HS2 — a (partial) template for future environmental action
The news on Tuesday that a second tunnel has been built by anti-HS2 activists on Highbury Corner, this time to counter property development, shows the growing strategy of targeted disruptive environmental protests.
The previous tunnels, built next to Euston Station to disrupt the much-opposed highspeed rail project between London and Birmingham, comes us the latest portrayal of public defiance to the project. Although activists are being slowly removed, the tunnels will act as a barrier to the use of heavy machinery in the area until they are properly filled in, and the ground is once more fully stable.
The HS2 project, despite being billed by HS2 Ltd and the government as environmentally friendly, plans to seriously disrupt 108 separate ancient woodlands, and according to their own figures will never counteract the emissions it has released by reduced journeys. This is based on estimates of travel made before the COVID-induced Zoom revolution, and does not take into account the alternative uses for the £106 billion of government money spent on the project.
Surprisingly, for an act of environmentalist civil disobedience, the tunnelers have gained wide support. Naturally, the Guardian provided broad support, along with in-depth profiles of the activists; perhaps more surprising was the Financial Times’ coverage, albeit via satirical article, which celebrated the tunnelers’ intergenerational element. Most surprising of all was the mixed bag of the infamous Daily Mail comments section. Whilst there were, predictably, a few suggesting the use of violence against the peaceful protestors, there was also support for the strategy of targeted disruption, and anger at the rising cost of HS2.
What this shows is the effectiveness of targeted, highly disruptive acts of civil disobedience. Extinction Rebellion has made its name for the use of mass civil disobedience, bringing London to a standstill on multiple occasions. However, these untargeted actions has also lead to a broad backlash, especially when used against ordinary working people and disproportionately disrupting minority communities. What the tunnelers, and the activists at Murdoch’s printing houses before them, have shown is the effectiveness of targeted action, both in disrupting the status quo and stimulating sympathy amongst the public.
Ash v R, Extinction Rebellion (XR) Netherlands’ ‘Rebellion Project Manager’, agrees that targeted actions have multiple benefits. Such actions “are more accessible than actions aimed at a big and vague problem,” where there’s a risk that the reasoning behind the disruption isn’t clear. “Targeted actions can contribute to a more specific image of what you are protesting against,” making the actions more understandable to the wider public, says van Ree. Reflecting upon XR’s potential plans for the future, they hint that such actions are “a useful template for future activism.”
With a new coal mine planned in Cumbria, and COP 26 being hosted in Glasgow, the potential for targeted disruption is growing for British environmentalists. Of course, this is not to say that the boats and blockades which made XR’s name should be discarded, but simply that a plurality of tactics must be considered by activists in the future. For an example of how these two tactics can be successfully merged, Ende Gelaende provides a great lesson. The yearly actions, focused on fossil fuel infrastructure, have become a focal point for climate activists across Europe, and combines marches, camps and blockades to, in their own words, “Shut Shit Down”.
Although the tunnelers’ tactics have opened doorways to a more varied approach of activism, one can’t help but feel that it’s too little, too late. The battle of HS2, if not already won, will result in government victory. This is not to say that there is no need to put up a fight — to act in the face of defeat gives the tunnelers an almost noble quality — but let’s hope that next time we hear of Swampy (the mastermind behind the tunnels) and Co., there’s an air of optimism of how it might end.
