Critical Mass Rides

[mjr]

I appreciate you are only trying to be smart, but you ought to understand the difference between a one off and regular occurrence.

If dog walkers routinely turned up en masse at public locations and caused punch-ups they would be listed.

I'm not trying to be smart. I'm trying to understand where you see a difference. So far, it seems to be that people believe the lies about Critical Mass, that punch ups are widespread, or that it has a unifying political motive. Think of it as some people out communally exercising their bikes and you'd be closer to the truth. The main difference between CM and any other group ride is that it's typically in town in rush hour. If CM is listed, how long before other group rides are "Terrorism" to the Home Office?

 

[I like Skol]

What about the Ramblers, I've never trusted them! Their campaign of civil disobedience and lack of respect for land owners and boundaries, together with them organising a mass trespass at Kinder Scout.

Surely they should be on 'The List'?

 

[Dogtrousers]

What about the Ramblers, I've never trusted them! Their campaign of civil disobedience and lack of respect for land owners and boundaries, together with them organising a mass trespass at Kinder Scout.

Surely they should be on 'The List'?

It's the extremist faction that gives the Ramblers a bad name. The lunatic fringe like Stuart Maconie and Mike Harding, both of whom are rumoured to be connected to dubious activities like folk music.

 

[Pale Rider]

What about the Ramblers, I've never trusted them! Their campaign of civil disobedience and lack of respect for land owners and boundaries, together with them organising a mass trespass at Kinder Scout.

Surely they should be on 'The List'?

I think you will find one or two of the more militant ones are on watched lists, if not the list which is the subject of this thread.

Too many protestors fall into the trap of thinking everyone shares their interest, when the opposite is true.

If you organise a mass demonstration, the chief constable of the patch couldn't give a toss what it's about.

You are merely a bunch of tiresome single issue campaign loonies who may require the use of some policing resources.

Equally, the members of the public who take against the demo are not anti the cause.

What they are is anti anything that interferes with their daily round.

Which is not to say there's no point in demonstrating.

I would go on one if the cause mattered enough to me.

But I wouldn't kid myself that anyone else could give a toss.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Putting those who exercise violence aside, these movements are about increasing awareness as much as they are about effecting meaningful change, one can't occur without the other, as majority of public support is necessary to overturn customs and views taken as gospel. Very often, Joe Bloggs wouldn't otherwise be engaged in these kinds of conversations, regardless of the position he takes, had it not been for the actions of a few radicals shifting the overton window and grabbing headlines.

That said, these are not new issues, they are symptoms of much more difficult problems that wider society is not yet prepared to discuss. They won't be addressed until the underlying misconceptions and almost religious beliefs can be challenged in serious conversation. In that sense, the overton window has a long way to shift yet. We see this in the way that solutions to climate change is electric cars and CO2 offsetting, neither of which address our actual problems.

 

[mjr]

What about the Ramblers, I've never trusted them! Their campaign of civil disobedience and lack of respect for land owners and boundaries, together with them organising a mass trespass at Kinder Scout.

Surely they should be on 'The List'?

They shouldn't, but they're far naughtier than CM. I've committed more legally-dodgy direct action with Ramblers (mass trespass, which was later judged not to be trespass by an inquiry ruling that the path we walked was a public footpath omitted from the Definitive Map "in error") than I ever have with CM. Cyclists should learn from the Ramblers and be more militant in defending our rights!

 

[newfhouse]

I think you will find one or two of the more militant ones are on watched lists, if not the list which is the subject of this thread.

Dragging us back to the original point, the flawed CT guidance has nothing to do with specific individuals but instead presents interest in and sympathy with the goals as a cause for concern.

 

[classic33]

Wasn't the mass trespass of Kinder Scout organised by the Communist Party of Great Britain?

 

[Milkfloat]

This is just a teeny bit satisfying.

The remarks of District Judge Noble, following an Extinction Rebellion trial today at City of London Magistrates Court:

"This is going to be my last Extinction Rebellion trial for a little while. I think they only allow us to do so many of these before our sympathies start to overwhelm us.

When I started, I was fully expecting to see the usual crowd of anarchists and communists, and all the dreadful things the Daily Mail say you are.

I have to say I have been totally overwhelmed by all the defendants. It is such a pleasure to deal with people so different from those I deal with in my regular life. Thank you for your courtesy, thank you for your integrity, thank you for your honesty.

You have to succeed."

 

[mudsticks]

This is just a teeny bit satisfying.

The remarks of District Judge Noble, following an Extinction Rebellion trial today at City of London Magistrates Court:

"This is going to be my last Extinction Rebellion trial for a little while. I think they only allow us to do so many of these before our sympathies start to overwhelm us.

When I started, I was fully expecting to see the usual crowd of anarchists and communists, and all the dreadful things the Daily Mail say you are.

I have to say I have been totally overwhelmed by all the defendants. It is such a pleasure to deal with people so different from those I deal with in my regular life. Thank you for your courtesy, thank you for your integrity, thank you for your honesty.

You have to succeed."

Good.

I was at the XR London event last spring, to be a spokes person for my particular field of 'expertise'

I was very impressed with the behaviour of those involved, and the general ethos of the organisation.

Of course there have been a few misfires, and unfortunate incidents, but astonishingly few, given the numbers of people involved, and how its not got overarching centralised control.

Of course it is about awareness raising, that's the point. And to a large extent it's worked, along with the school strikes, and more mainstream media coverage.

The climate emergency is more fully on the general publics radar, now, many local authorities have declared recognition of the dire climate change problems we are already facing, and are setting up citizens assemblies, to look at potential solutions.

What actions come of it remain to be seen.

So these actions have been effective, already, however much some people might sneer that no-one excepting the main protagonists care about any of it.


I feel I'm a little long in the tooth, and busy on the farm to go chaining myself to things, although I still respect those who are willing to give up time, and home comforts, to engage more fully, in non violent direct action.
(I did my time on the anti road protests, back in the nineties.. And eco-activism of this sort has changed alot since then)

Nowadays, as a 'respectable' middle aged person, I get asked to attend policy meetings, and net zero carbon, task forces, to give evidence, and suchlike.
So 'activism' can take many forms.

There are all kinds of XR groups active now..
Teachers, doctors, farmers, scientists, so many knowledgeable professionals, and interested groups giving up their time to get behind this.

Thankfully this judge has realised this reality. and has dismissed the idea that this is just a bunch of rabble rousing, unemployed, unwashed hippies, looking for bother, for bothers sake.

Anyhow, if I'm ever wondering whether its worth putting in the time, in the face of such seemingly overwhelming odds, I just muse how I would feel, looking back on myself, in fifty years time, and judge myself on which 'side' of history I chose to stand, and act on..

Whichever kind of list of the present government I end up on.

Tbh being seen as 'trouble' by that lot, is pretty close to a compliment in my book.