RESPONSE TO XR UK’S ‘WE QUIT’ ANNOUNCEMENT
At the start of 2023, Extinction Rebellion’s founding chapter in the UK announced that it would temporarily shift away from public disruption as its primary tactic. As it plans the biggest mobilization campaign XR has ever undertaken, it will prioritize attendance over arrest, and relationships over roadblocks. The UK chapter plans to amass more than 100,000 people at Parliament Square for an extended period starting on April 21, 2023, to demand a fair society and a citizen-led end to the fossil fuel era.[1] [2]
Since XR’s founding in 2018, large-scale disruptive tactics, such as the occupation of the five London bridges, have played a key role in raising awareness on the climate and ecological crisis. Now over 69% of the UK population is aware of the organization.[3][4] Prior to this, advances on climate action, such as the recent changes to energy policies by some of the UK’s biggest banks, although still short of what is actually needed, were unimaginable.[5] Public disruption has also become a common tactic, engendering a new generation of radical climate groups, such as Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain. The existence of radical and moderate flanks in the climate movement can be symbiotic in pressuring the government to act.[6] This shift in tactics allows XR UK to build on its past successes by mobilizing a wider swath of the UK public, namely those who have a lower tolerance for risk.
XR is a loosely networked, decentralized global grassroots movement. Although we may collaborate on actions, each chapter operates autonomously. Given the UK’s current political and economic environment, XR NYC is fully supportive of XR UK’s temporary reorientation in tactics. With the political dysfunction and cost of living crisis, the government’s flaws are very transparent and widely understood by the public in the UK. Unions in every sector are carrying out sustained strikes, crippling business as usual.[7] The government’s draconian efforts to shut down and criminalize effective protest, by means of the anti-protest bill, recently passed, and now through the proposed anti-strike bill, are only increasing public sympathy.[8][9] These conditions present all social, environmental, and justice movements with the opportunity to seize the moment and work together.
The current political and economic environment in the US is different. As the world’s largest economy and the biggest carbon emitter in history, the US bears great responsibility for climate mitigation and adaptation. Unfortunately, government and corporate action to date lags far behind that of the European Union. This is due in part to the sharp ideological divide on the issue across the political spectrum, which is more acute than in other nations.[10] In a country that is geographically dispersed and has a population five times larger than that of the UK, this makes it especially challenging to shift public consensus. In 2022, only 35% of US adults said they were “extremely” or “very” concerned about the impact of climate change on them personally.[11] Hence, in order to keep on sounding the alarm regarding the severity of the defining crisis of our time, XR NYC needs to organize diligently towards our own London bridges moment. For that, public disruption must remain in our arsenal of tactics.
Time is running out. You are needed, we are needed, everyone is needed. The 2023 strategy will be announced in the coming month!
Notes and references:
1 https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/12/31/we-quit/
2 https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-big-one/
4 https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/not-for-profit/Extinction_Rebellion
6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aVUWZm6AoA
ABOUT EXTINCTION REBELLION
Time has nearly run out to address the ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction, global pollution, and accelerating climate change. If urgent and radical action isn’t taken, we’re heading towards 4˚C warming, and the societal collapse and mass loss of life that that entails. The younger generation, racially marginalized communities and the Global South are on the front lines. No one will escape the devastating impacts.
Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.
Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are as follows:
1. Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgent need for change.
2. Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
3. Government must create a Citizens’ Assembly and be led by its decisions on climate and ecological justice.
4. Government must commit to a just transition in order to support a livable, just planet for all.
https://www.facebook.com/xrnyc