Crime without punishment? On the legitimacy of illegal actions from the climate movement

In this paper, we address a recent case of eight climate activists being prosecuted by the Dutch government under charges of sedition. We note how this unprecedented legal action aligns with a broader trend of criminalizing the climate movement around the world. In this context, activists seem to claim legitimacy and distinguish themselves from criminals by aligning themselves with the tradition of ‘civil disobedience.’ We highlight some limitations that this traditional form of protest poses to the climate movement and ask how climate activists can claim legitimacy even when adopting tactics other than civil disobedience. We then propose a method of categorizing different tactics by positioning them in a two-dimensional spectrum according to their degree of violence and fidelity to law. Finally, we reflect on how climate activists may claim legitimacy for tactics across this spectrum by reflecting on Martin Luther King, Jr. and Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophies.