My Response to Criticisms of Extinction Rebellion

Here is a list of criticisms of XR I have come across on various news channels. Following each criticism are my comments.

The movement is mainly comprised of white middle-class people

Firstly, during the London rebellion I came across many working class people.

Secondly, our movement is not remotely exclusive, it is the opposite. All groups are welcome and we are very aware of representation. Our cause concerns Mother Nature and thus welcomes every single group and individual, literally, on Earth.

Thirdly, if we do fall into a certain category, “white middle-class”, why should this stop us from doing what we think is right? And what even conservative scientists think is right? A number of the Suffragettes were also wealthy and white, should this have deterred them from doing what they thought was right?

This observation is yet another used to divert attention from the actual issue. The main reason for such diversion, I feel, is a deep fear of genuine societal change.

The movement doesn't have a mandate and is thus undemocratic and shouldn't be negotiating with the government

It is highly debatable whether we live in a fair democracy to begin with. Our “democratic” elections are funded by the super-rich and our media outlets are owned by the super-rich. The super-rich, by the way, have deeply vested interests.

All other means have been tried by many people to address the catastrophic issue of climate breakdown; bringing out studies, writing to MPs, signing petitions. These have not worked. 

The chief strategist for XR, Roger Hallam, has studied the history of protest and civil disobedience for many years. He has taken his methods directly from Ghandi, the Suffragettes and other movements, were these movements also invalid?

I'm not sure many people are aware of the severity of climate breakdown and ecological collapse, the actual issues at hand. Our democratic system is not adequately responding to these issues.

We were “having a jolly” during the international rebellion

Yes, we had fun doing what we were doing. This fun was intentional and based on love and togetherness. By no means did we have fun frivolously, obnoxiously or meaninglessly, I can testify to this. I witnessed first-hand each protest site with a very open-mind and observed nothing but creativity, beauty, togetherness and hope.

During the rebellion we discouraged public transport, disrupted people's livelihoods and thus alienated people

The concept of civil disobedience isn’t grasped by the minds of many commentators. 10 days of disruption compared with climate breakdown and ecological collapse, which by the way we are in the midst of, is what we are talking about.

We were in no way discouraging people from using public transport, buses happened to be affected by our temporary protests.

We aren’t protesting to get people to like us, we are sounding an alarm and raising an issue. Genuine change isn't easy and always entails some kind of confrontation.

We are sorry to have affected people’s day to day lives but, again, our protests are temporary and are motivated by the desire to protect nature for everyone.

A few streets away from Oxford Circus, a local independent business operator noticed my XR badge and asked if I was part of the protest. I said yes. He said although our disruption was affecting his business, he fully supported our movement. He said we were responding to the climate crisis appropriately.

On another day, a man approached us at Oxford Circus, looking over his shoulder. He told us he was on off-duty police officer and said, very passionately, that he wholeheartedly supported our movement. After dealing with so many police officers throughout the week, this moment in particular moved me.

On top of this, many members of the public declared their appreciation for what we were doing frequently on a daily basis.

Seeing as though I was at each protest site everyday, in other words I was connected to the reality of what was actually happening, I think this notion of "public alienation" is yet another manufactured opinion that has little basis in truth. Thanks mainstream media :)

During the rebellion we diverted police from other matters

Sports games.

Why don’t we protest in China?

We are British protestors.

Carbon emissions began in this country with the industrial revolution.

Carbon output and ecological collapse is inextricably bound to neoliberalism (unfettered capitalism), which, again, began in this country, as well as the United States. Thanks Thatcher and Reagan :)

Air-travel, shipping and embodied emissions in Britain have increased since 1990.

Britain is not nearly acting in accordance with even the most conservative scientific consensus on climate breakdown.

Why can’t we lead by example?

This argument against XR is another way of diverting from the actual issue and disparaging a movement that advocates genuine societal change, even if that movement is perhaps the most positive in human history. XR is literally concerned with the survival of life on Earth.