Insulate Britain protests

[Mithrandir777]

I'm not sure what others think, but it seems to me that the Insulate Britain protesters are adopting a strategy that's guaranteed to alienate large swathes of the public. They appear to be adopting similar tactics to much of the Extinction Rebellion protests lately. When you disrupt the lives of fellow citizens, and maybe even their livelihoods, I don't think you're going to get much support from them, and therefore the cause probably isn't going to generate much traction. Does anybody here agree, or if not what is your reasoning?

[Froggers]

I can understand the need to bring such issues to the attention of the general public but yes, blocking major transit routes doesn't have a good look about it, has nothing directly to do with insulating homes and factories and, ironically, is probably adding to global pollution whilst lines of vehicles sit idle in queues.

[Mithrandir777]

I can understand the need to bring such issues to the attention of the general public but yes, blocking major transit routes doesn't have a good look about it, has nothing directly to do with insulating homes and factories and, ironically, is probably adding to global pollution whilst lines of vehicles sit idle in queues.

I have to say that I agree with this.

[Globalfightback]

I can understand the need to bring such issues to the attention of the general public but yes, blocking major transit routes doesn't have a good look about it, has nothing directly to do with insulating homes and factories and, ironically, is probably adding to global pollution whilst lines of vehicles sit idle in queues.

I'm not sure what others think, but it seems to me that the Insulate Britain protesters are adopting a strategy that's guaranteed to alienate large swathes of the public. They appear to be adopting similar tactics to much of the Extinction Rebellion protests lately. When you disrupt the lives of fellow citizens, and maybe even their livelihoods, I don't think you're going to get much support from them, and therefore the cause probably isn't going to generate much traction. Does anybody here agree, or if not what is your reasoning?

I think that overall there is considerable naivety amongst some of the left-field activists at the moment. Both Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion have indeed angered, and no doubt alienated, large swathes of the voting public from their cause, at a time when we need to be putting pressure on governments to increase the momentum against climate change. As per a recent post on the Global Fightback Facebook page, a cynic might wonder whether the whole thing is a psy-ops to give the reactionary and repressive UK Government the excuse they are looking for to bring in more stringent anti-protest laws, knowing that a large sector of the public would back them. This isn't to say that it actually is a psy-ops, but imo the tactics of both these pressure groups is so naive as to potentially have the same effect. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! Extinction Rebellion are arguing, in response to similar views aired on their Facebook page, that these tactics are required to draw attention to the cause. I can't agree with this. Greenpeace, for example (albeit having greater resources to hand) target the protagonists in the issue - for example, oil companies by blockading oil rigs - rather than disrupting the lives of ordinary civilians. When Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain realise the importance of keeping the voting public onboard maybe they will rethink their tactics and concentrate their activities outside government buildings and the headquarters of large corporations that are placing profit above ethics: that way the public will get the message and probably be more inclined to participate by, for example, joining in the protests, petitioning to parliament, and boycotting the end-products of said corporations.