Arrested protesting for Extinction Rebellion. AMA

[Pinktable11]

32 year old woman, separated, one child, healthcare professional .

I've read the posts about XR on here over the last week

Happy to answer anything, but do keep in mind if I'm arrested again today I may well be out of touch for 24+ hours, and longer if my phone is impounded 😁

@RedToothBrush
Regarding your more general point, of course it’s good that individuals are taking some significant stepson themselves, as indeed are some SMEs. But the pace of change has been and still is too slow as the big multinationals are not changing - financially they have little incentive to. We need leadership from governments, which we’re not getting.

@BrozTito

Id argue ER arnt direct action at all

This.

They are empty virtue signallers.

Nothing more.

I don't even really want to comment on your post and give you the satisfaction you clearly crave, you seem pretty proud of yourself for being arrested.

Hope that road you closed off didn't stop someone getting to a loved one before they died, or someone getting to a hospital.

The poor businesses that have only just reopened and you lot are making life even harder for them.

The police time being wasted dealing with you.

The cause is pointless because you're pissing everyone off.

I agree climate change needs to happen but this isn't the way to do it.

bamboocat

I so admire you, a proper green old school campaigner. You're worth a million of the twats like the OP who love the insta thrill of getting arrested which is completely pathetic in contrast.

Interesting people mentioning China, a country which is investing massively in renewables and climate science. For all the many faults of the CCP, it is certainly not hopelessly in hock to big capital/corporations in quite the same way that many Western governments are. That’s one advantage of owning every major bank, university, half dozen nationalised giants and having at least one finger in the pie of every significant company. So while the Tories will never plan more than 2/3 years ahead or look behind the next election or two, the CCP will plan the next 20/30 years and look to the next hundred.

While the economy is a vital part of China’s future, so is safeguarding its natural environment - climate, water, air, and coastlines etc, and so their political decisions will likely continue to reflect this.

@supermoonrising

Interesting people mentioning China, a country which is investing massively in renewables and climate science. For all the many faults of the CCP, it is certainly not hopelessly in hock to big capital/corporations in quite the same way that many Western governments are. That’s one advantage of owning every major bank, university, half dozen nationalised giants and having at least one finger in the pie of every significant company. So while the Tories will never plan more than 2/3 years ahead or look behind the next election or two, the CCP will plan the next 20/30 years and look to the next hundred.

While the economy is a vital part of China’s future, so is safeguarding its natural environment - climate, water, air, and coastlines etc, and so their political decisions will likely continue to reflect this.

And part of the issue is the likes of the UK are able to become 'carbon neutral' simply because they outsource their pollution to China so it doesn't show up on our stats.

You seem more interested in documenting your journey to London and gleefully speculating on your potential arrest than actually answering any questions.

@buginarug

Good luck to you OP. People on here are quick to forget the disruptive actions of historical activists such as the Suffragettes.

No, we haven't forgotten; tthere were quite a few occasions when they got it badly wrong. And don't get me started on Emily Davison, who ran headlong into a bunch of galloping racehorses in the 1913 Epsom Derby, endangering the lives of all those animals and their jockeys.

@Pinktable11

I'm setting off back to the protest. XR is currently holding Tower Bridge. Yesterday they occupied the Science Museum overnight, and a lot of the staff supported them

( Not me- I was occupying my police cell)

Being arrested us frightening and boring. I'll never get used to it.

I will reopen this page once I'm on the train, and answer some more

Why aren't you listening to what the people on this thread are saying?

You've said AMA but you're not answering what's being asked. You're just repeatedly spouting tag lines and nonsense.

@bamboocat

ER lost my support when protesters vandalised Trinity Lawn in Cambridge.

I will not support any organisation which destroys wildlife habitats. And expecially not one which is so two-faced and hypocritical.

This gave me a good giggle. As someone who is familiar with that piece of grass, it certainly is not able to sustain 'wildlife' in the first place. The specific section is smaller than my front garden (and I live small) and directly on a busy road. It is literally a tree and a bit of grass next to the entrance of a college.

This college happens to be a place that is funding the fossil fuel industry like mad, with their estimated 1 billion endowment.

@RedToothBrush

Some of the XR protestors do exactly as you suggest...

They don't but tat from China, they encourage the availability of reduce reuse recycle options, they speak at local council meetings.

I know of one activist who attended the XR protest in London having traveled by train from the North West having cried along with local councillors when their council voted by a margin of 2:1 to approve planning for 9,000 new houses on green belt land to build houses for commuters when the answers as provided in mitigation was not to encourage more commuters but to compel businesses to decentralise their operations and allow tele working, among pages of other proposals and suggestions.

Don't assume that all XR protestors are not also working in many many other ways to try to make big and small changes.

What did the ER protest on the Underground hope to achieve? Targeting people who actively use public transport to go to work seems very hypocritical to your message.

I am all for educating people about the climate and reinforcing the steps each individual can take to reduce their carbon footprint. We are in the middle of the next mass extinction, and it's a big problem. However, I do not support ER - the group goes about delivering this message in completely the wrong way. Be better off spending the money/ using the time of volunteers to educate school kids and peacefully petition local MPs.

As for being willing to risk the custody of your child over attending these protests - I cannot get my head around that at all. Definitely not something to be proud of.

@buginarug

Good luck to you OP. People on here are quick to forget the disruptive actions of historical activists such as the Suffragettes.

If you had any actual historical knowledge then you would be aware that almost all historians agree that the Suffragettes simply alienated the public and in no way 'gained women the Vote'. At best they got publicity.

What got women the vote was more complicated - but basically down to the fact that they'd stepped up to the male roles when the men went off to war. Not every male was enfranchised - so in 1918 when they gave all men the vote, they were basically obliged to include women over 30. It was deemed politically necessary if men who fought were getting the vote, then women who also worked for Victory should too.

That's simplified - but trotting out The Suffragettes as a suggestion that their actions were heroic and successful (with the implication that ER are doing similar) is nonsense.

Good. I'm glad you were arrested. I hope you get a massive fine.

This gave me a good giggle

@davidrosejumper I am familiar with that piece of grass too. Of course it can sustain 'wildlife' - as you put it. Have you ever actually studied the huge number of organisms that can live in just one square metre of cultivated grass? There is a whole ecosystem going on there. There will also be a chemical process going on in the grass, and we all know how important photosynthesis is for the reduction of greenhouse gases, don't we? Don't we??

So toddle off and enjoy your giggle, there's a love.

@Cyrsethatballoon

bamboocat

I so admire you, a proper green old school campaigner. You're worth a million of the twats like the OP who love the insta thrill of getting arrested which is completely pathetic in contrast.

Aww shucks

I was brought up to 'make do and mend' and to have a love of the natural world, I can't stand bureaucratic jobsworths, and I don't suffer fools gladly.

Now now @bamboocat don't go muddying things with actual facts and science, it's not sound bitey enough for the attention seeking XR crew!

[quote ChateauMargaux]@RedToothBrush

Some of the XR protestors do exactly as you suggest...

They don't but tat from China, they encourage the availability of reduce reuse recycle options, they speak at local council meetings.

I know of one activist who attended the XR protest in London having traveled by train from the North West having cried along with local councillors when their council voted by a margin of 2:1 to approve planning for 9,000 new houses on green belt land to build houses for commuters when the answers as provided in mitigation was not to encourage more commuters but to compel businesses to decentralise their operations and allow tele working, among pages of other proposals and suggestions.

Don't assume that all XR protestors are not also working in many many other ways to try to make big and small changes.[/quote]
So why exactly do they need to cause such disruption and lecture people as if they are stupid by protesting in this way too?

All it does is anger others. It doesn't 'raise awareness'. I'm beginning to find that 'raise awareness' are weasel words which are more about declaring political alligence and identity rather than get to the route and stem of a problem.

XR make it harder to persuade sceptical or disengaged people about the need for environmental action, because we all get labelled by association.

[quote supermoonrising]@RedToothBrush
Regarding your more general point, of course it’s good that individuals are taking some significant stepson themselves, as indeed are some SMEs. But the pace of change has been and still is too slow as the big multinationals are not changing - financially they have little incentive to. We need leadership from governments, which we’re not getting.[/quote]
Can you expand what you mean by “leadership”?

There’s been some great work done with expanding the environment bill recently; and the likes of Philip Dunne has done a brilliant job in moving Water Quality up the agenda and carving out a larger place for it.

Oh, wait, do you actually mean “they don’t do much posting on insta”? I’m afraid all those politicians have been doing boring things like meeting with experts and drafting legislation. Not very exciting I’m afraid.

@bamboocat

This gave me a good giggle

@davidrosejumper I am familiar with that piece of grass too. Of course it can sustain 'wildlife' - as you put it. Have you ever actually studied the huge number of organisms that can live in just one square metre of cultivated grass? There is a whole ecosystem going on there. There will also be a chemical process going on in the grass, and we all know how important photosynthesis is for the reduction of greenhouse gases, don't we? Don't we??

So toddle off and enjoy your giggle, there's a love.

@davidrosejumper is right. You do those cute little things that make you feel virtuous whilst ignoring the inconvenient fact that the college is funding the fossil fuel industry with their estimated 1 billion endowment. Cultivated lawns are not known for their rich biodiversity btw.

Do you ever wonder what the point of protesting is?

The Tories won the last election with an 80 seat majority, if an election was held tomorrow they would likely win again with a similar margin. At the end of the day very little will change from the protests.

Surely protesting for electoral reform would be the best next step, at least Green minded parties would have more representation that way.

Cultivated lawns are not known for their rich biodiversity btw

One of my current pet hates is people who tarmac / pave their driveways making flashfloods more likely. A cultivated lawn or a bunch of weeds are still better in multiple ways than hard surfaces. Even a small patch of grass supports an ecosystem not matter how small. This is the type of thing thats being encouraged at the moment - to use every inch available for small space gardening and to reduce carbon emmissions. Mosses take up huge amounts of carbon and can help filter pollution out of the atmosphere.

@hayley037

Do you ever wonder what the point of protesting is?

The Tories won the last election with an 80 seat majority, if an election was held tomorrow they would likely win again with a similar margin. At the end of the day very little will change from the protests.

Surely protesting for electoral reform would be the best next step, at least Green minded parties would have more representation that way.

Ironically in terms of lobbying, you'd be better to join the Tory Party and use your local party system to further ideas and ambitions than marching on London, causing disruption and antagonising people.

I don't like the party, I wouldn't do this personally myself, but people who are this passionate about this enough to get arrested or lose custody of their kids might want to consider this reality.

The trouble is, it goes back to my point about identity and demonstrating your political affliations being one of the most important things here. Its about slagging off the Tory Party as much as protesting about climate.

@Pinktable11

Wow! So many questions. I'll answer what I can. I was arrested yesterday and released about an hour ago. Just having a breather then getting back to the protest.

I was arrested for locking myself to street furniture to close a road. I was carried into a police van and sat there for around 4 hours before being taken to a piece station. The woman I was sitting next to in the van had been a fire warden in the same area in the second world war! When we got to the police station she was not checked in. They just drove her home . The custody Sargent said stop bringing him noctogerians please

😂