Extinction Rebellion

My report on the welcome news last week that the High Court ruled that a decision by the Metropolitan Police to impose a blanket ban on Extinction Rebellion in London last month was unlawful – and my warning that we need to be vigilant, and to ensure that no draconian new law is introduced, as happened in the 1980s and 1990s, after the Battle of the Beanfield and Castlemorton, with the Public Order Act and the Criminal Justice Act.

I report on the Metropolitan Police’s outrageous decision to impose a London-wide ban on Extinction Rebellion protests (gatherings of two or more people), criticism of the move, a legal challenge, and, most particularly, how non-violent direct action has continued, with the numbers attending actions indicating that the Met’s move may have backfired.

As the second week of Extinction Rebellion’s International Rebellion begins, I report on the success of the group’s disruptive tactics, drawing in part on the campaigning group’s co-founder Roger Hallam’s new book, ‘Common Sense for the 21st Century.’

My report about the Global Climate Strike on September 20, 2019, and, particularly, the protest in London, in which I applaud the young people fighting for their future, discuss the architects who were amongst the adults joining in, and ask what benefit there is in the criticism of Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion by some anti-capitalists.

My review of this week’s WOMAD world music festival in Wiltshire, looking particularly at how, although it was a wonderful festival, the global environmental crisis hung over proceedings, as, to my mind, it hovers over everything these days, demanding that we get involved in bringing down the entire suicidal capitalist system that is destroying us.

My report about the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Summer Uprising’ last week, and, in particular, the significance of activists’ blockade of London Concrete in east London, as part of protests against the Silvertown Tunnel. This led to immediate arrests, unlike most of the group’s more theatrical manifestations in central London, and my conclusion is that, although the most remarkable consciousness-raising and political engagement has taken place over the last nine months via XR and Greta Thunberg, much more direct action is needed against polluters; for example, against the hugely environmentally polluting housing industry.

In this year’s article marking the summer solstice, I contrast how the free festival pioneers urged revellers to “leave no trace”, in contrast to today’s throwaway culture, and, looking at the bigger picture, I urge anyone interested in the cycle of the seasons that Stonehenge so vividly represents to urgently get involved in environmental activism to try to prevent the worst effects of an already unfolding and unprecedented man-made environmental crisis that requires the whole of humanity to grasp that, collectively, we must all work out how to “leave no trace” if we are to sustain our existence on earth.

It’s 34 years since a truly disgraceful event in modern British history – the Battle of the Beanfield, when police under Margaret Thatcher violently decommissioned a convoy of modern-day nomads, environmental protestors and anarchists trying to get to Stonehenge to establish what would have been the 12th annual Stonehenge Free Festival. 34 years on, I discuss a thread that runs from the free festival movement to Extinction Rebellion, the movement of now, which, powerfully but sadly, has an urgency that no previous protest movement has been able to call upon.

As campaigners withdraw from a protest camp outside the bitterly-contested site of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, I look at how the ‘regeneration’ industry, of which Tidemill is a part, is coming under increasing scrutiny from environmental campaigners demanding an end to practices that contribute to climate change.

My pledge of commitment to the struggle to save ourselves and much of life on earth from the worst effects of man-made catastrophic climate change and species extinction, which is already underway. With thanks to those who have recently led me to this commitment: Dahr Jamail, Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough. Please get involved!