JAMES WILLIAMS
EXTERNAL CO- ORDINATOR FOR THE RAINBOW REBELLION
"IF SOMEBODY ISN'T TRYING TO STOP YOU DOING IT, IT'S NOT A PROTEST"
XR is my full- time job. I work with one of the national teams and claim small amounts of living expenses. It’s not glamorous or lucrative in any way, but it is deeply rewarding and meaningful to be able to work on a cause I believe in.
As a member of the LGBTQ community, I have never felt excluded or endangered in any way while being part of XR, but I have also never felt represented. There was a small LGBTQ XR group on Facebook — just a space to chat and share XR articles. I posted on the group, asking if anybody wanted to be part of a queer rebellion. I had a good response and it snowballed from there.
Being part of the Rainbow Rebellion enables me to openly express my queerness and act and disrupt with people from my community. As a movement within XR, we can run our own actions and plan our own mini rebellions. The queer community has a long and successful history of non- violent direct action. Our shared power, knowledge, history and expertise make us perfectly suited to help.
I spent two weeks in London for the October Rebellion. On the fourth day, three of us from the Rainbow Rebellion were sitting in the road, blocking the traffic at Trafalgar Square, including Martin [ see opposite] sitting in a chair due to his disability. I was waving a Progress Pride flag with the Extinction Rebellion symbol painted onto it. A police officer bent down to talk to me, and I just sang with my eyes closed the entire time. I didn’t know what they looked like or what they said to me, I just sang and sang and sang. Eventually, they picked me up and carried me down the road to a police van.
It was the time in police custody that was the hardest. I was in the cells for eight hours. It was cold, sterile and isolating. It was the not knowing how long I would be there that was so unnerving.
But it was the way that Martin was treated that was most upsetting. He is visibly disabled and was treated demonstrably worse. He was kept in the cells for longer and charged, whereas I was released under investigation. He was subsequently barred from entering large parts of London.
When the protest actions were banned across the whole city, it felt draconian. For a peaceful protest to be denied the basic right to assemble is an affront to democracy.
It’s the kind of news you hear coming out of tyrannies and dictatorships. It only highlighted why we needed to be there.
Mass non- violent civil disobedience is historically the most likely tactic to bring about the kind of change we need.
You’ve only got to look at the fight for suffrage, civil rights and LGBTQ rights for examples of it working. If someone isn’t trying to stop you doing it, it’s not a protest. If someone isn’t unhappy with what you’re doing, it’s not disruptive.