For most of the month of April, every time I turned onto the news or logged onto some social media platform, I saw something about Extinction Rebellion (or Brexit, but I think everyone has had it up to here with the whole mess). Be it an article, video footage of the protest, or pictures of people holding up “save our earth” signs, it flooded and demanded the time and attention of not only the citizens of the UK, but the world. Now, if I were to say that all I had seen was positivity regarding the movement, I would be lying, and here’s why.
It began on the 1st April 2019, when Extinction Rebellion (XR for short) fully made their way into the mainstream media (they had previously demonstrated in 2018, but nothing that had made its way into the media so heavily) when 12 protestors undressed in the House of Commons during a debate on the future of Brexit. They glued themselves to the glass, wearing nothing but grey paint and elephant masks – referring to the “elephant in the room”… climate change. They were all arrested, and so began the start of the name “Extinction Rebellion” being seen and heard everywhere from social media platforms to television, from radio to YouTube.
Monday 15th April, Extinction Rebellion had taken their protests to the streets and urged the public to join in their message; thus creating a ripple effect not only across London, but eventually the globe too. The movement blocked various busy public sites across London, such as Oxford Street, Waterloo Bridge, a Docklands Light Railway train at Canary Wharf, and spreading to Vauxhall Bridge. XR managed to place a pink boat in the middle of Oxford Street (named after famous activist Berta Cáceres), which was finally removed on the following Friday. Before its removal, famous British actress Emma Thompson read poems dedicated to the Earth, and stressed how she felt that her generation had failed the future generation: “We have seriously failed them and our planet is in serious trouble.”
But, past the naked protesting, the incredible social media presence, the bright pink traffic-stopping pink boats and the celebrity appearances, what is XR really about? what do they stand for? One look at their website will tell you. Let’s break down what their principles are, as well as their demands. Their principles, as stated on their website, are:
- “We have a shared vision of change: creating a world that is fit for generations to come.”
- “We set our mission on what is necessary: mobilising 3.5% of the population to achieve system change – using ideas such as ‘Momentum-driven organising’ to achieve this.”
- “We need a regenerative culture: creating a culture which is healthy, resilient and adaptable.”
- “We openly challenge ourselves and our toxic system: leaving our comfort zones to take action for change.”
- “We value reflecting and learning: following a cycle of action, reflection, learning, and planning for more action. Learning from other movements and contexts as well as our own experiences.”
- “We welcome everyone and every part of everyone: working actively to create safer and more accessible spaces.”
- “We actively mitigate for power: breaking down hierarchies of power for more equitable participation.”
- “We avoid blaming and shaming – we live in a toxic system, but no one individual is to blame.”
- “We are a non-violent network: using non-violent strategy and tactics as the most effective way to bring about change”.
- “We are based on autonomy and decentralisation: we collectively create the structures we need to challenge power. Anyone who follows these core principles and values can take action in the name of Extinction Rebellion.”
Now, what really threw me upon reading their “principles”, was that they don’t exactly go into detail about their environmental concerns and how they would like to solve them – but moreover sound like a new political party. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Gary L. Francione, an American philosopher as well as animal rights activist, publicly expressed his opinions on XR via medium.com in a blog post titled: “Extinction Rebellion: Shame”, where he questions XR’s true motives and how they never once promoted veganism as another way to help towards the fight against climate change. “The Worldwatch Institute claims that animal agriculture is responsible for 51% of greenhouse gasses”, Francione states in his post. “….I have discussed recent work at Oxford that has made clear that a vegan diet is the single most significant thing we can do to avert climate catastrophe… It seems, however, that Extinction Rebellion not only does not promote a widespread transition to a vegan diet, but is hostile to those who point out the fact that animal agriculture is an ecological disaster.” I can’t fault Mr Francione here.
The entire time XR had held up traffic in London and spread their protests across the city and elsewhere (there are now similar groups in Australia, France, Germany, Sweden, the US and many more), all I saw on my Instagram feed and my television was what looked like dancing, bright signs and colourful outfits – but nothing to be found about ways to change our lifestyles in order to save our planet, and ourselves. Which begs the question, did the London protests convince or change anyone’s minds?
Well according to a study titled “Analysis of public opinion in response to Extinction Rebellion actions in London, April 2019” written by Senior Lecturer Dr. Ben Kenward from the Psychology department at Oxford Brookes University – both yes and no. According to Dr Kenward, 46% of respondents of this study supported the rebellion in its first two days. However, Sky News reported that British survey website “YouGov” discovered that 52% of the respondents had actually opposed the protest as of 17th April when XR blocked major roads. On the 25th April, the XR London protests ended, and a total of 1,103 people had been arrested since the demonstrations.
I would be lying if I stated that XR wasn’t a catalyst for me starting to make serious changes to my diet, buying habits and just my general lifestyle –but I definitely don’t think it did enough to educate and clearly explain the changes people can make to save our planet. Sure, it peaked my interested enough in order for me to go off and do my own research, but I did not rely on their movement to provide me with anything other than that – interest to learn. However, to the people who slept in Oxford Circus for days on end to fight for our planet, and to those outside the UK who continue to fight for environmental change; I want so say thank you.
Photo: Alexander Savin