The Big Issues!

  22nd April 2019

Having been part of the initial Extinction Rebellion (XR) London protest on Monday 15th April I was, as a lecturer in RPE, left with a great deal to think about. The big question that arose for me was… are we entering a new era of spiritual rebellion and is XR at the spearhead of this new movement of non-violent dissruption? For me this was more than just a protest, it was about being part of a much bigger community that was coming together, not just to address the question of climate change, but to cohere around issues that are far larger than the individual. In fact, it seemed that any sense of individuality was subsumed by a collective need to really confront some very big issues! Issues that lie at the heart of RPE…how do we live a life well? How do we and how should we look after the environement? How should we act upon our ethical committments and indeed, what should the ethics of protest be based upon? But…the biggest issue seems to revolve around this final question…do you believe that there is a climate disater barrelling towards us? If so what should you be doing about it? For an increasing number of people across the world XR are providing the platform to address these questions directly and in a non-violent way.