Are French protesters more effective? Meet the ‘next level’ climate activists

Damien Gayle, the Guardian’s environment correspondent, visits Extinction Rebellion’s the Big One protest in London to find out if the group’s new non-disruptive tactics will work in recruiting supporters.
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He then heads to the south of France, where climate protest group Les Soulèvement de la Terre is staging a demonstration against a new motorway project, to find out why French people are simply better at protesting than the English.

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Chapters:
Intro – 00:00
Extinction Rebellion – 00:44
French Protesters – 03:32
Global Climate Protests – 07:56

#FrenchProtests #ClimateProtests #XR #Environment #France #UK

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Protests should be strategic not symbolic. Yes At the same, people do need to remember that protests are not actually a way of getting stuff done. They are a way of pressuring people in positions of power to do so. That means that protesters aren't the ones who have to make difficult decisions or compromises. The goal is to make democracy work better, not to halt the democratic process.

  2. We’re so behind the curve here it’s soul destroying.

    In France the revolutionary working class disrupt, associate and fight the state & corporate entities with a resolute, relentless defiance.

    Whereas here, small numbers of professional activists put their necks on the line and or consent to “police approved” protests.

    If we don’t fight back in our millions now, we’re all going to be finished

  3. Looks like colossal waste of energy for a measure that is designed to save the pension plan. Appears that this issue is touch paper for every grievance built up over years. Destroying private and public property including expensive agricultural equipment isn't justifiable. Crush the farmer in the name of social justice. Really?

  4. FUKUSHIMA radiation is taking down the entire planet. We are in ELE extinction level event. Bob Nichols veteran award winning journalist on FUKUSHIMA radiation death ELE extinction level event. The radiation from CHINA SYNDROMES are out of control. The radiation over northern hemisphere is deadly. It is not survivable. Where is Jane Fonda? She did the movie CHINA SYNDROME. We are all dead people WALKING. It is over for planet earth. JeffRense:FUKUSHIMA seafood YouTube Yoichi Shimatsu Japanese journalist . The west coast fishing industry collapsed. The salmon and tuna are unsafe to eat isotopes. Yahoo news reported. California wine radioactive. The west coast fishing industry collapsed . The tidal pools are empty. The entire west coast being fried. The tidal pools are empty. Dana Durnford YouTube Kevin Blanch YouTube. Michio Kaku Japanese physicist YouTube End Of Humanity . We have an AML leukemia epidemic northern hemisphere. It is only caused by radiation exposure. Birds and animals have genetic damage defects leucitism their pigmentation white FEATHERS and other mutations nothing on news. Tritium in the water supply. Pine trees dying they absorb radiation. We are losing our atmosphere from the high levels of radiation . Ozone depletion. We are losing oxygen. Watch the movie starring Gregory Peck ON THE BEACH and the Jane Fonda movie CHINA SYNDROME. When FUKUSHIMA blew up the plutonium vaporized into the ionosphere. It was the equivalent of 40,000 Hiroshima bombs according to Japanese journalist Yoichi Shimatsu. It is the END OF HUMANITY Michio Kaku Japanese physicist YouTube

  5. They are certainly more effective at getting attention and creating an active, lively demonstration atmosphere.

    About the actual results, lets see. The French government is not the most progressive when it comes to carbon reduction, electrification, etc.

  6. Is the description even trying to be objective, though? "Why French people are simply better at protesting than the English"? Marine Le Pen could not have written a more French nationalist slogan, and this is supposed to be objective journalism. But then, it is definitely true that the French are simply better journalists than the British: le Monde certainly would have written a more objective video description.

  7. It's funny that people recognize that all the non-violent climate activism up until this point has not stopped climate change, without also noticing that all the violent climate activism up until this point has also failed to stop climate change.

  8. And what has the French protests accomplished in the past 20 years? NOTHING. Even in places where the government has backed down due to protests a couple of years later they simply do it anyway. Look at pensions in France. It used to be that people retired at almost 100% pay after 30 years. Now it's 42, sorry 44, years of work to and another 5 year to get a full pension that is only 50% pay. So some 25 year old in Paris now has to look at working until they are 74 and still have to work because the pension will not pay for his living expenses.

  9. A couple of thousand people is a protest over five million is a revolution. The english government paniked at the last french revolution, are they worried now? When they are working on behalf of an unelected organizasion..

  10. People reaaaally need to understand that a non-disruptive protest will NEVER bare any fruits. Not even in dreams. Changes happen after confrontation. As long as you keep it non-distruptive, with these children chants as if you were in elementary school, you'll be treated like rain on a coat. Just need to wait and hop, it clears by itself.
    Stop being afraid. The fight is miles greater than you little persona.

  11. An activist posing as a journalist, pretending to ask questions in order to guilt-shame his readers into more activism…how novel. Reminds me of 1930's leftists traveling to Russia to ask "Why is Russia so much more productive than the West?", or 1990's leftists going to China to ask "Why is China so much more productive than the West?"… 😂😂😂

  12. The struggle against the climate catastrophe is a pass/fail situation. We can’t afford to do “ok”, we need to win. Otherwise tipping points and feedback loops will wreck the planet and there will be no turning back. All those who are not on the side of radical action are not on the side of science. Simple as that

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