeal to power more so than take action on issues themselves. 

While I think this style of civil disobedience does have a valuable role in the activist landscape, I believe direct action can be much more powerful, and activists should reflect much more on the strategic differences and on the ways they shape the outcome. After all, appealing to an authority that is complicit in maintaining the status quo means you recognize the power of that authority. And you become vulnerable to distraction and delays by empty promises of government action, such as declaring a climate emergency, after which nothing actually happens. Taking charge to solve a problem yourself means you are not only doing something concrete, you are also challenging the existing system of power. And isn't that ultimately what we want? To break that system down so that we can create more egalitarian and just forms of social organization?

I already mentioned that direct action can face extremely violent reactions. Actually, different types of protest and/or groups that engage in them, which are considered threatening to the status quo, have been severely criminalized over the past years. Prominent climate and pro-Palestine activists have been targeted by intense police surveillance, harassment, and arrests, as well as court cases and imprisonment. The most recent example, of course, is the British government proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, based on their actions of sabotage against weapons factories and a Royal Air Force base to damage or spray red paint on equipment used in the genocide. Being active for Palestine Action or even just expressing support for the group could now lead to a prison sentence of up to 14 years. 

While the repression of activism, as has happened particularly clearly in the US, the UK, and Germany lately, can be seen as a measure of success of such activism, it of course does mean that some individuals end up paying a very high price for their pursuit of justice. It also leads to the question of how to respond to such repression and how to move forward. Getting all activists imprisoned is obviously not a smart move, and thus, strategies will need to be developed to become more stealthy. 

I think it is crucial that we keep building and strengthening global and local activist networks of solidarity to provide each other with moral, logistical, and financial support in the process of resistance and any consequences that may arise. This is why I would like to use a percentage of the revenue generated through Fist & Fern for mutual aid to activists on the frontlines worldwide. 

Read more on the next page: About Mutual Aid