How to Blow Up a Pipeline
How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm, published by Verso Books on January 5, 2021, is a thought-provoking exploration of the urgent need for more radical actions in the climate movement. This 208-page book addresses the ongoing challenges posed by the fossil fuel industry and the inadequacy of traditional protest methods in the face of escalating climate crises. Malm presents a compelling argument for the necessity of escalating tactics to combat ecological collapse, emphasizing the importance of direct action.
In this manifesto, Malm draws on historical examples of social change, illustrating how significant transformations often require more than peaceful means. He discusses the ethics and politics surrounding property destruction and violence, framing these actions as potential catalysts for revolutionary change. Through a narrative that spans various global contexts, from Germany to Iraq, the book delves into the complexities of strategy and the moral imperatives driving the climate movement. Readers will find a nuanced examination of public policy and environmental policy, as well as a critical perspective on the intersection of political economy and activism.
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Property will cost us the earth
The science on climate change has been clear for a very long time now. Yet despite decades of appeals, mass street protests, petition campaigns, and peaceful demonstrations, we are still facing a booming fossil fuel industry, rising seas, rising emission levels, and a rising temperature. With the stakes so high, why haven’t we moved beyond peaceful protest?
In this lyrical manifesto, noted climate scholar (and saboteur of SUV tires and coal mines) Andreas Malm makes an impassioned call for the climate movement to escalate its tactics in the face of ecological collapse. We need, he argues, to force fossil fuel extraction to stop–with our actions, with our bodies, and by defusing and destroying its tools. We need, in short, to start blowing up some oil pipelines.
Offering a counter-history of how mass popular change has occurred, from the democratic revolutions overthrowing dictators to the movement against apartheid and for women’s suffrage, Malm argues that the strategic acceptance of property destruction and violence has been the only route for revolutionary change. In a braided narrative that moves from the forests of Germany and the streets of London to the deserts of Iraq, Malm offers us an incisive discussion of the politics and ethics of pacifism and violence, democracy and social change, strategy and tactics, and a movement compelled by both the heart and the mind. Here is how we fight in a world on fire.
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