Storytelling: It Doesn’t Have to Be Their Way

Our April mass mobilisation, ‘The Big One’, the largest ever UK Climate protest, amplified these specific demands:

 The Fossil Fuel Era must end
An end to all new licences, approvals, and funding for fossil fuel projects, to begin a transition to a fair society centred on reparatory justice for all life on earth.

 Change decided by us, not for us
The UK Government must create emergency citizens' assemblies to lead on fair, long-term solutions to the most urgent issues of our time.

The unfolding catastrophe of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss is now the umbrella under which all of our life in society takes place. It's deeply related to the cost of living crisis today and the injustices from our historic legacy of global inequality and colonialism. Many more now know this, and are ready to create real change. Most people, however, feel they have little or no agency politically, and see that UK politics is out of touch and out of date. We are ready for an upgrade. As the majority realise that systemic change is needed, we know our work is to help people see that they can be part of the decision-making process, building a strong and sustained popular effort. This is the work we will continue after coming together in Westminster.

There is a place for us all in the work to create a new world.

While many more people are waking up to the level of transformation needed, few believe it could be achieved painlessly. The story that the public is told - that there are dangers in ending the fossil fuel era- is based on furthering the status quo through political choices. The public have forgotten how much power they have to make different choices, and to drive real change.

Here in the UK, a huge cultural shift is needed, more than in many other countries. Disempowerment has been actively encouraged, with silence being treated as a virtue. A social culture of deference and even servility is still the norm, while resistance is discouraged by being painted as necessarily violent or destructive. The Public Order Act, now passed into law, is an attempt to pull our culture toward support for suppression of resistance.

This is the moment to force the country to confront what is being lost. The prospect of collapse is not abstract, it is beginning now, in the erosion of values we had all thought universal. Now the Public Order Act has passed, we can use the legal overreach to create jeopardy and a new found common cause, with the right action design in the new conditions. This is an opportunity to show the power of many in unity. The state becomes impotent in the face of ordinary people standing together in big numbers.

But we must acknowledge the dangers, particularly for BIPOC rebels and allies. Not everyone is able to risk these confrontations with police, and we should respect that every rebel’s personal circumstances are different.

Operations and Action Circles will include the Public Order Act’s implications in their design of action strategy and guidance for the movement.