chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

Never been to , never been sad about it.

Let's just say: no artist could create an installation that more effectively destroys the internal logic of the whole fucking thing, than driving hundreds of miles to bulldoze a climate protest so you can party in the middle of the desert, in the same summer where hundreds were murdered & poisoned by smoke in & & across the .

Edit to add link - https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/burning-man-2023-traffic-jam-protest-highway-18334916.php

@spacehobo I have a lot of friends who take great joy in . To me it always seemed a car-centric sun-worshipping club for rich white tech bros, and I've never made my distaste for the thing secret. But watching the Nevada cops just roll their giant war- boy trucks through a climate protest blockade so people can drive there better... Well, let's just say that it's rekindled my feelings of intense discomfort about the whole enterprise. Aug 28,2023, 11:15 - Edited Aug 28, 11:16 v - @ 13 12- & 1
Seven Circles said the purpose of the protest was “to draw attention to capitalism’s inability to address climate and ecological breakdown” and included three demands, including banning the use of private jets and single-use plastics at Burning Man and for the organization’s leaders to “admit that infinite growth is incompatible with sustaining the Earth’s systems.” Phoenix wrote that five protesters were cited and released, including one from California.

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

Safe to say, Burning Man has utterly jumped the shark.

I knew some cool people who went, but I don't think anyone remotely sensitive to what is going on in the world will be going to next year. So bye-bye to on that one.

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

p.s. Great job calling in daddy sheriff to drive his giant government-funded patrol vehicle over the #ClimateCrisis protest, so you could drive your private car/RV into one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world.

You #CounterCulture #Rebels, you. #BurningMan #Lahaina #Yellowknife

"when onlookers realized it was a climate protest, many quickly became incensed, huffing back to their cars frustrated at the inconvenience...."I don’t care what their argument is, they can go fuck themselves”

...a cultish popularity among Silicon Valley’s technocrats, as well as celebrities, influencers & others who treat the gathering as a photogenic opportunity to network, post selfies, & experiment with psychedelic drugs. Many in these moneyed ranks choose to spend the festival in gas-guzzling luxury RVs. Rising temperatures in Black Rock Desert, which hit a record 103F at last year’s edition, have led to an increasing reliance on air conditioning fueled by generators. Concerns over the illegal dumping of trash have led to federal officials capping attendance at 80,000, against the festival’s desire to continue growing. “Burning Man attracts the elite of the elites to party & pretend they’re in a classless, moneyless society,” said Tommy Diacono, co-founder of Rave Revolution. “But more private jets than ever are flying to the Burn. We’re burning propane for fun. The air-conditioned domes are getting bigger every year” Emily Collins...co-founder of Rave Revolution, added that the tech utopianism woven into Burning Man culture had engendered a sense of complacency amongst many of its attendees. “There are a lot of people thinking, oh, I’'m a vegan, I drive an electric car, I'm working in sustainability...It’s a very technocratic, privileged mindset.” In addition to their concerns over Burning Man’s carbon footprint - which reached 100,000 tons of CO2 a year in 2019 - the activists hoped the protest would highlight how our climate emergency requires wider systemic change...
Many of the Burning Man attendees stuck in the traffic jam did not agree with the activists. Within minutes of the blockade being erected, several people had called the police to report the protesters, while others attempted

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

Oh my god, I hadn't even seen the video.

That ranger drove directly into the group of protesters, some of whom were chained to the trailer blockade. He almost killed her.

Then, he drove around, obviously in a rage, and drove back at the brown-skinned woman chained to the blockade. He rushed out with weapon already drawn, pointed a gun at the women, then violently attacked one, & rammed her head into the bumper of his truck. He was verbally & physically not in control of himself.

image/png
image/png

cmdrmoto,
@cmdrmoto@hachyderm.io avatar

@chargrille @JenWojcik Holy cow. I had to dig around a bit to find a video link that cut to the actual incident, so here’s a succinct clip for anyone who still hasn’t seen: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E9KhLZM1cG4

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

Unfortunately, you really do need to watch the video.

The fascist echo chamber that is Twitter is full of people in the comments to the video, cheering on the police for trying to murder these women with his vehicle.

This is incredibly dangerous, when a society gets to this point. They are peaceful, unarmed protesters.

He committed attempted murder. This bears no resemblance to law or order. This is an extrajudicial assassination attempt.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/aug/28/burning-man-protest-climate-change-environment

https://twitter.com/MichelleLhooq/status/1695952716915450301

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

“If you treated the like an emergency, wouldn’t be a priority."

"What is being late to Burning Man in comparison to having your entire planet on fire?”

  • Mun Chong, the brave as hell woman who that NV Ranger tried to murder with his truck.
chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

30 seconds' warning - & the cop didn't even wait that long before driving straight into them, hitting the trailer to which they were chained. He turned his truck around & yelled through his loudspeaker "I'm gonna take all of you out, you better move" while driving straight back at them.

This is attempted murder.

"A news release from the tribe's chairman, James J. Phoenix, described the incident as a ranger using his patrol vehicle to clear “debris” out of the roadway."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tribal-ranger-draws-weapon-climate-activists-blocking-road-102660277

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

"Videos on social media, however, showed the ranger had slammed his vehicle into the blockade—a metal travel trailer frame that some of the protesters had chained themselves to—then drove back toward the activists while announcing on a bullhorn, “I'm going to take you all out!”

Phoenix declined to answer questions Tuesday from The Associated Press, including which agency is conducting the review into the ranger's conduct & whether the weapon pointed at the activists was a handgun or a Taser"

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

The other officer, by the way, does absolutely nothing to stop the attempted murder and abuse of power.

Both of them should be in jail, not "under review."

And the tribe's chairman, James J. Phoenix, just referred to several human beings as "debris."

One of those human beings, Mun Chong (a Burner & climate activist), showed zero fear in the face of . That's a woman to follow.

terkerjerbs,

@chargrille It's extremely interesting that this affiliate group of protesters chose to hit and it was very well done. The crew who attend that event think of themselves as progressive and hip. The event has been consumed by billionaire chic and private jets and multi-million dollar camps that all burn fossil fuels to keep lights and air conditioners going for the wealthy.

There have been a lot of roadblocks over the years in protest of many causes but I don't believe a single one of them have had as much of an impact as this one. Most end up snaring people while they're on their way to work to support their families. Those tend to hit wrong for a lot of folk. This one caught self-described "spritual warriors" on their way to have fun, and disrupted a lot of vibes. Very well played.

The group is a coalition called Seven Circles

https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/8/30/23852215/burning-man-climate-protest-block-road

chargrille,
@chargrille@progressives.social avatar

@terkerjerbs
I agree.

Except I have no objection to roadblock protests at all. We all adjust ourselves to roadblocks for parades, marathons, hobbies, art festivals, etc. Or effective if "unintentional' roadblocks (i.e., bumper-to-bumper traffic) from people pursuing leisure hobbies, or stubbornly refusing to stop fossil fuel pollution from single-passenger vehicles, or use whatever public transit options are available. We only object if someone's NOT making $ off the roadblock.

Cruise and Waymo, which is backed by Alphabet, Google’s parent company, began to offer driverless taxi services in San Francisco last year. The accident occurred four days after both companies obtained a permit from California state regulators to expand their services to charge for rides at all hours in San Francisco. The Fire Department said the case was one of more than 70 of autonomous vehicles interfering with emergency responders. San Francisco officials have protested the expansion of driverless taxi services since January, pointing to cases where driverless cars blocked emergency vehicles and interfered during active firefighting and crime scenes.

WecanbeGyros,
@WecanbeGyros@mstdn.social avatar

@chargrille another cop specifically targeting a woman. The cop decided to kneel on the back of a woman who had already listened to his command. DEFUND.

TheBird,

@chargrille

It drives me up the wall when articles write "Protesters clashed with police."

No, these protesters didn't. The police CRASHED into them and pulled a gun on them yelling about how he'll take them all out. How is the protesters "clashing??" They aren't. They are unarmed.

The sentence ought to have read: "Police crashed into the protesters." That is, if the article wanted to actually be accurate.

Also, why spend so much of the article about those upset at the protest? But then give the protesters only two paragraphs at the end of the guardian article? Why not list their demands in the article?

Ugh. Biased journalism.

msquebanh,
@msquebanh@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@chargrille You've summed up how I've felt about BM festival for awhile.

ninavizz,
@ninavizz@mastodon.social avatar

@chargrille I think this would make a friend who was a long (LONG) ago co-founder of BM, proud. It was never supposed to be an explosion of mindless stupid for the wealthy elite.

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