Liberation through Direct Action: An Interview with Emma-Louise Battante

Why are you an activist?

it’s dumb to keep doing the same things we have been doing our entire lives even though they clearly have never really worked to any significant extent and watch a livestreamed genocide and the intensification of the kind of human activity that is triggering the collapse of the planet’s capacity to sustain the life of humans and many species that we depend on

Would you describe yourself as a Palestinian activist?

yes, but not in the meaning of palestine as a nation. palestine now represents freedom, our humanity and all the human characteristics that imperalism and colonialism has been stripping us of

Why are you personally so devoted to the Palestinian issue?

because i value true freedom (liberation), humanity and i crave to reclaim the parts of myself that i know and feel imperialism and colonialism robbed me of. also because i would like the planet to retain its ability to sustain the life of humans and all the species that we depend on

Do you see the Palestinian issue as an environmental issue?

absolutely. i need to get the numbers, but the carbon impact of imperialist wars happening right now is a very surprisingly high percentage of the total impact of human activity. and that’s not even counting the impact of colonial extraction of natural resources and “externalities”

What do you mean by Direct Action?

when i think of direct action, i always think in terms of how direct the effect is to preserve life

under those terms, a recent action that delayed, even if only for an hour or so, a shipment of resources that the zionist entity depend on to sustain the genocide, has a more direct effect on preserving human lives that the march for humanity over the harbour bridge, for instance

But isn’t Direct Action dangerous?

the perception of danger is as much a result of what you have to gain (or gain back, or avoid losing) than it is a result of the risks involved

it’s also affected by how much we value life and how separate we see ourselves from other lives across the world

palestinians [seek to] live without the fear of waking up in the middle of the night with the screams of their children, which they will never see again as they are abducted, tortured and killed

I guess the right to protest is another example of what we might lose, if we don’t act?

oh definitely! but more than that, what it represents…the ability to have some say in the collective decisions that define how we live and die. so called “western democracies” have always limited that to almost nothing, and most of that “almost nothing” we illusions. that almost nothing has turned into definitely nothing and the live-streamed genocide has broken the illusion

Why is Direct Action better than, say, attending a protest march?

although we can think of many examples of actions as indirect as the march for humanity that we are taught [are] very effective, we are never told the full story: all the direct action that was happening at the same time and, without which, change wouldn’t have happened

if you ask expert historians about moments in history when profound changes have been achieved despite the will of those in power, they will attest that [the] determinant factor was the amount of direct action being taken

they will mention examples of moments in history when massive demonstrations (indirect action) have been taken and nothing changed and also examples of moments in history when there wasn’t much indirect action, but there was enough direct action that change was achieved despite the will of the ruling class

According to the National Library of Australia, direct action does include protest marches: it includes both civil resistance and civil disobedience…

that’s one of the ways to classify direct actions. although it’s valid to think of direct action as a form of protest, thinking of it only as that is missing the point entirely. the point is to reclaim collective power, namely the power to collectively decide how we live and die

it [also] leaves out uncivil resistance and uncivil disobedience, which are very valid forms of direct action that [are] sometimes called for. [an uncivil response] would certainly be very valid for the sole survivor of a palestinian family [whose children were abducted, tortured and killed]

What would you recommend to others who want to make a difference but don’t know where to start?

i would recommend they find those people who are confronting those in power in the most disruptive way and join or help them. meet other people who have joined them and seem to be helping them. learn about the other ways in which they do it. pay especial attention to the actions that most directly work towards the preservation of lives and interruption of inflicted suffering on those most affected by the genocide and ecocide. offer to join them in further action of the sort. as you learn you’ll notice that you can help a lot in the organisation of such actions. it should always be a collective effort. if it’s not, you’re with the wrong crowd