Extinction Rebellion, The Big One. Protest and Survive
The weekend saw a mass protest by Extinction Rebellion in central London backed by 60 or so organisations including the PCS trade union.
It differed from previous ER tactics and was signalled as such. No one glued themselves to anything and neither were temporary structures erected to block roads. These tactics were effective both in terms of publicity and in annoying the State enough that Suella Braverman introduced lots of new laws to try and ban them.
On this occasion XR focused on a mass demonstration around Parliament. I wasn’t in London at the weekend but would have been on the protest if I was there. Climate Change is a key, probably the key, issue of our times.
XR’s own estimate of the Saturday demo seems to have been 60,000 which is impressive but not huge. Large demos in recent decades in central London tend to start at the 100,000 mark. It is not of course a numbers game but really huge demos can’t be ignored.
This wasn’t ignored either but media coverage was limited. The BBC did cover it but not with the prominence it should have done. The Guardian ran several articles but nothing on the composition and mood of the march. The Mail ran a piece on ‘eco-zealots’.
Alongside this were a series of what might be called performative protests- a die-in, a cricket match in Parliament Square etc. These are quite familiar XR tactics but also effective- one made the front page of The Times in picture format.
The protest which did make headlines was the disruption of the Scottish Grand National (not an XR protest) a reminder that direct action troubles the State. If we needed a reminder that is, after the draconian sentences given to two protesters at the Dartford Rd Bridge, designed the judge said to discourage others. That is not a new tactic of the State but a reminder of how seriously they view protests.
They know climate change is a huge issue and on their agenda. It can seriously disrupt profit making. Yet tackling it also requires money and eats into profits. That is their dilemma not ours.
How to proceed? XR will no doubt debate further. I’d suggest however that while direct action and performative protests are effective there is a need to go further on the often too slow and frustrating work of engaging trade unions and the labour movement. A strike on the question of climate change would have the potential to really take things forward. No easy matter of course but whoever said effective protest was easy?
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