Documentary Reflection

June 22, 2025 By: Sunia Khan

A recent Reuters report describes the repeated A12 highway blockades in The Hague, where Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters halt traffic to demand an end to the Netherlands’ multi-billion-euro fossil-fuel subsidies (Boztas, 2023). Seeing thousands of people voluntarily risk arrest made me think of the documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (Curry & Cullman, 2011), which we watched in Unit 4. That film traces how a small group of U.S. activists escalated from peaceful forest‐defence rallies to nighttime arson against lumber companies, and how the resulting “eco-terrorism” label ultimately eclipsed their message. XR’s Dutch activists are careful to remain non-violent, but they use the same core tactic the ELF once used- disruption- to push the climate crisis into headlines and parliament. Personally, I support their goal of ending fossil subsidies, yet I worry about alienating the public; If a Tree Falls shows how quickly public sympathy can evaporate if tactics cross a line.

Whether civil disobedience “works” depends on what follows the disruption. XR’s blockades have already spurred the Dutch House of Representatives to commission a formal roadmap for phasing-out subsidies; XR suspended actions to monitor progress, suggesting that strategic non-violent pressure can yield measurable policy movement. For comparison, the 2024 “Summer of Heat on Wall Street” campaign in New York staged weekly die-ins outside Citibank, spotlighting bank-financed fossil projects (Patterson, 2024). Although less disruptive than highway blockades, the campaign generated sustained media coverage and amplified shareholder pressure that forced Citigroup to review its fossil-lending portfolio. Both cases echo lessons from If a Tree Falls: direct action grabs attention, but lasting change comes only when activists pair disruption with clear demands and maintain broad public legitimacy.

In sum, civil disobedience remains a potent tool in the environmental movement- but only when it stays non-violent, articulates concrete goals, and converts visibility into policy leverage. XR’s A12 actions and the Summer of Heat protests show that, when used wisely, disruptive tactics can nudge governments and corporations toward climate accountability- exactly the kind of positive change the documentaries challenge us to envision.

 

References

Boztas, S. (2023, May 27). Dutch court allows climate protesters to keep blocking highway. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/dutch-court-allows-climate-protesters-keep-blocking-highway-2023-05-27/

Curry, M., & Cullman, S. (Directors). (2011). If a tree falls: A story of the Earth Liberation Front [Film]. Marshall Curry Productions.

Extinction Rebellion Netherlands. (2023, September 26). We did it: Fossil subsidies are now on the political agenda. https://extinctionrebellion.nl/en/news/we-did-it-fossil-subsidies-are-now-on-the-political-agenda/

Patterson, B. (2024, July 10). ‘Summer of Heat’ protests target Wall Street over climate finance. The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2024/07/10/climate-wall-street-protests-citi/