{"id":52796,"date":"2020-09-13T08:01:17","date_gmt":"2020-09-13T07:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=52796"},"modified":"2020-09-13T08:02:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-13T07:02:16","slug":"when-we-dont-uphold-xrs-right-to-speak-out-next-they-will-come-for-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2020\/09\/13\/when-we-dont-uphold-xrs-right-to-speak-out-next-they-will-come-for-us\/","title":{"rendered":"If we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t uphold Extinction Rebellion\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right to speak out next they will come for us"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a signatory to this letter on Extinction Rebellion that is in The Observer<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

I am well aware that there will be accusations for doing so. But please read what the letter says. It is about the principle of the issue. It says that XR, whether we all agree with their tactics all the time, are doing something vitally important for us all, which is to demand the radical change required to preserve human \u00a0life on earth. And it rightly notes that this issue has been ignored for far too long.<\/p>\n

For doing this vital task it has been suggested that XR be branded organised criminals, when the worst they have done is spill a little paint and block a road or two for a few hours. Very little change of any \u00a0importance for the majority of people in the UK \u00a0has ever happened without such things happening, as anyone with any awareness of history will know.<\/p>\n

In contrast to XR, whose focus is on peaceful and harmless protest, we have a government deliberately breaking international law knowing full well that they might as a consequence break a peace accord whilst creating economic, social and political havoc. And it is that same government that wants to define XR as criminal.<\/p>\n

So when asked if I wanted to sign this letter it was easy to agree. I support peaceful protest. Most of all, I support XR\u2019s right to speak out. We should all have the right to do that without fear. If we do not uphold those who speak out next they will come for us.<\/p>\n

T<\/span><\/span>he government is failing us on every count. Deaths from Covid 19; a recovery plan that allocates billions of taxpayers\u2019 money to the fossil fuel economy; climate and ecological devastation that has destabilised our planet; refugees used by politicians and media to stir up fear and hatred; Public Health England scrapped with zero consultation. This list is not exhaustive.<\/p>\n

The system is broken and the government is not protecting us.<\/p>\n

Extinction Rebellion has helped push the government\u2019s failure to act on the climate and ecological emergency into the public eye. Whether or not we agree with their tactics or their targets, by blocking printing presses and delaying newspaper distribution, they have connected the dots of a broken system.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For the past 30 years there\u2019s been a woeful lack of serious reporting on the climate and ecological emergency due to the billionaire owners\u2019 vested interests, and a lack of understanding from reporters, to editors to senior executives, about the severity and scale of the crisis. This has meant a terrifying delay on action to combat climate change.<\/p>\n

Extinction Rebellion are not organised criminals. They should not be the targets of vitriol and anti-democratic posturing. They\u2019re just a group of people who are holding the powerful to account.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s vital that we take this moment to acknowledge that radical change is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. It\u2019s vital that we apply the lessons of the coronavirus pandemic to avoid paying an even more terrible price for poor preparation and a slow, inadequate response to the climate and ecological emergency.<\/p>\n

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Stephen Fry<\/strong>,<\/strong> Dr Rowan Williams<\/strong>, Alice Aedy, Josh Appignanesi, Chloe Aridjis, Andrea Arnold OBE, Jake Arnott, Will Attenborough, Patrick Brill OBE RA, Frankie Boyle, Louisa Buck, Dame Carmen Callil, Grace Chatto <\/strong>(Clean Bandit), Lily Cole, Dominic Cooke CBE, Cookin Vinyl Records, Lindsey Coulson, Coldcut, Jill Dawson, Siobhan Davies CBE, Jeremy Deller, Charlotte Du Cann, Nicola Davies, Domino Records, Joe Dunthorne, Marc Elliott, Brian Eno, Paul Ewen, Rose Fenton CBE, Johnny Flynn, Iain Forsyth, Bella Freud, Joe Goddard <\/strong>(Hot Chip), Kate Fahy, Livia Firth, Gazelle Twin, Polly Gifford, Alison Goldfrapp, Sir Antony Gormley, Jay Griffiths, Jack Harries, Melissa Harrison, Ackroyd & Harvey, Philip Hoare, Robin Ince, Bel Jacobs, Juliet Jacques, Liz Jensen, Baroness Jenny Jones, Kirk Jones, Sean Jones QC, Peter Jukes, Stella Kanu, Judith Knight MBE, Peter Kosminsky, Dr Jason Hickel, Dr Pam Hogg, Nick Laird, David Lan, Neal Lawson, Stewart Lee, Deborah Levy, Toby Litt, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Daisy Lowe, Caroline Lucas MP, Massive Attack, Francesca Martinez, Jolyon Maugham QC, Simon McBurney OBE, Jeff McMillan, James Miller <\/strong>(novelist), Fernando Meirelles, Fay Milton <\/strong>(Savages), George Monbiot, Braulio Montavani, Professor Richard Murphy, Chloe Naldrett, Lucy Neal CBE, Kris Nelson, Ninja Tune, Ed O\u2019Brien <\/strong>(Radiohead), Chris Packham CBE, Cornelia Parker OBE, Michael Pawlyn, Ruth Padel, Maxine Peake, Mike Perry, Philippa Perry, Jonathan Pie <\/strong>(aka Tom Walker), Jane Pollard, Jocelyn Pook, Max Porter, Heydon Prowse, Marie Phillips, Ian Rickson, Dr Jane Riddiford, Meg Rosoff, Sir Mark Rylance, Sunetra Sarker, Manda Scott, Tracey Seaward, Kamila Shamsie, Nicholas Shaxon, Owen Sheers, Gillian Slovo, Simon Stephens, Juliet Stevenson CBE, Etienne Stott MBE, Subathra Subramaniam, Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE, Steve Tompkins, Gavin Turk, Dale Vince OBE, Mark Wallinger, Julie Ward MEP, Dame Marina Warner, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Rich Wilson, Jaime Winstone, Jeanette Winterson, Farhana Yamin, Louisa Young<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a signatory to this letter on Extinction Rebellion that is in The Observer today. I am well aware that there will be accusations
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,16,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-ethics","category-green-new-deal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}