Jessie Schwarz draws a distinction between direct action and civil disobedience.
Many don’t, though, which is part of why she tries to clarify the terms.
“I think people use civil disobedience and direct action interchangeably,” she told The Squamish Chief.
Direct action, she says, can refer to a broad range of actions designed to effect social change, while civil disobedience refers to actions aimed at challenging the law.
Civil disobedience is a type of direct action, she explains, but not all direct action is civil disobedience. As an example, she said, people choose many ways to express their views and challenge the status quo even through methods such as planting gardens to grow their food.
“It’s taking action yourself to create social change,” she said.
On Saturday, Schwarz, a former volunteer coordinator for Greenpeace, was in Squamish to hold a training session at the public library for the My Sea to Sky group in its campaign against the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant.
Schwarz trained about 30 people during the session, which started with an overview about the history and philosophy of direct action, such as non-violent civil obedience. She describes it as more of a “101” class on basic methods rather than more complex tactics. Schwarz is a skilled climber and boat driver for Greenpeace.
The session gets participants talking about tactics and techniques, as well as such related issues as safety and legality.
Throughout the day, the participants had the chance to get their hands on equipment such as chains, locks or arm tubes used to join activists’ arms together during actions such as blockades.
“It’s a bit of a show and tell,” she said.
The attendees included some older people as well as students from Quest University. Schwarz said Saturday offered a good cross-section of Squamish.
“The variation of the community was represented in there,” she said.
At the end of the session, Schwarz brought the group outside in the sunshine to allow them more space to role-play for a direct action. The participants even had signs related to the LNG issue as props to give it a real-life feel, which have seemed a bit more true to life than intended. At one point a car drove by the group and made a point of reacting to the group.
“I don’t know if they thought some kind of real action was happening, but they beeped and gave thumbs up,” Schwarz said with a laugh. “Maybe they knew we were playing around.”
During her sessions, Schwarz often hears from people who say they have tried other means to bring about change such as writing letters or holding rallies but have become disillusioned.
“They think change will happen, and it’s not always happening,” she said.
Schwarz has been working on direct actions for more than a decade and does think attitudes are changing about the approach.
“I think people are starting to come around to the idea,” she said.
Since federal government environmental assessment approval of the LNG project in March, My Sea to Sky has been organizing its next steps, which have included public meetings as well as Saturday’s direct action training session.
