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Pipeline Protesters Aren’t Hypocrites for Driving Cars | Joseph McLean

December 8, 2014

Pipeline Protesters Aren’t Hypocrites for Driving Cars | Joseph McLean.

The rallies on B.C.’s Burnaby Mountain are over. The core work is done, the crowds have dispersed. More than 100 people were arrested up there in the mud and rain, before the injunction hit the wall. Scientists and activists, first nations leaders and fresh-faced hippies. Arrested for crossing a line in the forest, a line that turned out to be wrong anyway. In the middle of all this, in the midst of the singing and shouting and media tag teams, Kinder Morgan sunk their test holes into the rock. Burnaby Mountain was stable, they announced — with absolutely no sense of irony.

Opinions run hot around these conflicts, and more is ahead of us. There are many arguments for and against civil protest, but one of the most persistent is that these people are hypocrites. That if you drive a car, take a plane, use hairspray, or otherwise consume fossil fuels in any way, you have no right to stand up.

This comparison is troubling for a number of reasons. First of all, it seeks to reduce the legitimate and complex public concern for this project. Never mind questions ofland sovereignty, spill danger, local jurisprudence, or the loss of provincial independence. Don’t worry about National Energy Board changes that exclude public input and ignore climate science. So what if Bill C-45 exempts pipelines from the water protection act. All you need to know is that protesters really don’t like oil. And yet they drive trucks and wear polyester clothing, can you believe it!

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