Extinction Rebellion
- Thread starter Jeremiah18.17
- Start date
editor
hiraethified
I popped along and took a few pics
www.urban75.org
Extinction Rebellion Parliament Square protest – activists, speakers, music and Morris Dancers, Sun 23rd April 2023 -
Extinction Rebellion have taken over Parliament Square from the 21st to 24th April to highlight the lack of action against climate change. More than 200 organisations are supporting the event - including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and PCS Union - with up to 50,000 people expected to...
www.urban75.org
OH went on Friday. Got into an argument with Corbyn the lesser and his "minions." She was interested to learn from one of the cultists that the recent earthquake that affected Turkey was a deliberate act (HAARP I assume) to punish Erdogan for not getting on board with the climate change agenda. She tried to get more information about this and other things but only Piers understands apparently and he had skulked off.I popped along and took a few pics
View attachment 371971
View attachment 371972
Extinction Rebellion Parliament Square protest – activists, speakers, music and Morris Dancers, Sun 23rd April 2023 -
Extinction Rebellion have taken over Parliament Square from the 21st to 24th April to highlight the lack of action against climate change. More than 200 organisations are supporting the event - including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and PCS Union - with up to 50,000 people expected to...
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
I'm all in favour of demonstrations but bringing Morris dancy types along is beyond the paleI popped along and took a few pics
View attachment 371971
View attachment 371972
Extinction Rebellion Parliament Square protest – activists, speakers, music and Morris Dancers, Sun 23rd April 2023 -
Extinction Rebellion have taken over Parliament Square from the 21st to 24th April to highlight the lack of action against climate change. More than 200 organisations are supporting the event - including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and PCS Union - with up to 50,000 people expected to...
I’m disturbed by that lot that wander in line dressed like goth Handmaids as well
i've nothing original to say, but been viewing the XR live stream you tube channel on and off throughout the day ('The Big One'). Quite interesting, reasonably professional production - huge diversity of views expressed. extremely naive mostly, massively middle class, mainly white, stereotypical 'do gooders' and hippies. It will be fascinating to see how they react when the state finally confronts them with the force that most here know will come if XR becomes a more serious threat to capital accumulation. Top marks to XR for mobilising so many concerned people though. Apparently XR have given the Tory gov until 5.00 pm today to start being serious about the climate threats and begin negotiations with XR and 'peoples assemblies'..
i'm pretty confident Rishi's cabinet will turn the tin ear.
i'm pretty confident Rishi's cabinet will turn the tin ear.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
A lot of the older people spent a lot of their lives with a more benevolent (however fucked up) state than we have now, and it shows. They are struggling to grasp that there's no moral or ethical argument they can summon that will have any effect.
jeez you could have asked an AI to generate those pics and got the same results (not a comment on your excellent pics, rather the typical people who are there).I popped along and took a few pics
View attachment 371971
View attachment 371972
Extinction Rebellion Parliament Square protest – activists, speakers, music and Morris Dancers, Sun 23rd April 2023 -
Extinction Rebellion have taken over Parliament Square from the 21st to 24th April to highlight the lack of action against climate change. More than 200 organisations are supporting the event - including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and PCS Union - with up to 50,000 people expected to...
editor
hiraethified
You could say that about any protest, really.
I think it's quite healthy to see such a diverse age range at a demo.
Bloody ‘do golfers’ - they really are the worst…
I saw a bunch of coverage, not sure how much you/they would expect for a relatively small and quiet demo/event?
Hard not to watch any footage and find the whole thing very annoying politically tbh.
hitmouse
Did do all Google car mistakes
Feels vaguely encouraging that they're talking about getting people to support picket lines... but then not that encouraging, because I feel like "people talking a big game about organising locally to support strikes and then not doing very much" is a story I've heard before, so proof of the pudding and all that.
Aside from the form of it; demo, weird dancing, costumes, etc. (which I accept isn't the best criticism) it was a completely liberal, reformist, unfocused, lobbying type thing. I think they're lost for a workable strategy tbh, I mean the 'join a picket' isn't explained politically at all, not that it needs a massive theoretical manifesto, but more than lip service that it's all the same struggle maybe?
There's some annoying stuff about being ahistorical and a bit full of thenselves as well, 'unprecidented coalition' for example.
Rob Ray
Weight is meaningless
It's also worth bearing in mind that while yes 55,000 people is a lot, the average weekly match day attendance at Old Trafford last year was 73,000 (and that was a slow year for them). If the point of a crowd is to demonstrate public willingness to take action what they're telling the powers that be is "having ditched our direct action plan we're able to mobilise fewer people than Man Utd." Why would the Tories care about that? Especially given their total lack of interest in the Iraq march or the big anti-austerity marches in the 2010s - 2012's big TUC-backed rally alone was 500,000 and couldn't even change the obviously self-sabotaging course of a teetering coalition government.
Rambles through the center of London have their uses but even at 10 or 20 times' the size they don't generally cause politicians to change policy.
Rambles through the center of London have their uses but even at 10 or 20 times' the size they don't generally cause politicians to change policy.
Last edited:
andysays
Love and solidarity
I don't know what that's a photo of, but how do you measure what's "best"?
It seems to me it has to be primarily about going some way towards stopping the thing you're protesting about.
Weird dancing and costumes might be fun for those taking part, but if they alienate many of those who might otherwise be joining in protest or other action, it's valid to question how successful that protest really is.
editor
hiraethified
It was from the M41 Reclaim The Streets party. Underneath those big skirts activists were drilling into the road and planting trees.
Fun, striking visuals are an essential part of garnering publicity for a protest.
Like I said the costumes thing isn't my main problem at all, but I do think there's something about the amount of that kind of stuff that shows for many it's a lot about dressing up as protest or making a spectacle as an integral part of the event, rather than some other stuff where the costumes etc. fulfil a purpose (like the M41) or are just an expression of the counterculture of the time.
But I'm baffled where this strategy is leading. Back to disruption again as the government haven't heeded their deadline? Or something else?
But I'm baffled where this strategy is leading. Back to disruption again as the government haven't heeded their deadline? Or something else?
kenny g
Sheeple Awake!
That was about 25 years ago and was strikingly innovative at the time. The idea of motorways being repurposed was part of the whole point of the protest at a time of significant challenges to a road building programme which was finally stopped.
25 years later if you are protesting against what is claimed to be impending climate oblivion, having some "artists" dressed in sheets combined with a "samba" band making a racket just appears as if the participants are in a self referential irrelevance.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
I was at the XR one last Saturday - there were certainly more than 50K there, it was huge, though it starts to be impossible to actually tell at that point. The route was quite short and I was concerned that it would actually lap itself.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Also it was one part of a whole thing organised for the whole weekend, which involved lots of meetings, discussions, etc, all over the area, intrinsically occupying and transforming public space.
I don't have any particular attachment to XR apart from agreeing with their basic goal but I wonder what some people expect from them sometimes.
I don't have any particular attachment to XR apart from agreeing with their basic goal but I wonder what some people expect from them sometimes.
I think it's reasonable to ask how they expect to achieve their own stated aims? And how the recent events translate into achieving their goals?
Demand 2) Every part of society must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025 and begin protecting and repairing nature immediately. The whole of society must move into a new precautionary paradigm, where life is sacred and all are in service to ensuring its future.
So what's the bit between events recently and achieving that demand?
I'm not mainly judging them on my own politics, although I also think it's OK to criticise them on wider political grounds as well surely?
Last edited:
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Protests and this sort of public action in general are about publicly demonstrating that a lot of people have an opinion, reassuring people that they're not alone and have mass support, and allowing networking opportunities between those people. I don't see how this failed on those points. (ETA: it didn't get that much publicity for point 1, true, despite the size and it taking over the area for several days, that could be seen as an issue, but they're up against some serious opposition in terms of publicity there.)
