David Levy – Every Generation – Aug 19
I want to discuss the latest environmental movement that seems to have captured the mood of the latest generation and the frustration of the older generation. It’s called Extinction Rebellion or XR to make it clear it’s not governmental ER.
First of all it’s a popular movement with nearly everyone I know attending meetings and actively becoming an annoyance by gluing themselves to a motorway, handrails on the side of buildings or squatting down to disrupt the flow of everyday action. The goal is either to get themselves arrested and or to cause the maximum disruption so that their targets realise that they are here to stay and eventually they will have to deal with them.
Meanwhile, the police are in line to maintain order.
What is the objective and solution from this movement? It appears that they believe they can form people’s committees that make decisions. What has not been made clear to me is where the authority in this process comes from. One may say that we already have this in local, regional and national government — but that clearly is not their model. Do they believe these models are going to hand over authority when they have a voted for their own mandate? Again, I am not sure of the answer.
I totally understand the frustration that this movement has with the established order which is currently, fraudulently in operation. The established order has lost the confidence of the public, but the solution by XR fails to bridge the gap between the wish and the reality.
I hope one of you in XR can answer the lack of clarity I feel from you.
What is without any doubt is the sincerity of those who cry out for change and who have lost confidence in the existing model to provide the solutions. I just wish we were all better served, but maybe I am clinging to the vestiges of an edifice which is slowly crumbling.
David Levy
