October 14, 2021
Is destroying property an act of violence? Or throwing a pie in someone’s face? How about blowing up a pipeline?
In other words: Where do you draw the line?
It isn’t just an abstract philosophical question. Although we at Adbusters condemn violence, in the code-red struggle for humanity’s future we concede that we all have to look deep within and ask ourselves: How far are we willing to go?
As Extinction Rebellion has claimed, it might just take a few of us upping the civil-disobedience ante — getting arrested or even going to jail — to win the planetary endgame. So we asked our followers on Twitter and Reddit: “How long would you be willing to go to jail for to pie the CEO of ExxonMobil?”
For some responders the bar is high and restrictive. On Reddit, 36% of you said “Not a chance.” On Twitter, 40% said the same.
But for others, it’s low and permissive. Nearly 20% of our Twitter respondents said they would be willing to go to jail for a whole year. Over 22% on Reddit agreed.
Clearly not everyone is ready to live viscerally. But it might only take a small number of gutsy monkeywrenchers — say, 500 worldwide — to catapult the Pumpkin Pie Rebellion into a revolutionary new tactic that consistently makes headlines, forces world leaders to stick to their carbon commitments, and help nudge humanity onto a sane sustainable path.
So, whaddya say: Do we have 500 highly disciplined and organized pie throwers out there? Or shall we just keep on blocking roads and marching in the streets as we always have?
The Third Force