{"id":724,"date":"2024-09-11T17:37:33","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T17:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/ipra\/?p=724"},"modified":"2024-11-04T23:40:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T23:40:17","slug":"oil-kills-treaty-end-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/ipra\/2024\/09\/oil-kills-treaty-end-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the international uprising disrupting air travel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new international coalition is disrupting airports to make one demand: the adoption of a treaty to end fossil fuels by 2030<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the banner Oil Kills<\/a>, small groups of activists have occupied airport departure lounges, plane cabins, terminals, tarmacs and roads across three continents \u2014 and they aren\u2019t done yet. Here are the numbers so far<\/a>: 500 people, 31 airports, 22 groups, 166 arrests, 42 people on remand in prison \u2014 all in support of their one demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coalition formed when members of Extinction Rebellion<\/a>, the A22 Network<\/a> and Stay Grounded<\/a> began reaching out to other groups globally. What resulted was an unprecedented alliance of civil resistance groups focused on the sustained disruption of airports<\/a> \u2014 a key pillar of the fossil fuel economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unifying aims, collective strategy and diverse tactics<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All Oil Kills participants are committed to nonviolent direct action and to the central demand, but from there, individual creativity and context has led to an array of actions<\/a>. The resulting structure is a decentralized yet cohesive power bloc with unified aims that becomes more than the sum of its parts, rather than a lowest common denominator coalition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each participating group has adopted the central demand<\/a> that governments must work together to establish a legally binding treaty<\/a> to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030, as well as supporting and financing poorer countries to make a fast, fair and just transition. But each local group also brings its own unique knowledge and demands which are in turn supported by the coalition<\/a>. Futuro Vegetal<\/a> in Spain, for example, focuses on the imperative to adopt a plant-based agri-food system while Students Against EACOP<\/a> in Uganda demand a stop to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline \u2014 and all stand in solidarity with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each group also brings its own creative tactics<\/a>, from airport glue-ins, to plane occupations, to spray-painting terminals, to street marches. \u201cThe airports don\u2019t know what to expect because we don\u2019t even know exactly what to expect from each other \u2014 it\u2019s beautiful and effective,\u201d said a coalition member who requested to remain anonymous for legal reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the initial whirlwind of actions in July<\/a>, with 37 arrests over the first two days alone, disruptions have continued steadily across three continents, with especially relentless activity in Germany<\/a> where Letzte Generation<\/a> has held several actions<\/a> in multiple airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Aug. 9, Students Against EACOP in Uganda<\/a> joined the Oil Kills campaign, planning a peaceful march to the parliament in Kampala and the delivery of a petition demanding an end to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline<\/a>, and for their government to sign the treaty to end fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Police
Police arrest an activist who reached the Ugandan Parliament. (WNV\/Busein Samilu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the police mounted roadblocks to stop the march from starting, and arrested 45 student activists<\/a> on public buses and their three bus drivers on arrival. Two students managed to slip away and regrouped<\/a>, reaching the parliament building with petition in hand before also being violently arrested<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamya Carlos, a student at Kyambogo University and spokesperson for Students Against EACOP, connects the inequitable and ecocidal nature of today\u2019s airline industry to its origins in neocolonial extractivism. \u201cNew oil, gas and coal infrastructure continues to exacerbate the climate crisis. As the global temperatures hit their tipping points it is clear that projects such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline should never be constructed in the first place,\u201d he said. \u201cThese projects, which end up being used almost exclusively by rich people and polluting the atmosphere, should never be allowed by right thinking members of society. We demand the government to sign a fossil free treaty and call an end to EACOP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though police repression represents a major threat, on Aug. 27, 20 climate activists<\/a> and persons affected by the oil pipeline came back out in another peaceful march to petition Uganda\u2019s Ministry of Energy. They were again violently dragged from the street<\/a> by police in fatigues and held on remand until Sept. 6, when the court finally granted their release on bail. All 20 have been ordered to appear for a hearing on Nov. 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe resilience under extreme repression shown by Students Against EACOP is an inspiration and metaphor for the Oil Kills movement,\u201d said Jamie McGonagill, an Oil Kills member from XR Boston. \u201cWe refuse to die.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t arrest a rising sea<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As of this writing, 22 Oil Kills activists remain in custody in Uganda, six in Germany and 14 in the U.K. Speaking to the increasing criminalization of dissent, McGonagill explained that \u201cdraconian responses that imprison nonviolent climate activists<\/a>, especially as we\u2019ve seen lately in the U.K.<\/a> and in Uganda<\/a>, show that the authorities misunderstand us. They will not stop us. We will just get more and more creative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Previous Coverage<\/h6>
  • \"Activists<\/a> Confronting DC’s gas problem<\/a><\/li><\/section>\n\n\n\n

    Oil Kills is not alone in facing repression. On Aug. 8 in New York City, a 63-year-old grandfather and professional cellist, John Mark Rozendaal, was arrested and hit with a criminal contempt charge, carrying a maximum sentence of seven years in jail, for performing Bach\u2019s \u201cSuites for Cello\u201d at Citibank\u2019s headquarters. Rozendaal was participating in the Summer of Heat<\/a> campaign to pressure Citibank to divest from fossil fuels through sustained nonviolent civil disobedience. Connecting this case to the burgeoning international movement, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor, in following Rozendaal’s case, has expressed<\/a> her \u201cstrong concern\u201d at the severity of the charges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In a disturbing trend<\/a> that has become the new normal in Italy, peaceful eco-activists are being branded a \u201cdanger to security and public order,\u201d served with specious charges, banned from cities without trial, and criminalized under anti-terrorist laws intended to prosecute the Mafia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Last week in the U.K., several high profile journalists and activists affiliated with the movement for Palestinian liberation were arrested in a sweep<\/a> by counter-terrorism police for their opposition to genocide. They have been held under Section 12 of the U.K.\u2019s Terrorism Act, which outlaws support for a \u201cproscribed organization.\u201d Such an application of the law<\/a> would mean that you can go to jail for 14 years for expressing an opinion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    XR NYC organizer Meg Starr, a long-time Puerto Rican solidarity activist and coordinator of the XR Allies sub-circle, noted that the links between genocide and ecocide \u2014 in Palestine and elsewhere \u2014 are becoming clearer and more important to emphasize. \u201cOur targeting of Citibank,\u201d Starr commented, \u201cincluded a focus on Citi’s major support of the Israeli military as part of their role as the world’s leading financier of oil and gas expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, was recently sentenced to five years in prison<\/a> for making a speech over Zoom in what is being called a \u201cgrotesque sham-trial<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n