Extinction Rebellion (XR) are a self-described international social movement pledging to use non-violent civil disobedience as a weapon to pressure governments to take action on the climate and ecological emergency. Extinction isn’t a joke, biodiversity loss threatens our ability to feed ourselves, to control our climate and puts us in great risks of pandemic diseases like the one we’re currently experiencing. From this vantage, I agree with the Extinction Rebellion movement but since the formation in 2018 there have been serious flaws in the strategy. Why can’t Extinction Rebellion just stick to the facts?

As the organisation’s flummery second wave began in London earlier this month, as suspected it seemed to lack any connection to the people that needed convincing.

A heavy focus this time is on UK airports and the aviation industry. One balmy morning as I walk to a destination in the London borough of Islington, once home to the novelist George Orwell, a performance was taking place outside the Business Design Centre - where the World Aviation Festival is being held. I knew it was another act by XR as I spotted one printed hourglass in a circle and more followed suit. I find out through the forwarding of a leaflet into my hand that they were premiering playwright April de Angelis’ Plane Truth. XR claims by 2020 carbon dioxide emissions from airlines will be 70% above 2005 levels, and the motivation behind the protest was due to the festival not addressing the environmental impact of flying. The protest performance however offered nothing more than creative flight attendant outfits for me.

Last year I supported everything that the XR stood for, this year, the stringent and chaotic protests made me feel withdrawn from the organisation. My loss of faith was sparked earlier this year - when activists dug up Cambridge University’s historic Trinity College lawn to symbolise the college’s destruction of nature at Innocence Farm in Suffolk. The hypocrisy amplified and was noticeable from 56 miles away. For a group that is non-violent and committed to civil disobedience, the vandalism of a property seemed to lack any connection to the point that was being made. It is time-consuming and costly for police officers to deal with cases like this, when they could be utilising their time and resources helping other cases.

The UK group has three core demands: for governments’ to tell the truth about the scale of the ecological crisis by declaring a climate emergency, cut net zero emissions by 2025, and for the UK government to create a citizens’ assembly to hear evidence and devise policy to tackle the climate crisis. As well as these demands, the group has a public list of 10 values, meaning anybody who follows these values can organise protests autonomously.

Under their sixth value, it says “we approach each other from a place of compassion, and encourage each other to increase our own self-awareness.” XR often deflect their own values which damages their opportunity of persuading ordinary people of Britain to join, which is why there is a lack of representation of other communities. When XR protestors targeted Newsprinters presses in the North of England, they delayed the distribution of several national newspapers because the demonstrators accused the papers of failing to report on climate change. This was hugely problematic because blocking the public’s access to news and vital information blocks monitoring the actions of government at all levels. Therefore, this was an attack on democracy and XR’s attempt to throttle the independence of the media sector mimicked nothing more than an undemocratic regime. Unfortunately, XR is at risk of alienating the mass support it has built up and aspires to continue to build up.

I recognise a reason XR are failing to reach larger communities is because the institutions being targeted in the protests have no intuitively obvious connection to the demand being made. The reason the Black Lives Matter movement built up so much momentum is because there was a direct, organic connection between the people protesting and the repressive institutions. The damage and message of police brutality against black communities have been brewing for centuries. A realisation of climate change was only made in 2014 through IPCC’s fifth assessment report, which revealed 95% of scientists are certain that humans are the “dominant cause” of global warming since the 1950s.

I must admit the momentous responsibility XR has taken. However, it has some growing up to do with freeing the truth in a way which doesn’t isolate. For it to succeed in delivering the message it has to be the people’s movement and not a freak show.