Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) was established in the United Kingdom in May 2018. XR is a global environmental movement with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse. Leif Dahlberg is a member of the Swedish local group.Ugo Ruiz : Extinction Rebellion (XR) isn’t a non-governmental organisation (NGO), but a social movement. How are XR’s principles and actions different from environmental NGOs’, such as Greenpeace?Leif Dahlberg : As a movement, XR Sweden, as in all other countries where XR is active, has the ambition to mass mobilise citizens to speak up about dangerous global warming and the destruction of biodiversity. XR protests against government regulative inaction and corporate greenhouse gas emissions and greenwashing, using various forms of non-violent direct action (NVDA) to demand radical mitigation action immediately. XR’s actions are directed against the government – national and local – and other important actors who are responsible for global warming and the destruction of biodiversity, either by their own actions or by regulative inaction. XR’s three demands – “Tell the Truth”, “Act Now”, “Create Citizens’ Assemblies” – are all directed at the government and other societal decision makers.
For instance, the demand to “Tell the Truth” urges governments to declare “Climate Emergency”, which many governments around the world indeed have done, nationally and locally – even the European Parliament has declared Climate Emergency…