This is not your typical anti-capitalist climate crusade.
Extinction Rebellion, the radical environmentalists who tried to block traffic to the Burning Man counterculture festival on Sunday – only to be turned away by tribal police – are funded by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, along with the Getty fortune heirs and outdoor retailers. Patagonia.
The group bills itself as part of a “decentralised, international and politically non-partisan movement” demanding climate action – and to this day largely continues to cause disruption in Europe.
Under his banner, protesters have attached themselves to the Speaker’s chair in the British parliament, blocked busy roads – often by sticking to each other and the asphalt – and even attached to the top of planes. Affiliated groups in Europe have damaged Walmart heir yachts.
Extinction Rebellion blocked traffic leading to the Burning Man counterculture party until members of the local tribal police department crashed into the barricade in a truck.FNTV
Activists from the Seven Circles coalition, including Extinction Rebellion protesters, caused such a huge traffic jam that police broke through their barricades.FNTV
On Sunday, the eco-warrior from Extinction Rebellion, known as XR, was one of a group of activists called Seven Circles who went after Burning Man festival goers, setting up a roadblock in Black Rock City, Nev., to protest against capitalism.
They want Burning Man’s leadership to ban private jets, as well as single-use plastics and “unnecessary propane burning,” according to a statement released Sunday by Seven Circles. The festival ends with a literal burning of the tower.
“The time has come,” said XR organizer Mun Chong. “Burning Man should aim to have the same kind of political impact that Woodstock did on the counterculture. If we are honest about system change, it has to start from ‘home’.
In the House of Commons in London, Extinction Rebellion activists stormed into the chamber then projected themselves onto the Speaker’s chair in a move reminiscent of the January 6 attack on the Senate chamber in Washington DC.
Another XR protester climbed aboard a regional jet at Bristol Airport in southwest England and attached himself to it.
“Ban the lowest hanging fruit immediately: private jets. No individual should have the luxury of emitting 10 to 20 times more carbon pollution than a commercial airline passenger. Burners, rebel with us.”
The protest, however, ended when Rangers from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Police Department broke down barricades before holding the protesters at gunpoint, which XR called “terrible.”
XR, which was first founded in the UK, receives most of its funding from individual donations.
On the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza, another XR-affiliated group spray-painted the yacht of Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie.AP
Another group of XR associates handcuffed themselves to a plane at Geneva Airport during a private aviation conference.AP
But it shares in the millions of dollars in grants awarded by the Climate Emergency Fund, whose founders include Rory Kennedy, the daughter of documentary maker Robert F. Kennedy.
He set it in 2019, with his first financial injection coming from oil heiress Aileen Getty, the British-born granddaughter of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty.
The effort, which supports “disruptive climate activism,” awarded $5.1 million in grants to 44 groups last year, according to its website. The fund says it does not finance terrorism, but allows recipients to decide how to spend the money.
The movement to mobilize climate activists also attracted some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Adam McKay, director of “Don’t Look Up” and “The Big Short.” McKay, 55, pledged $4 million to CEF last September, Bloomberg previously reported.
Rory Kennedy, the 54-year-old daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, founded the Climate Emergency Fund in 2019. The nonprofit has funded 112 organizations since its inception, including Extinction Rebellion.Getty Images for Clarins and The Malibu Foundation
Aileen Getty, the 66-year-old granddaughter of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty, also initially funded CEF, reportedly giving $600,000 to the group. He is friends with many Hollywood stars, including Sharon Stone.FilmMagic
“This direct action group survives on so little that $4 million is just a game changer,” CEF executive director Margaret Klein Salamon told Bloomberg in April.
More than 2,000 donors contributed to CEF last year, according to its annual report, including Disney heiress Abigail Disney and HBO’s “Succession” actor Jeremy Strong. Private jets are often featured in hit shows.
McKay’s $4 million pledge helped the nonprofit triple the total value of grants donated to climate activists between 2021 and last year, Bloomberg reported.
Actor Jeremy Strong, star of HBO’s hit drama “Succession,” is among 2,000 donors who contributed to CEF in 2022, according to its annual report.HBO
Adam McKay, 55, who directed the apocalyptic climate change film “Don’t Look Up” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, pledged $4 million to CEF in September, Bloomberg reported in April. DiCaprio spent the summer on a superyacht.©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
CEF, which has funded 27 groups so far in 2023, solely supports climate advocacy organizations that stage disruptive protests, but does not fund terrorism, Salamon told Bloomberg.
XR, which is primarily crowdfunded, received $362,701 in contributions in 2022, according to its annual report. CEF is one of its three largest contributors.
One of the others is Patagonia, the outdoor clothing retailer whose jackets are favored by Wall Street workers, and a French film company called Pulp Films. Their collective donations totaled $73,000.
Among XR’s tactics has been targeting art galleries, spraying pain near a masterpiece by Goya in Madrid last year. Another group they are associated with has vandalized the works of Van Gogh and others. FuturoVegetal via REUTERS
in the UK, XR has claimed it is distancing itself from live action which has seen it mainly target central London, including the famous Trafalgar Square. Jonathan Buckmaster / MEGA
It is not clear how XR used the funds. One of its co-founders, Clare Farrell, has praised the CEF, telling Bloomberg: “There are not enough funders, in my view, like the Climate Emergency Fund, which are deliberately funding the front-line boots on the ground, the people who are emerging, the people who are taking risks.”
XR claimed in December it would stop disturbing the peace, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it has faced a backlash against protests that have led to chaos, and in one case shut down the electrified light rail network in London.
“We recognize and celebrate the power of disruption to raise alarm and believe that ever-evolving tactics are a necessary approach,” Extinction Rebellion activists wrote in a post titled “We Stop.”
Disney heiress and activist Abigail Disney, 63, also contributed to CEF last year, according to its 2022 annual report.Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
“What is most needed now is to disrupt the abuse of power and imbalance, to bring about a transition to a just society that works together to end the fossil fuel era,” the Dec. 31 statement continued. “Our politicians, addicted to greed and boasting of profit will not do it without pressure.”
It released a report claiming it would “prioritize attendance over arrests and contacts over roadblocks,” but still went ahead with Sunday’s action in Nevada.
The group defines telling the truth, “acting now” and “beyond politics” as its core demands, according to its 2022 annual report.
“We are unprepared for the dangers of our future,” the report said. “We face floods, forest fires, extreme weather, crop failure, mass displacement and community breakdown. The time for denial is over. It is time to act.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
