The global criminalisation and repression of climate and environmental protest–a repertoire of repression

Abstract

This paper sets out a repertoire of repression operating to criminalise and repress recent climate and environmental protest globally. Deploying a novel mixed methods approach, involving a comparative quantitative and qualitative analysis of a sample of 14 countries, we identify that repression and criminalisation are global phenomena–spanning the Global South and North. The repertoire of repression includes: i) enactments of new anti-protest laws; ii) creative and strategic use of existing legislation and legal processes; iii) police action, such as arrests, surveillance, harassment and other forms of police violence; iv) disappearances and killings; and v) vilification. We argue that this repression is a complex eco-system involving state and non-state actors, laws and legal processes, social and media discourses which operate to deplete, deter and delegitimise protest, and distract attention from violent or harmful political structures.