At the beginning of April appeared everywhere on the pavements of London stickers representing a stylized hourglass, the symbol of Extinction Rebellion (XR). The movement born in the United Kingdom, in 2018, planned a month of almost daily actions in the capital: colorful parades in the district of Westminster, blockages of bridges on the Thames or head offices in the City (the insurer Lloyds , oil giant Shell).
However, it is not these actions that make the “one” of the tabloids and arouse the ire of the Johnson government, but those of other militant formations, often created on the initiative of former XR, and which evolve with fluidity. More radical and much more targeted, they share the same principles as XR: civil disobedience, deemed legitimate in the face of the climate emergency and political apathy, and non-violent action.
” Draw attention “
Thus, Animal Rebellion was born in 2019 to raise awareness of the consequences of intensive agriculture on the climate. Some of its members then founded Insulate Britain, in September 2021, to denounce Downing Street’s renunciation of increasing subsidies to help home insulation. They multiplied the blockages of motorways around London, including the very busy M25, provoking the anger of many motorists. Requested by the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, the High Court of Justice has issued judgments which have resulted in the imprisonment of around fifteen activists since the end of 2021 – a first in the country.
Latest movement to date: Just Stop Oil, a formation that appeared in December 2021 which multiplies the blockages of fuel depots in the south of England (Essex, Oxfordshire or Kent), to the point, since the beginning of April, of causing occasional shortages petrol in Greater London. The activists – most of them very young and often from Animal Rebellion and Insulate Britain – attach themselves to strong glue at the top of tank trucks or at the entrances to depots.
Their goal: to push the government to give up the exploitation of new gas and oil fields in the North Sea, a desire that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed since the start of the war in Ukraine. “We recognize that it is not possible to stop oil exploitation overnight, but the International Energy Agency is clear: if we want to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, we must immediately give up all new exploitation, says Claudia Pena-Rojas, 24, a student at Brighton who moved from Animal Rebellion to Just Stop Oil.
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