The position of Extinction Rebellion has been clear since the global environmental movement hit the international stage, when it occupied large sections of London in April 2019.
XR advocates taking nonviolent civil disobedience – the breaking of the law – to raise awareness and trigger climate action.
Initially, in Australia, this translated as masses of people getting out on the streets, with large numbers willing to be arrested over minor offences, such as obstructing traffic. But the COVID-19 virus and its threat of infection has hindered these demonstrations that had been ever-growing.
However, the accelerating climate crisis hasn't locked down for the pandemic. Rather, the recently released IPCC report shows that climate targets governments were considering in 2015 are no longer viable, as global warming has ceased to be a pending threat, indeed it's now at our front doorstep.
