Extinction Rebellion co-founder, Roger Hallam, has launched a new campaign to get 1800 protest participators arrested.
For once, Guido’s ears perked up…
In his first Facebook post since leaving the comfort of Her Majesty’s pleasure at Wormwood Scrubs – where he has resided for six weeks following Extinction Rebellion’s Westminster ‘shutdown’ – Hallam writes “going to prison is not the end of the world“. Although he does qualify that “Obviously going to prison is not for everyone”…
Roger explains that:
… going to prison is a massive headache materially and politically for the authorities and once hundreds and then thousands of people do it in an organised and coordinated way, then in my scholarly opinion real policy changes are going to happen. It is the single biggest act of radical political and nonviolent effectiveness any social movement can decide upon.
I think on the last count something like 1800 people in Extinction Rebellion are up for it. So I will be spending a lot of my time helping to get actions organised which enable these people to walk their talk.
If you are reading this, then I am sure you know it’s all systems go, the time is now, and all the rest of it on the Ecological Catastrophe. So get in touch with XR, book some time off, and make up your book list.”
The call to arms sparked pretty negative reactions on his Facebook page – even from Extinction Rebellion supporters, who have finally decided – after taking a week off work to arrest broccoli and perform their A-level drama dance pieces at Trafalgar square – that there is such a thing as too much “privilege“. Alice wrote, “Obviously spoken from place of privilege and/or mindless ignorance.”