London: Mass Climate Rebellion To Save Mother Earth Shuts Down 5 Bridges
Because 'Good Planets Are Hard to Find,' Extinction Rebellion Shuts Down London Bridges to Save Mother Earth. Day of revolt leads to mass arrests in the UK as protest participants argue too many still don't "recognize the seriousness of our existential crisis" and almost nobody is doing enough to end humanity's reckless assault on planet's living systems, by Jon Queally, Common Dreams, Nov. 17, 2018.
- Demonstrators on the iconic Westminster Bridge in central London on Saturday, Nov. 17. "We are peacefully standing up for the Earth and for humanity," said Cecelia B of Extinction Rebellion. "People are dancing and singing and making new friends. This is a joyful rebellion and this is what the future looks like."
Mass arrests resulted on Saturday as thousands of people and members of the 'Extinction Rebellion' movement—for "the first time in living memory"—shut down the five main bridges of central London in the name of saving the planet, and those who live upon it, from destructive over-consumption, runaway greenhouse gas emissions, and the ongoing failure of global leaders to address the compounding and intensifying threats.
"People are risking their liberty in defense of the living world in very large numbers. It is only when we are prepared to take such action that people begin to recognize the seriousness of our existential crisis." —George Monbiot
"The 'social contract' has been broken … [and] it is therefore not only our right, but our moral duty to bypass the government's inaction and flagrant dereliction of duty, and to rebel to defend life itself," Gail Bradbrook, an Extinction Rebellion organizer, explained to the Guardian.
Tiana Jacout, another protest organizer, told the BBC that shutting down the bridges was "not a step we take lightly," but "if things continue as is, we face an extinction greater than the one that killed the dinosaurs" millions of years ago.
>"We have tried marching, and lobbying, and signing petitions," she added. "Nothing has brought about the change that is needed."
As of this writing, dozens of arrests had been made with many thousands more still holding ground on the Soutwark, Blackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster, and Lambeth bridges. Journalist, author, and activist George Monbiot, who also participated in the direct actions, said, "Something I have been waiting for, for a very long time, is happening. People are risking their liberty in defense of the living world in very large numbers. It is only when we are prepared to take such action that people begin to recognize the seriousness of our existential crisis."
We are facing an unprecedented global emergency," Extinction Rebellions separately states on its website. And with the government failing to act and the planet's survival at stake, the group says "it's going to take everything we've got."
On the Waterloo Bridge, one speaker told participants: "Let's do what it takes... good planets are hard to find."
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/17/because-good-planets-are-hard-find-extinction-rebellion-shuts-down-central-london
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