
Red Bird #7 | March en masse and target supply chains
Red Bird •It has never been clearer that the institutions of ‘international order’ are a sham.
We have now witnessed over a year of genocidal assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, as well as the wider attacks on the West Bank and the people of Lebanon. These imperial attacks remain supported to the hilt by Western governments like Britain, militarily and financially.
At the same time, we witnessed another farce at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Few pretend we can still limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. With 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists and 480 lobbyists for ‘carbon capture’ attending, the conference was a free-for-all of oil-producing states, like the US, blocking action and facilitating further fossil fuels and false solutions.
In November 2024, marches across Britain brought together ecological activists and those opposing the genocide. In London, this was an important coming together of forces that needed to align. The marches called for an end to the fossil fuel economy and an end to the genocide – particularly through an arms and energy embargo on Israel.
In London, the march started from the British Museum, sponsored by BP in a failing bid to clean their oil-slicked reputation. It then marched past the headquarters of SOCAR, a fossil company notorious not just for its pollution, but its support for the authoritarian state in Azerbaijan.
The focus on BP and SOCAR came from the international call by Energy Embargo for Palestine, Filistin İçin Bin Genç and Global Energy Embargo for Palestine. BP and SOCAR own the BTC pipeline, which supplies Israel with 30% of its oil.
Energy Embargo for Palestine is a crucial example for our movements. Their research on supply chains can inform both the routes of mass marches and the strategies of direct action. By mobilising as part of an international coalition, including comrades from Turkey and elsewhere, they can coordinate action focusing on choke-points in supply chains – particularly looking at pipelines like the BTC which are crucial for Israel’s stability.
Another inspiring example of these targeted international modes of organising is the Mask Off Maersk campaign from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). They produced extensive research on a single major shipping firm, Maersk, to reveal its role in the genocide. Then, PYM used their international networks and allies to build an effective and energising campaign. As a result of their work, ships were turned away from Spanish ports and mass protests then occurred against their docking in Morocco.
In the case of both arms and energy embargoes, in the face of intransigent refusal from governments, enforcement must be secured from below. To build this power, we need to campaign against clear targets, and build effective international networks to exploit vulnerabilities in supply chains.
The tasks are many. We need to collate accurate research on supply chains, connect with comrades in other key sites, agitate and organise with workers internationally for official and unofficial industrial action (strikes!), raise awareness among communities about the death industries on their doorstep and break consensus around that, and externally organise direct action in a sustained manner against target companies.
This smarter, internationally linked up, way of approaching embargoes, allows small victories to have real impact, build momentum, and create long-lasting international links and collective structures.
As campaigns continue against fossil capital, we should learn from the structures and networks of arms and energy embargo campaigns and consider how we can effectively disrupt the supply of fossil fuels and the fossil economy more widely.
Looking at the protests around COP29 and the genocide, we were struck by how much lower the turnout was from the ‘official environmental movement’. The peak of yearly COP protests in 2019 could bring out tens of thousands, yet many of these people were not present this year. This may reflect burnout and exhaustion, but also the need to continue to argue amongst wider ecological circles that the cause of Palestine is the cause of the Earth.
Marches are a time-old tactic for good reason – they are often the first step in mass-politicisation. With a growing number of ecological and pro-Palestine activists facing state repression, we need to redouble our efforts to build relationships of mass politics. Without a renewed number being mobilised on our side, we cannot sustain our current efforts. There remains hope in the hundreds of thousands who continue to march and take action across Britain. Building relationships of solidarity between the pro-Palestine and climate movement is the priority.
Although they may feel less direct, protests continue to play a role, as a gathering space, a listening space, and an opportunity for people engaged in different tactics to meet each other. The opportunity to give a speech about political prisoners, to an audience who may be unaware of the current extent of state repression, should not be passed up.
Don’t just organise to march, march to organise.
Facing genocide and ecological breakdown, it is up to us to force the world to change.
ACTION ROUNDUP
On the 19th November, activists with ASEED, Fossil Free London, and We Smell Gas disrupted ‘European Hydrogen Week’ – a massive industry conference in Brussels organised by the European Commission. At this conference, companies lobby with MEPs, state governments, and with each other to expand the fossil gas economy in Europe.
Activists ‘vomited’ on the conference floor, claiming they were ‘sick’. They then went on to shout to attendees about how sick they were of the greenwashing of fossil gas and sick of the support for ongoing genocide that many gas companies present were involved in. Activists also succeeded in reading out statements from Global Energy Embargo for Palestine to the attendees.
As part of the international call for an energy embargo, on 11 November, protests were staged outside Turkish and Azerbaijani embassies in London, Zurich, Tokyo, Berlin, Dublin and Zagreb. This was as well as the activists in Turkey themselves, Filistin İçin Bin Genç, who have faced significant repression. Turkey remains one of the key states allowing fuel to flow to Israel.
Amongst the well-rehearsed forms of sign waving and statement reading protest at COP29, perhaps the most serious this year was the decision of various small island states to walk out and refuse to legitimise the conference and its non-decisions.
What does it mean for global ecological activism when it’s clear that multilateral action through the COP process is over?
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