Extinction Rebellion
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Alan, nobody is denying any of that. Of course there are many horrors involved in budget air travel and as socialists we support the various struggles of airline workers. All I am saying is that we shouldn’t wag our fingers at the worker who enjoys an annual cheap flight to Ibiza for some sun after a year’s slog in the office/factory.
I rather liked using Ryanair, Stephen, when they brought in 1p (plus taxes) for a ticket. I made several city breaks. Italy for the price of a taxi into town and at the time they served free snacks on the plane. But once they captured the market, they steadily imposed their restrictions and extra charges.
But it was the cheap 60s charter flights that brought foreign holidays within the range of workers, not the main airlines. But for some, it is still expensive. My Shetland relations pay more to get to Aberdeen airport than they do for that connecting flight to the Med Sun.
I also have fond memories of Freddie Laker’s Skytrain that took me to the USA, the original pioneer of cheap flights.
I also recall before the time of computers and self-booking for a bargain air-fare we had to use bucket shops.
Used to load and unload airmail and what shocked me was when the charter Czech pilots told me their wages, i almost earned more in the week than they did in a month. No wonder we called them plane drivers. A British Midland pilot was very upset when addressed as such.
How things change.
It seems that Sussex Police have put Inspector Cleusot in charge of the case. After arresting the wrong man (and his wife) he is now saying that there is no evidence that was a drone. Mind you, that’s a good place to start as we know from those who think they’ve seen a UFO that meterological phenomena, etc can be misinterpreted. UFOs are really UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena). Maybe the Gatwick drone will turn out to be one too. I hadn’t thought of that.
Not quite accurate, the police only said that they could not discount the theory that there were no drones. You can’t prove a negative, can you?
They confirmed finding a damaged drone but did not say if it was implicated. Over 60 people reported seeing drones but we know eye-witnesses are not always the best witnesses. We know people can be fooled into seeing things that they didn’t…and the media is a great suggestive force, just ask the charlatan Uri Geller.
But it proved a great deal for the Israeli defence industry, a $20 million deal. Perhaps we should add Mossad to our list of suspects.
Next year it may well be balloons and kites (as in Gaza) as Gatwick “terrorist” tactics
“Not quite accurate, the police only said that they could not discount the theory that there were no drones. You can’t prove a negative, can you?”
“They could not discount the theory” and “there is no evidence” are statements which are not mutually exclusive – i.e. they can occur concurrently.
And nobody here is suggesting that negatives can be proven although there are circumstances where they can…
Out of the news does not mean they disappeared
40 people have held a sit-in protest about global warming at the Scottish Parliament.
Robert Alcock, of the Extinction Rebellion group, claimed the protesters were not breaking the law. “We are lawfully gathered in our Parliament, to draw attention to the climate emergency and to call for a Citizens’ Assembly in the name of the land and people of Scotland.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-47001933
New Zealand Extinction Rebellion critiqued
https://libcom.org/news/can-extinction-rebellion-aotearoanz-help-save-world-13032019
“…The entire system of production based on wage labour and capital needs to be replaced with a system which produces for human needs. All the half measures of converting aspects of capitalism to limit the damage to the environment, while the fundamentals of capitalism remain in place, are just wishful thinking, and to pretend they could solve our problems is deception on a grand scale….”
Has anybody been to the scenes of action to see what’s been happening on the ground.
My only source is the media
I wonder if there is any promotional material we can give away. Sheep and leaders mugs? Our two editions of ecology pamphlets?
We have had plenty of advance notice of this protest so I will be disappointed that we failed to prepare and to attend.
George Monbiot gives his voice of support to Extinction Rebellion
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/15/only-rebellion-will-prevent-ecological-apocalypse
“…Erica Chenoweth’s historical research reveals, for a peaceful mass movement to succeed, a maximum of 3.5% of the population needs to mobilise. Humans are ultra-social mammals, constantly if subliminally aware of shifting social currents. Once we perceive that the status quo has changed, we flip suddenly from support for one state of being to support for another. When a committed and vocal 3.5% unites behind the demand for a new system, the social avalanche that follows becomes irresistible…The time for excuses is over. The struggle to overthrow our life-denying system has begun.”
Perhaps a more critical voice to listen to
“…At a time when the government has cracked down on protest, to not see that this could go the other way, and be used simply as a way of increasing already draconian anti-protest legislation and prosecutions, is shortsighted and irresponsible. But beyond that, the cost to individual activists, and the movement as a whole, would be huge…we must be wary of glorifying arrests and incarceration as the only valid way of engaging with a movement. A movement, particularly one seeking to change society as we know it, should not be a coterie of privileged activists who can afford the expense and time getting arrested. It should be about as many people as possible being brought on board. About making noise from all parts of society that’s so deafening, there is no option for those in power but to listen to our demands…”
A comrade has sent this from Oxford Circus today where the protestors have blocked it with a pink boat. I don’t know if the link will open here or if you have to copy it somewhere:
20190418_124900_357308745578469.mp4
Anyway, I can’t make out what they are singing if anybody else can.
Oh dear , this doesn’t sound too good: ER a capitalist scam?
We have criticised Extincton Rebellion on this thread for being naive in appealing to governments to do something capitalist economics means they can’t do (and, in my view, for exaggerating by talking of the extinction of the human species as an immediate prospect) but this criticism of them as a “capitalist scam” is way over the top. Presumably it comes from rival groups who with disagree with XR’s non-violent tactics and favour violent direct action.
I noticed that letter in the Times but it never occurred to me that this meant that certain business interests were behind XR. Rather, that it was certain business interests who were taking advantage of their naivety.
Anyway, for the record and so people can judge, here is the text of the letter published in the Times on 22 April under the headline “Business and the climate rebellion”:
Sir, The multimillion-pound costs that the Extinction Rebellion protests have imposed on business are regrettable, as is the inconvenience to Londoners. But future costs imposed on our economies by the climate emergency will be many orders of magnitude greater.
Contrary to belief, there is business support for the Extinction Rebellion (XR) agenda. Hard pressure drives change, but even the most committed businesses will need time to respond. We welcome the news that Extinction Rebellion is evolving a new platform, XR Business, to engage business leaders, investors and advisers. To drive things forward, the idea is to convene a meeting of XR activists and experts with business leaders and influencers. Most businesses were not designed in the context of the developing climate emergency. Hence we must urgently redesign entire industries and businesses, using science-based targets. To kickstart the process, businesses should make a declaration that we face a climate emergency and organise a session at a full board meeting to consider the case for urgent action. We will encourage the senior management teams of which we are part to do likewise.
Bevis Watts, managing director, Triodos Bank UK; Christopher Davis, chief sustainability officer, The Body Shop International; Seb Beloe, partner, WHEB Asset Management; Paul Polman, former CEO, Unilever; Sir Tim Smit, founder, Eden Project; John Elkington, co-founder, Volans Ventures Plus a further 17 signatories at thetimes.co.uk/lettersI would see setting up “XR Business” as another sign of their naivety rather than them being a “capitalist scam”.
Capitalism co-opts everything, even its opponents.
Was it Marx or Lenin who said the capitalist would even sell you the rope to be used to hang him?
It certainly wasn’t Marx and doesn’t seem to have been Lenin either:
Did anyone actually say “the capitalists will sell us the rope we hang them with”?
by inAskHistoriansIt seems to be a favourite “quote” of US antie-cahmunists because it associates communism (and socialism) with wanting to hang capitalists. It even appears as a quote from Stalin as “when we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use” but that’s probably a fabrication too (it doesn’t even make grammatical or logical sense),
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