Extinction Rebellion: The dynamics of contemporary radical British environmental activism

Environmental problems are current and pressing with actions and resolutions required now. Reducing the impact that humans have on the environment poses some of the biggest and most significant challenges facing the world today. Activism has an important role in shaping where the environmental debate is focused and is central to a vibrant democracy. This research examines the contemporary radical environmental activisms of Extinction Rebellion (XR) in London undertaking activist participatory research as a member in 2019 and 2020. It critically examines how this radical contemporary British environmental activisms is made and sustained, highlighting alliances across difference and examining those spatial dimensions of this activism that shape and make it impactful.
It contextualises this local XR contemporary environmental activism within a history of radical British environmental activism to identify what is a continuity and what may be novel. It then examines the entanglement of place and activisms establishing how place shapes the activism and has framed, shifted and developed the discourse.
It explores how the concept of generations can be differently understood and how an understanding and the appreciation of the generations, particularly the old and the young, explains and informs what activities and actions activists are prepared to undertake. It also identifies a significance concept of eldership in activisms.
The research explores emotions, feelings and affect in activisms that appeal to grief, hope, love, pride and vulnerability. It examines how these are generated and what they do. It reviews how these activisms have sought to use framing in language and discourse and concludes that this is important to understanding these activisms and the impact they have had.
The thesis introduces the concept of Patterns of Serendipity which identifies the significance of the interweaving of multiple lucky accidents that make activism impactful in a particular place at a particular time The research uses Activist Smartphone doings as a methodology to overcome and make sense of the messiness of activisms which produces unique understandings in different places and temporalities.
It concludes that these XR activisms are a dynamic, reflexive, purposeful and intensive, form of contemporary radical environmentalism.