Of the many thinkers cited by the founders of XR, Charles Tilly is one of the least notable. Tilly, one of the leading theorists of modern social movements, proposed that movements live or die primarily by demonstrating “WUNC” (values, unity, numbers, commitment).
This framework obviously doesn’t tell the whole story, but it’s one of several lenses through which to understand the trajectory of XR. Seen from this perspective, the art of XR is not only about communication; configure All These important elements.
Moreover, it is worth emphasizing that the unusual origins of XR as a deliberate movement were a fundamental precondition for this aesthetic coherence.
mobilize
The artistic work marked the transition of XR from what momentum theorists call a state of “.front loading‘. Rather than developing ideas and plans, XR’s founders began applying them. The most direct manifestation of this was in the many consultations that the Outreach Group conducted across the country.
The group was primarily promoted by two people: Roger Hallam and Robin Boardman. The two make great use of the momentum strategy, the core element of which is the explicit expression and dissemination of “.”DNA of movement‘. Momentum understands that this DNA is made up of three strands. Meta-narrative, meta-strategy, meta-structure.
The XR Overview document is the most rigorous representation of these elements;The Talk‘It gave them life. This 50 minute presentation was and remains a very focused and definitive introduction and introduction to the world of XR.
It features what would soon become classic XR doctrines, such as nonviolence, invocations of MLK and Gandhi, evidence-based beliefs in civil disobedience, and the Overton window, all of which are based on trust. It was situated within the context of a dire meta-narrative steeped in climate science.
Noteworthy for both presence and brevity is the two-minute pause for emotional response. Notably, there is nothing in it that is about “meta-structure,” as core momentum theorist Paul Engler later put it to XR strategists.
brutal
Boardman and Hallam weren’t capitalizing on the momentum alone, however. In addition to that, they were inspired by: rules for revolutionaries A book by Becky Bond and Zach Exley that celebrates the mobilization techniques of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
More than momentum, rule We propose a rapidly scalable science of social change. This certainly helped. rule Applications have long had a focus on upskilling and empowerment. And XR showed exceptional strength in the following areas: mobilize (i.e. generate and direct large numbers quickly).
But its influence has also probably gone a long way toward instilling blind spots in XR’s organizing philosophy, and blurring its more shaky grasp. sort out(i.e., building deeper and more qualitative community power).
This dichotomy, best expressed by Jane McAreavey, is often presented as a dilemma. By harnessing momentum, XR came closer than most single movements to combining tendencies of both movement building and more structured organizing.
But as Gail Bradbrook recalled, ecologist: “The important thing to remember about XR is that campaign Rising Up”.
Despite their ambitions, XR’s founders did not anticipate the outsized role the movement would grow into. And we will probably need to do so if we are to successfully challenge the fossil elite.
give energy
Alongside their clever American theory (Sanders’ campaign was famous for its vast phone banking network), Boardman and Hallam had a slightly more earthy sensibility.
Hallam has done original work and research on organization and published an award-winning paper on microdesign. empower your meetings.
In addition to this, he and Boardman shared a distrust of the seemingly unstoppable rise of social media-centered activism. Instead, Boardman says: ecologist“We prioritized real public talks.”
This decision, one of many in XR’s development, seems natural and inevitable in hindsight, but a year later, the entire XR organization moved to an online format, and a disastrous This is despite the irony of the consequences.
In contrast, the story of how The Talk unfolds goes like this. counter For modern intuition. The standard narrative, with “The Birthplace of Stroud” cited as conclusive evidence, paints XR as an essential product of the vaguely hippy middle class. And it’s certainly true that one aspect of XR’s outreach efforts in 2018 was the festival scene.
But much of XR’s early activity and organization was what Boardman and Hallam called “low-hanging fruit.”
escalation
According to Boardman, this meant “those who are disaffected in the NGO and leftist/anarchist spheres. Greenpeace, the Green Party, Friends of the Earth, let’s take back the power.”
Boardman approached such groups across England and Wales with the intention of alleviating regional inequalities and, indeed, turning them into an advantage.
“We were trying to shake up a politically stagnant space,” he recalled, noting that his reception was often stratified.
“People who have been leaders in these areas will usually say that’s not their job, but when you talk to members, people are generally excited.”
For all the shortcomings of the mobilization model, it’s worth considering that many of these early initiates may have found this aspect of XR to be a kind of vertigo. release from Traditional community organizations and banal NGO routines.
The excitement was undoubtedly fueled by the historic 2018 IPCC report. The report rhetorically escalated dire warnings about climate impacts. Without this, XR’s trajectory would likely have been very different.
love bomb
A big part of XR’s subversive appeal was its immediate movement and sense of direction, a stark contrast to most of 2018’s “protests as usual.”
As Hallam himself advised in his 2016 study of successful conferences: “More broadly, conferences should include a detailed (i.e., numbered) escalation/promotion plan for mobilization. must be present.
“This needs to be thought about up front and part of your overall strategy. So you have a meeting and then find out that 10 people are passionate about doing something, but what do you want them to do? It’s not like you don’t have any real idea of what you want. Everyone needs to know the plan before you go. ”
As stipulated in the paper, Mr. Hallam and Mr. Boardman began producing numbers after the first few meetings. We found that on average, 50% of participants were willing to organize using XR, 30% were willing to be arrested, and 10% were willing to be arrested. I am willing to serve a prison sentence.
They predicted that XR would have the numbers needed for formal launch efforts by mid-fall, taking into account Saunders’ non-linear growth of training new employees themselves.
bridge
However, unofficially, XR’s first action is actually ‘love bombGreenpeace’s national office in London. What’s included in the event? genuine A disgruntled Greenpeace member.
It’s always tempting to blame inconsistency, but in fact, one of Momentum’s many small principles is to practice “gratitude for movement.” However, as the ‘rebels’ argued, this impulse for ‘tactical diversity’ could end up legitimizing harmful conservative and institutional inertia, both within NGOs and within the movement as a whole. There is sex. In contrast, XR was very clear in its analysis and objectives.
It is the classic temptation of hindsight to see that XR plays a hostile, nuisance, even sacred role in Greenpeace’s occupation.
The reality was more nuanced. The “love” that was proclaimed was actually offered, in the form of freely given flowers, and served a more strategic purpose for the occupation. invite Greenpeace members participating in the XR launch.
This invitation will be declined, at least officially, and this confrontational stance toward existing actors will have real and ultimately existential costs for XR.
At the same time, this policy was arguably essential for XR to establish a true grassroots identity. One senior Greenpeace official said privately that if Greenpeace had tried to take over five bridges in central London, they would have been swept off the streets and denounced in the newspapers.
congregation
The day after the “love bomb”, XR received an explosion of love. George Monbiot is Articles about hydraulic fracturingcalling for a “people’s revolt,” at the end of which he mentioned XR and hyperlinked to its proclamation event.
An unusually clear demonstration of how movements can cross-pollinate, the real breakthrough came when Bernie Sanders shared the article, which Boardman calls ” sparked a small whirlwind of interest. We went from 100 signups to hundreds.
The declaration itself, held in Parliament Square on Wednesday, October 31, 2018, was the first to reveal some of XR’s powerful emerging properties.
One was the seemingly supernatural numerical advantage. We went from 500 registrations to our Facebook event to more than 250, which is standard organizational practice. thousand. Boardman said this doubling effect became a “rule of thumb” in subsequent months.
amplify
The second new characteristic was more qualitative. The people who gathered and the crowds they gathered were full of life.
The event, which had been planned as a purely symbolic opening, changed course after organizers held a spontaneous vote to move it to the road outside Parliament. Fifteen people lay there waiting to be arrested.
But perhaps the most elusive and most fundamental of XR’s gifts was its keystone of momentum: story. This in itself is difficult to assess, but after all, this was the main reason why so many people participated in such a spirit.
While this narrative was certainly still forming, it was sufficiently established to contain and amplify support speeches by the likes of George Monbiot, MP Clive Lewis, and Greta Thunberg very early in her career. .
declaration
The most direct narrative development came from Robin Boardman, who led the crowd in reading the “Declaration of Rebellion.”
The word itself is, in many ways, a symbol of a campaign led by one man (white, Queen’s English, young), just outside the Houses of Parliament, in advance of a campaign in which participants made real sacrifices for real stakes. It was attached to the context in which they were read out in unison.
As someone who joined this movement a few days later, I believe that these collective efforts make explicit and real the kind of “common purpose” that progressive movements tend to simply evoke or assume. I remember the strange, quasi-psychologically binding effect that speech acts can have.
Six years later, this declaration sentence That in itself is difficult to read, but often paradoxical. It’s easy to grin at the high notes (“according to these values”, “hereby declare”, etc.), but it’s also hard to say what would be more effective.
Similarly, declarations are made with pure and clear eyes. sincerity We cannot stand by the view that the deliberate collusion exhibited by our government has shattered meaningful democracy and jettisoned the common good in favor of short-term profit and private gain. This is followed by a call to us to do something about it.
Over the next five years, Congress will ultimately deny “the people’s right to seek redress,” whether by insurrection or other means. Some of the declaration’s warnings now seem frighteningly real – “unpredictable superstorms,” to name one.
But the next six months would witness one of the most successful social movement campaigns in British history. Anyone looking to change the world in 2025 can learn a lot from the rise of XR.
this author
Douglas Rogers is a writer, activist, and editor. raveller magazine.
