In a recent interview with The New York Times, renowned environmental activist and author Andreas Malm has expressed his support for sabotage and political violence as a means to amplify the urgency of climate change.
Malm, known for his book "How to Blow Up a Pipeline," advocates for an escalation in climate sabotage, even if it results in accidents and fatalities.
"I want sabotage to happen on a much larger scale than it does now," Malm confessed to the Times. He added, "I cant guarantee that it wont come with accidents. But what do I know? I havent personally blown up a pipeline, and I cant foretell the future."
Malm's advocacy for sabotage is not new. In 2021, The New Yorker provided him a platform where he argued for the same. However, his stance appears to have intensified over time, shifting from a distinction between harming people and machines to a more radical viewpoint.
The New York Times, in their interaction with Malm, offered him ample opportunities to renounce political violence as a tool for promoting climate alarmism. However, Malm remained steadfast in his stance. The Times acknowledged the difficulty of engaging with someone like Malm, who openly supports political violence, and questioned him, "Why are people open to this conversation?"
Malm attributed this openness to "the desperation that people feel" about climate change. He believes that those who are desperate about the impending climate catastrophe, driven by human-induced weather changes, are more receptive to the idea that current efforts are insufficient.
Criticizing the existing activism against climate change, Malm stated, "All attempts to rein in this problem have failed miserably. Which means that, virtually by definition, we have to try something more than weve tried."
When the Times questioned Malm's confidence in restricting political violence to property damage and not human harm, Malm admitted his lack of assurance. He told the Times, "there are no risk-free options left." He accepts the possibility of human casualties resulting from sabotage driven by climate alarmism awareness as an unfortunate but tolerable outcome. When probed about the potential for death due to sabotage, Malm responded, "sure, if you have a thousand pipeline explosions per year, if it takes on that extreme scale." He reiterated his desire for "sabotage to happen on a much larger scale than it does now," and his inability to "guarantee that it won't come with accidents."
Defending his call for increased sabotage, Malm argued that "existing pipelines, new pipelines, new infrastructure for extracting fossil fuels" are "killing people as we speak." He referred to recent weather anomalies and flooding to substantiate his claims, disregarding the fact that flooding is a natural occurrence.
Malm attributed the deaths resulting from recent flooding in Libya and elsewhere to the "violence of the climate crisis." By framing it this way, he justifies violence as a means of raising awareness about climate alarmism, portraying it as self-defense against weather-related fatalities.
"We need to start seeing these people as victims of the violence of the climate crisis," Malm stated. "In the light of this, the idea of attacking infrastructure and closing down new pipelines is a disarmament. Its about taking down a machine that actually kills people."
Rather than challenging Malm's controversial stance, the Times inquired about how he communicates these ideas to his children. Malm reportedly encourages his children to deflate the tires of SUVs, further demonstrating his endorsement of sabotage as a tool for climate activism.
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