The Big One put XR’s new tactics on show – and to the test
Extinction Rebellion or XR – and groups associated with XR, like Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil – are known for more disruptive and confrontational climate protests.
The Big One put XR’s change of tactics – prioritising attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks – to the test.
When climate activists from Just Stop Oil, XR, or even Greenpeace, block roads or disrupt sporting events they’re often in the news for days, demanding government attention.
Partly because of this, the government has started cracking down on the right to protest. Recently the courts jailed Just Stop Oil climate activists for three years for climbing a bridge.
XR’s groups became divisive and they were labelled as extremists. (But isn’t the government being a bit extreme, putting people in jail simply for caring about our collective fate in the face of the climate crisis?)
Despite the positive energy and momentum generated by The Big One, it didn’t attract the same level of media coverage.
And the government completely ignored the demand to “end all licences, funding and approvals for new fossil fuel projects” and to set up an Emergency Citizen’s Assembly. Maybe XR didn’t expect it to, but the difference in media attention raised questions about the power of different protest tactics.
If it’s either no attention or negative attention – or even jail sentences – where is the climate movement meant to go?
The Big One was a celebration of mass climate activism
The Big One was designed to be positive, safe and inclusive, bringing people of all walks of life together. By these measures, it was a resounding success.
Such a variety of people that came to support the biggest climate protest in the UK since the pandemic. Families, doctors, scientists, religious and social justice groups from around the country descended on Westminster.