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)

@Market1 keep fighting the fight and thank you for doing so. While I don't support those people who prevent others from getting go hospital, I do support the ER protests as a whole, including those which cause inconvenience!

I did start this thinking people would be more interested in what it is like to be arrested, how the police treat us, what happens in court, etc.

I would like to know this!

And also, if it doesn't put your identity at risk, how you came to be involved with ER?

@Market1 - really poor answer

The issue of how long humans live is fascinating. Home erectus one of our ancestors lived for 1.5m years so has been and is likely to be much more successful than homo sapiens - the latter is not particularly successful since about 10,000 years ago when we settled down and started grabbing land, stopped hunting and we bred and bred

If you look at a time line of the planet we were only ever likely to be on it for the blink of an eye and that as far as I am concerned is what we all know and have always known. We are not mightier than a dinosaur. We are not better than a rock or plankton. I don't like much of the mess humans have made of the planet and never drop litter and that kind of thing but some of the eco measures in the UK are pointless and gone too far without people having an active vote on them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Earth

Is it is not rather arrogant to suggest humans are best and must be preserved?

But if anyone can affiliate themselves with ER just by claiming so, what control do they have

theyre not an organisation with members and control, they’re an ideology and the op has explained anyone can “join”

so there’s no way to prevent any action that damages anyone

It’s responses like this that mean many people can’t support your group

@Market1 very easy to criticise the actions of others when you haven’t walked in their shoes. You are very lucky not to have a sick or disabled child who needs urgent medical care. You probably don’t give a shit about people in this position because all your time and energy is invested in these futile protests without thinking about others.

Sanctimonious twaddle. Try living outside of metropolitan areas and travelling without a car. Rural areas have little to no public transport.
The school where I teach would have a mere handful of staff for a 1000 pupils.

I hope you actually get to sit down with someone who has been badly affected by your ‘actions’ and look them in the eye while spouting such judgemental waffle.

People with very vulnerable family members or reliant on cars also have to be able to get around when there are delays caused by climate change - floods, fires, storm damage and debris… and there will be more people with health issues due to extreme heat and cold and more poverty and worse health care….

I am not at all unsympathetic to the plight of those who have experienced delays and anxiety caused by protests but there is a bigger picture here… and there are no perfect solutions to this problem. If there were we would have solved this issue by now.

This is such a thoroughly depressing thread. I’m actually shocked at how solipsistic people are and how they genuinely think the life of one person somewhere in the midlands of the UK matters more than the lives of billions around the world that are slowly being destroyed. That their car, their holiday in burning Greece, their convenience, matters more.
Truly, the human race is f@cked.

As you have all the answers; tell me how I get to multiple hospital appointments in different places without a car? How do I get to A&E quickly without a car? How do I take my blind child anywhere safely if I can't use my car?
You are acting as though I'm doing something illegal; I'm not. I'm doing the best for 2 disabled adults [ yes, both my kids have multiple issues] under very difficult circumstances.I'm sorry if you think that unreasonable ,but I'm going to carry on.

If you hold on to something when the police try and move you, that is resisting arrest, but if you are locked or glued to something and simply go floppy, and leave it to the police to sort out, that is not resisting arrest. It is possible to arrange yourself so that it is very difficult for the police to release you, even if you are not actively resisting, locked high on a weak structure, for example, or lock around your wrist with a metal tube around the arm

The ER advice on being arrested is basically to go floppy, as you cannot be accused of resisting arrest, and are less likely to be hurt, and the police are less likely to be hurt too, rather than if you resist arrest and it becomes a competition about strength. Of course you have the option of simply acquiescing, and walking along with the police quietly - again it is a personal choice, and the aim is for as few of us to be arrested as possible, therefore going floppy ties up more police officers and results in overall fewer arrests. It is up to you though, everything is a personal choice.

Going floppy and being carried to a police van is actually quiet frightening, you are basically trusting the police not to drop you. Generally they don't. but I ask to be carried slung low only a small distance above the ground, so there is less of a fall if they do drop me

You get put in a police van, and typically are there for some hours, and no toilet option 😰which is the worst thing for me at my age! Other arrestees will arrive, and we can chat, but only use code names, the police in the van often chat too, maybe fishing for information, but quite often quite supportive, and friendly, some talk about supporting various environmental organisations themselves - not ones that break the law though!

In the police station, well it depends which one, most are kind and friendly, offer a visit to a bookcase to chose a book to go in with, the cells are generally smooth, without corners, and plain. You then wait hours and hours. You can eat as much as you want, but it isn't very appetising, particularly the vegetarian options! all microwaves meals, just knock on the door and ask.

Eventually you get an interview - again it is up to you whether you cooperate or not, you can give your name, or refuse to, at this stage it is an offense not to, but it is a personal choice. Then you sign your "bail conditions" which may well be that you are not allowed to return to the demonstration - and then you leave and return to the demonstration normally!

I became involved with ER when I saw a demonstration on the news and went up town to support them, and got talking to individual activists, then got pointed to the website and started doing their training

as I have already answered, make yourself known, and we will try to help,

HOW??

You've been asked repeatedly and each time you've dodged the answer.

You do realise the point of AMA is to actually answer the questions, don't you?

Amazing

Someone wanked your ego and you gave them the longest reply on the thread, with actual answers 🙄

I don’t think I’m solipsistic in calling for action to work on solutions rather than punching downward on everyday people and disrupting their lives.

I believe we should pay more tax for our public services and pay fairer prices for our goods especially food. Actually we should have less ‘stuff’ altogether.

However, I’m not going to superglue myself to the road and tell you I’m doing it for the millions.

When you have been directly affected by the protestors in a truly distressing way and can say ‘it’s okay I honestly don’t mind’ then perhaps I’ll listen to you.

For the record, I’m not some capitalistic ‘scum’ but a previously green voting, veggie who works in a state school. I’m not in your XR camp at all. I support the call to address the climate crisis but not by the callous disregard of others and their right to get on with their lives.

'As I said above I don;'t reall mind if humans die off. The planet probably needs 5 in 6 of us to die to be sustainable anyway'

That's nice for you. Have you got the right to demand the rest of us plus numerous other species, die with you, though?

You are pissing in the wind trying to get her to understand. She doesn't care one iota about any people. She's probably be fine with chronically sick people just dying while waiting for her and her friends to finish their protest. She's holier than us all and only thinks there is one way. Her way.
Reminds me of the old man that used to stand by the shops when I was a kid with a sandwich board that said The End is Nigh.
She is single minded, a Zealot.

@MrsCarson I agree with you, the point is they have no answers about how 'the little people' can actually run their lives in safety , with some enjoyment and without returning to some pre industrial existence.

Do do the ER people think humans were ever going to live forever? I find that extraordinary as an idea. Of course some people believe in life after death - billions do, but in terms of homo sapiens on earth we have always known we would only be here in what is the blink of an eye in historical terms. Why would we expect to live even as long as the 1.5m years of homo erectus one of our ancestors?

do you think it is ok for our behaviour to destroy billions of human and animal lives?

Do you think it's ok to start a AMA and then not answer the rather important question of how you're supposed to pluck a sick or dying passenger out of a massive traffic jam and help get them to hospital, once they've 'made themselves known to you'?

If you take a holiday in the UK, how do you get there?

I'm not comfortable with people being unable to access hospitals due to protests, but I don't know how often this has happened and whether XR has changed tactics to avoid this.
Nor am I comfortable with people who demand the protests be eliminated. That is insisting on the death of the human race an other species. And that we should all go quietly. People would prefer other tactics, but vaguely muttering that the government should do this and that achieves nothing. I understand some people feel they don't care about living too much longer anyway, but it's no excuse to insist human and non human life forms must die too.

Would you prefer police resources were used to investigate crimes rather than police demonstrations?

public transport, I have never driven

Everyone has a right to demonstrate! That is democracy.