‘Will you help shift the national conversation towards the necessity of systemic change?’ Photo: courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
The high road? Insulate Britain by Arne Springorum
‘I am asking you to come off the sidelines and take sides.’
This is no easy writing for me. I am scared of choosing the wrong words, of being misunderstood, and of missing an opportunity.
bellion (XR) in Czechia I have been a climate activist since late 2018. Some might remember my visit to Britain Yearly Meeting, when I was invited as an international guest. I was preparing for my first arrest then – I have been arrested about twenty times since. And you know what? All this made no difference. Not in terms of effectively changing the course we are on. A demonstration here and there is accepted in the democratic toolkit. We need to do much more to turn the tide towards real transformation.
The choice, increasingly and acceleratingly, comes down to this: will we engage in a transformational process or shall we wait until the system disintegrates – with famine, disasters and endless wars. Feel free to call me an alarmist, but also call leading global scientists alarmists. David King, who was climate change advisor to the Blair/Brown government, has said that humanity has three or four years to turn things around. As Greta Thunberg said back in 2019: If you are not panicking, you are not paying attention.
So when I heard of a new campaign called Insulate Britain I decided to join and fund it personally. Insulate Britain is a campaign of civil resistance. No other nonviolent campaign in British history has achieved name recognition within seventy-five per cent of the population within one month. While most people understandably disagree with our tactics of blocking roads, we have managed to bring the topic of insulating Britain effectively onto the national agenda.
The irony about home secretary Priti Patel calling us selfish is that I have never experienced less selfish people than these. And I have personally experienced many positive reactions anyway. At the ticket office in Charing Cross a teller’s face lit up when I told her that I was an M25 protester. She called her colleagues, all with migratory backgrounds, who all cheered and thanked us. A black police detention officer passed me toilet paper into my police cell with the words: ‘I thank you’. An arresting officer at the M1 blockade made an extra effort to say goodbye. Why? Because we blocked traffic? Or because we were drawing attention to an issue that will have thousands of Brits die this winter, with millions more experiencing fuel poverty? And the trend is clear: this will get worse, it will spiral out of control, and once it does there is very little we can still do. As a geologist I can assure you that the natural forces that we are currently waking will dwarf our impact on the planet of the past 150 years. You probably know this already, and feel paralysed and disempowered to do anything about it.
As Quakers we have been aware of this for many years. But while personal decarbonisation is nice for our conscience, it won’t change anything on a global scale.
When George Fox got up on those benches and preached until they literally beat him out of the church… that was disruptive. And this testimony enrolled Margaret Fell and many others and gave them hope. When Margaret Fell refused to swear allegiance to the king and was thrown into prison, that was integrity and courage that we can only dream of. If Insulate Britain folks are now confronted with similar threats, then this is scare tactics but we are beyond that fear. We are afraid for our future and nothing that the government can throw at us will scare us more than what awaits us if we don’t act.
There are at least two Quakers among Insulate Britain. After the Port of Dover blockade we were grateful that Canterbury and Rochester Meeting Houses opened for us so that we could get a few hours sleep. I understand that this spontaneous help has triggered an internal process of right ordering. Yet, are Quakers aware of the opportunity, and are we responding with integrity and courage?
We all want change, urgently. Yet change does not happen by itself. It is always a result of actions by individuals that then trigger a groundswell. I am asking Quakers in Britain to step up, as they have in past centuries. I am asking you to come off the sidelines and take sides. Do you stand in solidarity with those desperate activists who risk their livelihoods in non-violent civil resistance? Or do you condone the media that condemns them and spreads fabricated stories (we have not blocked a single ambulance in blue light mode – just for the record). Are you standing silently as (understandably) upset motorists take the law into their own hands and start dragging activists off the street? Or will you help shift the national conversation towards the necessity of systemic change?
I long for more Quaker involvement in this campaign. The world needs our experience and history of being simultaneously peacemakers and troublemakers. We planned for the end of world war two years ahead: where is the planning now to help mitigate this crisis before it spirals out of humanity’s control?
If you feel called into action, please consider:
• making a meaningful personal donation to the Insulate Britain Campaign. I know how the money is spent and vouch for the integrity of expenditures
• start a conversation on how your Meeting can support us, with a donation or with Meeting House space. Insulate Britain folks are pretty darn frugal and happy with any support we might get
• make it publicly known that you, likely white middle-class Quakers, support us. Please stop hiding your light under a bushel. It will liberate you, and those hearing about this, into more courage, integrity and hope. Write an article for your local newspaper and put a sign in your window
• open Friends House in Euston to be an operating base for us. Work through the right ordering process to mitigate risks to staff, but do it quickly.
How can we become aware that we 20,000 Quakers in Britain have all the money, compassion and love to decisively help this miniscule but powerful campaign? Our aim is to get a commitment from our government to start insulating Britain now, either with activists in prison or not.
Friends, will ye step up and truly follow our tradition, which has again and again included both disruption and compassion for our fellow citizens and our world? I am experiencing hope beyond my own fear thanks to Insulate Britain. I wish more of us Friends would experience these sentiments with me.
Comments
If you feel called to respond to my call, please get in touch with me. Together we are stronger. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or via Facebook Arne Springorum. Thank you Friends.
By Aspringorum on 31st October 2021 - 14:13
When you say “Do you ..., or do you ...? Do you ..., or do you ...?” you choose to make them apparent opposites and imply that readers should choose. There are other ways of taking action - writing to MPs, working with and fnding other organisations. The fact that so many people know the name Insulate Britain may be remarkable, but that doesn’t make it praiseworthy. The borderline here between IB and anarchy seems to me pretty thin. Whose side would the writer be on if coal-miners were striking for better pay and conditions? But then it shouldn’t really be a question of taking sides, should it. It’s seldom just one or the other.
By RayHarris on 31st October 2021 - 22:17
Hello Robert, yes, you read me right. I am inviting you to come off the sidelines and stop being a bystander. It is a binary thing for me and that is why i habe chosen the words the way I did. We have all written to MPs and met with them about issues of the climate crisis for 30 years and it has led us to todays situation with eber increasing emissions globally. You choose and me egging you on to decide for which side is uncomfortable. I know it is as I have been experiencing it myself. Do you believe that writing to your MP puts you closer in the field with what our government would expect you to do or closer to supporting Insulate Britain? I am just saying that Quakers through all the discomfort we may experiemce are facing a unique opportunity. Insulate Britain is so small at this point that Quakers could individually or corporately make a tremendous difference. Aa for your comment on anarchy, we are heading into certain anarchy and breakdown of all we hold dear, rocking the boatbnow is in my opinion the best chance to prevent anarchy, and you are right, it does not come without risks. This is why I ask Friends to become part of this in whatever courageous ways they find it possible for them. In 10 days 9 people stand in court for peaceful, yet disruptive protesting and may face up to 2 years in prison. Sounds familiar? Early Quakers did not resort to writing letters (only) they kept holding silent meetings despite it being outlawed. When they were in prison, their children continued. This is what it takes to bring social change. What would you respond, Robert? Where is this discourse taking you? Can you nane the discomforts you experience due to my witness as part of Insulate Britain? With love and respect,Arne
By Aspringorum on 7th November 2021 - 7:55
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