Europe’s climate activists face ‘repressive tide’
POLITICOAug 30, 2023
Facts
- Dutch police detained an additional 500 climate activists on Sunday, a day after arresting nearly 2.4K out of an estimated 10K protesters blocking the A12 highway into The Hague. Some of those demonstrating were minors.
- The activists were reportedly demanding the government put an end to the use of billions of taxpayer Euros to subsidize the fossil fuel industry.
- Police also deployed water cannons to disperse protesters after they allegedly threatened to "stay or come back every day" until the government rolled back the financial support.
- Activists from multiple climate groups — including Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace — reportedly ignored police warnings and prevented traffic heading to the temporary venue for the lower house of parliament.
- This comes after the Netherlands announced in May that it would spend €28B in the coming years to ensure it lowers CO2 emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
- According to a report published on Monday by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, the government of the Netherlands spends around €37.5B ($40.5B) per year in subsidies for industries that use fossil fuels.
Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
Climate activists' actions are effective precisely because they work to bring attention to the climate crisis, especially to the fact that extreme temperatures are a sign of the future facing humanity if we fail to abandon our over-reliance on fossil fuels. The Netherlands must heed these protestors' warnings and repeal subsidies for industries that are threatening the planet.
Pro-establishment narrative
As the Netherlands aims to make the energy sector carbon neutral by 2035, climate activists' destructive and disruptive protests cast doubt about their intentions. There are a myriad of peaceful, civil, and reasonable ways to protest climate and ecological breakdown that don't involve taking a country for ransom.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that global CO2 emissions will peak by June 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
