The anger over Extinction Rebellion protests is more about the cause than the commotion, writes Jeff Sparrow.

“We note that the … campaign is more than an expression of legitimate dissent and protest. It is… designed to inconvenience thousands of citizens and to subject community life to dislocation. It is a wholly unjustifiable claim of right which amounts to an unjustifiable denial of the rights of others.”

That statement by government MPs might have been written in response to Extinction Rebellion’s recent week of action. But it wasn’t. Actually, it was published in May 1970 in relation to the famous Vietnam Moratorium.

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"The inconvenience of climate protests – even the relatively small-scale actions we’ve seen so far – necessarily confronts politicians and the public with that choice. The minor disruption they cause provides a reminder of the almost unthinkable disruption threatened by global warming and the utter failure of governments to respond to it.

If you dismiss the XR rallies as wilful chaos created by attention-seeking misfits, you can remain sanguine about what the future holds. If you don’t – if you accept that the protests have a purpose – you’re forced to confront the tremendous challenge that lies ahead." Jeff Sparrow New Matilda

[newmatilda.com]