The two faces of Extinction Rebellion

The movement’s stated ambition to “go beyond politics” sits uneasily with its pursuit of parliamentary legislation.

Activists hold a banner reading "Business as usual is killing us" as they take part in an protest by the Extinction Rebellion climate change group, along Whitehall towards Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament, in central London on September 3, 2020 on the third day of their new series of 'mass rebellions'. - Climate change protesters converged on the British parliament on September 1, kicking off 10 days of demonstrations to be held across the country by activist group Extinction Rebellion. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

On 1 September, on the first of ten days of protest in London, Cardiff and Manchester organised by international environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion (XR), Extinction Rebellion UK issued a tweet declaring: “We are not a socialist movement. We do not trust any single ideology, we trust the people, chosen by sortition (like a jury service) to find the best future for all of us through a #CitizensAssembly.”

The tweet appears to have been a response to right-wing scaremongering about the alleged role of the far left – specifically the Young Communist League – within XR. This theory was boosted by the Rupert Murdoch-owned press, which was evidently piqued by an XR stunt on 4 September when activists blocked three of News Corp’s printing plants, where its titles such as the Sun and the Times as well as other newspapers such as the Telegraph are printed, delaying the distribution of the next day’s papers. On 6 September, the Telegraph gleefully proclaimed “Extinction Rebellion at war with itself after infiltration by Marxists”. The following day, the lead article in the Times announced that “Extinction Rebellion has allowed a hard core of ideologues and Marxist infiltrators to dictate its agenda”.