Actievoeren tegen Big Oil. Eén hoeraatje voor burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid, twee voor reputatiebeschadiging | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
Volume 44, Issue 3/4
  • ISSN: 0167-2444
  • E-ISSN: 2949-8651

Abstract

Abstract

This contribution discusses the possibilities and limitations of two types of protest: civil disobedience and public shaming. Civil disobedience is characterized by peaceful resistance, whereby activists refuse to obey the law. Public shaming, on the other hand, is a symbolic means of criticism that communicates rejection and condemnation, with a stigmatizing or educational purpose. The two types of actions can be understood as ‘weapons of the weak’ with which social pressure can be exerted on mega-corporate organizations – in particular those of Big Oil – that persistently cause damage and avoid responsibility for it. Both forms of action raise specific moral questions and justifications for them are subject to a number of (strict) conditions. It is argued that Extinction Rebellion’s apolitical strategy is flawed in some respects and that a focus on campaigning against powerful companies – including shaming – may be more rewarding.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2023.3/4.009.STOK
2023-12-01
2024-04-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/01672444/44/3/4/FEP2023.3-4.009.STOK.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2023.3/4.009.STOK&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Adkins, K.“When Shaming Is Shameful: Double Standards in Online Shame Backlashes”, Hypatia34 (2019) 1, 76-97.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Aitchison, G. & Meckled-Garcia, S.“Against Online Public Shaming: Ethical Problems with Mass Social Media”, Social Theory and Practice47 (2021) 1, 1-31.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Aitchison, G.“Coercion, resistance and the radical side of non-violent action”, Raisons Politiques69 (2018) 1, 45–61.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Arlen, G.“Aristotle and the Problem of Oligarchic Harm: Insights for Democracy”, European Journal of Political Theory18 (2019) 3, 393-414.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Arlen, G. & C.Burelli (2022). “Getting Real about Taxes: Offshore Tax Sheltering and Realism’s Ethic of Responsibility”, Ethics & International Affairs36 (2022) 2, 231-258.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Barkan, J.Corporate Sovereignty. Law and Government under Capitalism. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Beck, U.De Wereldrisicomaatschappij, Op zoek naar verloren zekerheid, Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Berglund, O. & Schmidt, D.Extinction Rebellion and Climate Change Activism: Breaking the Law to Change the World. London: Palgrave, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Billingham, P. & Parr, T.“Enforcing Social Norms: The Morality of Public Shaming”, European Journal of Philosophy28 (2020) 997–1016.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Braithwaite, J.Crime, Shame and Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Braithwaite, J. & P.Pettit, Not Just Deserts. A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. BraithwaiteJ. & DrahosP.“Zero tolerance, naming and shaming: is there a case for it with crimes of the powerful?”, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology35 (2002) 269–288.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. ChalmersD.“The Muckrakers and the Growth of Corporate Power: A Study in Constructive Journalism”, The American Journal of Economics and Sociology18 (1959) 3, 295-311.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Chenoweth, E.Vredelievend verzet. Hoe een kleine minderheid de wereld kan veranderen. M.L. Thieme Uitgeverij, 2023. (vertaling van Civil Resistance. What Everyone needs to know, Oxford University Press, 2021).
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Corstens, G.“Strafrecht: tolerante intolerantie”, in: M.Ten Hooven (red.), Ware tolerantie, Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 2022, 205-218.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Davies, W.“Green Populism? Action and Morality in the Anthropocene”, Environmental Values29 (2020) 6, 647-668.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Delmas, C.A duty to resist: When disobedience should be uncivil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Doherty, B., De Moor, J. & Hayes, G.“The ‘new’ climate politics of Extinction Rebellion?”, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/new-climate-politics-of-extinction-rebellion/2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Eden, S.“Greenpeace”, New Political Economy9 (2004) 4, 595-610.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Ekberg, K. et al. Climate Obstruction. How Denial, Delay and Inaction are Heating the Planet, London & New York: Routledge, 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Erp, J. van, “Shaming and Compliance”, in: B.van Rooij & D.Sokol (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Compliance (pp. 438-450). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021a.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Erp, J. van, “Over schade en schande. Shaming en stigmatisering van ondernemingen”, Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit11 (2021b) 3, 33-51.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Feinberg, M., Willer, R. & KovacheffC.“The Activist’s Dilemma: Extreme Protest Actions Reduce Popular Support for Social Movements”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology119 (2020) 5, 1086–1111.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Fousiani, K., & Van Prooijen, J. W.“Motives for punishing powerful vs. powerless offenders: The mediating role of demonization”, Victims and Offenders, 2022. DOI: 10.1080/15564886.2022.2069899.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Friel, S.“Redressing the Corporate Cultivation of Consumption: Releasing the Weapons of the Structurally Weak”, International Journal of Health Policy and Management10 (2021) 12, 784–792.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Frye, H.“The Problem of Public Shaming”, The Journal of Political Philosophy30 (2022) 2, 188–208.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Garcia-Gibson, F.“Undemocratic Climate Protests”, Journal of Applied Philosophy39 (2022) 1, 162-179.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Gunningham, N.“Building Norms from the Grassroots Up: Divestment, Expressive Politics, and Climate Change”, Law & Policy39 (2017) 4, 372-392.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Gunningham, N.“Can climate activism deliver transformative change? Extinction Rebellion, business and people power”, Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, December2020, 10–31.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Huntley, R.How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Jacquet, J.Is Shame Necessary? New Uses for an Old Tool. New York: Vintage, 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Klein, T.V.“Single out the rascals for distinction from their fellows: Realist, Prosecutorial, Yellow, and Radical Muckraking in the Progressive Era”, Media HistoryMonographs21 (2019) 1, 1-59.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Livingston, A.“Nonviolence and the Coercive Turn”, in: W.Scheuerman (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Civil Disobedience, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 201, 254-279.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Matthews, K.“Social Movements and the (Mis)use of Research: Extinction Rebellion and the 3.5% Rule”, Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements12 (2020) 1, 591–615.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. McCormickR.L.“The Discovery That Business Corrupts Politics: A Reappraisal of the Origins of Progressivism”The American Historical Review86 (1981) 2, 247-274.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. McDonnell, M. & King, B.“Keeping up appearances: Reputational threat and impression management after social movement boycotts”, Administrative Science Quarterly58 (2013) 3, 387–419.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Nelen, H., Althoff, M. & Janssen, J.“Boetedoening of lynchpartij? Enkele reflecties over naming & shaming in the 21e eeuw”, Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit11 (2021) 3, 3-15.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. O’Neil, C. (The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation. New York/London: Penguin, 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Pinto, M. & Seidman, G.“Introduction: Shaming: Definition, Historical Origins and Contemporary Proliferation of an Illusiveness Concept”, te verschijnen in: M.Pinto & G.Seidman (eds.), The Legal Aspects of Shaming: An Ancient Sanction in the Modern World. Chaltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4309682.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Rawls, J.A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Sabl, A.“Realist Disobedience”, in: W.Scheuerman (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Civil Disobedience, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021, 153-177.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Scheuerman, W.E.“Why not uncivil disobedience?”, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy25 (2022a) 7, 980-999.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Scheuerman, W.E.“Political disobedience and the climate emergency”, Philosophy and Social Criticism48 (2022b) 6, 791–812.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Schuyt, C.Recht, orde en burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009 [1972].
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Seagrave, J.“Protest in the Face of Catastrophe: Extinction Rebellion and the Anti-Politics of Grief”, Suomen Antropologi47 (2023) 2, 49-73.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Seidman, G.“Naming, Shaming, Changing the World”, in: Courpasson, D. & Vallas, S. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Resistance, London: Sage, 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Shue, H.“Responsible for what? Carbon producer CO2 contributions and the energy transition”, Climate Change144 (2017) 591-596.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Smiles, T. & Edwards, G.“How does Extinction Rebellion engage with climate justice? A case study of XR Norwich”, Local Environment26 (2021) 12, 1445-1460.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Smith, W.“Disruptive democracy: The ethics of direct action”, Raisons Politiques69 (2018) 1, 13–27.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Stokkom, B. van & Bervoets, E.“Vigilantes en digilantes. Democratische spelregels voor burgerpatrouilles en opsporingsmeutes”, Cahiers Politiestudies43 (2017) 2, 135-144.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Stuart, D.“Tensions between individual and system change in the climate movement: an analysis of Extinction Rebellion”, New Political Economy27 (2022) 5, 806-819.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Thomas, W.R.“The Conventional Problem with Corporate Sentencing (and One Unconventional Solution)”, New Criminal Law Review24 (2021) 3, 397–432.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Tillyris, D.“Political Realism and Dirty Hands: Value Pluralism, Moral Conflict and Public Ethics”, Philosophia47 (2019) 1579-1602.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Veitch, S.“Duty Free”, in: D, Matthews & S.Veitch, Law, Obligation, Community. London & New York: Routledge, 2018.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Walker, E.“Between Grassroots and ‘Astroturf’: Understanding Mobilization from the Top-Down”, in: Courpasson, D. & Vallas, S. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Resistance, London: Sage, 2016.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Walters, W.“Parrhēsia Today: Drone Strikes, Fearless Speech and the Contentious Politics of Security”, Global Society28 (2014) 3, 277-299.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Williams, B.“Realism and Moralism in Political Theory”, in: G.Hawthorn (ed.), In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005, 1-17.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. WintersJ.A.Oligarchy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2023.3/4.009.STOK
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error