Direct action events planned to rewire public perception of climate change
Scottish environmental activists are promising to go to jail in protest over the climate change crisis.
Direct action events organised by the group Extinction Rebellion are planned through this week with demonstrators saying they are willing to go to jail for their cause.
Facebook pages dedicated to Edinburgh and Glasgow groups urge climate change sympathisers to join the protests as the "eleventh hour is now!"
Action will culminate this Saturday which is earmarked as the day of “Extinction Rebellion”.
It comes as protesters blockaded the UK energy department in London, comparing themselves with the suffragettes and the anti-apartheid movement in their quest for social justice.
The protesters are calling for the government to cancel what they call “contradictory” projects they say will actually increase emissions in the UK, such as the third runway at Heathrow, fracking and new roads being built.
They also want to shift current perception for the public to recognise the planet is facing extinction.
Scottish activist and Greenpeace member Tilly Laforte said on Facebook: “Scots have a long history of playing the underdog. We are prepared to stake our liberty as part of a mass civil disobedience. If you object to a lack of action by the government then take that action yourself. Rise up. Join us. Become a new history.”
The first meeting of the organisation last month attracted 1,000 people to London during which there were 15 arrests.
Gail Bradbrook, one of the English activists, said: “I want the planet protected for my children.
“Change comes when people are willing to commit acts of peaceful civil disobedience.
“Fifty people in jail for a short time is likely to bring the ecological crisis into the public consciousness.”
The protesters have the backing of academics who have written a letter to the national press
They warn that politicians failure in tackling tackle climate breakdown has led an extinction crisis and “the 'social contract' has been broken. “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.”
