SINCE its creation in 2018, Extinction Rebellion has evolved into the foremost and most influential movement in Britain dedicated to advocating for climate justice, ecological restoration and authentic democracy. It has been pivotal in reshaping awareness and discourse surrounding the urgent reality of the climate and ecological crisis.

We are now active in 72 countries, with 1,100 groups across a total of 473 cities and towns, with about 130 in the UK. 

We have shifted public opinion on the climate and ecological emergency in a way that no other organisation or movement has managed before. Yet in Britain we remain locked in a dangerous and destructive status quo exacerbated by the government’s failures to fulfil its promises, most recently with Rishi Sunak’s cynical rollback of net zero commitments.

CO2 emissions have risen inexorably since the Industrial Revolution and the last three decades of Cop conferences have failed to make much of a dent in this underlying reality with more than half of all CO2 emissions since 1751 being emitted in those last 30 years.

Blinded by an incomprehensible ideology of wilful ignorance, the government is rushing headlong to approve new fossil fuel projects, something which even last year’s freak temperature rises — described by scientists as “gobsmackingly bananas” — have failed to put a dent in. Lemmings have more awareness of existential threat.

Meanwhile the opposition is saying they will not revoke the new licences, including Rosebank, when we know they are incompatible with a safe future for our children, will not bring down our energy bills and will do nothing for the nation’s energy security as the oil will be sold on the world market. 

Our plan for 2024

So our attention is now turning to further broaden the movement. One of XR’s key skills has been its ability to catalyse multidemographic coalition-building: promoting active citizenship beyond the world of non-violent direct action.

When the launch of XR in 2018 saw a 15-year-old Swedish school striker and a 64-year-old ex-archbishop cross the divide of age, geography and culture, it signalled an alignment of stars. Parents, children, Olympians, faith groups, doctors, scientists and lawyers spoke as one. For every “progressive,” a “loyal national”; for every left-wing radical, a police officer; for every atheist, a cleric; for every grandparent, a grandchild; for every “crusty,” a “Tarquin.” 

In 2023 we mobilised 100,000 people across four days outside Parliament by building a coalition of over 200 organisations. Building on that success, over the course of 2024, we will play a central role in convening and mobilising that community and fostering a new era of co-operation with other organisations.

We are even finding traction in Establishment circles. Mainstream environmental organisations like the RSPB have threatened to take direct action in response to the government’s trashing of the environment. Tory MP Rory Stewart has been supportive of our vision of citizens’ assemblies filling the democratic deficit and Ben Goldsmith, chair of the Conservative Environment Network, voiced his support before being gagged.

Not everyone can engage in non-violent direct action or practise civil disobedience, but it is crucial for all of us to unite in this cause to become more than the sum of our parts. We’ve become too comfortable in our own silos, each defending our own interests. However, in the face of looming threats, that approach is no longer tenable. It’s time for all of us to join forces.

When we have achieved a force majeure, we will return to the centre of power and stay for as long as it takes for the government to agree to our demands: to commit to urgent action to end the era of fossil fuels with a citizens’ assembly deciding how to do this in a way that protects the poorest and most vulnerable, with the costs falling on those that can afford it most and who are most responsible. 

We are also empowering local communities. We are rolling out community assemblies nationwide, enabling the new breed of active citizens to determine the actions they wish their local councils to take in response to the climate emergency. This, along with targeted non-violent direct action, will build a community of civil resistance. This is the work that will incubate system change.

Climate justice means a globally healthier and more equitable future: enhanced quality of life and stronger community bonds. With collective strength we can achieve these goals.

The government and its media enablers hope that fomenting a culture war will win them the next election. It is our responsibility to demonstrate that this approach is flawed. In 2024, a greater number of us standing united across all divides, resisting and neutralising efforts to vilify and marginalise dissenters, is the pathway to a significant breakthrough.

With the introduction of the Public Order Act (2023) and Police, Crimes, Sentencing and Courts Act (2022), the government here has all but suspended democracy in order to silence us but history shows how ineffective such repression is in the grand narrative of human progress.

In the light of growing populism, the world is in retreat from fact-based reason and the facade of democracy is crumbling, exposing the true authoritarian nature of client governments around the world. As the world continues to heat, the future looks bleak.

In the battle for their lives, our parents’ and grandparents’ generations lived with fear of enemy action. The existential threat today is one of inaction on the part of a newer brand of fascism. But this time the threat is far greater than that of a world war. This time we need to precipitate action, occasionally at great cost to ourselves, to avoid the death and suffering of millions, perhaps billions. 

We work for our children’s future against a government whose mask has slipped.

When famine disease and war is our threatened fate, the authoritarian turn of the government is by far the lesser fear.