UPDATE: Police
in London said they had
made 209 arrests. In Edinburgh around 1,000 protesters
blockaded the North Bridge bringing one of the main routes in the
city centre to a standstill and half a dozen arrests were made.
Two
things are predictable about the Extinction Rebellion's “rebel for
life”. The first is that the police will do their best to
intimidate all present. The second is that most people will come away
with a new sense of purpose and meaning in their lives – awakened
and invigorated, full of the collective joy that spontaneously arises
when human beings get together to show their strength of feeling or
merely their urge for festivity. People will come home at the least
relieved that "I'm not alone". That's the positive side.
The inspiring struggles for action to be taken against climate change
we are seeing emerging around the world have a common cause and shows
that people can come together and organise in order to resolve the
climate crisis in our way. And given the extremely serious nature of
the ecological catastrophe we are all facing, this is not just a nice
idea. Increasingly, it's a matter of survival. On the streets while
promoting the case for socialism, Socialist Party members often
encounter jibes from self-appointed experts on human nature to the
effect that “humans are selfish and aggressive and not capable of
co-operating in their own interests'. How those taking part in the
Extinction Rebellion protests prove them wrong.
Central
to the conceptions of Extinction Rebellion is the belief that the
state can slow down and reverse global warming and save humanity. It
advocates working within
the framework of capitalism with a series of green reforms. The state
is not a neutral, institution, which might intervene in the economy
to solve the problems of the environment. The state serves
capitalism. Holding a belief that the state can solve climate change
is to be complicit with catastrophe. Occasionally, at times, the
state may enact some palliative measures but it cannot be used to
consistently and permanently defend our interests. It is simply not
on our side. Extinction Rebellion regard socialism as unrealistic for
the brief time there is left to save the world. We must act swiftly,
they tell us, with proposals that most people can accept, such as
calling on the state to take pass regulations and enforce
legislation. What the Socialist Party can state with confidence is
when the consequences of climate change impact
popular
opinion will not be what it is today, tomorrow.
The climate crisis will interact with an associated economic crisis,
and with continuing turmoil over migration as people flee their
impoverished lands. Not to mention endless wars over resources such
as water.
The
Socialist Party can sympathise with sincere struggles for reforms
engaged in by Extinction Rebellion. But must always point out the
limitations and focus them upon the socialist goal, the only society
capable of ecological harmony and freedom. Capitalism is incompatible
with ecological balance, ending climate change and avoiding global
warming catastrophe. This argument determines our attitude towards
Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, Sunrise and many other
green movements.
1 comment:
A total of 290 climate change activists have now been arrested in London by 21:30 BST on Tuesday
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