It’s a #directAction #activism initiative that deflates SUV tyres in urban areas and has upset some motorists.

from https://mastodon.nz/@pezmico/108253095144109751

dear fbi, i’m posting this so lemmings know what terrorists to avoid


Here’s a copypasta so y’all don’t have to click the link and join me and angela merkel on the nsa target list.

Locate an SUV. In towns and cities, you won’t have to walk far to find one. Target posh / middle-class areas. 
Unscrew the cap on the tire valve. This is usually very easy to find on the wheel. Usually, you turn the cap to the left to unscrew it, right to tighten it. Remember: righty-tighty, lefty-loosey. 
To get the air out of the tyre, there must be something pushing down on the pin located in the center of the valve. Drop a small bean (we like green lentils, but you can experiment with couscous, bits of gravel, etc) inside the valve cap. Replace the cap, screwing it on with a few turns until you hear air hissing out. Even if it’s only hissing out a little bit, that’s enough - it will deflate slowly. The whole process should take about 10 seconds.
Print this leaflet (at home, in an internet cafe, at the library, wherever) and leave it under the windscreen wipers, so that the owner is aware that the car is unusable and gets an explanation as to why this has been done.
When you’re done, anonymously let the local press know what you’ve done, where you’ve done it and why. You can use a free secure email service like Protonmail or Tutanota.
Send a report to tyreextinguishers@riseup.net so we can keep track! Tell us roughly where it happened and how many SUVs you have disarmed. Join the Telegram group for updates.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Here’s a video demonstration.

Other tips:

If you like, practice on a bicycle tyre first.
Work under cover of darkness.
Bring some friends. Split into pairs to avoid conspicuously large groups.
Hybrids and electric cars are fair game. We cannot electrify our way out of the climate crisis - there are not enough rare earth metals to replace everyone’s car and the mining of these metals causes suffering. Plus, the danger to other road users still stands, as does the air pollution (PM 2.5 pollution is still produced from tyres and brake pads).
Avoid: Cars clearly used for people with disabilities, traders’ cars (even if they’re large), minibuses and normal-sized cars.
  • @Faresh
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    52 years ago

    I’m not attacking you, I’m just going to ask purely out of my pursuit for inspiration.

    What would you consider to be a better tactic that is as low risk for the activist, such that about anyone can do it, as the tyre extinguishers’ approach and that has the same potential to be decentralized and widespread as the previously mentioned group’s tactic, but that does not suffer from the shortcoming of severely antagonizing a significant amount of people and which actually has the potential for instigating change?

    • @AgreeableLandscape
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      4
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      2 years ago

      That is a very hard hitting question that I don’t think I’m qualified to answer. You’re basically asking for the holy grail of activism, which very smart people have written entire textbooks about without getting to a definite answer. The answer also changes wildly depending on circumstance, culture, societal and socioeconomic factors, etc.

    • @Peter1986c
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      22 years ago

      Writing your representative(s) about e.g. downtown restrictions of vehicular use (within reason); heavier tax on SUVs than on regular passenger cars; or if they are hybrids/BEVs, make them exempt from things like tax incentives if they happen to be SUVs and/or beyond a reasonable mass limit.

      • Seedling Attempt
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        fedilink
        32 years ago

        None of these things are activism, with maybe a carve-out for writing your elected representatives depending on what political culture you are in.

        What we’re asking is what kinds of activism can help mitigate the damage or change the trends of car use in urban areas?

      • @Faresh
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        12 years ago

        I never claimed that the practice of deflating tires was any good. The question is: how do you attack the industry and motivate others to join you in your cause, and keep the industry from recovering?