Climate activism needs 'respect, service, trust'

Justin Rowlatt, the BBC’s environment correspondent, recently sent me a bunch of questions about the winding down of Just Stop Oil’s direct action operations. I wrote back to say that the most important thing about JSO was its culture of respect, service, and trust. 

This was the goose that laid the golden eggs of sustained mass civil disobedience. Unsurprisingly, even though I am a co-founder and coordinated the dramatic mobilisation of the organisation, this key point did not find its way into his report. 

What really creates success is largely invisible. When I was doing my years of research at King’s College on the dynamics of mobilisation, I was amazed at how little attention there was in politics on culture as opposed to power. 

READ: OUR MOVEMENT POWER SERIES

Proactively

The fact is, however, that culture trumps power. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than on the populist right. 

There’s a widespread defeatist assumption in progressive circles that the domination of the far right is now a foregone conclusion — with Donald Trump’s second term as president in the US, and Nigel Farage’s massive surge in the recent council elections in the UK. 

I totally disagree. As usual, people on the left tend to buy into the right’s frame and worldview — and then unsurprisingly conclude it’s all hopeless.

In my view, the reason why Extinction Rebellion and then Just Stop Oil became social movements involving tens of thousands of people was because of proactively designed, pro-social cultures.

Some readers may remember that before these organisations emerged, direct action groups rarely grew to a large size. 

Serving

Actions involved a few dozen people, occasionally a few hundred. The networks were closed, highly ideological, and lacked diversity — mainly just young, middle-class people.

To build a movement, you need a systematic, outward-facing mobilisation strategy that goes directly to the public across the country, via public meetings, assemblies, and social media.

As ever, it’s the small things that count: being welcomed at the door; splitting into small groups for a chat; clear options for further action.

Basically, people need to be nice. “Nice” is a terribly vague word, but we all know what it means. 

There needs to be check-ins at the start of meetings. People don’t want to be interrupted, shamed, or pushed out. There needs to be a clear moral code: serving the good, rather than grasping for power.

Machiavellian

People need to work in teams where everyone is respected and things are done together. Organisers need to be appreciative, supportive, and show their vulnerability when they mess up.