Right before tennis great Roger Federer’s farewell match on Sept. 23, a climate activist rushed the court. The guy was on fire — partially at least. The whole ordeal lasted less than a minute and can only be described as the lamest self-immolation attempt in iPhone recorded history. The pathetic flame, confined to our brave friend’s arm and some of the tennis pitch, was quickly extinguished, and as boos rained down from the grandstand, security guards swiftly resolved the incident. For environmentalists watching, this was a sign of the times — the petering fire was emblematic of struggles to organize post-COVID-19 and a loss of political momentum that’s especially deflating given the state of world affairs. What was once an impending climate catastrophe has begun bearing fruit, and how little time we have left to save our environment is becoming more and more apparent. The Fridays For Future movement, led by the indomitable Greta Thunberg, designated Sept. 23 as a global day of action. Binghamton University got in on some of the action but was not spared from frustrating setbacks. More than its fair share, if you ask me.
A group of 16 protestors gathered outside Binghamton City Hall at noon despite classes and cold weather. I was among these protesters, and while it is always deeply fulfilling to stand and chant among other activists, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the low turnout. While corresponding with organizers for weeks preceding the event, I was confronted with a few obvious barriers to effectively organizing protests at BU. My experience in BU’s environmentalist movement was at times plagued by the Student Association’s poor policy, coercive municipal laws and incoherence. Most disappointingly, I would describe the climate protest as a failure, primarily in its coalition-building among natural allies. I hope to lay bare these problems in this column and propose simple solutions to interested clubs and activists.
If you’re going to protest in Downtown Binghamton, you’ll have to go through a lot of red tape. Depending on the size of the protest, city law requires organizers to apply for an event permit and pay accompanying application fees. Want to use any kind of sound amplification? There’s another $30 application fee for that. These fees pale in comparison to the one-day insurance rates required in Binghamton, hampering grassroots organizing all by itself. For individual organizers, these costs can be impossible to shoulder. Let’s be honest, students shouldn’t need a nongovernmental organization or medium-sized nonprofit just to sponsor their demonstration. This means that the city’s policies inhibit local democracy all while giving excessive influence to clubs with national bodies that can bear the administrative fees. On whose terms did the Binghamton environmentalists protest on Friday? In this case, Zero Hour was recognized because Zero Hour had the legal resources.
But it wasn’t Zero Hour Binghamton that hosted this event — it was specifically Zero Hour New York. Why? Because the SA insures its subsidiaries and doesn’t allow BU’s branch to protest downtown. Only one chartered organization had the gall to put their name on the event flier, and I.D.E.A.S. for Binghamton, a provisionally chartered organization, chose not to participate for fear of having their charter suspended or revoked. Student activist clubs must be SA-chartered in order to have a budget, book meeting spaces or post flyers on most bulletins throughout campus. However, that charter also effectively blocks them from organizing off-campus. I dare say our SA ought not effectively negate the civil liberties of its subsidiaries — in fact, I’d argue such a policy runs counter to their stated mission to “promote and facilitate diverse activities for its members that cultivate different and sometimes opposing ideas, cultures, skills and pastimes.” Take note, SA congress members and E-Board candidates.
In addition to all of these administrative barriers, leaders of Binghamton’s Sept. 23 climate protests failed to build networks of solidarity with other left groups, in small part due to Zero Hour’s current reputation and their apparent leadership role in planning the event. Their conflict with the Women’s Student Union (WSU) began last fall, when Zero Hour partnered with a fraternity to clean litter from the Susquehanna River and were rightfully reprimanded by the WSU. Not only is Greek life as an institution inherently patriarchal, but the partnered frat was mentioned numerous times on @shareyourstorybing, an Instagram account that served as a space for anonymous survivors of sexual assault to share their stories. Since then, little effort has been made by Zero Hour to reconcile with WSU, keeping them out of the loop until Monday when I personally reached out to a tabling E-Board member, by which time the organization already had an event scheduled at the exact same time as our protest.
I’m not just gesturing toward left wing unity. I understand the disparate interests of center-left and radical student organizations. What I desire are meetings where representatives from left-leaning organizations can come together as peers and choose when to present a unified front and when it’s enough to simply not step on another’s toes. If our protest had been hosted by a coalition of concerned parties — as opposed to Zero Hour with some support from other environmentalist organizations — we could have had a much stronger impact. In any case, we won’t get anywhere if we aren’t in constant communication, and we share institutional barriers to protest that we ought to be presenting a unified front against.
Jacob Wisnock is a sophomore double-majoring in sociology and political science.