Climate Activists Block Road to Burning Man Festival, Find Out That Nevada Rangers Don't Play Around

Michelle Hooq/Twitter

Burning Man is a festival that says as one of its basic principles it's against commodification. I think it's fair to say that a lot of attendees are probably on the liberal/left side of the political spectrum. 

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But that didn't stop anti-capitalist protesters from protesting the festival in Nevada and blocking a road into the event, causing a backup of cars for miles. About six people from the group Seven Circles dragged things into the middle of the road, and they had signs with statements like "Abolish Capitalism" and "General Strike for the Climate."  

The protesters said that Burning Man didn't go far enough and that they were not taking enough of a political position.

“We do not have a climate problem, the climate is behaving exactly in line with the laws of physics,” Thomas Diocano, co-founder of Rave Revolution said in a statement. “We have an economic system problem, and that economic system is capitalism. 

“History shows that capitalism cannot be reformed. It cannot be changed from the ‘inside’. Are we really ready to sacrifice everything for an outdated, unequal economic system? The time to evolve has come.”

Among its demands are that Burning Man leadership “advocate for system change on both political and economic levels” and ban private jets, single-use plastics, “unnecessary propane burning and unlimited generator use” at the nine-day event.

Ah, that's why you backed up traffic for miles causing all kinds of extra emissions? That makes no sense at all. Although I do get pointing out the hypocrisy of folks who claim to espouse liberal principles of climate change but then fly into such an event. 

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But we've seen how that hasn't gone well for activists when they've done things like this in the past, and here they managed to tick off the festivalgoers and regular people who wanted to get through. At some point, some of them got out of their cars and then started trying to remove the blockade the protesters had placed in the road. "We gotta get through," one of the festivalgoers said. "You have to remove this f**king mess." The protesters tried to stop them and an argument ensued as one of the people shouted at them, "You can't block a road!"  

Protesters had chained themselves to the barricade but that didn't stop the drivers trying to get through from trying to remove it. When they started moving the blockade, one of the female protesters shouted that they were "putting her life at risk" as she was moved slightly by their action. Her life was not at risk. "Well, you chained yourself to it," one of the drivers said. Another driver called it a "dumb a** move." Wait for the cops, one of the climate activists said. He tried to convince the drivers, “Every change in society came from civil disobedience, all of them.” The drivers weren't buying that.

But then when the cops arrived, It did not go well for the climate activists. 

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According to reports, it was the Tribal Rangers and they didn't play around with the climate activists. One of their SUVs rammed the blockade to clear the road, as they announced "You better move." Then one of the officers got out of his vehicle with his gun, took one of the activists down to the ground, and arrested her.

One of the rangers said they were trespassing on tribal land and then several were arrested. The tribal officers didn't mess around with warnings; they just removed them all. 

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