on October 31st 2018 an assembly of more
than a thousand people gathered in
Parliament Square to hear a declaration
of rebellion it was a message from
protesters to the UK government claiming
that it was failing to protect its
citizens from the progressing climate
crisis it marked a new wave of climate
protests that would eventually grow into
a globally recognized movement with
nearly 500 affiliates across more than
70 countries using non-violent
disruptive action extinction rebellion
or X our aims to force the UK government
to declare a climate and ecological
emergency reduce greenhouse gas
emissions to Net Zero by 2025 and create
a citizen's assembly on climate and
ecological justice actually the decision
to start a rebellion was made in this
room in April of 2018 I think there was
also a zeitgeist a moment when the IPCC
report had come out you had to Greta
start in her work you had David
Attenborough's films people were ready
for a new movement to take form
extinction rebellions first mass
disruption occurred in London in
November 2018 participants including
families and pensioners occupied five
bridges over the River Thames shutting
down traffic and also blocked off
Parliament since then they have
organised huge occupations around the
world sit-ins Dian's hunger strikes and
other demonstrations at government
buildings local councils fashion events
and airports the tactics employed by
extinction rebellion are contentious its
members have been frequently confronted
by the public and whilst gaining support
from a number of scientist celebrities
and politicians its founders like Gayle
Bradbrook have been scrutinized in the
media and by the UK government fascistic
disruption of other people's lives how
does it further your calls to stop
people going to work I don't understand
the logic of what you're trying to do
I'm
Krusty's and protestors of all kinds you
sort of to an extent can't really win
you know you've had it in the past when
I was on protests it was always people
shouting out of the cars get a job get a
bath get a haircut so it's like what am
i I'm a kind of dole scrounging hippie
or am i middle class and privilege just
by stepping forward somehow you become
scrutinized rather than the actual
issues that count Gayle lives in the
English town of Stroud is perhaps an
unlikely stronghold for a radical
movement but Stroud has a long-standing
commitment to the environment it's both
a transition town and also the first
Earth protector town in the UK
the beacon a community hub in the heart
of the town center serves as a home for
some of extinction rebellions activities
I think the beacon Tim finds where we
want to go with exile highlight real
community-based activism and real
community-based intimacy in a way
Strauss come to be this like massive
base of support for extinction rebellion
we're trying to promote ecocide laws
being implement in this country which is
a really vital backstop if you will to
stopping the kind of planetary
destruction London is where much of the
focus of extinction rebellions protests
have taken place and we're their largest
support network is based and much of the
organization for the movements actions
originates in the East End of the city
it's a real team effort there's no 1 or
2 people who have birthed extinction
rebellion it's often a lot of these old
unseen foe the the incredible arts team
that people who have been in the back
office's the people who have been
helping form like our social media
networks and all the rest of it they've
really been the backbone of all this
extinction rebellion provides the tools
for individuals to start their own
chapters of the movement in any country
in the world so far there are 205 groups
in the UK alone obviously that pressures
in terms of the climate are nothing
other places so y XR took off here is a
really interesting question it's part to
do with the privilege of being in a
temperate zone in an advanced economy is
also the result of I think a more
extreme pressure from austerity from
neoliberal market ideology that has
result in a pressure on the fabric of
society that's started to tear there are
many many tensions because we're trying
to be as inclusive as is possible and at
the same time retains some really quite
radical philosophies about our direction
of travel for me the direction of travel
is an end to the kind of business as
usual an attitude that sees people
flying off to Glasgow for a business
meeting from London air
the other day it means having to live in
post capitalist societies it means
actually massive fundamental changes to
the way that we not only live our life
but also have to perceive the world as a
whole
extinction rebellion has made some gains
the thousands of protesters that have
been arrested have altered the debate on
climate change in May 2019 the UK
Parliament became the first legislative
body to declare a climate emergency and
in November 2019 Haarlem --nt sent out
30,000 letters inviting people to join a
climate assembly in my opinion it should
be understood the rebellion is just a
pathway to regenerative cultures but
that all requires systems change all
this must change our lives are going to
be simpler I mean a lot of respects
around the planet there gonna be a lot
bloody bleaker as well for Bramwell
Bradbrook and many of the other members
of the movement the biggest fault lies
with politics and the media for not
confronting head-on what they see as the
truth of climate change the issues that
we're facing are three main scenarios
one is the collapse of civilizations or
you've got billions of people dying or
human extinction the media is not doing
its job and democracy is not doing its
job and so what happens in a civil
disobedience movement is that you have
to disrupt because the business is usual
model that is so destructive
there is no other planet like this that
we know of
why wouldn't we turn our attention to
this deepest of crisis that humanity's
ever faced and try and come up with good
solutions together that's all that
extinction rebellion are really asking
for