Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
I do think it’s necessary to control Big Oil, and to stop governments subsidising fossil fuels, and given the sheer scale and influence of the oil companies I’m not sure what we’re going to have to do make that happen.
This explosive new film thrills and inspires, but it doesn’t explain how activists like my parents coped with the uncertainty and isolation that follow acts of sabotage.
Don’t Pay’s campaign ask is simple: pledge not to pay your energy bill and, if a million other people sign up by 1 October (when the new energy price cap comes into force) and the government still hasn’t taken action, cancel your direct debit.
Yes, our society is better off with the IRA having passed than we would be without its passage. But if we don’t find a way to snuff out fossil fuels, directly, on a crash schedule, the climate emergency will only intensify.
Our understanding of our planetary peril obliges us to take action to sound the alarm, even if it means risking our civil liberties. And we are not alone.
I have taken to heart the insight that possibly, the way we respond to the crisis is part of the crisis; that we see this thing we call ‘the climate’ through a window whose frame is itself the product of our toxic culture.
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?
What organizers described as “the world’s largest-ever scientist-led civil disobedience campaign” kicked off just days after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report detailing the grim state of efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C by century’s end, a target set by the Paris accord.
When juries deliver verdicts that offend the political establishment, they are commonly termed ‘perverse’ – and Boris Johnson’s government has been experiencing a veritable plague of perversity in recent months.
The proposed legislation represents a dangerous threat to essential democratic and civil liberties such as the right to protest.
“This is what the state, this is what the fossil fuel industry will do to protect this big, outdated, ancient asset — instead of protecting us, the people, and taking action against the climate crisis.”
Without missing a beat, Shapiro-Weiss boldly stated, “This is why we’re doing this.”
In my brief time with XR in London I saw a lot of people from many different social positionings interacting with each other around climate activism – a community of communities seeking common ground.
