Documentary Disucssion
April 8, 2024 By: Danielle Fernstrom
Civil disobedience in the name of environmental protection comes with many intentional and unintentional effects as it can shape the ways a society perceives environmental topics. Civil disobedience has an honourable history; the question of importance is whether a particular group on a particular matter is deemed justified in such actions1. The justification of the actions is just as crucial as the justifications of the outcome. Many ethical theories such as Kantian ethics and Utilitarianism regard an action unethical if the method to achieve the outcome is unethical to start with. With civil disobedience for the sake of the environment it is crucial to remember that an ethical outcome does not necessarily cast a shadow to cover all actions taken to achieve it. An example of this is the contrasting public response to the activists in British Columbia responding to the National Energy Board’s approval of the Northern Gateway oil pipeline with threats of illegal activism1. One Vancouver writer has argued that potential civil disobedience against the oil pipeline is akin to historical protests in favour of female suffrage, slavery, indentured servitude, and against clear-cutting forests. Whereas, others argue such civil disobedience would be inappropriate, and detrimental to society as it would overturn the assumption that people are free to engage in lawful commerce1. The nature of the threatened protests over Northern Gateway are not your grandmother’s civil disobedience in which great injustices were challenged by brave people willing to suffer jail, violence, and much more to right those wrongs that afflicted the daily lives of millions1. With a historical look back the practices that were being challenged by civil disobedience were generally regarded as indubitably wrong, whereas the current day social disobedience is not discussed with the same certainty. While actively living in the social norms that are producing the contestable behaviour it is not as easy to see right from wrong. Looking back at history the motives and the justifications for the civil disobedience is not clouded by personal stakes in the matter.
References
- Milke, Mark, and Kenneth P. Green. “Not Your Grandmother’s Civil Disobedience: Op-Ed.” Fraser Institute, May 19, 2020. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/not-your-grandmothers-civil-disobedience.