Rebelling

After a good few years of following the work of extinction rebellion, I finally got the courage up to go and take part in their Windsor rebellion today.  The them was 'upgrade democracy' which is all about putting pressure on the government to hold a citizen's assembly on climate change and to implement the recommendations.  A sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with as we only have a narrow window to stop further devastating climate damage.

Yesterday the rebels set up camp in a field not far from Windsor centre and held a march dressed as bankers, financiers and tech bros who were all supporting the rather dramatic oil slicks.  Today, the march delivered a pink post box full of letters to the gates of Windsor castle for the King, all urging him to use his voice to make progress on climate. The march was pretty liberating and I met some lovely people, and even ended up holding a banner.  

After the post delviery at the castle we headed for the long walk where a delicious lunch was served in an orderly queue.  Then started the 'Massembly' where we got together in small groups for some well faciltated discussions about ideas for how we can improve democracy and make the voices of people be heard better.  Again, I was in a group with some great people and we shared some fantastic ideas and learnt new things - I didn't realise that tehre was a minister for future geenrations in Wales who reviews legislation for it's future impact.  There was a whole heap of inspiring conversation and it was great to get that bit of my brain working again.

The downside was a relatively high police presence and I think I must have been recorded on facial recognition cameras on at least 4 or 5 seperate occasions.  This was a family-friendly event and was really just a bunch of people marching, then sitting around eating lunch and having some really friendly chats - I wonder if it was an easy or just boring day for the police!

All in all, would rebel again.  Even just to be around people where you don't feel mad for having constant underlying climate anxiety.