Stop the ship sinking:
Our second phase of Extinction Rebellion enters its second week
..By Rupert Read…
As of October 7th, the biggest people’s rebellion for climate justice the UK has ever seen recommenced and I, amongst thousands of others, am immensely proud of the turnout in the 7 days so far. With all hands on deck, about twice as many as we had in April, people from all over the country are driving what is needed for the huge waves of change this society requires.
So, now we are entering our 2nd week of autumn rebellion, and we are targetting the City of London as well as Westminster. And so I am calling EVERYBODY to come down to either London or if that is impossible to their nearest demonstration and experience how it feels to support a better future for generations to come. It is by the incredible presence of those who advocate the truth of our climate and ecological emergency that the electric atmosphere we have around significant parts of central London has been created over the past week.
This also comes from the sense of duty bestowed to us by other international movements like Fridays for Future, led by the children such as Greta Thunberg.
Fridays for Future is our children rising up to beg for the right to live. It is shameful for our whole civilisation that our children have been driven to this. The way I see Extinction Rebellion is that we are the adults rising up to heed the children’s call. Our children are calling on us all to provide for them a future – if you really heed that call in its full depth and desperation, then I believe that you will join XR in the streets. Now.
XR and FforF are powerful allies. I asked Greta Thunberg when she was in London last April whether she supported XR. Her reply was very simple and direct: “Yes, I do”.
This greater movement is supported by we who simply want to be on the right side of history. Some police officers who accompany us on the streets have been widely reported to support our goals. Not surprising really: the police have kids too. Moreover, in this new phase of rebellion we have had a bunch of articulate former police officers join us! Very exciting: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/06/former-senior-police-officers-risk-arrest-join-extinction-rebellion/
It is the non-violence of XR that is the secret to our success. The police can handle violent protest easily; it gives them the excuse they need to be heavy-handed. Mass non-violent rebellion, such as ours, is far, far harder to deal with. We are just thousands of ordinary people putting our bodies on the line for a just cause. That makes it very hard for the police and the authorities to stop us.
If anyone ever acts violently, they are NOT XR. Our Rebellion is one of peace. We rebel because of the love we feel for the natural world, for each other, for our children. We demonstrate what the future can hold, having learned from the best examples of progressive and courageous movements in our history.
Just like Otpor in Serbia; People Power in the Philippines; the Suffragists, Martin Luther King in the US civil rights movement and Gandhi in India, XR is showing exactly how a civil resistance should look: and our purpose is clear.
XR is for the enriching of democracy. This is why our 3rd demand centres upon the need for Citizens Assemblies. We want citizens involved in deciding how to change everything: to succeed where politicians have failed to adequately address the climate and ecological emergency.
This is of course the reason that some politicians make unpleasant statements about XR. It is precisely because they realise that we are exposing them and their failure for all to see.
It isn’t easy for politicians to countenance the breaking of the law because they make the laws. But, sometimes, everyone knows that the breaking of laws is exactly what is needed: when those laws are themselves wrong.
That is why it was justified for Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement to break the law, to quote a famous example. Everyone now regards them as obvious heroes – even though, at the time, what they did was very controversial and they attracted much hatred.
Those breaking the law with peaceful direct action or skipping school this week – for the sake of changing the law and changing the system so that humanity doesn’t destroy itself – will without any doubt be regarded as heroes later. They – we – will all be pardoned. The best thing for all decent politicians to do would be to act now so that we don’t have to keep breaking the law.
XR is about everyone coming together to struggle for a common future. The struggle is like a war, but not against each other. It’s a completely non-violent struggle where the enemy is our own history, our own extant infrastructure, our own complacency. XR, unlike some previous radical movements, welcomes everybody into a common effort for the very survival of our species.
The ship of our society is sinking. It will without doubt succumb unless we do something extraordinary and fast. XR is our last best hope. I urge you to come and see what we have started. The October rebellion lasts for just one more week, during which we need the support of every conscientious member of society. We must address policy makers firmly demanding of them to ACT NOW.
I look forward to seeing you on the streets of London before the week is out.
[Thanks to Treve Nicol for editorial assistance on this piece.]
