My Lunch Hour Watching Extinction Rebellion

Before Covid19 and social distancing hit the world, Climate Change was high on the agenda. I work in the centre of Bristol in the UK. The city was targeted by Extinction Rebellion to highlight their concerns about Climate Change and the rise in sea levels.

Bristol is a city that does have an issue with traffic and pollution and also if the sea levels do rise this could have an affect on the city.

Extinction Rebellion camped out in Castle Park and blocked a major bridge in the city centre.

I walked past as they were setting the demonstration up, this is where a concern occurred to me. The protestors had trailered a bright pink boat to emphasise their point. The trailered boat had been brought there by an old diesel Ford Transit van, unfortunately someone, left the transit van running, therefore going completely against the point of the protest. The phrase "Do what i say, not what i do" sprang to mind here. I mentioned it to one of the organising group who hadn't noticed but said they would address the issue. A not perfect start to their day.

As i work close to Bristol Bridge, and it was a sunny day, i popped over in my lunch hour to try and capture the feeling of both the protestors and the general public.

The protestors were many, predominantly white, and appeared to be middle class and students with a number of more well travelled protesters.

There were speakers on the stage who gave out the message, and music both live and recorded being played.

As well as the pink boat, the flags and banners, my eye was taken by a silent protest, with a number of people dressed in a bright blood red, with white made up faces. The group walked in a silent procession onto the bridge and stood immobile as statues in silence to get their point across.

This silent somewhat moving display did make me think, and as i guess that what their point was then it did work.

The problem with protests is that they can cause issue with the general public who, even though the agree with the underlying point of the protest, they dont agree with the way of the protest. This was emphasised later when the protesters blocked the main motorway into the city, and a motorist who was going to visit his dying father lost the chance to say goodbye due to being unable to drive to the hospital. A member of Extinction Rebellion made a half-hearted comment to the family, but even then concentrated more on their issue rather than that of the family.

The protest ended the day it was due to end and the protesters did remove their waste and the Pink Boat, leaving the area as they found it.

For me, while it is an extremely valid issue that they are protesting about and one that i agree with, their methods perhaps were not quite the way to proceed.

The ironic thing is that Covid19 has achieved better air quality in Bristol and hope this improvement will continue when this pandemic ends. My take is that more people will work at home as companies find that the need for a city centre based presence is not always needed.

Please note, this the first time i have ever used Bored Panda so i hope that what i have done is correct.