Extinction rebellion protester, ask me anything

[Market1]

I support extinction rebellion protests, ask me anything you like - ( I have a very thick skin, nothing you say will upset me)

Most people I come across are supportive, perhaps I should have phrased it like that. When I am protesting, the overwhelming majority of responses are supportive. Travelling by bus/ train to and from protests in dressed in ER logos, again the responses from the public are supportive, hand shakes, thank yous, etc.

Agreed.

Thanks for doing this thread.

Do you think the XR policy of civil disobedience through mass arrest is achieving its aim?

Do you hope to achieve a mass movement through this, or is there another aim to it?

It is achieving some aims. We know many companies, banks, organisations, etc who have changed their policies to avoid becoming ER targets, so that is good.

Obviously, there is a long way to go, but yes, every step in the right direction is great.

For example, if we circulate a list of the worst 10 banks in London, as far as environmental damage goes, then we launch a protest at the very worst one, we know there are hasty discussions and reshufflings in the other 9, to try and get off our "worst 10" list, and avoid being the next target. We have enough people on boards to monitor this.

They might not do much, and they might not do it for the right reasons, but if some bankers board takes some action that protects the environment, to be the 11th worst rather than the 4th worst, that is a win, to some extent.

Thank you

Suppose you had your requests granted in legislation say, 4 years ago. Ignoring the effect of the pandemic. What changes would it have brought into our everyday lives.
A) living in London aged 40, married no children. So good public transport already.
B) Older Parents in small town/large village. One dentist, one supermarket. Hospitals 10 mikes away. No direct bus service. Railway 10miles no buses.
My view A) liveable, Car for visiting family, .

B) Bloody hard work.

Travelling by road/train to stop other people doing so. What a bunch of twats.
So vehicular transports all good as long as you're on it?
Bollocks.

Most people I come across are supportive, perhaps I should have phrased it like that.

Yes you should have, instead of posting your bold claim that...

all research we have indicates we are turning more people towards our cause.

And then being unable to back that up, despite being repeatedly asked to.

There was a question I glimpsed somewhere about scientists, which I| can't find now to quote.

Yes, we have a lot of scientists contributing to our campaigns, some in the planning and policies, others just lending their bodyweight on the ground.

They don't work for ER full time, but volunteer, as do a lot of solicitors and legal people.

Meteorologists come up quite a lot! I have met quite a few on the ground, many have criminal records already, but the Met office, and similar employers don't seem to penalise people getting criminal records for this sort of action. Some of the wildest, most committed protestors I have met were meteorologists!

Thank you MN for letting this thread stand. I will be returning later today, if it is still here.

We know many companies, banks, organisations, etc who have changed their policies to avoid becoming ER targets, so that is good.

That's fantastic OP!

I'd be interested to know which ones? Obviously I'm not asking you to name all of them! But just a few and what is it about their policies that they changed?

Why wouldn't it stand? It's annoying but not against rules, so nothing reportable.
Are you trying to look like @mnhq are in support of ER activities?

@MichelleScarn it could easily have been removed for being goady or trying to recruit protestors, or for the large number of personal attacks the OP has received, to be fair.

Good point @GoodChat ! Just annoyed by self righteousness of this lot!

Being a bully isn't brave.

I still don't see your apology to @Justonemorecoffeeplease who your prevented from reaching her mother, who has since died, to be with her on the day her husband died. Did I miss it?

Or an ounce of empathy for the woman who was prevented from taking her ill baby to hospital?

It seems that you really don't care at all.

We do our best to facilitate emergency journeys, and as I have said, many more people are harmed by the roads being open than the roads being closed

how about 'facilitating emergency journeys' by getting out of the fucking road?

Self-righteous, callous, hypocritical bullshit.

I imagine it's like this thread, where she has quoted and thanked the small minority of posters who have expressed a positive view (complete with adorable little kisses on her posts), while consistently ignoring and refusing to acknowledge the far larger number of posts pointing out the horrible harm she is promoting.

Oh but it won't have been the OP, it'll have been 'the others' 🙄

You're right.

It wouldn't stop her from expressing genuine sympathy to that poster and saying, "I'm so sorry for your loss and for compounding your grief and pain and for making you unable to be with your mum and comfort her. That shouldn't have happened."

If that's what she thinks.

Is it?

The fact is that all of our actions and choices impact others. Sometimes those in power have to make laws and decisions to manage this.

Children in London are harmed by high emissions. People will drive high emission vehicles if there are no disincentives. That’s why we now have the ULEZ. But people complain about it…

XR are drawing attention to issues that we should all be addressing.

XR and JSO are damaging their own cause so much that it makes me wonder what's really driving it. They certainly have very very expensive placards, tabards, banners, etc. And can afford tickets to all sorts of expensive places.

I don't drive at all, for environmental reasons, and the only time I'll go in a car is in a medical emergency for me or my child.

There is no excuse for blocking ordinary people from reaching hospitals, clinics, support groups, family members that they care for, jobs which they need to carry out to earn a living.

These protests hugely disproportionately impact working class, minority ethnic, sick and disabled people. People die as a direct and indirect result of them.

The fact that they continue to do them, knowing this, tells you everything you need to know.

Yes it was, they backtracked and apologised afterwards. Apparently they hadn't bothered to research the demographics and their excuse was that they weren't from London and had assumed Canning Town would be a good location to disrupt the financial industry. Rather than cleaners, care workers, people on minimum wage trying to get to work. And using public transport which is surely something an environmental group should be supporting.

What subject do you teach?

Bellends. All of you. Don't need to ask you anything.

Anyone who cares about mankind doesn't block a road for emergencies.

Pathetic.