#MYLDN (1261) – EXTINCTION REBELLION LONDON SHUTDOWN (PT 5)

Parliament Square – Beyond Politics

The events this week I have seen as part of the Extinction Rebellion’s uprising has been the most phenomenal display of positive people power I have ever witnessed. And after the negative divisive national meltdown of Brexit, it has made me once again proud to be British. Solidarity, compassion, decency, unity, community, love and respect have been the driving forces and the glue that has kept this protest and the people that are part of it together and showed that with cooperation and togetherness we can achieve anything. We must now put aside all our differences and work for the common good. Regardless of your political persuasion, or your beliefs, or your ethnicity, we all breathe the same air, drink the same water, eat the same food and all of these things will be at risk if we do not pressurise our government to take the action required to avert climate catastrophe.

Last night we were down at Parliament Square and we stood and watched as police, who had surrounded rebels who had chained themselves to each other and to the ground, began the process of removing them one by one with axe grinders and bolt cutters. Whilst this was happening a group of a few hundred people sat around them and sang hymns to them. It was incredibly moving and powerful because, despite massive police presence, it was utterly peaceful.

I have to say that the police have been phenomenal all week and shown such respect and consideration for the protesters because they were, in turn, shown the same. I spoke to a policeman on the frontline and he said that they were in support of the protestors but still have a job to do but the restraint and decency they have used in dealing with this difficult situation has been truly exemplary. Again, it made me proud to be in a country where we can exert our democratic right to protest without fear of violent retaliation. I can’t imagine in any other country the same thing happening as they would undoubtedly have used excessive force to remove us rather than the good natured natured approach the Met have shown throughout this demonstration. The Rebellion has proven that non-violent protest works.

Sadly so much of the mainstream reporting has been on the whether they should be using these methods rather than their reason for doing it. It does not matter whether you agree if this is the right approach, all that matters is that you accept and agree that it is as bad as the evidence shows it to be and that we must all take action to get the government to initiate policies that are drastic enough and fast enough to have any effect whatsoever.

And again I would like to thank all the rebels who allowed themselves to be arrested to maintain the blockades and keep this protest going. Every person I saw get taken away had nothing in common other than they were willing to make the sacrifice and I sincerely hope that now more will join the fight and see that if as individuals we are useless, but as a unified force we are unstoppable.

I don’t know how much longer the rebels can hold on for but I hope it has been long enough for people to become aware of the situation and to wake up to the emergency that we are now in. If we had dealt with this for the last 30 years instead of ignoring it we could have incrementally altered our lives and slowly ushered in a sustainable existence but nothing has been done so now it will have to be fast and severe and we will have to give up lots of things if we want future generations to inherit anything other than a hell zone. The rebellion’s shutdown of London might be drawing to a close but this is just the beginning. And we now all have a choice…extinction or rebellion?