The city of London has banned all Extinction Rebellion protests and cleared the protest encampment at Trafalgar Square, after over 1,400 people were arrested in eight days of mass demonstrations demanding urgent action to address the climate crisis. Up to one in 10 people will be on the move, without wanting to be, due to mass drought, due to … Please do your part today.This is viewer supported news.
And it needs all of us.
And that’s also going to tackle this evil twin or evil triplet, you know, of biodiversity loss.
If Britain — again, I know the U.K. situation more — carries on as it’s doing with very, very minor reductions in its emissions, it will have run out of its so-called carbon budget — I don’t believe there are any carbon budgets myself, actually — within a few years’ time.
It’s okay for XR to be what it is…we’re in this wider movement of movements.”She explains that they are learning from other movements to improve connectivity and consider themselves to be part of an internationalist solidarity movement.Continuing on this subject, Volante asks how XR has protected vulnerable members of the group in the past and will continue to do so in the future, such as during protests and when people choose to be arrested as part of their activism.“It takes between 10 and 20 people to support anybody who chooses to get arrested…you may have a caring responsibility… there’s lots of reasons why arrest may not be the thing for you.“We have, and we do, take care of people around the legal side of things as best we can… I guess there’s always improvements that could be made.”The penultimate question relates to Bradbrook’s experience as both a woman and an activist: the advantages and disadvantages of being female in the role; advice that she may have for other women.“Tackling internalised self-hatred… it brings a lot of compassion and … humility, for understanding that people struggle.“The experience of sexism, if you can get over it… what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger.”Finally, Bradbrook is asked a write-in question from Giorgio Constandi of Cambridge, about whether or not she thinks the global rise of populism is linked to the fear of dwindling resources as a result of environmental change.Describing the issues of division that populism may cause, Bradbrook states: “We are being actively divided…in our social movements we have to tend to issues of solidarity… People need to acknowledge that they’re being played.“I don’t really believe in blaming anybody because it’s a route to division, it’s a route to individualism.“Every place we can build togetherness is building our resilience.”The Espresso Series: an interview with Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook
What policies should we have? It shows you that it is possible.” Bradbrook goes on to talk about the ‘No Going Back’ campaign, which seeks to continue the environmental changes put into place by the pandemic.Continuing on this subject, Bradbrook explains how governments can act to prevent the reversal of this change, stating that they should not be bailing out high-carbon industries and should be ‘creating money’ to fight climate change in the same way that they have done to deal with the problems caused by the pandemic.“What the government should do most of all is to notice that there aren’t safety nets,” she adds.In response to Crean remarking that “…the government needs to be held accountable,”, Bradbrook states “It’s a systemic issue… you have to change the rules of the system.Talking then about actions the younger generation can takes, Bradbrook says that they should be “organised” and “angry” due to problems such as housing shortages, and that youth working together is the way to tackle this problem.“They’re fucked, the government, if young people… come together and decide “we’ve had enough”.”Crean’s next question is about newly-elected Labour leader Keir Starmer and his statement about climate change being Labour’s top priority, asking Bradbrook if she “believes in Starmer”.“I’m doing social movements because I don’t believe in mainstream politics… I feel people should do what moves and motivates them.”Bradbrook then discusses the challenges that Labour may face in becoming elected, such as the clash between their support of the environment and their support of unions for workers in industries which may damage the environment.“I would caution against spending a lot of time hoping that Starmer is this sort of saviour… we’ve got to save ourselves.”“I vote… and then I do real politics, which is, I think, getting us on the streets.”Speaking more generally about politics, she describes UK-based problems such as the use of tax havens and resource draining.“Until we stop doing that, we will be inherently, structurally and significantly part of the destruction of the planet,” Bradbrook explains, adding that the formation of a Citizens’ Assembly would allow for “a move away from this kind of democracy.”Volante asks about the three government demands listed above and whether or not they would require systemic change.“Whatever we do has to have justice at the heart of it, both for people and planet…I don’t see how you can look at issues of justice without looking at issues of finance and economics… same for the planet… you have to look at the planet’s capacity to provide.”Bradbrook states that the government’s target, to cut carbon emissions by 2050, may require the “exploitation of people and planet” if too many resources are used in creating alternatives such as electric cars and nuclear power stations.“We can’t live the way we’re living now…coronavirus is showing us that we’re not the ones in the domination story…“Why don’t we look at the history that went on for millions of years… vast periods when we were in alignment with nature?” Bradbrook asks, comparing the idea of ‘totalitarian agriculture’ with the nature-led practices of certain indigenous cultures, in which humans are not the “dominant species”.She speaks of the need for people to trust themselves and work together.“The crucial bit of oppression of young people… is to make you think that you don’t know what’s going off, not to trust your intelligence, double down on if you’re a woman and you’re working class, don’t trust your thinking and… don’t believe in your power.“For any group, it’s the togetherness that matters.”The topic turns to the diversity of Extinction Rebellion.
Can you talk about the scope of the protests?
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And we said that a movement would need to be driven both by some techniques called momentum-driven organizing, and we had some training by a fantastic organizer based in the States called Carlos Saavedra from the Ayni Institute.