Society

The Rebellion Hypothesis: Extinction Rebellion and Civil Disobedience (Part VII of Eco Civilisation)

By Samuel Alexander, originally published by The Simplicity Institute

April 22, 2022

This Civilisation is Finished bookcover

Can civil disobedience ever be justified in a democracy? How does Extinction Rebellion relate to other social movements in history that have also practiced civil disobedience to advance social progress? In this presentation Dr Samuel Alexander examines these questions and presents an analysis he calls the ‘rebellion hypothesis’.

This is Part VII of the Ecological Civilisation series.

00:00 – Introduction

00:47 – Review of ecovillages

04:37 – Review of the land barrier

06:43 –The Rebellion Hypothesis

30:42 – Examining Civil Disobedience

37:50 – XR and civil disobedience

45:10 – Conclusion

The introduction to this series is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxC-r…

The series is grappling with the problems of consumerism and the growth economy; envisioning alternative, post-carbon ways of life; and considering what action can be taken, both personally and politically, to help build an ecological civilisation.

New presentations will be added to this playlist over time:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

You can support this channel by purchasing an e-book from the Simplicity Institute, available on a ‘pay what you can’ basis (edit the price as you choose for a donation):

https://249897.e-junkie.com

In the link above there is a book on Extinction Rebellion.

Paperbacks are available here:

https://au.permacultureprinciples.com…

Samuel Alexander’s work is available here:

http://samuelalexander.info

The Simplicity Institute website is here:

https://simplicityinstitute.org

Thanks to Andrew Doodson, Jordan Osmond, and Antoinette Wilson for offering invaluable production advice.

The opening image is kindly provided by Melissa Davis.

Further image references are available here: http://samuelalexander.info/image-ref…

The music is provided by Mortimer’s Method: https://mortimersmethod.bandcamp.com

 

Teaser photo credit: This Civilisation is Finished bookcover

Samuel Alexander

Dr. Samuel Alexander, co-director of the Simplicity Institute, is a lecturer at the Office for Environmental Programs, University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching a course called ‘Consumerism and the Growth Economy: Critical Interdisciplinary Perspectives’ into the Master of Environment. He is also a Research Fellow with the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. He is author of eighteen books, including Degrowth in the Suburbs: A Radical Urban Imaginary (2018), Art Against Empire: Toward an Aesthetics of Degrowth (2017), Just Enough is Plenty: Thoreau’s Alternative Economics (2016), Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits (2015), Sufficiency Economy: Enough, for Everyone, Forever (2015), and Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation (2013), and he is editor of Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture (2009) and co-editor of Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future (2014). A full publication list is available here.

As well as his academic work, in recent years Sam has been working on a ‘simpler way’ demonstration project which became the subject of a documentary, ‘A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity‘. He is also founder of the Simplicity Collective, a website and social network dedicated to exploring the relationships between voluntary simplicity, energy descent, and post-growth / degrowth economics.  Dr. Alexander’s PhD thesis, conducted through Melbourne Law School, is entitled “Property beyond Growth: Toward a Politics of Voluntary Simplicity”.

Tags: civil disobedience, Extinction Rebellion, social movements

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