It's good to see Basden come out and explicitly say that Extinction Rebellion is an anti-white group:
> And I’m here to say that XR isn’t about the climate. You see, the climate’s breakdown is a symptom of a toxic system of that has infected the ways we relate to each other as humans and to all life. This was exacerbated when European ‘civilisation’ was spread around the globe through cruelty and violence (especially) over the last 600 years of colonialism, although the roots of the infections go much further back.
That's right - it's not about the climate, that's just the foot in the door for his extremist politics that seek to demonize European-derived peoples for all the evils of the world.
Literally. The thrust of the essay is that white people are an "infection":
> As Europeans spread their toxicity around the world, they brought torture, genocide, carnage and suffering to the ends of the earth.
No mention of bringing medicine, science, technology; no mention of the toxicity already to be found everywhere else, as any student of history knows that war is found deeply entwined in the history of all peoples. Instead, he's got a rebranded version of the patronising Noble Savage myth wrapped up in a shiny new variety of stark, anti-white rhetoric.
His resolution is equally startling:
> So Extinction Rebellion isn’t about the climate. It’s not even about ‘climate justice’, although that is also important. If we only talk about the climate, we’re missing the deeper problems plaguing our culture. And if we don’t excise the cause of the infection, we can never hope to heal from it.
What _precisely_ does Basden mean when he says we need to "excise the cause of the infection"? He spent the entire article lumping all of the world's problems at the feet of white people; what does excision look like to him? He claims to want to initiate rebellion (isn't this technically sedition, which is defined as "conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch."?)
Does have plans to have white people board trains heading to locations unknown? Is that going to stop climate change, once and for all? Can he find a battery-powered locomotive with sufficient range to bring all the white people to his preferred final destination, or is using diesel one last time a sacrifice he is OK with?
I find XR to be a very problematic group if people like this are in charge. I was fine with them protesting for climate change, but this is altogether a different story, and co-opts many of the white people in his own movement for a cause they may not be aligned with.
I also find it baffling that someone professing this sort of thing is not only able to post with abandon on any platform he likes, but is allowed to organize demonstrations in the streets, while any serious counter-argument to claims like these is deplatformed, any attempt at demonstrating is shut down or implicitly allowed to be physically attacked by counterprotesters. I certainly don't want to restrict Basden's right to free speech, but something tells me he'd have no problem restricting mine.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 8.4 ms ] thread> And I’m here to say that XR isn’t about the climate. You see, the climate’s breakdown is a symptom of a toxic system of that has infected the ways we relate to each other as humans and to all life. This was exacerbated when European ‘civilisation’ was spread around the globe through cruelty and violence (especially) over the last 600 years of colonialism, although the roots of the infections go much further back.
That's right - it's not about the climate, that's just the foot in the door for his extremist politics that seek to demonize European-derived peoples for all the evils of the world.
Literally. The thrust of the essay is that white people are an "infection":
> As Europeans spread their toxicity around the world, they brought torture, genocide, carnage and suffering to the ends of the earth.
No mention of bringing medicine, science, technology; no mention of the toxicity already to be found everywhere else, as any student of history knows that war is found deeply entwined in the history of all peoples. Instead, he's got a rebranded version of the patronising Noble Savage myth wrapped up in a shiny new variety of stark, anti-white rhetoric.
His resolution is equally startling:
> So Extinction Rebellion isn’t about the climate. It’s not even about ‘climate justice’, although that is also important. If we only talk about the climate, we’re missing the deeper problems plaguing our culture. And if we don’t excise the cause of the infection, we can never hope to heal from it.
What _precisely_ does Basden mean when he says we need to "excise the cause of the infection"? He spent the entire article lumping all of the world's problems at the feet of white people; what does excision look like to him? He claims to want to initiate rebellion (isn't this technically sedition, which is defined as "conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch."?)
Does have plans to have white people board trains heading to locations unknown? Is that going to stop climate change, once and for all? Can he find a battery-powered locomotive with sufficient range to bring all the white people to his preferred final destination, or is using diesel one last time a sacrifice he is OK with?
I find XR to be a very problematic group if people like this are in charge. I was fine with them protesting for climate change, but this is altogether a different story, and co-opts many of the white people in his own movement for a cause they may not be aligned with.
I also find it baffling that someone professing this sort of thing is not only able to post with abandon on any platform he likes, but is allowed to organize demonstrations in the streets, while any serious counter-argument to claims like these is deplatformed, any attempt at demonstrating is shut down or implicitly allowed to be physically attacked by counterprotesters. I certainly don't want to restrict Basden's right to free speech, but something tells me he'd have no problem restricting mine.