Episode 4: Arts & civil disobedience - our last resort for climate justice?


In 2015, 1500 activists blocked a brown coal mine in West Germany. It was the start of one of the most radical and effective European movements using peaceful civil disobedience and direct action for climate justice.  

Last year the art exhibition ‘People Powered Movement vs Shell’ showed decades of resistance to the injustices of an oil giant. 

Chihiro Geuzenbroek is a Bolivian-Dutch activist, artist and filmmaker, who played an important part in both events - and many more in a decade of climate movement building. 

In this fourth episode of our climate justice series I went back to my home country of the Netherlands to explore where the movements are at. And to take a deep dive into two approaches that we haven't discussed yet in this podcast, even if we know from history that civil disobedience on the one hand, and music and arts on the other, have been crucial in bringing about change.

We ask Chihiro why it is so important to take a radical approach and how citizen’s direct action, arts and music, can help us turn the tide. We explore what it means to build decolonial and anti-racist movements and organizations for climate justice. 

It was such a pleasure to speak with Chihiro, who puts love and care at the centre of her work and explains that is exactly why we need to be disruptive. Her story says a lot about where movements in Europe are coming from and going to. From being that annoying person asking tough questions - including to NGOs - to being the person that gets hired to train people on inclusion and power. Movements and organizations are starting to realize that we do not only need urgent climate action, we need it to be just. And that means changing the way we do everything.

How? Check out the episode now!

Also: get inspired with this great song https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1121307811719623  

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