Warming to Extinction Rebellion

[mtbc]

I am naturally conservative in some ways: if one's society adopts a decent bill of rights and offers a free press and fair elections then I think highly of the rule of law and tend against illegal protests. In modern Western societies legal mechanisms should suffice for effecting necessary policy. However, general elections are a meager means of eliciting preferences from voters. There are also historical examples of oppressive injustices and other bad situations lingering unaddressed while the protests remained legal and convenient.

Through climate change we are causing significant and widespread harm without yet paying the price. In recent years the Conservative administration has fallen far short of a commensurate response. Against my inclination I find myself increasingly sympathetic to the view that illegal protest is warranted and have been impressed by the Extinction Rebellion actions around London.

Not only have I disliked every Conservative Home Secretary of my adulthood but the disruption caused by these protestors gets them ongoing coverage and pales in comparison to the severity of the issue. Extinction Rebellion are organized and informed enough to be both non-violent and effective and I find myself hoping that they succeed in helping to cause environmental policy to be tightened considerably.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

I am a child of the late 60s and 70s. I grew up protesting, so I think that they can do good. They do have to be peaceful, and I think that the ones demonstrating about climate change are very good.

I participated in the first women's march on DC. Yes, it was a legal, permitted demonstration - but even if it hadn't been, I would have wanted to be a part of it. It started the resistance movement in the USA which we sorely needed.

[mtbc]

I think the current Extinction Rebellion protests must have learned valuable lessons from earlier ones. Vietnam wasn't a big issue in Britain but we still had protests against nuclear arms and the like which I think adopted some quite similar peaceful yet newsworthy tactics.

[mtbc]

(I should add: I thought of Vietnam because a friend in Ohio was a conscientious objector at the time. Apparently the draft board had a thick file on them!)

[wpadmirer]

Good for them!