Skip to main content

More reflections from my time with Extinction Rebellion in London





I'm back in Cardiff now after a few days with Extinction Rebellion in London. It's all still ongoing, and I find myself with much to think about.

In many ways I was really only dipping my toe in this kind of thing. I took part in the Cardiff action in the summer, but this was the first time I had gone to London for an Extinction Rebellion protest. I was apprehensive but I feel much more comfortable doing this kind of thing now. What I'd like to say to anyone curious it that it's totally possible to just turn up, have a look around, be as involved as you want to be. You don't have to be prepared to get arrested, you can just be there.

Thousands of people were there, but in some ways I was disappointed by the numbers. It would be a lot more effective if there were like 100,000 people there - the kinds of numbers for a football match. At those numbers the police couldn't do much, the streets couldn't be taken back. People wouldn't have to do anything. If there were simply 100,000 people hanging on those streets it would be an unstoppable movement.

That's mostly what I did - I met people who I knew, I talked to people, I prayed, I went to a Quaker Meeting for Worship, a Christian evening prayer, and a Jewish service. Without the planned Faith Bridge I wasn't able to offer something myself.

I was just one of the people in the crowd singing and supporting those being arrested. One of 50 pairs of eyes that looked on to make sure police arrested people appropriately and with due care. I watched lots of people get arrested. It looks like there will be even more arrests this time than in April.

What was more dramatic was when I was with a small group who decided they were going to sit in the road, though the police had cleared out everyone else. It was dark and we were few in numbers. The police had asked us to move, but we has refused. We knew the police were coming back and going to arrest anyone who wasn't going to budge. Just before they did though the "Red Rebels" (the ghostly figures dressed all in red and walking about in silence as a continuous piece of street art) descended on us. With care, pure attention, and love they surrounded the people about to be arrested, and reached out to touch them. They give their blessing like they were a host of angels, and that's exactly what they looked like to me. Having given their blessing they descended into the night just in time for 30 police officers to march in and start arresting people.

That angelic visitation left me wondering - where is the Holy in the midst of action? How can prayer and protest go together? I still don't have many good answers to those questions, but I feel they are the important questions.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The dumbest thing about American Unitarian Univeralism

I'm glad Peacebang started blogging about this cos I was about to, and now it's like I'm joining in with a conversation rather than doing a big rant and having a go at Americans (though that is always fun ;-)). Why the hell do American (or is it just in New England??) UU churches take, like a quarter of the year off? In the summer they close. They CLOSE!! A church, closing. It's so bloody weird and wrong. Where does it come from? Why? Why? Why? Why do people need church less in the summer? Where are people supposed to go? Where is the Divine supposed to go? My church in Boston didn't close exactly, but moved to the smaller upstairs chapel, but the minister still had all that time off. Now I've spent most of my life around teachers and priests, both jobs where people think people don't put many hours in, when in fact they put in loads ('you only work Sunday mornings/9 to 3.25'). Teachers work hard and need their long holidays. Ministers work hard, a...
4 comments
Read more

Is humanism theologically tolerant?

OK, well this might be controversial, but I feel the need to say it. Is humanist tolerant? Please note I'm not asking about humanism within society. Clearly humanism certainly believes in tolerance within society and I'm forever glad they are often the only people in the media calling for a separation of church and state. No, what I'm talking about is descriptions of Unitarianism like this and adverts like this , discussed at Peacebang here , which say that humanism is one option, Christianity is another, God is one option among many. The trouble is, humanism, by definition is theologically opposed to theism. This is very different from the relationship between Christianity and Buddhism. These two traditions may be vastly different, but Buddhism, by definition , is not opposed to Christianity, and Christianity, by definition , is not opposed to Buddhism. But humanism is consciously defined in opposition to Christianity and theism. So to say that humanism and theism can bot...
14 comments
Read more

LOST and theology: who are the good guys?

***Spoiler alert*** I'm continuing some theological/philosophical reflections while re-watching the series LOST. One of the recurring themes in LOST is the idea of the "good guys" and the "bad guys." We start the series assuming the survivors (who are the main characters) are the "good guys" and the mysterious "Others" are definitely bad guys. But at the end of series 2 one of the main characters asks the Others, "Who are  you people?" and they answer, in an extremely disturbing way, "We're the good guys." The series develops with a number of different factions appearing, "the people from the freighter" "the DHARMA initiative" as well as divisions among the original survivors. The question remains among all these complicated happenings "who really are the good guys?" I think one of the most significant lines in the series is an episode when Hurley is having a conversation with ...
3 comments
Read more