Sally Low

Direct Action

Photographs // Sally Low

On the 3rd of May 2016 the climate justice action group Reclaim the Power led a group of activists that closed down an open cast coal mine in Ffos-y-fran, Wales, as part of a two-week global wave of actions to encourage a shift to a more fossil fuel-free economy.

“I was not concerned about whether I was risking arrest or not. The important thing was to resist more dirty coal being dug up and to show the public that if we want to stop climate change then we must change our energy habits.

Shutting down a coal mine is important to me because climate change is one of the two existential threats that face mankind, the other being nuclear weapons, and both are connected to the abuse of power by governments and corporations and a money system based on debt and controlled by banks.

I am involved in direct action because we do not have a working democracy where issues are discussed and decided upon in the public interest. Non-violent direct action can sometimes create the pressure needed for change.”

“I was not concerned about whether I was risking arrest or not. The important thing was to resist more dirty coal being dug up and to show the public that if we want to stop climate change then we must change our energy habits.

Shutting down a coal mine is important to me because climate change is one of the two existential threats that face mankind, the other being nuclear weapons, and both are connected to the abuse of power by governments and corporations and a money system based on debt and controlled by banks.

I am involved in direct action because we do not have a working democracy where issues are discussed and decided upon in the public interest. Non-violent direct action can sometimes create the pressure needed for change.”

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