doctors in action 
The latest Extinction Rebellion has begun. I was down at several of the sites yesterday and despite some horrendous weather there was an air of resilience and defiance from the rebels who had camped out in Whitehall, Trafalfar Square, the Mall and outside the Deparment of Transport. The mood did however feel more sombre than the previous rebellion but that might have been to do with the heavy downpours but also because things have got worse since the last one and still nothing is really being done.
I got back last night and went onto twitter to see what people were saying and was staggered at the amount of hostility towards the rebels and so many disparaging remarks about the kind of people they were or desperately trying to flag up some hypocritical angle, like they travelled down on a bus that uses petrol to get there. You can dwell on that if you like but that is not the relevant bit of this. It doesn’t matter what these people do in their lives or what their carbon footprint is. They are demanding massive systemic change because they know that is the only thing that is going to save us.
And from what I saw is that that the only thing in common with all of the people involved in the rebellion is that they give a shit and can’t stand back and do nothing whilst our government does nothing. And it does not matter where they come from or who they are. It doesn’t matter what class or colour they are. It wouldn’t even matter if they had green goo coming out of their ears and horns out of their head, they are there for the right reasons and their message is true and correct and backed by the entire scientific community of the world.
You can have a problem with who you think they are or their methods but it doesn’t not change anything. Just like people have major issue with Greta Thunberg because they say she is brainwashed, or manipulated or spoilt or whatever they wish to tarnish her with just so they don’t have to listen to what she is saying. Even if all of the above were true, and even if all the rebels were crusties or even fucking martians, none of this matters. The messenger is not important. And there is no point shooting them because the reality of this situation will not go away if you do.
We need to stop focussing on who is talking or protesting and concentrate on what is being said. That is the only thing that matters, the only thing you need to pay attention to. If you go down to one of the sites across London you will see for your own eyes (and hopefully what I have shown in the above pictures) is that it is just a massive cross section of like-minded people and as this is now a global movement happening everywhere it seems kinda pointless to still be dwelling on who these people are and if they are ‘your’ kind of people. It does not matter. Get on board. They need your support. And we all need to show our commitment to change if we have any chance of convincing our elected representatives to crank up activity and to do what is required, which is definitely a fuck sight more than they are currently doing. They are still subsidising fossil fuels to the tune of billions and billions of pounds every year whilst slashing investment in renewables. And that is NOT the way forward.