Critical and Radical Social Work • vol 7 • no 2 • 257–261 • © Policy Press 2019

Print ISSN 2049-8608 • Online ISSN 2049-8675 • https://doi.org/10.1332/204986019X15623302985296

Accepted for publication 29 May 2019 • First published online 19 August 2019

voices from the frontline

Extinction Rebellion: social work, climate change
and solidarity
Ella Booth, 17006089@hope.ac.uk
Liverpool Hope University, UK

Extinction Rebellion is a non-violent direct-action group that aims to put pressure on governments to
take action on the climate crisis. This article introduces the organisation, their message and tactics,
and describes some experiences of the ‘International Rebellion’ in London at the end of April 2019.
It suggests that social workers have a duty to act in solidarity with those most affected by climate
change and that Extinction Rebellion offers a promising model for change.
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key words climate change • Extinction Rebellion • activism

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To cite this article: Booth, E. (2019) Extinction Rebellion: social work,

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climate change and solidarity, Critical and Radical Social Work, vol 7, no 2, 257–261,
DOI: 10.1332/204986019X15623302985296

Introduction
Extinction Rebellion is a protest movement based on the principles of non-violent
direct action that aims to force governments to tackle the climate and ecological
crisis facing humanity. It is a decentralised, participatory network that has orchestrated
‘the biggest organised civil disobedience campaign in British history’ (Hallam,
2019). During the last two weeks of April 2019, Extinction Rebellion declared an
‘International Rebellion’ that created huge disruption in London, resulted in over
1,000 arrests, attracted over 40,000 new sign-ups to the organisation and saw actions
in 80 cities and 33 different countries (Mohdin et al, 2019; Ronan, 2019). Less than
a week after this phase of protest came to an end, Westminster declared a climate
emergency, following the examples of the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and making
the UK the first country in the world to do so (Tutton, 2019).

The message
Extinction Rebellion’s message is clear: we are facing a climate and ecological emergency
that presents an existential threat to humanity’s continued existence.They particularly
highlight the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that
focuses on the necessity of keeping global warming to 1.5°C or less. It confirms the
scientific consensus that the current changes in the global climate are the result of human
activity and underscores the severity of the consequences of these changes, which will

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be seen in sea-level rise, extreme weather events, droughts, floods, biodiversity loss, food
insecurity, ocean acidification, reduced water supply and negative effects on human
health.The report emphasises that the human populations who will be affected earliest
and most severely by climate change are vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples
and those relying on agricultural or coastal livelihoods. It is generally accepted that we are
already seeing increased extreme weather events such as wildfires, heatwaves, hurricanes
and cyclones, floods, and droughts (Carbon Brief, 2019). Extinction Rebellion’s position
that climate change represents a global emergency is well founded in fact.
Extinction Rebellion has three demands for government.The first, that governments
‘Tell the Truth’ and declare a climate emergency, has already been met in the UK,
six days after the conclusion of the two-week phase of protests (though it remains
to be seen if the government acts as though there is an emergency). The second
demand, ‘Act Now’, is that the UK achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2025. The
UK is currently on track to miss its existing emissions targets in 2030 and 2050 but
has been urged by its climate change advisory body to set more ambitious, legally
binding targets (Carrington, 2019). The third demand, ‘Beyond Politics’, is that the
government create a citizens’ assembly to manage the changes that will need to be
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made. This model of democratic government has been successfully used in Ireland,
among other countries, to address significant and/or divisive issues such as abortion
and gay marriage. Extinction Rebellion suggests that these solutions would produce
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a form of government capable of making the radical, long-term policy decisions that
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are needed to effectively deal with the climate and ecological emergency.

The tactics
One of the founding members of Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam (2019), wrote
that Extinction Rebellion’s strategy was predicated on three observations: that action
must be disruptive to be noticed; that campaigners must be willing to make sacrifices
to be taken seriously; and that the movement must be respectful in order to change
people’s minds.This led directly to the tactics used by Extinction Rebellion in London
and elsewhere around the world, which focused on large groups of people breaking
the law in strictly non-violent ways over a sustained period. This created economic
disruption, which was designed to shake up the political system, and civil disruption,
which was designed to raise awareness (Extinction Rebellion, 2019). Extinction
Rebellion occupied five sites in Central London, delayed trains, used ‘swarming’
to temporarily close busy roads, glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange
and other financial buildings, held ‘die-ins’ in various central locations, and lobbied
Parliament (Mohdin et al, 2019). The group has been consistently apologetic about
causing disruption but has been clear that it is necessary to alert people to the severity
of the emergency (Ronan, 2019).

Some experiences of Extinction Rebellion

I spent the second week of the International Rebellion in London supporting
Extinction Rebellion.As a social work student waiting to start my 100-day placement,
being arrested did not seem like a very good idea, so I became one of thousands of
‘non-arrestables’, people who for one reason or another are not able or willing to
be arrested. This is not an absolute guarantee of avoiding arrest – taking part in civil

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disobedience carries that risk with it (and that risk is disproportionately carried by
some groups such as people of colour) – but, in general, it should be straightforward to
choose not to be arrested by doing what the police ask you to do. In my experience,
Extinction Rebellion is very effective at providing advice about the powers that the
police have, exactly what actions carry a heightened risk of arrest and how to respond
if you wish to avoid arrest. Although people who are willing to be arrested form one
vital part of Extinction Rebellion’s tactics, there are many ways to get involved with
the movement that do not involve a significant risk of arrest. As well as undertaking
the huge task of supporting activists who are willing to be arrested by ensuring that
they have food, water, shelter, moral support and legal support both before and after
arrest, non-arrestable activists can take many actions, including swarming (brief,
legal road-blocking), lobbying Parliament, die-ins (‘playing dead’ in a public place
to highlight the life-or-death stakes of climate change) and various other creative
actions that groups come up with.
My experience of Extinction Rebellion was unswervingly grounded, peaceful,
thoughtful and self-aware. The illegal occupation in Marble Arch felt like a festival,
with music, talks, art and food. New arrivals were encouraged to attend induction
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sessions, which ensured that most people had explicitly signed up to Extinction
Rebellion’s principles (including non-violence and respect) and had been briefed
about communicating with the police and the possibility of breaking the law.When a
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crowd’s energy seemed to be unsettled, somebody would name it and remind people
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to take a breath and stay calm. Anger and fear were recognised as inevitable emotions,
so spaces were created for people to explore and acknowledge these emotions in
ways that would defuse the risk of them emerging as aggression during an action.
When people needed to leave early to recover some energy, they were thanked for
their contribution and thanked for making self-care a priority. I never heard anybody
guilt-tripped or shamed into doing something that they did not feel comfortable
with, but regularly heard people checking that others felt comfortable, respecting
their boundaries and generally caring for each other. Extinction Rebellion is not
perfect – any large group of people will include some individuals who are not skilled
in respectful communication – but I saw a lot of evidence that Extinction Rebellion
is making serious efforts to ensure that its movement is accessible, inclusive, reflective
and non-violent.

Why should social workers support Extinction Rebellion?

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW, 2012) Code of ethics states that
social workers have a duty ‘to bring to the attention of their employers, policy makers,
politicians and the general public situations where resources are inadequate or where
distribution of resources, policies and practice are oppressive, unfair, harmful or illegal’.
The policies currently being pursued by the world’s governments are likely to lead to
global warming of more than 3°C by 2100, which will have catastrophic results for
human life and well-being (IPCC, 2018). This will be particularly concentrated in
(though not limited to) the Global South, which has contributed far less to climate
change than the Global North.Within the Global North, disadvantaged communities
(often people of colour) will also be disproportionately affected as they live in areas
more threatened by flooding, are less protected from heatwaves, receive less disaster
assistance and will be most impacted by food insecurity and rising food prices (Black,

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2016). Social workers, like all other responsible citizens, have a duty to reduce the harm
that will be (and is already being) done by climate change and to stand in solidarity
with those around the world who will be affected most severely.
There are a number of ways in which social workers can contribute to this
movement. A common way of thinking about action on climate change is in making
individual lifestyle changes. Personally, I find that it is important (for my own peace
of mind as much as anything else) to try to minimise my personal contribution,
mostly via reducing my consumption of animal products and minimising air travel.
However, as Lukacs (2017) points out, a focus on personal change to the exclusion
of structural issues is a con operated by neoliberal capitalism: 100 companies alone
have been responsible for 71 per cent of carbon emissions since 1988. A problem on
this scale requires collective action. Extinction Rebellion offers a model that demands
structural transformation and has already shown that it can effect change. If you are
able to be arrested, consider using that privilege to sound the alarm on climate change.
If you are not able to be arrested (and it will not be safe or advisable for all of us –
different groups, most notably, people of colour, may have very different experiences
of the police), then you can take part in legal campaigning actions, support arrestable
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campaigners, join a local Extinction Rebellion group and talk to the people around
you. As Hallam (2019) says, ‘Instead of living the lie that there is nothing we can do
… go out with others and break the law. Let’s get on it while there’s still time.’
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Conflict of interest
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

References
BASW (British Association of Social Workers) (2012) Code of ethics, Birmingham:
BASW, http://cdn.basw.co.uk/upload/basw_95243-9.pdf
Black, T. (2016) Race, gender, and climate injustice: dimensions of social and
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