London: Two weeks ago, Extinction Rebellion – an organisation whose non-violent civil disobedience has dominated UK and global activism for years – offered to protect the London Marathon from disruption by environmental protestors. The London Marathon accepted the offer and nobody quite knows what to make of it.
The UK has always been a good place to protest. The media here is large, efficient, globalised and always clamouring for content. London is a significant enough city that major events – including disruption – are reported worldwide, and the police tend to be less violent than in many other places, meaning that while a protester may be roughly handled into the back of a van, they are unlikely to be shot in the process.
London is such a global centre for protest that corporate trainers offer courses in it.
Since the end of the pandemic, the most reported protests in London have been run by Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain (started by six members of Extinction Rebellion) and Just Stop Oil (formed by members of both Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain).
While Extinction Rebellion’s protests tended to be large-scale parades of environmental grievance, Insulate Britain’s London protests were characterised by cunning use of small groups of protesters to cause maximum disruption. Highlights included a day in October 2021 when two small groups glued themselves to London’s outer ring road, the M25 motorway, and to Old Street Roundabout, in The City of London.
The M25 protest stopped commuter traffic and caused traffic snarls around the entire perimeter of London, while the Old Street Roundabout protest created a queue of buses that almost reached the Bank of England.
But there was a backlash! Reasonable people who support climate action missed doctor’s appointments, job interviews and school. Most notably, a woman being rushed to A&E (accident and emergency) died due to the delays.
Pundits speculated about whether Insulate Britain had become Alienate Britain and was turning people off insulation, while others claimed that people would come around despite the inconvenience.
An Extinction Rebellion (XR) spokesperson said, “Over 1000people were arrested at our Rebellion in Spring 2019 where we closed many of the bridges and roads in central London. Polling indicates that this actually resulted in increased awareness and concern around the climate crisis.”
But, if these kinds of protests work, why is XR changing its focus from non-violent civil disobedience to maintaining civil order?
The same spokesperson said, “At the beginning of 2023 XR announced ‘We Quit’.
“This was a temporary change in strategy away from public disruption towards disruption that focuses on the perpetrators of the climate and ecological emergency, such as government and the political system, and private interests and the media and think tanks that do their bidding.
“This also allowed us to enter a period of alliance building. As we said at the time: ‘The conditions for change in the UK have never been more favourable – it’s time to seize the moment.
“The confluence of multiple crises presents us with a unique opportunity to mobilise and move beyond traditional divides. No one can do this alone, and it’s the responsibility of all of us, not just one group.
“It may be uncomfortable or difficult, but the strength of all social, environmental, and justice movements lies in working together. As our rights are stripped away and those speaking out and most at risk are silenced, we must find common ground and unite to survive.
“We built relationships with over 200 organisations who supported our protest last weekend: The Big One where attendance was approaching 100,000 people across four days outside parliament. For this event we said we were prioritising attendance over arrest. The event was joyous and family friendly and, as the Metropolitan Police has confirmed, there were no arrests.
“We had been talking to the organisers of the London Marathon since November last year to ensure that the two events could peacefully co-exist.”
XR has confirmed that there were no incidents during the marathon that required its intervention, and that no money changed hands between London Marathon and XR in return for the arrangement.
London Marathon was approached for comment.
Clarification:
This article has previously mentioned that a Muslim Aid source took part in protest activity. We would like to clarify that this source was not authorised to carry out activism on the behalf of Muslim Aid as it is a strictly humanitarian organisation and does not partake or encourage its staff to partake in protest activity.