reading snail reviewed How to Blow up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm
rethinking malm
2 stars
i've read the book two months ago - initially i've been pretty convinced by it (with the exception of apporving eco-leninism) esp because i think he's generally right with the case of property destruction. however, as somebody already pointed out, he does not give any information on how to do that. additionally, while he aims to critizise overly moralistc arguments for liberal peacefulness, he's pretty moralistic himself. prperty destruction alone won't make a revolution. he also never acknowledges that the climate movement in europe already faces state repression, and in other parts of the world even more so. he doesn't ever speak of the nessecity of support systems and care structres. his focus on property destruction alone, while ignoring everything else, stinks of having patriachal hero figures in movements which undervalue care work even more (bc you know, that's liberal pacifism /sarcasm). there should be an realistic approach to property …
i've read the book two months ago - initially i've been pretty convinced by it (with the exception of apporving eco-leninism) esp because i think he's generally right with the case of property destruction. however, as somebody already pointed out, he does not give any information on how to do that. additionally, while he aims to critizise overly moralistc arguments for liberal peacefulness, he's pretty moralistic himself. prperty destruction alone won't make a revolution. he also never acknowledges that the climate movement in europe already faces state repression, and in other parts of the world even more so. he doesn't ever speak of the nessecity of support systems and care structres. his focus on property destruction alone, while ignoring everything else, stinks of having patriachal hero figures in movements which undervalue care work even more (bc you know, that's liberal pacifism /sarcasm). there should be an realistic approach to property destruction, based on the actual capacities of a given movement in a certain time and space. and if one's arguing for more militant action, they should aknowledge the violent backlash and understand the reasons why people choose and more important don't choose these tactics bc it's not easy to be militant. also his idea of "militants who pressure the state" doesn't really work - why trying to get the state to do A Ecology when it didn't work the years before, bother with militancy that aims for service and not try to connect with grassroots groups to build a better world? maybe that's just a different perspective, as i just don't really agree with him. two things that bugged me additionally are his dismissal of anarchism and his antisemitism. anarchism is esp. big in the climate movement, and anti-athoritarian and grassroots movements are the backbone of climate struggles worldwide. it's just frusttrating that critiques of the nation state are not taken seriously and the diverse range of anarchist and anti-authoritarian ideas, histories and tactics are thrown under the bus. and honestly,i'm pretty done with ML dudes like him glorifiyng palestine and slipping into anti-semitism.