AIBU to think that Extinction Rebellion have just thrown women under the bus?

[ArcheryAnnie]

This thread is really for those of you who think that - however flawed XR is - the threat of climate change really does need a mass, radical movement of people and groups. Up until now Extinction Rebellion has been that organisation.

XR in recent days tweeted a thread about "Trans Pride", pinning their colours to the highly contested notion of gender identity, using the slur "TERF", and basically declaring themselves and their mission off-limits to anyone who has a different opinion about the importance of biological sex.

I have looked through their twitter account, but I have been unable to find any threads labelled "Lesbian Pride" that they've tweeted.

This is a movement that should include everyone of every political stripe. It shouldn't seek to narrow itself down any further. We all need to act together to create opportunities to mitigate climate change, whatever our opinions on anything else.

This is also a movement that needs to be absolutely beyond criticism when dealing with science and facts. This stance of theirs does not reflect any kind of scientific consensus, but a rigid ideological viewpoint that isn't subject to any kind of review or logic.

I've been a critical supporter of XR from the start, and have taken part in both discussions and actions. Since they are busy throwing women (and especially lesbians) under the bus, I won't do so any more.

We need an environmental movement that won't throw women under the bus, and, as a bonus, is ready to embrace radical action without the kind of macho gung-ho nonsense that has marred some of XR's actions to date. I don't know where we are going to find it, or how to create it, but we sorely need it, otherwise we are all fucked.

Every human being who has ever lived was conceived by a male sperm fertilising a female egg.

That is binary.

Luzina that article is just an opinion piece. And totally wrong.

'Not a real vegan unless you think TWAW?!'

This just me me think of PETA.

Well known for their ads which tend to the highly misogynistic end of the scale.

Sad fact is, whatever the cause, right or left, it's all about men.

Thank you for the link luzina.

Had a skim.

Very interesting.

I'm interested to know, if sex is not cut and dried, what do you believe is the cause of women and girls being oppressed globally for millennia?

Almost all the people I knew who were connected with XR thought the train thing was stupid, self-defeating (we need public transport!) and dangerous.
It's the same with all of these organisations (BLMUK being another recent example). Grassroots are generally sensible, with serious concerns about the issue at hand. The organisation leadership on the other hand tends to be drawn from middle-class anarchists who've jumped on a cause to further their aims of turning the nation to communism. They are in it for the punch-up, not for the cause.

Is there anything that can be done about this? I know a ton of women active in XR who don't agree with this, but everyone is exhausted with their existing campaigning. It seems a bit much that we have to fucking start campaigning towards our own fucking mvoement in order to stop it being dominated (yet again) by men.

OP, there's nothing to stop you gluing yourself to a train on your own volition. You don't need to wait for some "official" group to tell you it's the appropriate time. If you don't like the decisions of the people running one organisation, you are free to start a new one with similar aims but based on your own vision of how it should be run. Think about it, there are lots of cancer charities, all with similar aims to alleviate suffering and find a cure. They co-exist alongside one another. For every person who thinks trans-women should be excluded, there will be another who doesn't, and clearly not everyone can be happy.

(My tip is to glue yourself to the toilet seat rather than the outside of the train. This way you inconvenience passengers who need a shit but not to the extent that they're tempted to make the journey by car instead.)

I don't want to glue myself to a train! We need public transport! (And almost all the other people I know who support XR think so, too.)

If you don't like the decisions of the people running one organisation, you are free to start a new one with similar aims but based on your own vision of how it should be run.

The problem with this is that XR as a movement was built on the labour of thousands and thousands of people, including a vast number of women (seriously, most of the activists I know who have created groups, worked on communications, taken action, put their lives on the line, are women), and a small cabal have just unilaterally taken this decision to tie XR into a sexist, homophobic ideology.

It follows the pattern, though: women put time and energy into creating something, and it's stolen from them.