Thousands
of people have joined a “climate rebellion” in London,
blocking traffic and disrupting “business as usual” to demand
action over the escalating ecological crisis. Climate change
protesters have already blocked Waterloo Bridge.
At
11am, protesters set up camps and roadblocks at Marble
Arch, Oxford Circus, Waterloo Bridge, Parliament Square and
Piccadilly Circus. The roadblocks are planned to continue round the
clock at each site for at least a week in a protest reminiscent of
the Occupy
London camp
outside
St Paul’s Cathedral in 2011-12.
Organisers
say they expect thousands to take part in peaceful acts of civil
disobedience, bringing widespread disruption to the capital.
“We
don’t want to disrupt people, but our government’s failure over
the last 30 years leaves us no choice,” an Extinction Rebellion
spokesperson said. “Governments
prioritise the short-term interests of the economic elites so, to get
their attention, we have to disrupt the economy.”
Yen
Chit Chong, from Extinction Rebellion in London, said: "This is
our last best shot at survival."
In
what they call “Rebel for Life” the campaign group, Extinction
Rebellion have embarked upon a strategy of non-violent civil
disobedience such as blocking roads. The Socialist Party is not
saying that people should never defy the law. There are occasions
when they should. Protest is a response or reaction to being
repeatedly and deliberately ignored, by-passed and abused on many
levels. It is this the result of the denial of sufficient
representation, a lack of democracy in decision-making processes, and
the failure of having dissenting voices heard. The political process
does not allow for meaningful involvement in any major
decision-making on a social level. Governments believe that cursory
elections every few years authorise them to make all the decisions on
behalf of citizens. Sometimes we hear of 'consultations' when a
particular location may be negatively impacted by a proposed scheme
but, in reality, this usually means a small body or panel of chosen
people, themselves not truly representative of the opposition
movement, will be invited to give their perspective before a final
pre-planned decision is given. (Albeit the 2016 EU referendum put a
spanner in the works)
There's
strength in numbers' goes the old adage. Among capitalist politicians
such protests tactics will be tolerated so long as it is tending in
their direction; if it is not, it is just as likely to be condemned
as insurrection. The politicians are or become tools of the system
and work in opposition to most of their electorate most of the time.
The political system manipulates people into thinking issues can be
tackled separately, that maybe they can have some minor influence
here or there. It's convenient to allow small triumphs and gains to
reinforce the feeling that maybe, just maybe, this particular protest
might bear fruit. However, regarding the huge concerns plaguing world
society such concerns are out of the hands of citizens whether or not
a part of the electorate. Regarding the huge concerns plaguing world
society such concerns are out of the hands of citizens whether or not
a part of the electorate. Climate change and global warming and the
vote is of no help in such matters. People have no part to play in
decisions of this magnitude. People are excluded and will continue to
be excluded – unless and until the people decide they will play
a part.
Extinction Rebellion are to be commended that they choose to
raise their voices and to take action. The Socialist Party recognise
that those who are involved in environmental campaigns are, at
least, trying to gain some control over their lives.
We
ask what would happen if millions stopped voting for pro-capitalist
politicians and used the power the vote gives them to elect instead
delegates mandated to use political power to end capitalism and usher
in socialism. What we want to change is immense. It’s getting rid
of the whole structure that created the climate crisis. Without
change we will destroy the planet. It’s as simple as that. The way
things are organised is neither natural nor inevitable, but created
by people. People have a wealth of skill, intelligence. creativity
and wisdom. We could be devising ways of using and distributing the
earth’s vast resources so that no one starves or lives in abject
poverty, making socially useful things that people need — a society
which is life-affirming in all its aspects. While the immediate aim
of those environmental activists may be "simply" to lobby
government for ecological reasons, it should be recognised that this
does not in itself mean that important issues of class are excluded.
There is a very important question of power
at
issue here, which is always a vitally important element of class
relations. Class and capitalism are inevitably involved in climate
change debates. Working people are struggling for some degree of
democratic control over their environment, which inevitably brings
them into conflict with the state and with capitalist big business.
What is particularly heartening, about this event is the strong
element of solidarity involved. There is little enough such
solidarity around at the moment. The laws of the state are made
workable only by the active consent of its "subjects", the
working class, and can therefore be made unworkable by the withdrawal
of that consent. This is an absolutely basic lesson to be drawn from
the history.
It
needs to be said though that most struggles such as these are doomed
to failure in the long term, and that when they are successful, they
will lead only to further struggles ad
infinitum,
as long as the capitalist system itself continues to exist. The
Socialist Party has reiterated time and time again, people need to
stop putting their faith in reformism; capitalism will never, can
never, be reformed in our interest. Good intentions will not solve
the problem of global warming but there is a revolutionary
alternative: "We must first destroy capitalism".
4 comments:
By 2pm five Waterloo Bridge, Marble Arch, Parliament Square, Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus – had been blocked by thousands of protesters bringing widespread disruption.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/15/thousands-expected-in-london-for-extinction-rebellion-protest
Swedish protesters held a die-in to occupy the country's Parliament.
The Oberbaum Bridge in Berlin was shut down by protesters
So far a total of 52 arrests, five people were detained on suspicion of criminal damage at Shell's HQ.
113 people had been arrested as of 06:00 BST on Tuesday.
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