with Dana Fisher, author of Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action

Listen | 25:50
Image grab taken from AFPTV footage shows two environmental activists hurling soup at the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Photograph: David Cantiniaux via Getty
Image grab taken from AFPTV footage shows two environmental activists hurling soup at the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Photograph: David Cantiniaux via Getty

On January 28th two activists from Riposte Alimentaire (Food Counterattack) threw soup at the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris.

Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece is safely behind glass and no real harm was done but the act made headlines around the world. So does shock coverage matter more than the message?

And are activists, particularly climate activists, about to get a great deal more radical in their protests as the crisis deepens and becomes ever more immediate?

Dana Fisher, director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity at American University in Washington and author of Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action explains why protesters behave the way they do and what turns an interested bystander into a radical activist.

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Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast