Who Are Extinction Rebellion And What Do They Want?
- Lucinda Turquand-Young
- Dec 6, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 9, 2021
According to Extinction Rebellion UK, they are “an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse.”
“We have 3 simple demands, 1. Tell the truth: We need to tell the truth about the climate and ecological emergency…2. Net Zero 2025: The Scottish government must reduce emissions in the country to as little as possible as fast as possible...3. Climate citizen's assemblies. Our democracy is broken, we must use deliberative citizens assemblies to oversee the necessary rapid changes and truly stand for the people, not the rich.” States an anonymous activist and prominent member of Extinction Rebellion (XR) Scotland. (The activist will remain anonymous due to the controversies of the work that XR do.)
The organisation, which was founded in 2018 by Gail Bradbrook, Simon Bramwell, Roger Hallam and 8 others, operates all around the globe. They first made headlines in October 2018 when over 6000 people gathered on the streets of London to present the Government with the Declaration of Rebellion. The activists superglued themselves to the Buckingham Palace gates, blocked the bridges over the Thames River, planted trees in the middle of parliament, etc. All of this was done to bring attention to the looming climate crisis and to demand the Government take action. The organisation has caused a lot of havoc around the world and they are not strangers to being arrested. They have received a huge amount of criticism for the disruption they have caused, however, they have also received support from people who are concerned about the future of the planet. Since 2018, they have continued to shut down roads, public transport and other areas.
“The climate and ecological crisis are causing more disruption and suffering in the global south than XR could ever cause, and it will cause immeasurable suffering if we stay on our current track. We need transformative change or people die.” Says the member of Extinction Rebellion. The activist continues: “We have had decades of non-disruptive protest that has gotten us nowhere near where we need to be. Just like with the queer liberation movement, or suffragette movement - targeted disruption brings issues ignored by the media to the forefront of the conversation.”
“We need transformative change or people die.”
XR have recently been targeting large corporations, such as McDonalds and Amazon. They targeted Amazon on Black Friday weekend, also known as the biggest shopping week of the year. The activists glued themselves to the roads to ensure any Amazon delivery drivers could not get past them. This caused a lot of agitation and commotion, leaving the public torn about whether this was too far. The XR activist says “I think the majority of people support the right to peacefully protest. We are not here to be popular but to point out that the government is complicit in the suffering of millions.”
When discussing how important it is for young people to get involved in organisations such as XR, the activist says “The younger you are the more impacted your life is going to be by the climate and ecological emergency. It is our future at stake. We know that we live in a system where young people have less power, but we can get some of that power back by protesting and forcing the government to listen to us. We won't be handed our future on a platter by the rich of the generation before us, but we can fight for it and win.”
Extinction Rebellion are continuing to make headlines with their protests and have made progress along the way. For example they have been relentlessly protesting against the Cambo Oil Field development. As a result of the protesting and persuasion, oil giant Shell has pulled out of the development. This is a huge success and XR are continuing to protest to put an end to the development completely. The activist states: "The best way to be eco-friendly is to get involved and fight for a just transition."
Join Extinction Rebellion's fight here
You can also donate to them here
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