extinction rebellion

[gemandjule]

A daughter of a friend of mine is active in this group and has just been arrested for the second time. I can't decide if I'm worried about her or admire her. She has struggled in the past few years with low mood and I know my friend is very concerned about her. Do we need more people like these to achieve awareness and change or are they as a group too radical and therefore ineffective as they are too easy to dismiss as crackpots?

Wow, that must be really worrying for your friend. Do you know why the daughter suffered low mood? Could her taking action in protest be her outlet for anxiety for her future?

I'm a parent and about to enter my 50s. I would be worried if my child was arrested but I also have a lot of positive experience with extinction rebellion. Having been involved in environmental groups for many years, I have found extinction rebellion very nurturing and supportive. Actions (not all arrestable) have been a positive outlet for my fears for our children's future.

I can't make a guess about this young person's situation but for white middle class people, arrest is less risky (than for BIPoC and/or working class people, sadly). It also creates an opportunity to explain to the judiciary why these issues matter.

It sounds like you are open minded about this young person, and a wonderful ally for both her and your friend.

@PenguinJunk. Thanks for the response. I had given up.
She’s been sent to jail as she refused to sign the bail conditions.
It’s good they are a nurturing organization. I was concerned she might be being used by them. She could be vulnerable. She became unwell at about 14 years old and missed a lot of school as result. I certainly feel finding a cause has given her a sense of belonging which I think she lacked due to missing so much school and therefore losing contact with her peers.
I was on to my friend and apparently she’s being treated well. She’s being isolated due to covid. Not sure if that’s good or bad for her. She’s due back in court in a few days so we’ll see

Hi, I am part of XR and would very much like to reach out to ensure that your friend’s daughter is OK. Is she getting support from the XR group she is with? There are resources not only as arrestee support but also trained emotional support. The trained emotional support is for people who are suffering from climate change induced anxiety. If you Google extinction rebellion TESN you’ll find the links. It’s all on the main XRUK website.

Personally I find it devastating that young (and sometimes less so) people are so worried about their future that they feel the need to put themselves into such circumstances. I can’t imagine how I would feel if this were my daughter.
It may not be what your friend wants but XR support it is available.

Sincere and kind regards,

A.

Hi there.

I'm getting in touch on behalf of the XR Arrestee Support team.

I just wanted to get in touch to hopefully reassure you that we offer lots of support for people who are arrested on XR actions. Firstly, we run online trainings to make sure people are equipped to make an informed and personal decision about whether to put themselves in a situation in which they may be arrested. Hopefully your friend's daughter will have been to one of those trainings. There are also lots of things within XR that people can do that don't involve a risk of arrest, so people can choose to support XR in other ways if they don't feel comfortable with arrest.

But also there's lots of support available right through the arrest process, from before someone is arrested, to there being supporters at the police station when they're released, one-to-one telephone advice for those who have been arrested, financial support with legals costs, and court supporters who are there for people's court hearings. Your daughter's friend will almost certainly be on our radar, in which case she will be being offered all this support.

Obviously it's a really worrying thing for a parent to go through, but I hope you feel reassured that there's a good level of support for those who do take the brave decision to put themselves at risk of arrest. We're so grateful to everyone who makes these personal sacrifices to try and achieve the change we so desperately need.

Sending lots of love to your friend and her daughter!
Gwen

There are effective ways to help without risking arrest.

Contribute to local planning discussion and register objections ( yelling in the streets is not part of planning process)
Vote - elections next month. Quiz candidates on policies. Or even stand - may not be too late.
Lead by example - use less, have less, fly less, drive less.

I hope she is released soon and is able to do all these things.

I am all for fewer roads, less stuff, less travel and all the uncomfortable truths we need to face. I am not for contributing to the problem by pointless protest that achieves nothing and damages people such as the ops daughter.

They are crackpots, and she is being manipulated and used by them.

Her parents should be ashamed and try to talk some sense into her. Somethings gone very wrong somewhere.

Sorry. I stopped checking this thread and missed the recent responses. Thanks for the advice and opinions. She was due back in court on Thursday but the case didn't get heard. She is still in prison. She can leave whenever she signs the bail conditions but apparently as of Thursday had not made any contact with her solicitor. Apparently she can ring her solicitor any time she wants to but they can't ring her.
My friend did get to speak to her for the first time on the phone on Thursday evening. At that point she had been told that due to case backlogs it could be 12 to 18 months before her case comes to court and she seemed to say she would sign the conditions and come home but as of yesterday my friend had not heard any more so not sure whether she signed or not
It's good to hear that she will be getting support from XR. I guess I'm a bit worried that it suits for her to be in jail for publicity purposes
@emilyfrost her parents are the nicest people you could ever meet who have spent the last 6 years doing everything in their power to try and help their daughter who has had significant struggles since she was 14. Obviously you are prefectly entitled to you opinion regarding XR and may well be correct but I can absolutely guarantee her parents have nothing to be ashamed of. Who knows where this will end but that statement may be the equivilent of saying Emily Pankhurst's or Martin Luther King's parents should be ashamed of them. Some of the most admired people in history went to jail for their beliefs and believed in civil disobedience as a way to achieve good

My experience - as a 35yr old, maths teacher and mum of 3 - is that XR are a really supportive group and certainly not a "bunch of crackpots".

There are other ways your friends daughter can contribute to action on climate change through XR. I've taken part in XR action with my husband and children. In my experience XR don't encourage or pressure anyone into agreeing to get arrested. They also provide advice on how not to get arrested if that's something you need to avood.

You don't say how old your friends daughter is. I understand your friends worry about her being arrested but I also believe her age is relevant

Agree with the cause, not some of the actions. Disrupting a DLR train or blocking Oxford Circus where hardly anyone travels there by car lost me any sympathy.

@User0ne she's 19, but a young 19 really as she missed her last 3 years of school and barely left her house at all during this time. She started a couse last year but again missed a lot of this and so doesn't many "real life" friends

She’s still in. Her mother just sent me a Facebook post where to be honest it seems very much to be glorifying her stance and inciting action for each Friday she stays in. Honestly it must be really tough to see your vulnerable teenager being encouraged to sit in jail to publicise a cause, even if you totally back that cause.