How to Blow up a Pipeline - Iridescent Reads for Aotearoa Bookwyrms

Paperback, 208 pages

English language

Published Jan. 25, 2020 by Verso Books.

ISBN:: 9781839760259

(2 reviews)

Why resisting climate change means combatting the fossil fuel industry

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 …

Why resisting climate change means combatting the fossil fuel industry

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.

3 editions

colin reviewed How to Blow up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm

frustrating

2 stars

There's a bunch of other criticism of this book and I don't think I can do any better, but a few notes:

1) This book is way too writerly and the author is way too in love with their flourishes of speech. I almost noped out several times because the author wrote pages and pages of totally frustrating bullshit just to counter it later. 2) The author's clear struggles with the notion that violence might be able to accomplish a goal are understandable but exhausting. I'm honestly not sure that they agree with the premise of their own book. There's so much moralizing and prevaricating about it that I'm not convinced they do. 3) There's an undertone of casual racism throughout the book. I was pretty creeped out by the description of activists sneaking through a dark neighborhood while they deflated tires as a bunch of Indian warriors, There's also …

There's a bunch of other criticism of this book and I don't think I can do any better, but a few notes:

1) This book is way too writerly and the author is way too in love with their flourishes of speech. I almost noped out several times because the author wrote pages and pages of totally frustrating bullshit just to counter it later. 2) The author's clear struggles with the notion that violence might be able to accomplish a goal are understandable but exhausting. I'm honestly not sure that they agree with the premise of their own book. There's so much moralizing and prevaricating about it that I'm not convinced they do. 3) There's an undertone of casual racism throughout the book. I was pretty creeped out by the description of activists sneaking through a dark neighborhood while they deflated tires as a bunch of Indian warriors, There's also a lot of casual comparisons between environmental activists and enslaved people that I don't think hold up to criticism, and there's plenty of Islamophobia scattered throughout the book, especially regarding the notion that terrorism should be a a total non-starter for the environmental movement. 4) This book is basically two really long chapters about how great XR is and how some mild property destruction might help save the planet, and then a third one that purports to offer a little bit of hope at the end of a pretty depressing book but is mostly a chance to slag on a couple of the edgier environmental movements of the last few decades. Malm (rightfully) attacks a few movements that advocated for the need to drop the human population of the globe, but gloms in some movements that didn't advocate for that sort of thing too, and what's worse, a quick web search for "extinction rebellion population control" or something like that will reveal a bunch of XR chapters advocating for the same exact things. 5) A bunch of the actions in the book end with the police showing up and maybe swinging some batons around. I don't think the author has really considered what would happen in the US or China if activists started employing these tactics -- a bunch of people are going to get shot by the police state and their supporters, and they're going to get away with it. It makes the book seem fundamentally unserious.

Anyway, the author could probably get more done by posting a list of all of joe manchin's known addresses and advice on decent sights for a long gun, but I don't think he's ready to admit that.

Rainer reviewed How to Blow up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm

Brutally bleak subject matter, but inspirational in its drive toward radical agency amidst despair and doomerism

5 stars

This book is not a how-to guide for eco-terrorism. It is a theoretical analysis of the tactics that have been utilized by the climate movement thus far. The author chose a catchy title to suggest that violence against property is something that he thinks is necessary.

Also, I have zero intention of ever becoming an 'eco-terrorist' just because I found parts of this book inspiring. I have no intention of committing acts of criminal violence against property or risking my freedom by doing anything similar. I have a 6-month old kiddo who needs his dad to not be in jail or on the lam.

Having said that, this book is one that I think everyone involved in the climate movement ought to read, even/especially if you don't agree with the central premise of this book: that non-violent pacifism in not, by itself, enough to move the needle on meaningful action …

This book is not a how-to guide for eco-terrorism. It is a theoretical analysis of the tactics that have been utilized by the climate movement thus far. The author chose a catchy title to suggest that violence against property is something that he thinks is necessary.

Also, I have zero intention of ever becoming an 'eco-terrorist' just because I found parts of this book inspiring. I have no intention of committing acts of criminal violence against property or risking my freedom by doing anything similar. I have a 6-month old kiddo who needs his dad to not be in jail or on the lam.

Having said that, this book is one that I think everyone involved in the climate movement ought to read, even/especially if you don't agree with the central premise of this book: that non-violent pacifism in not, by itself, enough to move the needle on meaningful action to reduce fossil fuel consumption / GHG emissions.

I'm certainly not planning to blow up a pipeline after reading this book, and it was discouraging to read of the racist history of climate activists in the near past (and the continued racist use of the words "Indians" and "tribes" to refer to groups of stealthy vandals throughout the book). Essentially, people went around deflating tires and used indigenous labels as calling cards. The author acknowledges that might have been insensitive, but then continues using the language extensively.

As painful as it might be, I do think this is a book I'd recommend for climate-concerned folks, if only for its unique perspective, its case for radical agency in the face of crippling despair, and its insistent disavowal of doomerism.