NICE BUNCH: Thousands of indignant, conscientious, determinable people waging unified, protracted protest in the form of coordinated direct action in central London. Amazing! As a Londoner, I can personally offer my utmost gratitude for all/any that have bravely disrupted our suicidal practice/daily inertia via their immensely inspiring & energetic actions.

Blocking just a few roads, or to be precise, blocking specifically motor vehicles from a few set roads, as you can now cycle or walk/run/skip/roll down them at your leisure (the motorist is restricted & the pedestrian is enabled) is actually a fantastical improvement. Keeping in tandem with the now familiar impeccable manners, benevolence & good-natured conduct that the movement & the overwhelming super-majority that its protesters insist on adhering by – profuse apologies & genuinely commiserating sympathy for inconvenienced commuters of the highest sincerity have been thick & forthcoming. Despite obstruction, it seems that most motorists are even supportive & approving (which is unsurprising really, as most people in this country are significantly alarmed about climate catastrophe & the criminal inaction of this insane government to perform its core duty in protecting the species from this mortal danger). Regardless of the efforts of some publications & media; public-approval, understanding & respect for those exigent & caring enough to stand-up & risk arrest & abuse for our survival & universal collective good in an era of acute crisis & expanding peril seems to be clearly in the majority. Such attitudes & reactions should be obvious, axiomatic & unanimous as the consequences otherwise will be catastrophically stratospheric on a truly biblical scale. Minuscule, petty ‘disruption’ today to secure our planetary safety, driven by the best intentions – or – monolithic, barley fathomable ‘apocalypse’ in the not so distant future solicited by the dumbest, darkest & most selfish & insentient lowliness of human capacity. I believe the colloquial term for this is a ‘no-brainer’. Thank you – to everybody that has had anything to do with enabling, enacting or sustaining this supremely necessary movement & action.

POLICE:Wow! I have never seen the police so damn relaxed at a mass protest in my life! Seriously! This is alien. & it’s the Met! – one of the most notoriously nasty/corrupt divisions in the country (see “Operation Countryman”). What’s going on? Slews of pictures of smiling cops with protesters & members of the public, cops videoed dancing to sound-systems & even a skateboarding cop on the ramp that was erected on Waterloo Bridge – have made their way into public circulation. The dancing cops at Oxford Circus were branded ‘unacceptable’ by Scotland Yard. Met Commander Jane Connors made the statement: “I’m disappointed by the video and the unacceptable behavior of officers in it”. earlier this month, the Independent Office for Police Conduct reached a very different conclusion. On the 26th of July 2017, Sharif Cousins, a 42-year-old unarmed black man was ambushed by armed officers and shot at point blank range in the chest in Birmingham whilst out buying cigarettes. he was not a police suspect, but his friend was. The bullet went through his chest, shattered his ribs, punctured his lung & wedged in his back. he spent almost a month in hospital. The IOPC eventually concluded this month that – “Our thorough investigation examined the actions of all police involved, including the officer who fired the shot, and we found that they were in line with policy and procedure.” Interesting isn’t it. this is a stark demonstration of the said entities true values. Ambush & shoot, nearly killing, an innocent unarmed man & you’re “following operational procedure” – have a quick spontaneous dance with peaceful campaigners trying to avert global-environmental-holocaust & you’re “unacceptable”.

Extinction Rebellions direct action has enabled an opportunity – for the police to cultivate good ‘community relations’ & reverse some of the hatred, contempt & mistrust that so much of the public have for them. Idiots like former Met Commissioner Fraud Stevens don’t realize how congenial skateboarding-bobbies & convivial-coppers are for positive police/citizen relationships, & how these gestures of humanity contribute to sustain the fraying equilibrium of ‘policing by consent’ & majority tolerance for this particular institution & its members. Cops are also supposedly here to ‘serve & protect’. That is precisely what the demonstrators are doing, in absence of this wicked, fell, sick & criminally insane Government & the virulent interests that they serve (billionaire genocidal petroleum maniacs). Scaly, callous, heartless, disturbed & truthless slitherer Sajid Javid has been urging the police to use the “full force of the law” & to “take a firm stance” on the explicitly peaceful protesters. More on that detestable excretion later, but for now, the Met’s public response has been very positive – “we have been asked why we are not using tactics such as containment, physically and forcefully stopping the protesters from moving around. The simple answer is, we have no legal basis to do so. These are peaceful protesters; while disruptive, their actions are not violent towards police, themselves or other members of the public.” I must confess – this impresses me. & that’s only because we are used to such dreadfully piss-poor standards (in a better world, the police would refuse to intervene, counter accuse the government of criminal inaction, reckless endangerment & dereliction of duty & even join/publicly endorse the protesters) from the police & their predictable servility to power & commerce, even when its totally against the public or countries interest or safety. So why such a reaction? There are a myriad of reasons & I don’t want to ramble too much, but the Tories have badly maltreated the police. The gravely extreme cuts & severe reductions that have been inflicted on them by the Conservative Party along with Theresa May’s historic insult “do more with less under worsening circumstances & don’t you dare moan about it you stooge oinks” & a continually expanding range of societal-hazards from our hemorrhaging civilization, paint a devastatingly bleak picture. The austerity-driven societal collapse & much of its horrendous ramifications are something the police experience firsthand, as they witness the continued unraveling under the Conservatives willful & labored demolition & cruelty. I have watched the police repeatedly warn them for years of these growing vulnerabilities & subsequent fall-outs (along with many other bodies of civil society), but the Tories don’t give a toss, & simply deny, lie, ignore & play down these very serious admonitions & prognostications (police chiefs in England & Wales/National Police Chiefs Council formally threatened to sue the government in the high court in October 2018 over chronic under-funding). Beside the personal insults, I suspect the increasingly absurd, sheer extremity of the government & their insanely dangerous ill-effects have affected the police response. The Tory’s astonishing misrule & unprecedented Brexit mayhem also must surly contribute to the nature of these reactions. As Caroline Lucas so aptly observed the other day at a Q&A with Greta Thunberg – “There is more political leadership there [Marble Arch/Extinction Rebellion], and here, than there is in Westminster”.

CLASS GAMES: Desperate to discredit, divide, deter & minimize the movement, the nihilist, death-cult, petroleum extremists & extinction-advocates fall on the very limited conjecture & sophistry that offer some line of attack (it’s actually quite difficult for them to engineer a tractable critique of people that, by their own positive-volition are willing to undergo the inconvenience, sacrifice & bare the risk for the sake of everybody in such a dignified manner). The best these shameless shits can seem to come-up with is that most of the people demonstrating are ‘middle class’. I couldn’t give a flapping flying fizzing fuck whether they are middle class or not! I don’t think the earth, the 200 species going extinct every day, or the future generations of the species (that’s us kid) that are ear-marked for extinction or it’s just-short, dystopian desert-world equivalent do either. Anybody, of any ‘class’ or what-have-you is obligated & deserves respect for their diligence in the matter. If currently, its coming predominantly from a ‘middle class’ demographic, so what? As an argument for deterrence or disapproval of the movement/principle, it is completely & utterly extraneous. This exponential crisis transcends class & category in towering absolution. We are all furnace fodder here. Fascinating, & socially very important debates about ‘favorable reactions’/lenience from the police, media & public, bias/prejudice, as well as cultural motivations are all relevant. But the fucking ship is sinking! If you’re going to piss about confabulating ‘class’, at the greater expense of the preponderate peril, when we are all going under & a large group of people, from whatever demographic, are trying genuinely to avert our collective demise, then you’re a complete imbecile that clearly misses the gigantic greater issue & threat that is looming over all of us. If it so happens that people who are more ‘comfortable?’ than the base-proletariat are making the effort first for the benefit of everybody else (& themselves), don’t knock it or feel excluded – just jump in. every human is in the cross-hairs & every human is behove to act. The ‘class’ argument on any major level is just about division & trying to tar or hinder the movement. I don’t discourage debate on this issue (as a matter of fact, it’s something of great interest & attention between me & many of my cohorts), but the clear realization that this is ultimately irrelevant to the task that befalls us all should be blindingly obvious. Solidarity & unity as human beings on an equal level with a shared objective whatever the fuck your background, is paramount… this crisis should unite us, the rest is all an obstacle & a distraction. – Incidentally though, wouldn’t we all be taking the piss out of the middle classes for ‘sitting comfortably on the margins’ if they were not participating? & if there is any favorable treatment or attention that they generate from their presence, visibility or commitment on the front-line – is that not a boon for the rest of us & the movement in general? Is their eagerness to engage not to be admired? Whatever benefit being middle-class can provide in this massively destructive, cannibalistic-capitalism ravaged age of error – if mf’s of that ‘privilege’ are acting decisively on that responsibility for the greater good – only a dickhead would knock-it! Remember – divide & conquer is one of their favorite & most precious cards – don’t let them dis-empower us. We’re all in this together.

CAR-LESS: The lack of cars on the busy roads targeted was glorious. Cars are the most incessant offense in this city. An unremitting pestilence. A remorseless, obstructive, toxic menace that is constantly’ constantly’ constantly on your arse. Killing, poisoning, harassing, disturbing, blocking, injuring, dominating, intruding, fumigating, bullying, terrorizing. It’s rare that a street is closed off to motor-vehicles temporarily (especially one that has major traffic as the most familiar memory/impression/association), but the occasion is always so precious & gives you a chance to imagine what it would be like if these awful things were cut-out or significantly curtailed for habitational well-being. The noise they generate as well… That restless, peremptory consternation that never really stops & just bombards, constantly keeping you on edge even indoors. Having those large streets traffic-free was bliss. The sense of space, maneuverability, expanse, scope, time & non-immediate threat to the person was awesome. I think it made people friendlier as well – it enhances certain human qualities & there is a sense of ease or relaxation. It’s a completely different environment, state & experience. You can imagine how much dramatically life would be improved here if we did not have to endure these things to such high extremes, priority & prevalence in our everyday lives.

the biggest offender – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/25/us-oil-gas-boom-climate-change-report