Extinction Rebellion Protests

A little tongue in cheek, but it gave us a laugh.

How on Earth do they think this will have any effect when thousands of regular folk do that to the roads of almost every tourist destination in the UK most summer weekends?

:joy: :joy: :joy: :joy: :joy:

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I live in the East End and traffic was backed up for miles today! I was cycling, so I got to enjoy passing the stranded motorists. I only found out why when I read the news, otherwise I’d have cycled over Tower Bridge and given ER some friendly words of support.

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I live very close to, and sometimes for work have to venture into the Peak District, so this is just normal to me throughout the summer :joy:

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They will be back in uni soon.

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Didn’t take long for the dismissive comment. Go back to Uni, get a job, get a wash, middle class gap year, vegan loonies, etc. Truly big brain commentary.

Whilst ER may impact on day-to-day life, their aims are noble, i.e. ā€œusing nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapseā€.

Whilst I may be long gone before the planet becomes truly doomed, we are already feeling the effects now and I would like the human race to continue even if I’m pushing up daisies. A little annoyance is a small price to pay.

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I don’t really mind them protesting by being disruptive. London’s roads are closed off regularly for events in any case, so a few extra days in the summer doesn’t make a huge difference in the greater scheme of things, and it ensures that they get a lot of media exposure.

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With the current state of the environment as predicted by scientists, sitting on the streets until somebody takes notice and does something seems like a rational reaction to me. Far more rational than sitting at home not really doing anything anyway.

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It is a fair point though - the people in the photo are all of uni age. As for the rest… your words, not mine.

Guildhall was covered in red paint on Friday by Extinction Rebellion protesters, who said they aimed to ā€œhighlight the blood-soaked profiteering of our financial systemā€.

That isn’t ā€˜civil disobedience’ - that is deliberatly breaking the law.

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What do you think civil disobedience means :sweat_smile:. If they were obeying the laws that wouldn’t really be disobedience would it?

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It is perfectly possible to cause a nuisance and/or protest without vandalising property. I’m alarmed that anyone would think otherwise. If I came and smashed your windows, that would just be shrugged off as ā€˜civil disobedience’ I guess? Such a weird mindset that people think it is ok (as long as it is not their own property being damaged!).

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Exactly the same distracting arguments were made against the civil rights movement and the stonewall protests.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

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Climate change will do a heck of a lot more damage than a few broken windows.

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I guess smashing windows is ok then.

I’m yet to hear any reasonable argument from anyone why damaging property is actually helping anything. If anyone damaged your property you would be up in arms. The double standards are amazing.

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Your words, not mine.

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I don’t get it at all

Need to reduce our carbon footprint but it’s fine to unnecessarily have to make and transport new windows to replace those smashed

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Because there’s no point in making any really.

We are headed to potential famine, war, disease and food shortages worldwide. I couldn’t give a flying **** if a few windows get broken really, it’s just not relevant given the scale of the issues at stake.

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I think that’s where I stand on it too.

I don’t condone some of the actions, but in the grand scheme of things…

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But isn’t that opinion:

ā€˜I couldn’t give a flying **** if a few windows get broken really, it’s just not relevant given the scale of the issues at stake.’

Could also be be taken in the same context with recycling? What I do to help recycling isn’t relevant given the scale of people who need to also do it. It’s passing the buck.

Personally, I think Extinct Rebellion has noble aims but acting in a terrible way. Blocking traffic so people sit waiting with their engines running. Not very environmentally friendly. Protesting on the London Docklands electric railway etc.

I believe in the right to protest, but I don’t agree on pushing views on law abiding people using violence or stopping law abiding people getting on with their lives without disruption.

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I’d be delighted to hear what the most suitable non-disruptive protest should be. Perhaps running a small notice on page 12 of the Guardian. That will certainly sort things out.

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I agree. I come back to the civil rights movement. Faced with the enormity of the issues and the fact that society needed fundamental change, a lot of people chose to just sit at home and moan about the fact their marches were blocking the roads.

You look back now and think of anyone who was alive at the time why the hell weren’t you trying to do something about it too.