Why We Reject Violence, Nuisance Protests, and the Authorities Worldwide

Understanding The Saners

The bottom line is we intend to succeed. We damn well plan to block climate collapse, and replace this ridiculous worldwide civilization with something a hellava lot better.

Let’s start with this:

We aren’t taking down modern society. The authorities are doing that to themselves. They are cooking the Earth, and they can’t operate on a dead cinder remnant of a planet.

What we are doing is focusing on the most destructive acts and will put a stop to them ASAP. This means ending the fossil fuel industry as it exists today. But that will take (some) time, and we hope it will be soon enough.

Studying Movements

I’m not a genius like Gandhi or King. I’m not even close to as talented as Cesar Chavez, an uneducated migrant worker who wasn’t even a great speaker yet started and directed a huge, successful movement.

But I can read and think. And because of this, our group, The Saners, can stand on the shoulders of giants, learn from history, and harness people power in a great cause. Together, we will preserve our planet, and create a humane society planetwide - a society centered on love, a civilization that rejects greed and hate and selfishness and violence.

I’ve been reading, talking with people, learning - all while shaping and launching this new(ish) activist group based on the principles, strategies and tactics I’ve been learning about.

I’m confident that I know enough to start us on the right track. But I absolutely must keep learning and getting better.

Here’s the important point: WE CAN DO THIS.

Rejecting Nuisance Protests. Embracing Nuisance Protesters.

The Saners is not a redundant group. We are different. If an existing group was doing what The Saners is (and will be) doing, I’d have simply joined them.

Right now, most groups fall into two categories: a) nuisance (or even destructive) protesters, and b) lobbyists, reformers working within the system.

We are neither.

The Saners rejects blocking highways and tossing soup at paintings. We absolutely understand the frustration that leads to this approach-and we deeply respect the people taking personal risks in a desperate attempt to draw attention to the cause.

Furthermore, as a group The Saners is already speaking out for jailed protesters-because it isn’t the protesters who should be stopped. It should be Big Oil. The fossil fuel industry is committing crimes against humanity, crimes that endanger all of the creatures that share this planet.

I like paintings and historic artifacts. I’ve collected some. They are part of the human heritage and deserve to be preserved. And I appreciate the frustration of drivers caught in traffic created by climate protesters-although, admittedly, I’ve never owned a car.

But inanimate objects and inconveniences are, in fact, trivial compared to the protection of our biosphere. The Saners take a different approach because we believe theirs will not succeed. We see disruptive and destructive protests as a mistake. They alienate potential supporters and limit the size of their movement.

We also believe that lobbying authorities is a dead end. The political leaders are taking money from Big Oil and other climate criminals. Destruction of the Earth is a firmly established private-public partnership. As a group, leaders in business and industry are neither capable of, nor inclined to do what’s required. They are oblivious to the crisis, they are accelerating the crisis. They are not the solution and we’ve already wasted too much time on them. At least that is the view of The Saners.

Towards the end of our movement, they may concede but that will be too little and far too late.

We need a huge movement to save the world. The potential-what we call the latent climate movement-has 6.4 billion people. That’s how many people worldwide are worried about the climate and want something done about it. That’s a very big number.

The Saners right now has only a few hundred. But we are aiming for the whole 6.4 billion. Reaching them, motivating them, and harnessing their enormous and ultimately unstoppable power is our (very big!) challenge.

But history shows how incredibly fast movements can grow-even movements that were (ultimately) not successful. Most memorable recent example? Occupy. But there were many quick-growing movements.

In any case, here’s just a few of the many principles I’ve learned:

1. Nonviolent movement succeed twice as often as violent ones. (I think that understates it because this only focuses on the immediate issue of defeating a foe, and not on what comes next. Nonviolent movements, I believe, normally have better long term success.)
2. You need to use a variety of tactics and weaken the support for your opponents. Mass protests, while the most visible, are often the wrong tactic. Indeed, they are most often useful towards the end, when victory is in sight. We are working hard to find and execute the most effective sequence of actions.
3. A successful movement must involve all sectors of a society. We haven’t done this-yet. But we are aware and are working on it. Right now, I believe our movement is too old and too white. (No insult intended-I am actually both!) But we need people of every class, every ethnic group, every forgotten or vulnerable group, and also members of the elite. Everyone-because we all live on the same Earth, and because history shows that a narrow movement, an insular movement, usually fails.

Less Ray Katz. More Saner Diversity.

So, I’m reviewing The Saners-our email list, and our followers/subscribers on Medium. I want to know who we have that are not older American white males.

I want to reach out to some of these people directly, elevate their roles and their visibility. I am working towards becoming less of the face of The Saners, and to put more faces forward.

This will inspire a broader and more diverse movement. This is what is required and something that, frankly, inspires and excites me. When you read the history, the most exciting and hopeful part of every movement is when others who were on the sidelines begin joining up.

We need this. And we need to ensure that this movement becomes a dynamic movement with broad participation and reflecting the feelings and concerns of its members, and not just the founder.

Reaching Out To Experienced, Smart Individuals and Groups.

Right now, I’m (just about) good enough. But ultimately, I’m not yet good enough to fulfill my role. So, I’m reaching out. I have certain groups and also some experienced and talented individuals who I am contacting-or plan to.

I hope to get our group really growing and really taking action in the world. The start has challenges but we’ve overcome them.

We exist. We have our goals and principles. We have ideas to communicate and we have a few (starting) actions to take.

But we need to take the next steps. I have ideas on what to do, but I’m less confident in these next steps…which is why I’m seeking wise counsel. At the moment, I’m a little jealous of Gandhi-who had the Indian National Congress, and King-who had a couterie of brilliant civil rights leaders, along with the support of black churches. Right now, when it comes to strategy and the nuts and bolts of activism, I’m alone.

This is actually a personal failing-I’ve always been reluctant to ask for help. But in this case, I need help for the entire Planet Earth-not for myself. Because of this, I find it much easier to ask.

Please stay tuned. If you haven’t yet joined The Saners, please sign up at WeAreSaners.org/join.