Phoebe Scholefield
On Monday, Extinction Rebellion kickstarted their two weeks of climate demonstrations in London, something they are calling the ‘Impossible Rebellion’. They have chosen London in order to target what they see as the root cause of the climate crisis; the political economy. The group are demanding government action to fight the imminent climate emergency, asking for an end to fossil fuel investment.
Who are Extinction Rebellion?
Extinction Rebellion is a global environmental movement that began in 2018 to tackle the climate crisis. The organisation is committed to using non-violent civil disobedience to ‘halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse’.
Extinction Rebellion is demanding that the government increases renewable energy and takes steps towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They aim to halt the climate breakdown, something which is being accelerated by our country’s economic system and government inaction.
The group uses radical tactics such as glueing themselves to trains, marching on Heathrow Airport and obstructing roads. Since the beginning, protests in London have led to a total of 3,672 arrests, a number that is expected to increase in the next fortnight. The group has generated substantial influence and there are now around 485 Extinction Rebellion affiliate groups across the world. They have been successful in prompting the government to declare a climate emergency but are understandably not satisfied with the lack of steps taken to address it.
What is happening now?
“But once you run out of hope you have to try and change things.”
This week saw the beginning of the “Impossible rebellion,” a two week-long demonstration focused on ending fossil fuel investment and demanding government action. Demonstrations began at 10am on the 23 August in Trafalgar Square where protesters screwed chairs to the ground and chained themselves together. Activists also built a 13ft table in Covent Garden and chained themselves to its legs, blocking one of central London’s largest junctions. Since Sunday, more than 100 people have been arrested.
On Wednesday, protestors continued to flood the streets of London, making speeches, banging drums and waving banners. Protest signs include slogans such as “Stop The Harm,” “Rebel For Life” and “Protect The Amazon”. Demonstrators blocked Oxford Circus, again with the large table which this time, had people glued to it.
“but we are here to make the impossible inevitable.”
One man attending the protests said, “I came here because I’ve given up all hope. Lots of people think that it’s pointless to even protest now, there’s so much political apathy in the world. But once you run out of hope you have to try and change things. In this case, it means to reduce fossil fuel use rapidly – which they say is impossible, but we are here to make the impossible inevitable”.
What has motivated this?
These demonstrations, which are expected to last until the 4th of September, are the groups largest protests to date. They come after the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed that burning fossil fuels was massively contributing to the climate crisis, prompting heatwaves, storms and floods. The report showed that the world is nowhere near its target of keeping the rise of average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“This crisis involves everyone.”
Extinction Rebellion is determined to mobilise for the full 2 weeks, continuing to disrupt day to day life in London. They want to hold financial institutions accountable for ignoring the climate emergency and fuelling systems that are exacerbating the issue.
They said that “This crisis involves everyone. We must disrupt this pillar of power to start a ripple effect for other institutions to pressure the Government, using the new Immediate Demand as leverage before the close of the Rebellion”.
Featured image courtesy of Markus Spiske on Unsplash. No changes or alterations were made to this image. Image license can be found here.
