Imagine 1,000,000 people were willing to sit in the road blocking the nation's oil refineries, refusing to move until the government committed to quit fossil fuels in line with an actual carbon budget.
It would have a huge effect. After a few weeks the government would be forced to negotiate (including for amnesty for those arrested).
If 20 people did it (and they have) it probably wouldn't even get a headline, and they'd probably be jailed.
So: how many people would have to commit to such a plan before you would sign up? [Poll below]
(I know it would rely hugely on white/cishet/etc privilege. And it would need huge funds for bail, support, infrastructure, etc. For the sake of argument, assume that was in place.)
@RhinosWorryMe I think unions can be a good compromise as their goal is to improve individuals' conditions of economic exploitation while trying to end it as a whole.
@RhinosWorryMe Hmm they don't argue for brutally shutting down factories and leaving workers helpless, and there are even complex problems related to e.g. corporatism, but at least where I live, in France, we try to push back against the bourgeoisie and thus, also for the environment.
@RhinosWorryMe Honestly I may be pushing for the tools I know and that I've learned to use despite their own flaws. Maybe you're also pushing for your own tools. There are also plenty of bad unions here in France so you may get disappointed by pushing very hard to form one and then see it turn to mud. But I also don't think we would get the many attacks we get here on our social State (on retirements, social security, joblessness coverage, etc.) if 40% of us were in a decent union.
I think the place of unions would be to push the government to support workers during the transition, provide retraining to renewable industries, etc.
But the problem I'm tackling here is that if the fossil fuel industry continues, even for a few years, many million (more) people will die. It has to stop.
If unions accepted that, and helped fight for a just transition for workers, that would be wonderful. If they fight to keep the industry going ... they're on the wrong side.
