Is Mass Mobilization on Climate Possible? The Chevron Action of 1-17-2025

Demonstrators painted a mural on the street in front of Chevron. Image: courtesy of KQED

Under the banner “Make Big Oil Pay,” about 50 climate activists marched to the gates of the Chevron refinery in Richmond for a boisterous rally on January 17. Organized by the Sunrise Movement and joined by other enviros, the rally was hastily put together in solidarity with an action by climate activists in fire-ravaged Los Angeles. 

The Richmond action was tightly-organized. The gathering point was a park where beautiful signs and banners were distributed, chants rehearsed, and spirits lifted by young energetic Sunrise organizers. 

The march was choreographed to safeguard us amidst speedy commute-hour traffic. A dozen or so cameras—wielded mostly by the marchers themselves, I suspect—recorded virtually every moment of the march and subsequent rally at a Chevron gate. Speakers lambasted Big Oil for profiting at the expense of fire-ravaged Los Angeles. At age 74—one of the oldest marchers—I felt deep affection and gratitude for the young organizers who clearly put heart and soul into the action.

What’s the plan?

At the same time, I was plagued by the nagging feeling I get at every climate rally: What’s the plan to grow this into a mass movement? 

Sure, some rallies have attracted hundreds, like the Wall Street West blockade that shut down some banks in downtown San Francisco for most of a day in 2019. Gorgeous protest art was everywhere —displayed on placards, unfurled on banners, chalked onto the closed streets. But inexplicably, organizers provided no leaflets for blockaders to give to the hundreds of passersby we encountered that day. Leaflets to explain the perfidy of oil giants and their enabling banks, to assure passersby of our nonviolent intent, to invite everyone to join the next action, whose date, time and location would be prominently displayed on the leaflet. Instead, the climate actions I’ve attended feel to me like one-offs, a giant splash of anger and art after which most participants go home and wait to be summoned to the next one. 

Is it possible for the plethora of environmental action groups in the Bay Area to collaborate on a single target to generate widespread excitement and attract larger numbers in the future? My experience in the direct action campaign to stop construction of a nuclear reactor in Seabrook, NH suggests the answer is “YES”. 

In 1976, 18 members of the Clamshell Alliance non-violently occupied the Seabrook construction site while several hundred rallied in support. After three weeks of non-stop proselytizing, 180 “Clams”—organized into affinity groups—occupied the site as a thousand or more rallied in support. After eight more months of non-stop proselytizing, some 2,000 Clams occupied the site for 24 hours, then began planning the next occupation while being detained together in National Guard armories for 13 days. (Curious how we did it? See my new documentary “Acres of Clams” at https://youtu.be/RPuE9oKh6-I or just search YouTube for “Acres of Clams Eric Wolfe”.)

The chance to be human

Clamshell had strong support from Seabrook residents, who appreciated the open communications we maintained with local cops, state police and National Guard. Our nonviolence trainer, the late Sukie Rice, encouraged us to always make eye contact, speak from the heart, and defuse tension during actions by being human. In doing so, she said, you give each person you encounter—police, politicians, the press, the public—the chance to be human as well.

By contrast, at the climate non-violence trainings I’ve attended we are told to never speak to the police lest we inadvertently increase our legal jeopardy, or give away strategy. Sure, participants should be cautioned to avoid self-incriminating statements. But bathing our actions in secrecy isn’t a formula for building a mass movement. The better approach, in my experience, is to be as open as practicable with the police, build public trust in our tactics and intent, and bring thousands as close to the targeted facility as we can, then sit down peacefully. Yes, police might react with violent dispersal tactics, but I believe that becomes less likely when you’ve made concerted overtures to the police in advance, and continually reinforce to the public and media that nonviolence is a core part of your identity. Forcing large-scale peaceful arrests makes news and can build numbers going into the next action.

Of course there are many complications with any given action, which participants themselves must game out as best they can during nonviolence training. But when we are able to repeatedly mobilize thousands the publicity will be immense and there is a better chance to inspire concerned citizens elsewhere to action.

On January 17, Sunrise organizers clearly demonstrated the importance of upbeat, even joyful, energy. I wonder who will find a way to marry that energy to a strategy for sustained, disciplined nonviolent direct action.