XR’s astroturfed greenery
XR are handmaidens of the technocrats.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) portrays itself as a movement with popular support, drawn from a broad swathe of the population. It presents itself as the obvious, compassionate, informed way forward for all of society. All right-thinking persons could not refute its good intentions nor the necessity of its fervour to act immediately. Yet, XR’s presence as a widespread movement seems more astrotruf than grassroots.
The Twitter account of XR Bristol has 13,900 followers in July 2022 – of which well over 13,000 are bots or dormant accounts. Their posts don’t garner thirty likes; evidence that opens the possibility that XR Bristol paid for bot followers. (XR UK has almost 90,000 followers but frequently cannot reach fifty likes in original posts, indicating the possibility too that over half of its followers are also fake.)
XR Youth Bristol recently engaged in a co-ordinated campaign to damage public property. They boasted on Twitter about “redecorating Bristol’s bus stops” with stickers and posters, posting photographs of their damage. Their demands included free student travel by bus.
The account crowed about the council caving in to the demand for free student travel. It is another entitlement to be paid for by working people of the city. In a city which relies on students as a vital part of its economy, the burden of this cost will not be a small one.
One commenter responded, “Do you realise that the cost of removing the posters will take money away from the bus companies and they need money to give you free travel?” Another fair point is that XR is not bothered about damaging property that requires toxic and volatile chemical solutions to remedy their damage. XR has no consistency and its members are only concerned about being in the tribe “on the right side of history”. Once they have that mindset, XR activists feel (empowered by the energy of the crowd) to do anything to further their cause and use any means necessary to damage or attack opponents.
XR are the Red Guard of the globalist technocrats. They are the radicals set loose by those in power who have a plausible amount of distance from the extremists whom they fund and justify. They pave the way to politicians who act as “moderates” whilst implementing eco-austerity.
XR and its branches use intimidation, violence, disruption and damage to public property in order to extract concessions. It is no different to a mafia family running a protection racket – except that the mafia actually did do some protection and did reduce low-level crime to keep order. XR is the worst parts of organised crime and none of the good parts.
A movement which uses the means XR does, is so clearly involved in conspiracy, is funded from multiple sources and maintains the fiction that its different branches (XR, Just Stop Oil, Rising Up, Insulate Britain, plus others) are distinct and unrelated, is effectively a criminal organisation. It is not banned because the establishment supports its aims. Government, media, law enforcement and the deep state of the civil service (working with partner NGOs) all agree with the premises of XR – its climate alarmism, youth energisation and eco-austerity – so they decide to act leniently and excuse eco-activism. After all, the establishment teaches these approaches in school and have turned universities into hubs of social justice.
What seems relevant about this situation is the way XR uses ostensible social consensus (evidenced by mass media narrative) and claims moral priority in its vanguard lead of the deep state’s ideology. It is this ideology (social virtue to be found in population control, resource management, eco-austerity, restriction of personal freedom) which the deep state (or Cathedral) uses as justification for its managerial authoritarianism. XR is not a populist movement; it is a movement led by the privileged, using the young and idealistic, working towards the goal of absolute managerial control of humanity.
Next time you see a “fun protest” or colourful posters demanding what seem reasonable things, remember that XR are handmaidens of the technocrats.
