Extinction Rebellion are set to start another major period of economic disruption tomorrow in London. Our local Sutton group will be involved in peaceful protest in the Capital and a peaceful demonstration is also planned outside the Civic Offices on Tuesday, to coincide with the Beddington Farmlands petition hearing.
I suspect it is going to be a tough week for Extinction Rebellion. The government commissioned PolicyUK earlier in the year to investigate the organisation who have reported back a three tier structure, comprised of Extinction Rebellion-RisingUP!-Compassionate Revolution and have linked it to eco-Marxist extremist ideology. Effectively Extinction Rebellion is a campaign of Compassionate Revolution, funded by donors (Lush is included in the donor list). As such PolicyUK have recommended the group be considered within a counter terrorism framework and the police have been instructed to change tactics from permissive to oppressive in dealing with the group. The police are using 'conspiracy to commit a public nuisance' to intercept actions before they can organise. Extinction Rebellion are very aware of this (the co-founder Roger Hallam is in prison already) and the tactic for tomorrow is to overwhelm the police- can the police arrest 10-30,000 people- there's no room for them in the cells. I suspect tomorrow is going to be a major battle ground and possibly we will see more arrests than the 1000+ arrests in the spring uprising.
Good luck to everyone tomorrow. Personally, as I stated from the beginning, I'm saving my arrest for local issues at Beddington Farmlands. The Tuesday council meeting to decide the future of the farmlands will impact on whether Non-violent Direct Action will be needed to ensure the protection of Beddington Farmlands and the accountability of our local Capitalist lords- Viridor.
I suspect it is going to be a tough week for Extinction Rebellion. The government commissioned PolicyUK earlier in the year to investigate the organisation who have reported back a three tier structure, comprised of Extinction Rebellion-RisingUP!-Compassionate Revolution and have linked it to eco-Marxist extremist ideology. Effectively Extinction Rebellion is a campaign of Compassionate Revolution, funded by donors (Lush is included in the donor list). As such PolicyUK have recommended the group be considered within a counter terrorism framework and the police have been instructed to change tactics from permissive to oppressive in dealing with the group. The police are using 'conspiracy to commit a public nuisance' to intercept actions before they can organise. Extinction Rebellion are very aware of this (the co-founder Roger Hallam is in prison already) and the tactic for tomorrow is to overwhelm the police- can the police arrest 10-30,000 people- there's no room for them in the cells. I suspect tomorrow is going to be a major battle ground and possibly we will see more arrests than the 1000+ arrests in the spring uprising.
Good luck to everyone tomorrow. Personally, as I stated from the beginning, I'm saving my arrest for local issues at Beddington Farmlands. The Tuesday council meeting to decide the future of the farmlands will impact on whether Non-violent Direct Action will be needed to ensure the protection of Beddington Farmlands and the accountability of our local Capitalist lords- Viridor.
It's a shame not to see the nature conservation establishment openly supporting Extinction Rebellion and promoting action tomorrow. There may be differences in nuances of how to deal with the ecological emergency but fundamental objectives are shared across the whole of the environmental movement. I'm not an eco-Marxist myself and personally focus on a sustainable business approach, community groups, citizen science, political reform and technological advancement in dealing with the ecological emergency but I also understand that the environmentalist spectrum is wide from rich capitalists like Mark Constantine to hermits living self sufficiently in a tree house and the most important thing is for the whole community to support each other and to focus defence agaisnt the fundamental Capitalist onslaught on nature. I find the factions and tribalism within Environmentalism/Nature Conservation/Birding not only depressing but mainly stupid and self defeating.
2 comments:
You are so right the lack of support is shameful from so called conservation bodies and where are the MPs that really should be joining in and marching with the youngsters, just when I wonder, will the powers that be realise that this movement is fighting for all including the police they use to trample on a caring generation. But if eventually push comes to shove as Jim Morrison of the Doors sang "You've got the guns but we got the numbers"
I see Chris Packham has turned up there today which is a good thing. The conservation establishment should have set up an emergency council by now and should be working with Extinction Rebellion. Too much of nature conservation is embedded into un-sustainability and the business as usual model. They are now hoping that they can win a better deal for nature in the new Environmental and Agriculture Bills (post Brexit)- by the time they work out that they've rogered again by the pro- fundamental Capitalist infested government, another opportunity for the nature conservation community to overthrow the role of Natural England and DEFRA would have been missed. The nature conservation community needs to become the government and stop expecting a bunch of billionaires lackeys to do the job for them/us.
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