David Suzuki was right, but the BC Government started pipeline violence.

David Suzuki told CHEK news during an Extinction Rebellion rally in Victoria BC, “We’re in deep deep doo-doo. They’ve been telling us, the leading experts, for over forty years. This is what we’ve come to. The next stage after this is there’re going to be pipelines blown up if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on.” 

 

As he elaborated a few days later, “We’ve come to a time where civil disobedience is what we have to do now — to put our bodies on the line — because if we don’t do this, then I fear what the next stage will be, which will be people will start to blow up pipelines” 

 

After several days of non-stop criticism from various Tories, far-right commentators like Ezra Levant and other climate criminals like BC’s minister of public safety, Mike Farnworth, David Suzuki apologized for his remarks.

 

Suzuki was not saying that he advocated such tactics, only that people are feeling desperate enough about the climate emergency that sabotage may occur. He is correct.

 

What was missing from the discussion is the fact that the pipeline projects are already violent and that violence comes from the government and police.

 

State violence 

 

Mike Farnworth is no stranger to violence. The BC NDP has been using violent attacks by the RCMP again and again to pave the way for resource companies’ profits. Two years ago they invaded Wet’suwet’en to arrest indigenous land defenders and at Fairy Creek where over 1,100 people have been arrested for demanding that the NDP live up to their campaign promise to halt old-growth logging. 

 

Just days before Suzuki’s comments, Minister Farnworth sent the RCMP, armed with machine guns and attack dogs, into Wet’suwet’en nation to remove Indigenous land defenders again. Heavily armed RCMP broke into buildings with axes and then burned them down after arresting 32 people during an invasion that lasted several days.

 

These violent attacks are to try to force through a gas pipeline which will create as much green house gas emissions as adding two million gasoline powered cars to the roads in BC.

 

In response to the invasion, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) stated, “We are absolutely outraged that the Province of BC authorized a military-style raid on peaceful land defenders in order to allow Coastal GasLink (CGL) to build their Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline, while much of the Province is suffering from life-threatening, catastrophic flooding related events. The Province of BC continues to pretend that LNG can be clean energy and is a so-called ‘transition fuel’ when we know that LNG production carries critical environmental and health risks and is a non-renewable source of energy that requires incredibly large amounts of our precious water. Prioritizing fossil fuel expansion while British Columbians grapple with a climate emergency is an alarming, criminal and incredibly poor decision by Premier Horgan and Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. We are calling on BC and Canada to recognize and uphold Indigenous Title and Rights, including the right to self-determination, and institute a moratorium on fossil fuel expansion in the wake of clear and present climate catastrophe.”

 

David Suzuki was right. If the provincial and federal governments continue expanding oil and gas extraction while climate disasters pile up, desperate people will surely try to shut down this infrastructure in any way they can.

 

However, the real violence always comes from the state. The BC NDP and the Federal Liberals are committed to getting every last drop of oil and gas out of the ground by any means necessary. And that includes beatings and arson by the RCMP. It’s up to the rest of us to build the solidarity that can stop them.