Anti-fracking activist Tina Rothery is running for Green Party co-leader – she may be just what politics needs

Rothery says the fracking movement showed with leadership you could go beyond what anyone ever thought you were capable of, writes Donnachadh McCarthy. It’s the attitude we need to tackle the climate crisis

Extinction Rebellion kicks off two weeks of protests in London (Sam Hancock/The Independent)

When I read that Tina Rothery, an inspirational leader of the successful anti-fracking movement, was standing to be co-leader of the Green Party, I wanted to hear what lessons from that campaign, which led to a halt on fracking across Britain, she would bring to the party. So I contacted her for an interview

During our conversation, Rothery was clear that whilst activists had differing views on a range of issues, the one thing they all agreed on was to stop fracking. So, they stood together and won. She elaborated on how they strategically tackled the four pillars of power that supported the fracking industry: media, government, finance and the fracking companies themselves.

When a local paper gave blanket positive coverage to Cuadrilla’s proposed fracking site outside Blackpool, the fractivists met the editor personally to say why the anti-fracking cause needed fair coverage. They then went to shareholders of the fracking corporations to show that the business case was flawed and every time another blockade happened, the share prices dipped. They also went to the ancillary service companies and got them to abandon the industry, persuading them that it was not worth the hassle. By mobilising people across the country to target the three pillars of media, finance and the fracking corporations themselves, they toppled the fourth and final governmental pillar.