There can be no polite or cautious solution to the climate crisis, argues Andreas Malm in How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire. Saving the planet from the continued destructive growth of fossil capitalism will require a swift and decisive re-examination of some long-held mantras of the climate movement, including an adherence to tactics of non-violence. Calls for system change will go unheard, Malm stresses, until we hit extractive industries where they hurt: until we start blowing up pipelines. 

To mark its publication, and inclusion in our January and February Book Club reads, Verso has commissioned three articles responding to Malm's argument to abandon non-violence in our defence of the climate. Published throughout the coming week, these articles expand the debate and introduce its key ideas to new readers. Check back for more over the next few days. A letter from the book's editor is also available to read here. 

Part 1: Beyond Politics? The Aims and Limits of Extinction Rebellion by Graeme Hayes

Part 2: Tactics and Traditions in the British and German Climate Movements by Alice Swift

Part 3: On Sabotage by R.H. Lossin