I was with the protestors that blocked the road to the Burning Man Festival on Sunday, August 27th, and would like to share my perspective as a climate activist — particularly the goal of the road blockade and how it feels to take on this problem that isn’t a problem, the conundrum, wicked problem, super wicked problem that has no simple answer, that global heating will not stop with current systems in place.
The instigators of the idea to confront the Burning Man festival with the need to do better in following its principles were a couple of ‘Burners,’ people who had been to Burning Man many times and whose lives had been positively affected by their experiences.
Artists Emily, a lioness with a mane of red-blond hair and boundless energy, and Tom, a hulk of a man with a passion for social justice, believed that the people attending Burning Man, ‘their people,’ would be receptive to an anti-capitalist message and a call for Burning Man to up the ante on its change-making action. They helped form Seven Circles –a coalition of activists representing the climate groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Rave Revolution, and Scientist Rebellion. I was there as a member of Extinction Rebellion.
Having done a couple of roadblocks myself, and having seen how angry folks can get when prevented from driving and going about their business even for a few minutes, I was less hopeful that people would rally around our cause. But not having been to Burning Man and not wanting to dim Emily and Tom’s enthusiasm, I was glad to help with the action.
The plan was to block the road to Burning Man with a trailer and create a display with a row of the International Flag of Planet Earth in the background, a large round cutout of the earth stating, ‘Burners of the World, Unite!’ and slogans — ‘Abolish Capitalism,’ ‘System Change’ and ‘General Strike for Climate’ in the forefront. I brought a Ban Private Jets banner with me from Seattle to add to the mix.
Four activists would be chained to the trailer and locked to each other through PVC pipe. They were in red, or arrestable, roles. I agreed to play a green-to-yellow non-arrestable role. Since some activists were unable to attend due to COVID and transportation snafus, there were only two of us to be in the police liaison position (talk to the police when they arrive) and peacekeeper/de-escalator (calm folks down and ensure public safety) and also to hand out flyers explaining the event and asking folks to sign the petition asking Burning Man to follow its own principles and stressing:
BURNING MAN HAS A DUTY TO ACT- We are facing climate and ecological breakdown and our economic system is the driving force. As a conscious community we must: 1. BE RADICALLY HONEST: Admit that infinite growth is incompatible with sustaining the Earth’s systems and that the green transition is a lie perpetuated by those in power. Burning Man must advocate for system change on both political and economic levels. 2. MOBILIZE OUR COMMUNITY: Formally issue a call to action to the Burning Man community, urging Burners to actively participate in direct action and support general strikes to initiate system change. This effort should be done in collaboration with existing social justice and environmental movements. 3. LEAD BY EXAMPLE: Ban private jets, single use plastics, unnecessary propane burning, and unlimited generator use per capita.
Even though we had a skeleton crew, were committed to going through with the action because, beyond determination, we had a professional videographer, some press contacts confirmed to be there, and a lawyer as a legal observer. Holly, the other non-arrestable, and I agreed to pass out flyers as time allowed and peacekeeping as the need arose. When the police arrived, she would be the police liaison.
The day of the event went as planned, but also not so. When the trailer was parked, we needed to move quickly to get all the signage in place. Tom, the artist, was also in a red lockdown role and it was hard to do both things at once. The Burners, who were supposed to be understanding and aligned with our cause were instantly enraged, yelling epithets at us, moving the signs, and trying to push, pull, or drag the metal trailer out of the way.
I was able to use the Peacekeeper training I’d had to empathetically listen to some angry drivers.
Yes, it was an imposition, I agreed.
Yes, folks going to Burning Man already might be aligned with the cause of driving Teslas and going vegan but we were there to say that’s not enough.
Yes, there are always other places to protest.
Yes, people don’t like to be inconvenienced.
My job was not to debate but to maintain calm. I offered the handout to those that were amenable.
But so many were full of fury. One man, who was extremely angry and edgy — yelling a stream of insults at us, began riffling in the back of his truck. I was afraid he had a gun, but he came out with a strap that he intended to pull the blockade trailer out of the way with his truck.
The next few minutes were a bit of a blur. Folks managed to move the trailer to the right so they could drive in the opposite lane of traffic around the blockade. While the line of traffic heading into Burning Man grew quickly, there were also a few cars and trucks wanting to head out. A couple of indigenous people of the Paiute reservation were angry that we were on their land and they could not leave. We made it a priority to stop any incoming trucks so they could head out.
There was chaotic activity as the protestors locked in with chains, Holly and I prevented trucks from injuring anyone and also enabled traffic heading off the reservation to leave. We were replacing moved signs and trying to keep things together until the police arrived.
Someone from our group overheard an onlooker say that they were going to call the police and say someone in the line of cars had a gun to make the response faster.
Thirty-six minutes after we’d begun the lockdown, the police arrived. Their response was brutal, unsafe, and uncalled for. You can watch the video here but be warned that it is upsetting. We were peaceful, unarmed protestors.
Holly, the police liaison, never had a chance to talk to a police officer because one of them had taken out a gun and forced all the protestors to get to the ground. Then, the one person who had no intention of getting arrested, but was set to talk with officers to best resolve the protest situation with the chained protestors willingly being arrested, Holly who was there to help the protest come to a peaceful conclusion, had her head brutally smacked on the pavement and was handcuffed. The same officer turned around and ran up to the legal observer lawyer who was standing off the road away from the action. The officer also shoved him down and handcuffed him as well.
I decided that although I had sat down when the officer had pointed the gun, it wouldn’t do any good to have them arrest me. So, I stood up and backed away toward the line of vehicles and onlookers. I had the car keys! I would need to bring IDs left in the vehicles and drive the cars away later.
The next couple of hours were a strange story that was shared by the detained activists when they were released. The police officer, who came in car-ramming and guns blazing, was strangely polite and accommodating. As a former veteran, had he switched into combat mode when alerted to the crisis? With the adrenalin gone, was he then able to behave in a peaceful, socially acceptable way? I don’t know.
I do know a lot of right-wing trollers on social media thought the police’s approach ‘restored order’ and we were ‘asking for it.’
But there never seems to be the right place or time to protest the devastation that capitalism is wrecking on people and the planet. Instead of outrage at the poly-crisis we are living in, people become incensed with the activists trying to bring the issue to the forefront.
Go to city hall!
Stand on the side of the road!
What about China and India?!
I’ve heard it all before and I’m especially concerned that half of the states in the US have criminalized environmental protest and the media is not covering this. You can learn more about this by listening to this ‘Drilled’ podcast, How the Media has helped to Criminalize Climate Protest by Amy Westervelt, a climate reporter.
One statement that caused some pause was when an activist said, “What, you’re furious that we’re making you late for the party?” The angry Burner had no reply.
I realize that people waiting to go to Burning Man were forced to wait in the heat, in their cars.
Recently other folks have been forced to lose their homes and lives in Canadian and Maui wildfires, or in the countless ‘natural’ disasters fueled by global heating.
We are living in a wicked poly-crisis. I hope that folks going to Burning Man, and people in general, can do a little less self-awakening and a little more self-reflection on how we are all living in this wicked problem poly-crisis and that shifting blame to others or thinking only of ourselves will not get us out of it. To quote the Seven Circle’s Coalition statement,
Our ancestors and future generations are calling on us to resist comfort and silence. Will we be able to proudly claim that we were on the right side of history? Alone we are weak, but together we are strong. Join us in the pursuit of a better tomorrow by signing this petition NOW.
WHY? Our leaders have lost their minds. They are blinded by profit$! The 500 wealthiest Americans made $852 billion in the first 6 months of 2023 alone. But you might ask, what does this so-called ‘success’ have to do with the climate? We are experiencing record CO2 in the air (425 ppm) that is burning our forests and boiling our oceans. Our growth dependent economic system, capitalism, is responsible for these excessive emissions.
The reality of climate collapse is here and now. However, we can still avert societal collapse if we’re willing to change course. We must redistribute wealth to build a bottom-up world where everyone is taken care of, cool off the economy, and bring down emissions. Even the White House and United Nations admit that we must slash CO2 emissions to more than half by 2030, yet we find ourselves moving in the opposite direction with emissions ever increasing. Achieving NET ZERO by 2050 is a lie and there is no such thing as a seamless green transition.
Both political parties, big corporations, fossil fuel companies and even the media are deeply intertwined. They are gambling with our future, betting on technology as our savior. Business as usual is suicide.
WE ARE IN THE SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION. The Burning Man 2023 theme is “ANIMALIA.” While we celebrate the animal kingdom, we must acknowledge that the animal population has declined by almost 70% since 1970 due to human consumer-driven activity.
SYSTEM CHANGE IS MATHEMATICALLY INEVITABLE The only choice we have is how soon we embrace it or wait until external factors force it. The difference means extinction. Liberty at the cost of future generations isn’t liberty, it’s tyranny.
As James Baldwin so beautifully stated, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
I hope we can turn the anger away from the activists and toward the cause of our crisis, the extractive, exploitative system that has had the effect of heating the world, and our tempers.
Andrea
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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Photo credit: iStock.com
