Book : How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm


Synopsis : In this text, 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.


Reading Schedule :

  • Sunday 7th August – Preface and Chapter 1
  • Sunday 14th August – Chapter 2
  • Sunday 21st August – Chapter 3

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Supplementary Material:

Interview With the Author

The Author on Rev Left Radio

When Does the Fightback Begin? - Andreas Malm response to critics of How to Blow Up a Pipeline

  • gaycomputeruser [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    a unit of power generation from fossil fuels is expected to have a lifetime of around forty years. A plant or a pipeline built in 2020 should, from the standpoint of the investor, preferably still be in operation by 2060

    That line is just brutal. We all know capitalists are going to keep burning as long as there's money in it but to see the actual, real numbers, and real investments is just brutal.