Exercise #4: Documentary Reflection
November 19, 2024 By: Les J
Articles:
https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/05/03/Climate-Change-Activists-Convicted-Civil-Disobedience/
I support the Nanaimo climate protestors and feel that disruptive protests are needed to bring about the transformation required to combat the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. Climate change poses imminent peril to all humanity. However, in this case, Judge Lamperson ruled against the defendants because the threat of climate change is not immediate enough and there are legal alternatives to their chosen methods of protest. The judge accepted that climate change is imminent and an existential threat, however, he disagreed that it prevented the defendants from acting freely. Judge Lamperson noted the defence of necessity had not previously been attempted in Canadian courts. Even in defeat, the protestors’ lawyer felt the trial had broken legal ground by invoking this defence. Future use of the defence of necessity could slowly advance the legal system to provide a better balance between planetary health and corporate profits. Cases like this show that the legal system protects those destroying the planet, prioritizing economics, however, it provides little succour to those trying to save it. Our legal system must evolve with social norms and scientific understanding. I only hope it happens quickly enough.
The Nanaimo defendants’ protest is an example of civil disobedience, a common environmentalist strategy. The documentary How to Change the World showed how one of the earliest modern environmental movements, Greenpeace, used civil disobedience in the early 1970s to advance its agenda. How to Change the World also describes the important concept of using a mind bomb. Corporations use marketing to maintain the status quo and their profit margins. A mind bomb is a public dramatic act that provides marketing for environmentalists to help break through the noise of day-to-day consumerism. Acts of civil disobedience, such as those utilized by Greenpeace and Earth Liberation Front, are disruptive and may lead to significant changes. There is also always the chance that civil disobedience may hurt a cause. The documentary “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” showed that the arson performed by the Earth Liberation Front did not successfully advance their cause among non-environmentalists. The defendants in Nanaimo may have lost their case, but by committing a dramatic act they brought attention to their cause. However, it remains to be seen if this act of civil disobedience will advance or hurt that cause.
References:
Rothwell, Jerry, director, writer. How to Change the World. Insight Productions, & Metfilm Productions, 2015. 1:43:36. https://archive.org/details/how-to-change-the-world_202012
Curry, Marshall. Director, writer, producer, and Sam Cullman, Co-Director, Producer. If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. 2011. Marshall Curry Productions, 1:25:40 https://vimeo.com/video/58984675