Does climate activism have a privilege problem?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2019

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In October, a video went viral after Extinction Rebellion protesters disrupted public transport by protesting on the roof of a train at Canning Town station in east London. The stunt took place during rush hour and the intention was to raise awareness of the climate emergency. But it ended in angry commuters dragging the protesters off the train and the video sparked a debate around climate activism and privilege. This week Swedish activist Greta Thunberg will be joining world leaders in Madrid for the COP25, a UN conference aimed to tackle the climate emergency. In the UK, Extinction Rebellion is continuing with protests around the General Election. But not everyone can afford to prioritise the cause. We spoke to Mahatir Pasha, who filmed the incident at Canning Town, and to Karen Bell, a senior lecturer at the University of the West of England. Karen Bell, author of ‘working-class environmentalism’, spoke about both the positive and negative aspects of XR’s campaign and discussed the class divide in climate activism generally. We also hear from climate activist Fatima-Zahra Ibrahim, who explains why the climate movement isn’t as accessible as we may think. Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont, Wahiba Ahmed and Hanan Bihi Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.6	Hello, I'm Tina Dehealey and this is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4,
0:11.4	where we ask one big question about one big story.
0:21.0	Today, does climate activism have a privilege problem?
0:27.0	Kindly take your seats we would like to begin. Thank you.
0:35.0	All week, world leaders are meeting in Madrid for a big UN conference.
0:41.0	It is a great pleasure to making plans to tackle the climate emergency.
0:47.4	They'll be joined by teenage activist Greta Tumba. She arrived in Portugal yesterday after hitching a ride across the Atlantic on a yacht.
1:03.6	British sailor Nicky Henderson spent three weeks on the boat with her.
1:07.9	That's very inspiring.
1:09.4	That's very interesting to see, you know, what this person is like and how they're managing to make such a difference.
1:19.0	Closer to home, Extinction Rebellion's making people take notice of the climate emergency,
1:25.0	whether that's by stopping traffic, moving through central London or
1:29.0	gluing themselves to the liberal Democrat election bus.
1:32.4	They say direct action works.
1:37.4	Thousands have been inspired to join protests around the world.
1:40.9	Most recently, the Global climate strike last Friday. We came to the
1:46.4	last climate strike and we came to this one you guys have taken the day off school.
1:51.0	We'll see if we get into trouble. Critics say the
1:54.6	environmental movement has a problem. It's too white and too middle class. I do
2:01.4	agree that there is definitely a middle class vibe about the climate strike.
2:06.3	I think that just reflects the fact that only so many people can afford to actually take the day off work.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.