Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Green campaigners in West clash after ‘violent’ bank protest
TWO of the West’s most prominent green campaigners have clashed over how they try to influence people to change.
Extinction Rebellion has hit back after Ecotricity founder and Forest Green Rovers chairman Dale Vince said that the group were “aggressive” and causing more “harm” than good.
It comes after seven members of XR were arrested following reports they used tools to cause damage on a London bank.
Protesters gathered outside Barclays in Canary Wharf at 7am on Wednesday.
The group said the action was part of its “Money Rebellion” against the capitalist system which used “nonviolent direct action, causing damage to property to prevent and draw attention to greater damage”.
But Mr Vince and fellow Gloucestershire resident Dr Gail Bradbrook, cofounder of Extinction Rebellion, clashed over the protest during a radio interview.
During the interview on Talk Radio, Dr Bradbrook said that the point of the window smashing was to ensure that “there is a conversation happening about the role of the banks in this climate emergency”.
Adding that: “Barclays bank is committing crimes against humanity and we think cracking windows in a safe way is a proportionate response.”
But Mr Vince disagreed, saying that individuals needed to look closer to home rather than blaming big corporations.
He said: “This is a bit violent for my liking, this is aggressive. There are a lot of people in the world who are responsible for the climate crisis, a lot of big businesses, a lot of people.
“You can’t just go around smashing their windows, I don’t think this is the right thing to do. I think this is going to do more harm to the cause than it does good.”
But Dr Bradbook replied that he was “not running a social movement” or “trying to support social change in the same way” and that Extinction Rebellion was “not here to be popular”.
Dr Bradbrook stressed that they were not suggesting to break “any and every window”. But to target the act “in the right way”.
She said: “I’ve not personally invested £140 billion in fossil fuels. Dale is trying to say that we need to be widely appealing, and then saying what we need is to be vegan.
“What we’re trying to say is that we’re a broad church and that we include people with different views.”
But Mr Vince refused to back down saying: “What Gail said is that it attracts headlines, but I don’t think it wins hearts and minds.”
The clash later spread to social media, with XR saying: “Criminal damage is a crime. However, this action was taken to protest the greater crime of continued funding of fossil fuels which directly contributes to the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity Crisis.
“Better broken windows than broken promises.”
Adding: “Dale Vince is saying we have to be widely appealing and also tell people they have to be vegan.”
But the chairman of Forest Green Rovers, who is a prominent vegan said that he thinks that “blaming banks is b ******* while you continue to eat animals”.