Should the government brand XR as extremism?
Extinction Rebellion is a global movement with the aim of using peaceful, non-violent methods to encourage government action in combatting the climate change crisis. With this being said it seems difficult to understand why XR are now on the UK police’s ‘terrorist group’ list. It has also been discovered that City of London police had listed XR as a “key threat” in its counter terrorism assessment. This piece is not looking at or judging the actions of XR as correct or incorrect, simply determine whether it is appropriate for so much of our government and police force to be so focussed on them as a terrorist organisation when there are certainly much more pressing security matters to deal with.
We are referring to a democratic country where free speech is not only permitted, but encouraged. Extinction rebellion is merely utilising the power of peaceful protest that is legally allowed in the UK. Branding this as extremism causes confusion over where the line should be drawn on the definition. In the UK, extremism is defined as ‘the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values’. Therefore the question must be asked: does XR’s message defy our core values as a society? In reality, XR could be seen as standing up for our principles. Although some may agree that their ways of going about this are questionable when it comes to chaining themselves to buildings etc, it should be seen that sometimes this is the kind of action needed for notice to be taken.
Another angle to take is comparison to other organisations on the UK counter-terrorist list, for example the neo-Nazis. This group operate on the basis of discrimination and are seeking to revive Hitler’s ideologies, which led to mass genocide. By putting an equal amount of negative attention on this group as on XR, the government are implying that XR are as damaging as the neo-Nazis. In addition to this, time, energy and resources that could be spent in efforts to combat genuine terrorist groups, are being wasted on attempts to stop a climate change activism group. We are not condoning any physical or aggressive action that XR may have taken, which is of course not preferable, but it is plain to see that their motions and values are on a much more peaceful scale than the neo-Nazis, and therefore they should not be held in the same regard.
Overall, the government should not be branding Extinction rebellion as extremism for various reasons, but primarily because they have only positive intentions for our environment, and are not promoting any violence. The term ‘extremism’ should not be used lightly, and definitely seems completely unnecessary in this situation. Extinction rebellion should be recognised for its positive aims and impacts rather than its possible negative consequences, because the good far outweighs the bad. The light that could be shed on this issue is sorely lacking due to such close minded labelling.
Who’s Future? Our Future.
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