Why I protested with Extinction Rebellion in October
In the past I’ve not really been a person who protests about things, or breaks the law in any way. I’m interested in politics, but never felt the need to get out in the street for any reason. I’ve always been concerned about the environment, i’ve long had a feeling that I needed to be doing more but have not had any idea what to do.


However, over the past 9 months the message put out by Extinction Rebellion has really hit home to me. Enough so that during the recent protests in London, I wanted to get involved.
During the two week October Rebellion, there were almost two thousand arrests in London and protests went on in over sixty countries. Although this was a cause that I wanted to get involved in I’m not in a position where I am able to get arrested right now, but I was eager to show my support in any way that I could.

In the first week I visited the Trafalgar Square site; the night before I baked some flapjacks, packed them up along with an umbrella and some blankets to give to people living there for the full two weeks, to help keep them going. Small tokens, but at least I could contribute a bit. The atmosphere at the site was incredible, all of these people were coming together in such a peaceful but powerful way.
During the second week, one of the laws around public protest was amended to prohibit any congregation under the name of Extinction Rebellion in the city of London. I’d wanted to get back up to London and this seemed like the best opportunity. It seems unfair to be able to take that basic right away from any group of people, so this seemed like the right time to get back out on the street. On the day, I and thousands of other people gathered in Trafalgar Square to hear some speakers and exercise our democratic right. After, I went a joined a road block on Whitehall led by George Monbiot and Jonathan Bartley amongst others.
I spoke to people passing by asking what was going on, I talked with them about XR and about the ongoing issues with global warming. It felt like the right thing to be doing, to be getting involved and making my voice heard and raising awareness, at a time when it feels generally like nothing can be done, like politicians and big businesses are out of reach. This course of action was something that was getting noticed and sparking discussion.
Lots of people have asked why this choice of action is necessary, most of them people who understand the threat of global warming. So, why did I personally go to the trouble and expense of all this?
I have a 3 year old who loves animals, nature and everything our planet has to offer. I want her to grow up not having to worry that her favourite animals will go extinct, or when she’s an adult, that crop failures will make it hard for her or her children to eat. That worries me a lot.
To me it seems there are two main things standing in the way of getting us to a state where we don’t have to worry about the future.
Governments have failed us
In 1989 Margaret Thatcher used her talk to the U.N to highlight the impending environmental and ecological crisis humanity would be facing over the coming decades. She spoke about the ice caps melting, , ,.
So what’s changed since then? We’ve had more Conservative governments, Labour governments and a Tory/Lib Dem coalition government, each one in turn has failed to make those issues, recognised decades ago, a priority. Instead we’re still talking about, and facing, the same issues highlighted back then, just with significantly less time to sort anything out.
More recently Michael Gove stated in 2017 that UK farms are likely to be infertile in the next few decades due to the intense farming methods demand has put upon them, but the government has since done nothing to change are current agricultural situation. With the UK about to leave the EU surely we need our farms now more than ever.
UK farming is an ecological issue that hits us close to home, but there are bigger and far more pressing issues that will effect everyone happening all over the world, every day. On a more global scale we’ve now been told by the UN in 2018 that we have 12 years to turn around actions that are destroying the planet or we’ll face irreversible damage. The worldwide bee population is in massive decline, coral reefs and the life forms they support are dying, rainforests are being destroyed at a monumental rate.
To put it bluntly, currently our governments can’t get their act together enough to get corporations to pay their taxes, let alone encourage them to change their practices and prioritise the well-being of people over their profit margins. So should we let them carry on for another couple of decades arguing?
Businesses have failed us
Governments are not the only problem that the world’s population faces, there are some huge businesses across the world that exist to make money first, and care about people way down the list, nowhere near close to second place.
Whilst it is true that everybody’s carbon footprint counts, obviously the impact of a huge fossil fuel conglomerate like Shell far outweighs that of hundreds of thousands of people going about their everyday lives.
Huge fossil fuel corporations seem to have a huge sway on the way the worlds politicians and governments operate, whilst simultaneously sitting outside of any specific government’s jurisdiction. Because of this, any chance of a change in their practices to prioritise the well-being of people over their profit margins would have to come from their own motivations, which at this point doesn’t seem possible.
The way businesses are viewed as successful is purely down to their profit and loss. When it comes to success there’s no value placed on the happiness and wellbeing of employees, their responsibility to their local community, or their impact on the planet. Whilst accreditation’s like B Corp and Responsible 100 exist, there’s no reason for any organisation to engage with these, unless it’s something they specifically want to do.
We can’t let huge corporations carry on as usual with no accountability.


So what can we do as citizens?
All of these things happening all at the same time and compounded over decades has caused people to look for a new way to get environmental and ecological issues taken more seriously.
Another general election has just been announced in the UK, taking place on December 12th. 6 months ago our current government announced that we are facing a climate emergency, but since then have done nothing to put a plan in place to do anything about it. The next government that is elected could be the last government that can make any actual change to the escalating condition of the planet. If possible we, as voters need to make sure our voices heard and let politicians know they need to think about the future, not just parliament’s next 5 years.
I’d like to conclude with two questions?
- If we don’t use non violent direct action, what can we do to get these issues dealt with more urgently by the worlds governments?
- What would it take you to get out on the street and make your voice heard?
I’d love to hear your thought’s around these questions, please feel free to message me.
