Penguin
FOR a fortnight in April, the UK forgot about Brexit, fixating instead on a pink boat in London鈥檚 Oxford Circus and the disruption caused by thousands of climate protesters. More than 1100 people were arrested, stretching police resources and leading politicians to meet Extinction Rebellion, the group behind this spectacular display of civil disobedience.
Now, we have the book of the protest. Rushed forward from its initial September publication date, This Is Not a Drill is aimed at a curious public and those who may be thinking about joining in.
It is a manual to 鈥渉elp you, inform you, empower you to act鈥�, writes group member Sam Knights. And its foreword features veteran Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, who compares the importance of the group to that of Gandhi鈥檚 non-cooperation movement in winning India鈥檚 independence.
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But it is very much a handbook of two halves. The first focuses on 鈥渢he facts鈥� about climate change, and is less a sober assessment of carbon emission science and action, more a collection of anecdotes: former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed expounds on the need to include the working class in actions on emissions, while two farmers in India and a US firefighter also share their experiences. Another chapter compares global reliance on fossil fuels with the drug trade.
Drastic steps
This could have been a colourful, whistle-stop tour, akin to the start of Climate Change 鈥� The facts, the BBC鈥檚 excellent documentary with David Attenborough in April. But it feels rushed, with many repetitions about climate change鈥檚 effects and a wildly varied quality of writing.
At times, the book plays fast and loose with the science, which is disappointing given that one of the group鈥檚 strengths has been its scientific roots. Take the chapter by Jem Bendell, author of a key 2018 paper on the drastic steps needed to adapt to warming. 鈥淚鈥檓 a social scientist, not a climatologist,鈥� he writes, before succinctly dismissing work by the UN鈥檚 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and then backing the controversial idea of 鈥渋mmediately鈥� geoengineering clouds above the Arctic.
The second half of the handbook is far more interesting. Its insights into the tactics and practicalities of the group鈥檚 civil disobedience are likely to interest prospective campaigners and Cressida Dick, head of London鈥檚 Metropolitan Police Service, equally.
Roger Hallam of Extinction Rebellion outlines the reasons for the movement鈥檚 success. They include the number of protesters (50,000 will do), targeting the capital, avoiding violence, maintaining a daily presence and even having fun. 鈥淭he civil resistance model鈥� enables you to roll the dice. Emailing and marches don鈥檛 roll that dice. Partying in the streets does,鈥� he writes.
Media savviness is also key, says spokesperson Ronan McNern, from offering exclusives and a WhatsApp group for reporters to giving access to 鈥渆mbedded journalists鈥� during protests. Other members discuss coping with jail and cooking vegan food for protests. Like Greenpeace, they are big on good visuals, such as the pink boat they bought on eBay.
As readers might expect, the handbook鈥檚 editors and contributors are mostly anti-capitalist, so the role of business and markets in helping the global economy to transition from our current energy system is largely ignored. Instead, there is talk of rationing energy and 鈥減reparing for a social collapse鈥�.
The authors of This Is Not a Drill rightly identify climate change as an emergency. It remains to be seen if Extinction Rebellion鈥檚 radical ideas are sound. But as former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams says at the end 鈥渋t might just work鈥�.
