the radical methods of the new generation of activists to alert public opinion

Sabotage, in the name of ecology. To change behavior, more and more young people are taking action. During the night of Monday August 22 to Tuesday August 23, in Paris, a group of activists targeted SUVs, whose tires they deflated. “It’s quite satisfying. We know there will be one less car on the road tomorrow”, confides a young girl. A note is left on the windshield to explain the gesture to the owner. Activists hope to discourage them from buying these 20% more polluting car models.

Directly attacking behavior deemed to be polluting is an increasingly widespread form of activism. On the morning of Monday August 22, in the Paris region, a group broke into a golf course, to spread earth and vegetables on the lawn, in order to denounce the water consumption of golf courses during of drought. The work of a generation anxious about global warming, according to Sylvie Ollitrault, researchers in the sociology of activism at the CNRS. “The action must be immediate, and it’s not necessarily more violent, but in any case, it’s much more radical”, she comments. However, these acts can bring activists to justice.