to support extinction rebellion - more London action tomorrow

[54321nought]

I am not sure what, but I have seen their previous demonstrations, and support their cause.

We were given badges at one event, and travelled home on public transport wearing them, and received absolutely nothing but 100% support from other travellers, which was nice, as I expected some hostility, publicly wearing their badges while roads in London were closed by them

Direct action = criminal behaviour + disrupting law abiding citizens lives

It's not democratic.

It turns people off.

It does the opposite of gaining support fir the cause.

Utterly stupid and moronic.

@OhGiveUp

They all need chucking in the Thames! Environment my arse. How many flew in last time? How many travelled down by car? How many of them travelled back to their homes by the same method and then put their central heating on? How many stayed behind to clear up the mountain of shit they left behind? Shove the bloody lot of them. They stopped people going about their lawful business, cost people financially and hospital appointments etc. They're yobs who should be treated as such, and I certainly don't need spoilt cry babies like that brat Thurnberg telling me what to do.

I know a lot came down in coaches. A lot of them organised mass walks and cycles. People need to stop going about their daily business and pay attention if things are going to change. Lives will be far more seriously disrupted if the government dong make changes now.

I probably should have said privileged people who have enough time on their hands to glue themselves to lamposts and sit on roads.

I certainly don't need spoilt cry babies like that brat Thurnberg telling me what to do

I can’t believe there are actual adults that speak like this.

A lot of their tactics seem counter productive to being environmentally friendly.
Disrupting public transport for example means people might be tempted to get out and use a cab (when public transport is clearly the "greener" option)
Spilling gallons of paint everywhere or painting/defacing buildings (means using excessive amounts of water and or chemicals to clean it up - again this doesn't appear particularly climate friendly)
And Emma Thomson flying in of course.

@Theluggage15

Bunch of middle class twats. Overwhelmingly white little cult it is too. The U.K. is responsible for 1% of global carbon emissions, why don’t they protest somewhere like China and see how that goes down.

Exactly this. Aren't they just preaching to the converted? We're one of the greenist countries on the planet. They're just desperate virtue signallers.

@GintyMcGinty

Direct action = criminal behaviour + disrupting law abiding citizens lives

It's not democratic.

It turns people off.

It does the opposite of gaining support fir the cause.

Utterly stupid and moronic.

Not a fan of the suffragette movement then?

Obviously it’s harder to be litter free when very large numbers of people are there and the police are moving people on.

No, it's very easy. At the point of creating the litter you put it in the bag it came in/your bag/your pocket and take it with you. It really isn't rocket science.

I agree that climate change and pollution needs to be addressed quickly but Extinction Rebellion are doing more harm than good by making people direct their anger at their organisation rather than the actual problem.

*Direct action = criminal behaviour + disrupting law abiding citizens lives

It's not democratic.

It turns people off.

It does the opposite of gaining support fir the cause.

Utterly stupid and moronic.*

Yes this.

We're one of the greenist countries on the planet.

It’s all someone else’s job to sort out? We are not all that green. Our lifestyles rely on outsourcing the damaging parts of our economy. Not to mention our role in supporting the fossil fuel industry.

This country should be using our influence to lead change, not sitting back and blaming other countries.

Not a fan of the suffragette movement then?

Women did not have democratic choices.

Poor example.

@GintyMcGinty

Not a fan of the suffragette movement then?

Women did not have democratic choices.

Poor example.

And we won’t have much choice soon. Our children certainly wont.

Not a fan of the suffragette movement then

Least they knew what the suffragettes cause was. Nobody knows what extiction rebellion stands/sits/glues for !

"The U.K. is responsible for 1% of global carbon emissions, why don’t they protest somewhere like China and see how that goes down."

And the stuff manufactured in China is what we transport around the world using fossil fuel to bring to the UK, it is cheaper to do this on the backs of people paid a pittance in China with no employment rights than to pay UK wages and manufacture here, obviously manufacturing here would raise our carbon production.

Alot of the crap manufactured there and transported here is shitty plastic tat which we use once and then throw away and pay Malaysia or other poorer nations to take away as "plastic recycling " which then rots forever on what was a beautiful beach far away. But we don't have to count it as our carbon footprint as we have "recycled" it.

They need to pick better targets. Disrupting public transport at all is a stupid idea - do they want everyone who uses it to switch to cars instead?

I also can't believe the excuses made for the littering. If you're in a large group and get moved on by police, each person takes his or her own rubbish and keeps hold of it until there's an appropriate place to put it. Even if that means putting it in your bag and later disposing of it in your bin at home. I'm not especially eco-conscious and I can honestly say that I've never dropped litter in the street, even when I was on large protests as a teenager (anti-war). Extinction Rebellion just seem like complete hypocrites to me.

They need to target more big business and companies that use unsustainable methods. Me using a coffee cup and occasionally driving a car is nothing in comparison to say shell oil, or who was that company recently fined for dumping raw sewage in rivers.

They lost all my support when they went into
Restaurants and waitrose and tried to stop people buying/eating meat. I’m increasingly vegetarian but I’m still going to eat occasional (well sourced) meat and some jumped up twat that knows nothing of the world is not dictating my behaviour. They are the same type of idiot that freed all the mink from the animal testing centres causing huge problems in the forests.

@Mrsjayy

Not a fan of the suffragette movement then

Least they knew what the suffragettes cause was. Nobody knows what extiction rebellion stands/sits/glues for !

There is this thing called reading.

SoupDragon you are confusing the responsibilities of the organisers with the responsibilities of the individuals.

My experience is that genuine XR people don’t litter and that the organisers are also very responsible.

It’s obviously harder for the organisers to stay on top of litter when there are very large numbers of individuals who are not taking personal responsibility.

They could choose to be more practical, highlight greenwashing, yes that persil does have some plant based stain removers, yes that ecover smells quite nice, but they’re not environmentally friendly. They could assist consumers in making better (and realistic choices

Honestly this just shows you have absolutely no idea of the scale of the crisis and what actually needs to be done. This isn’t Sesame Street in the 90s anymore - we’re way beyond telling people to recycle and buy bamboo toothbrushes. 70% of carbon emissions are made by just 100 companies. The only way to change anything at this point is to put pressure on governments for real serious economic and structural change. Nothing else will do. And I don’t think asking them nicely will help.

Extinction Rebellion are actually on the whole a very interesting group who have done a lot of research into successful movements of the past (suffragettes, civil rights etc) and have found that disruptive civil disobedience is the most effective way to bring about change. Yes it’s annoying but it’s supposed to be - would you prefer them to send round a petition instead? If change doesn’t happen we’re all absolutely screwed, and there will be no jobs, no normal day to day life for people to disrupt anymore.

The replies to this thread are incredibly depressing with so many of you who clearly still do not get it, and think this is all going to be solved if a few of us switch from bleach to ecover

"making people direct their anger at their organisation rather than the actual problem."
I think even naice protesting would anger the same people, they don't like the mirror being held up. We are all the problem.

I've protested with them before, I know a few people who are very involved with organising action and I admire them very much. Humanity is in crisis and I'd like to be able to look my daughters in the eye when the shit hits the fan and tell them I tried to stand up and be counted when I could.

All of the bleating about 'i bet they put the heating on, I bet they drive a car' misses the entire point. 10 companies produce 71% of carbon emissions. We could all live like monks and it still wouldn't be enough, we need systemic change from government. That's literally what XR are demanding and why they use the methods they do. If it was just about getting people to recycle they could run a school assembly.

I don't agree with everything they've done but unfortunately that's the nature of the group, it's not a registered charity or non profit, anyone can get involved and they don't have to ask permission before using XR's name.

Protesting outside government buildings and fossil fuel companies' offices I am 100% on board with and if you think that is disruptive to your daily life you are going to lose your mind when the floods and fires come. Not to mention the food and water shortages.

@maddening

"making people direct their anger at their organisation rather than the actual problem." I think even naice protesting would anger the same people, they don't like the mirror being held up. We are all the problem.

I disagree. Supergluing yourself to stuff is only going to piss everyone off, not make a point about climate change how good is superglue and the required removal chemical for the environment? How is disrupting public transport any good for the environment?) The only thing this publicises is the group themselves, and not for any good reasons.

100 companies not 10!

Urgh, extinction rebellion

Has there been one single person who has been saved from their climate denying ways by a bunch of anarchist blue hair wannabees running round London hopped up on their own self righteousness?

I agree that things need to change and I'd happily get behind an organisation that was making realistic headway, but I don't agree with the way they go about it. Some posts seem to be alluding the thought that if you aren't a fan of XR you're happy to see the world burn, which isn't the case