‘Sabotage Is Most Effective’: Eco-Terrorism Advocate Given Platform By The New York Times In Opinion Column

‘Sabotage Is Most Effective’: Eco-Terrorism Advocate Given Platform By The New York Times In Opinion Column

Jack McEvoy on October 21, 2022

Swedish eco-terrorism advocate Andreas Malm was featured in a New York Times guest opinion piece on Thursday where he advocated for climate activists to engage in “sabotage” to prevent the “breakdown” of the environment.

Throughout his NYT essay, Malm, who is also an associate professor of human ecology at Sweden’s Lund University, criticized the climate activists who threw soup on a famous Van Gogh painting in London to protest fossil fuel production as their actions were not “gritty” enough. Malm argues that engaging in eco-terrorism is the most productive and logical form of climate activism and is also the author of the nonfiction book, “How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire.”

“As a rule, I tend to think sabotage is most effective when it is precise and gritty,” Malm wrote.

Malm praised the British environmentalists who destroyed gas station pumps in the United Kingdom, stating that they “hit the nail on the head” because it directly targeted a source of climate change. Malm claimed that climate movements in the West are now using sabotage to push their agendas, referencing the activist groups that have attacked pipeline facilities and disabled SUVs.

“When governments refuse to undertake this work, it is up to the rest of us to initiate it,” Malm wrote in his NYT piece. “That is the rationale for sabotage: to aim straight for the bags of coal.”

In his book, Malm disparages climate protestors who do not engage in sabotage as it will compel businesses and governments to divest from fossil fuels. He also claims that natural gas and oil pipelines are very easy to disable, citing historical examples.

Malm and the NYT did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.