Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a UK-founded global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse. Extinction Rebellion was established in Stroud in May 2018 by Gail Bradbrook, Simon Bramwell, and Roger Hallam, along with eight other co-founders from the campaign group Rising Up!
| Named after | Anthropocene extinction |
|---|---|
| Formation | 31 October 2018 |
| Founders | Roger Hallam Gail Bradbrook Tamsin Omond Simon Bramwell Clare Farrell Robin Boardman-Pattinson |
| Founded at | Stroud, United Kingdom |
| Type | Advocacy group |
| Purpose | Climate change mitigation Nature conservation Environmental protection Sortition |
Region | International |
| Fields | Conservation movement Environmental movement |
| Affiliations | Rising Up! Animal Rebellion XR Youth |
| Website | rebellion |
Its first major action was to occupy the London Greenpeace offices on 17 October 2018, which was followed by the public launch at the "Declaration of Rebellion" on 31 October 2018 outside the UK Parliament. Earlier that month, about one hundred academics signed a call to action in their support. In November 2018, five bridges across the River Thames in London were blockaded as a protest. In April 2019, Extinction Rebellion occupied five prominent sites in central London: Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge, and the area around Parliament Square. In August 2021, the Impossible Rebellion targeted London.
Citing inspiration from grassroots movements such as Occupy, the suffragettes, and the civil rights movement, Extinction Rebellion aims to instill a sense of urgency for preventing further "climate breakdown", as well as the ongoing sixth mass extinction. A number of activists in the movement accept arrest and imprisonment, similar to the mass arrest tactics of the Committee of 100 in 1961. The movement uses a stylised, circled hourglass, known as the extinction symbol, to serve as a warning that time is rapidly running out for many species.
Extinction Rebellion has been criticised as alienating potential supporters. Extinction Rebellion's 2019 protests cost the Metropolitan Police an extra £7.5 million. Activists identifying with the movement have also defended causing property damage, such as smashing windows. Extinction Rebellion has said such tactics are sometimes necessary and that they are careful not to put anyone at risk. In a YouGov poll of 3,482 British adults conducted on 15 October 2019, 54% "strongly opposed" or "somewhat opposed" Extinction Rebellion's actions of disrupting roads and public transport to "shut down London" in order to bring attention to their cause, while 36% "strongly supported" or "somewhat supported" these actions.