The Troublemaker (2020) - full transcript

(gentle chiming music)

(pensive music)

- Like all middle-class kids,
you're brought up in a world

that you think is good,
and fair, and sensible.

And, you know,
it's gonna be a breeze.

And then one day, you
realise that it's not like that.

You think you're great. You
think everything's going fine.

You think you rule the
world. And suddenly, bang.

(music intensifies)

You push a virtue,
material prosperity,

to an extreme,
and we've pushed it so extreme



that the virtue has turned
into the mother of all vices.

So it's the greatest
morality tale of all time.

I wake up at six
o'clock in the morning,

and before I'm
conscious of myself,

I've got this great idea.

So is that my idea?

Well not really,
because I wasn't aware of it.

And do you do that?

You wake up in the morning,
and your brain's

already on the go before you
realize your brain's on the go.

Do you see what I mean?
And then you wake up.

And then have an
internal conversation

that goes a bit like,
"That was a really

scary, crap idea. I'm
not gonna do that."



And then another part of
me goes "Yeah, yeah, yeah!

You know you're gonna do it."

(elegant music)

We've gone into this dream,
druggy world

of fossil fueled consumerism,
right,

and we don't know what's
up or down anymore.

We lost our bearings.

(pensive music rises)

There's this thing, you know,
The Climate Crisis,

but like everyone else,
we're just going,

"Yeah, I'm gonna deal
with that at some point.

You know, that's on the
agenda. But not today."

Most people aren't
aware of the sky.

For me,
it's an object of stress.

And at worst,
it's an object of terror.

I'm thinking that's
whether I make any money.

You know, that's whether
I've got a livelihood.

And I know that
it's totally brutal.

(pensive music continues)

So I had this big business,
employed about 20, 30 people.

The biggest box scheme in Wales,

delivering vegetables
to loads of people.

And then 2006, 2nd of June,

it started raining for
seven weeks, every day.

And it was like a sort
of supernatural event.

Not a single outdoor
vegetable survived.

They all rotted and
were eaten by slugs.

And the tractors like
disappeared in the mud

and I was just like out
of my head with stress.

And guilt actually, because
I thought it was due to me.

Because you just can't believe

the weather could do
such a bad thing to you.

And then I found out this
had obviously happened

to hundreds of horticulturalists
all around the country,

and people had lost
millions of pounds.

So this is why we're
all gonna starve,

is because,
you know, it's not like,

"Oh, we've lost that crop,
so we'll stick another one in."

No, no, no.
That's it for 12 months.

Life and death is a binary.

It's distinctly non-linear in
the sense that you're okay,

you're okay, you're okay,

and then you're dead,
and then you never come back.

But we sort of
don't really get that

in terms of food supply.

(pensive music)

If you're a grower, then
you've got to plant the seed,

and then got the seedlings,

and they might get eaten
or die in bad weather.

And then you've
got to crop the crop.

So there's all these hoops,

and if during any of
these hoops you fail,

then the whole thing's gone.

And then you can't plant
again because it's too late.

So this is basically how mass
starvation is going happen,

is you'll get a critical mass

of producers around the world

that have the same problem.

And then people will
be ringing them up going,

"Can't you supply more bread?"

And they say, "No,
because we've got to wait

until next year now
to plant the wheat."

And they'll go, "Oh?

I thought you
could just get it off

the shelf like everything else?"

Our very success
is going to lead

to the extremity of our failure.

And the success is to
create a complex system.

(dramatic music)

The thing about a complex system

is that you don't know
when the crisis is coming

until it hits you,
and then it's so big

that the whole thing
collapses in one go.

Although it sounds like
apocalyptic science fiction,

there's good
mathematical reasons

for thinking that
everything's going to be fine,

and then everything's
going to be unbelievably bad.

(explosion) (crowd shouting)

People tend to put it in
terms of the Arctic or whatever.

What we need to think about
is social collapse and fascism.

Those are the handmaidens
towards extinction.

(somber music)

A nice storyline is
happy-go-lucky farmer

got fucked over
by climate change,

decides to take the system down.

I mean, that sounds great,
it's a nice storyline

but that, to be honest with you,
that not what it was.

It was already there.

I knew this was where
I was going to end up.

I had to go through
this five-year process

of extracting my
ego out of thinking,

one, I'm just a nice,
regular father,

married man type thing.

And secondly,
I'm a businessman and,

you know, that's what I do.

And you see this all the time,
don't you?

You have these set roles,
and people say,

"No,
I'm a parent. I can't do it.

No,
I'm a filmmaker. I can't do it."

You know what I mean?

- This is completely abnormal.

I mean, I get involved with
parent teachers association

and things like that.

But I don't do
anything like this.

It draws you in, and it opens
up a whole new perspective

that you had no idea
that you would ever see.

Why not me? That I do say.

You know, well,
why not? Why shouldn't I?

I've led a charmed life.

You know,
I've been born in Great Britain

at a time of great prosperity.

I was educated. I've had a
very good professional life.

I've had all of the benefits.

I've been oblivious,
and now I've woken up.

Well, the trigger for the
activism was the IPCC Report.

(dramatic music)

- It is best to put this tonight

in the stark and simple
terms used by the scientist

who produced today's
devastating UN-backed report

on global climate change.

We have just 12 years
to save the planet.

Yes, you heard that right.

12 years to halt the
seemingly inexorable slide

towards global catastrophe.

- Yeah,
I can remember reading it

and thinking, "Jesus,
12 years, that's ridiculous.

It can't possibly
be that quick."

Up until that point
I'd kind of assumed

that everything
was going alright.

Maybe we could do better.

But I was too wrapped
up in my own life

to be paying that
much attention.

And after that I got really
depressed for about two months.

And I really only came
out of that depression

when I made up my mind that
some things were gonna change.

- So I wanted to do
what my passion is,

which is how to
radically change society.

So I did is went to the fossil
fuel group at King's College,

you know, it's like
divest from fossil fuels,

and very worthy
and what have you.

But they're following
this script which is,

get on the committees,
do a petition,

have a debate,
all this sort of worthy stuff.

And it goes nowhere.

So you go to King's
College and you say

"Look, we want divestment
and we want it now,

and if you don't give it to us

then we're going
to paint your walls."

The name of the game
on winding people up

is you've got to wind them up,
but not too much.

Hello.

- Hello.
- My name's Adam Loxley,

I'm the security manager here.

I understand that you're one of
the postgraduate students here.

And you're obviously
concerned about

climate change, et cetera, yeah?

I've noticed that there's
graffiti on the columns

and walls that we've got here.

- Uh-huh.
- Who's responsible for that?

Guys?
- Yes, I saw him.

- Who did you see do it?

- [Guard] He was spraying it.

- This man here?

- No, no, he did.

- You don't need to do this.

- I'm from King's College
Climate Emergency.

This college has been investing
in oil and gas for 30 years.

- [Man] Yeah I disagree with
that as well.

- 30 years.

It's still refusing to
divest from fossil fuels

after 30 years.

We're protesting

and we're gonna make
a change to this policy.

We just spray chalked, you know,
and started spray chalking.

So this activist said,

"Oh I was gonna put some
of my kiddie's chalk on the wall

just a little wind-up,"
and this activist person said

"No,
you wanna use like spray chalk,

which is like the
nuclear option on chalk."

You know, it's like (imitates
spray can whooshing).

(spray can hissing)

(chatter in background)

- [Guard] Are you a
member of Kings College?

- Can I see your
identity please?

Well, no, it's not a public
area, it's Kings College

and I'm asking you to leave.

It's not a public area,
so get out please.

Within five minutes the
Vice Principal's down

who'd completely
ignored all our letters.

And one of the best
bits of my research

was when he said, "This
is terrible, this is terrible.

All this is going to do is to
shut down the conversation."

And then of course
the great line is,

"Well, this is the first
time we've actually talked,

this conversation now."
(imitates microphone dropping)

So it was done and dusted
as far as they were concerned.

You know,
they'd ticked a little box

in terms of being environmental,
and that was it.

- [Crowd] Divest
Now! Divest Now!

Divest Now! Divest Now!

- Divest Now! Divest Now!

- Divest now! Divest now!

- The demand was
that King's College

would totally divest
from fossil fuels.

And you go to an
institution and they say,

"That's a great idea, Roger,
but we've got our processes.

We've made our plan and that's
what we're gonna stick to."

But what you've got to realise

is that's a social construction,
right?

It's not a law of physics.

- [Crowd] Divest now!

- Once we'd spray
chalked the hall,

the social context changed,

and they went into
emergency mode.

And surprise, surprise, they had
an emergency finance meeting.

It is possible.

I'd worked out my escalation.

I worked out, in January I
was going to do the front,

and then,
if I could get enough people,

we'd go and do the central hall.

And then I knew I was
gonna go on hunger strike.

I was, you know,
scared about it, obviously.

But I thought, okay,
keep with the plan.

So a week later I
just march in and say

If you don't sign
the bit of paper

saying you're divesting
from fossil fuels,

then I'm going to go on
hunger strike tomorrow.

I was sitting outside the
front of King's everyday

with my Old Testament
sort of routine.

You know, with my "Hunger strike

day six, (laughs) day seven."

And these students
would be going by,

and they sort of ignore
it a few, so they say,

"Ah! What,
he's still on hunger strike?"

So after 14 days, phew, (laughs)

he signed the bit of paper.

Because after about day
eleven it gets quite tricky.

(flare lighting)

We'd effectively won.
They knew they'd lost.

Because a group of people
had stood up for what was right.

- [Crowd] Divest now! Divest-

- There was no way out.

It would be a PR disaster
for them to resist it.

Basically, this is the prototype
of how to save the world.

The code was prototyped

at King's College.

- Disruption,
disruption, disruption,

Sacrifice, sacrifice,

respect,
respect to the opposition.

Win, keep going, repeat,
expand. That's it.

- And all of the pieces
were dropping into place.

At that point I really engaged

with things that I'd never
conceived of before.

So I did Veganuary. The idea
that you'd cut back on meat.

That was an anathema to
me. I like my meat, you know.

I don't have a problem with
the idea of farming animals.

But the idea that animals

take up such a vast part
of the earth's resources,

purely and simply
because it's much easier

to cook a bit of meat

than it is to go away and
cook some vegetables.

There's no sacrifice
involved in that.

You know, it's merely a
case of just changing direction.

As a society we are
being brain-washed

to not care about the future,

to not consider any of the
consequences of our actions,

to not think about what goes on

beyond our
immediate little world.

We're all rushing around
earning loads of money

in order to buy loads of stuff

and go on these exotic holidays

because our lives are so empty.

And suddenly here
was this movement

that was saying "This system,

not only does it
make us unhappy,

but it's actually killing us."

(ominous music)

(wind howling)

(ominous music continues)

- The truly horrific thing
about the climate catastrophe

is you don't need to do
anything for it to happen.

(ash hitting car wind screen)

Like with nuclear war you

actually have to
press the button.

You have to do something.

While with this, it's like

business as usual
equals extinction.

(sirens wailing)

(ominous music)

It's like climbing
up this massive hill

to get people into
another paradigm.

Well, you start by
saying it. Extinction.

(laughs)

You know, because
before Extinction Rebellion,

no one talked about extinction,
did they?

(ominous music)

The power of
extinction is its finality.

Deep down it's pressing
that death button.

It's reminding people of death.

And now what's happened
with the climate crisis

is death is coming towards us.

It is the social equivalent of
being told you've got cancer,

except that it's happening
to the whole of society.

(singer vocalizing)
(somber music)

I'm not trying to
convince you of this.

If you don't understand
what's happening,

I'm not going to
try to persuade you.

It's not a message, right?

Death is not a
message. It's a reality.

So you've just got to be
who you are and say the truth.

(ominous music)

(singer vocalizing)
(somber music)

And it is possible for
miracles to happen.

Through your awareness of death,

and that awareness of death
comes in a non-linear way,

you think you're fine and
then a tragedy happens.

And that jolts you, it jolts you

into a different
area of existence.

And through that
you become aware

of a deeper sense
of responsibility

towards yourself
and to the world.

And if a critical mass
of people do that,

then you get what might
be called a great awakening.

(gentle music)

- Protesters wanting
the government

to take urgent action
on climate change

have descended on the capital.

They have smashed windows

at the Shell
Headquarters near Waterloo,

painted their messages on the
streets and blocked key roads.

(energetic music)
(crowd cheering)

They've also blocked Oxford
Circus with the pink boat

with "Tell the truth"
written on the side

as part of what they're calling

their full scale of
creative resistance.

(funky music)

(energetic drumming music)

(crowd cheering)

They say that they want

to cause traffic
chaos and disruption.

Are they achieving that?

- Yeah, I think there's no doubt

that a lot of disruption
has been caused.

I'm outside Shell HQ,
just by the London Eye

and, as you can see,
protesters have managed somehow

to get up on to the
side of the building.

(upbeat music)

- The whole sort of proposition
of mass civil disobedience

is to create the crisis
before the crisis arrives,

because once the crisis arrives

you've already
gone off the cliff.

That's the crisis right?

So you have to cause
disruption to people's lives.

(crowd shouting)

What disruption does
is it gets attention.

Nothing's going to
change without attention.

(crowd cheering)

The second thing about
disruption is it costs money.

It costs reputational
damage to the opponent.

What's more difficult for
people in this culture, I think,

is to understand sacrifice.

People that do
civil disobedience

are putting themselves
in harm's way.

When you put
yourself in harm's way,

people are interested in that
because you're not fearful.

And one of the biggest
experiences of life

is dealing with your own fears.

So you're immediately attracted,

whether you agree
with them or not,

you're immediately
attracted to watching people

that don't have fear.

And then cognitively
what happens is you think,

"Well, why have they done that?"

Well because they're
worried about climate change.

And then the next
cognitive step is,

"Well, maybe it's real, then."

- [Crowd] Climate Justice!

- [Woman] When do we want it?

- [Crowd] Now!

(crowd cheering)

- You just need a
small nucleus of people

who are prepared to
create civil disobedience.

And it isn't just about
Extinction Rebellion.

It's about all the types of
injustice that are happening,

because they are all part
and parcel of the same system

that is holding us locked
into this passive oppression.

(upbeat music)

♪ Come and join us ♪

♪ Come and join us ♪

♪ Come and join us ♪

♪ Come and join us ♪

- The 1% of people

that are going to push
that new paradigm,

they're the people who
aren't primarily interested

in the level of
carbon emissions.

They're not even primarily
interested in politics.

♪ Extinction Rebellion ♪

What they're interested
in is becoming whole.

(crowd chattering)
(singing bowl)

It's not that hope
doesn't encourage action,

but it also, paradoxically,
discourages action.

I'm in hope and
therefore I won't act,

because I'll hope
that it's gonna be okay.

But there's another logic
which is, there's no hope,

so I've got nothing to lose.

And if I've got nothing to lose,
I'm gonna resist.

And it's not bad
because people will,

in a subliminal way,
want it to happen.

If you're doing a bad thing,

part of you wants
someone to stop it.

I mean, I've had hundreds,

literally hundreds of
conversations with people,

where people have
said the same thing, right.

"I knew. And now I'm
going to do something."

(somber music)

What we should be starting
with is not the climate crisis

but our personal
spiritual crisis.

It's actually quite nice
on a Saturday night

to sit down with a glass of wine

and watch a video
with your family.

Do you know what I mean?

That's fun,
there's no point denying it.

It's nice to eat loads of
food and go on holiday.

But there's another logic.

You cannot actually be
happy after a certain point

unless you go into
some sort of service

to something other
than material satisfaction.

If you keep going
towards material paradise,

you'll end up in material hell.

We've been hear a
thousand times before.

Instead of people thinking,

"Oh my God, this is
something new and terrible,"

no, no, no.

This is the stuff of
every archetypical life.

(choir vocalizing)

The central story of
humankind is you're born,

you realise you're fucked,

you do something
about it and then you die.

(choir vocalizing)

There's a phenomenon here which
we've ignored and forgotten

and has been central to
human societies for millennia

which is that life is suffering,

and through that suffering
you become whole.

And wholeness is a more
profound and organic concept

than something as
shallow as happiness.

The tragedy of life is the means

through which you become
whole and be who you are.

So it's an aid.

It's basically that's the

thing that enables
you to transition

towards accepting your death.

(elegant music)

(wind howling)
(choir vocalizing)

This is an ancient,
ancient story

of corruption and then renewal.

And what we've got now is like
the mother of all archetypes.

It's the final reckoning.

(ominous music rises)

(wind howling)

(wind gets louder and louder)

(wind stops abruptly)

♪ She's like a mountain ♪

♪ Old and strong ♪

♪ She goes on and on and on ♪

- [Man] Extinction!

- [Crowd] Rebellion!

- [Man] Extinction!

- [Crowd] Rebellion!

- It just felt as if they
were being manipulated

by a political agenda

that said, "We want these
people stopped at all costs.

I don't care if they're
telling the truth.

I don't care if they're
conscientious protectors.

I don't care if the science
backs their argument.

I just want them stopped."

(crowd shouting) (upbeat music)

- The essence of what is human

is the ability to make a
decision, a conscious decision

on what is right in life,
regardless of the consequences.

(crowd vocalizing)
(upbeat music)

- [Child] You're arresting
the wrong people!

- People think it's
really miserable,

but there's an ecstasy about it

which is in the face of all
this pressure to conform

and to go with the herd, and
to destroy and to annihilate.

A person stands up and goes,
"No!"

And that's the glory of it.

(film projector whirring)

♪ Freedom ♪

♪ Freedom, freedom, freedom ♪

- Louder, louder,
louder! ♪ Freedom ♪

♪ Freedom ♪

- And what do we want now?
♪ Freedom, freedom, freedom ♪

- What you have to get into

is what it means to be who I am.

That's the central
question of life.

Sacrifice is the mechanism

through which you
become more happy,

but not because you're
trying to be more happy,

but because you
want to be who you are.

♪ Freedom, freedom, freedom ♪

If you wanna to be really great,

you've gotta lose yourself.

That's the central paradox.

So going to prison, yes,
yes, you're losing yourself.

Prison is the manifestation
of my humanness.

I am who I am,
and this is what I believe.

And we all know it's right.

And you can do what you like,

but I'm standing
by my principles.

That brings down empires.

That's the fundamental
spiritual material

of every revolt and revolution.

It's not primarily political.

But obviously it fuses with
the rage against injustice,

fuses against the
prospect of mass death.

You get those
two things together

and that's like, phew,
you get the dynamite.

- What do we want?

- [Crowd] Climate justice!

- When do we want it?

- [Crowd] Now!

- What do we want?
- [Crowd] Climate justice!

- When do we want it?
- [Crowd] Now!

- For a proportion
of the population,

this is going to be heaven,
it's because it's real.

It's exciting. There's
a whole cluster

of different emotional reactions

which are extremely powerful,

and positive, and even ecstatic.

Because suddenly the
real comes into the unreal

which is one of the
most fantastic things

about life, isn't it?

You know,
everything's like bollocks,

and then someone says the truth
and you're just like, "Yes!"

- We've got you surrounded!

(energetic music)
(crowd cheering)

- Fundamentally,
you know where it's at.

You've got this
new map of reality

which is, death's on the way,

I'm pretty insignificant,
I'm going to live a good life,

and a good life in the context

of the coming genocide
of the next generation

is to resist it with whatever
breath and moment you've got.

And that brings us back
to the joy of resistance.

All this misery around
activism. It's not, right?

Once you've
made this transition,

it's like an act of service.

It's an act of joy.

It's an act of being
who you are, at last.

(ethereal music)

This was the
biggest organized act

of civil disobedience
in British history.

What April did was show

that mass disruption
and mass sacrifice

brings home the goods.

For the first time in decades,
a political protest

brings the center of London
to a halt 10 days running.

For the first time

since the Suffragettes,
thousands of people

put themselves into a
position of breaking the law.

People know it's real

through the actuality of
the struggle on the streets.

And that's a central function
of Extinction Rebellion.

So what's happened is

everyone's sort of
acknowledged it's real

in the political sphere.

Okay, so we've declared
climate emergency.

That makes us feel better,

and now we don't
need to do anything.

It's like the alcoholic.

You know, the alcoholic
has been forced to sit down

and admit they've
got a drink problem,

but as everyone knows
who deals with alcoholics,

admitting you've
got a drink problem

is a million miles away
from doing anything about it.

(eerie music)

In war,
everybody knows what it's about.

You're out to kill as many
as possible of the other side,

as fast as possible, faster
than they're going to kill you.

And whoever does it best wins.

Well, the non-violent
version of that is

we're closing down the
economy as fast as we can.

And when that level of
social disruption is happening,

or the prospect of it is
happening, and it's real,

that's when you're going
to get policy change.

You don't want to disrupt
the economic basis of society

without a good excuse.

Well, as it happens,
we have the best excuse

in the history of humanity.

(ominous music)

- I can see how powerful
blocking roads is,

but you need to be
able to go in other ways.

We need to look for ways

in which to efficiently
close down the economy.

And the aviation
industry is the prime target

because it's so
closely controlled,

and if you disrupt it,
it all has to shut down.

What we're trying
to create in Heathrow

is an artificial version

of what we're going to
face with the climate crisis.

When the natural
event happens then,

very arguably and
almost inevitably,

it's going to be too late.

This is the central point of
what we're trying to do here,

is to create the shock
now so we can respond,

rather than to have the
inevitable natural shock later

when it will be too late.

- The level of disruption,

even by shutting down Heathrow
for the best part of a week,

is trivial compared
to the disruption

that may ensue when we're seeing

not just a few thousand
refugees a year,

but thousands of
refugees every day.

We're talking about a
planet where vast amounts

of currently inhabited
land will be uninhabitable.

People are going
to be displaced.

They will cause a refugee crisis

like nothing we have
ever experienced.

That's going to cause
tensions within our society

that will inevitably
lead to violence

because that's what
happens when people starve,

when people are frightened,
when people have nowhere to go.

(pensive music)

- So once you
see it in that frame,

then you can sort of understand

that Heathrow
is totally justified.

While if you just
see it in the little,

you know, people can't go
on their holiday frame,

it's like, "How outrageous!"

- Environmental activists
are planning to fly drones

in Heathrow Airport's
exclusion zone later this week

in an attempt to shut it down.

The Heathrow
Pause group have said

they will operate a small toy
drone from three am on Friday

to put pressure on the
government to take tougher steps

to reduce carbon emissions.

Today the airport warned

that anyone operating a
drone in the exclusion zone

will be subject to the
full force of the law.

(airplane engine blaring)

- I am now an experienced
person on the run.

I am in a safe house.
I've got a disguise.

Last night I slept in a car
with blacked out windows.

Yeah.

I had made arrangements

that I was going to
come up to London early

because my slot for flying
a drone isn't until Sunday.

And so I intended to come up

so I was available to do any
press calls that were needed,

because I've
discovered that I can talk.

This action that
we are undertaking

has been designed to be safe,
100% safe.

We're flying, as you mentioned,
toy drones at head height.

I don't want to disrupt people,
I don't want to upset them,

but it's disruption that the
government actually listens to.

Action is what is needed.

And if this is the only way
that we can achieve that action,

then so be it.

(plastic packaging rustles)

Oh, I'm trying to get
the drone ready to fly.

I need to check that
I've got all the batteries.

I can use my arrest to
get media attention for this.

Oh,
still have to be switched on.

I have a voice and I
want to use that voice.

(drone whirring)

A year ago,
I was a really tired old lady.

Now I am full of passion,

energy, fire.

So I'm more
determined than ever.

However I get arrested,
it has got to count.

And I am perfectly ready.

If they want to send
me to prison, okay, fine.

But I will go out with
a song in my heart

saying, "Listen, please."

(airplane engine blaring)

(drops bag)

Damn, I've lost a leg. I've
lost three legs. (laughs)

(drone beeping)

(drone whirring)

Oh.

- [Cameraman] So Sylvia,
what are you gonna do now?

- I'm going to ring the police.

Hello. This is Sylvia Dell.

I'm ringing in to let
you know that I'm,

I think it's called Plimsol
Park or Plimsol Farm,

in Ewesley,
and I am flying a drone.

And would you like
to come and arrest me,

because that would be
quite convenient right now?

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much, thank you.

Cheers. Bye.

(somber music)

I do this because
my young children,

their lives are going to
be devastated by this.

In the future,
when I'm not around anymore,

they are going to
be paying the price

for the life that I've led.

And I can't live with that.

This is about my
moral obligation

to those who come after me.

They are the ones who've
really opened my heart.

I want them to be
able to look back on me

and think that mum
did the best she could.

(somber music continues)

I don't want them to look back

and think that I
lived a frivolous life

and then just abandoned them.

I want them to...

to know that I did
everything I possibly could.

(somber music)

I can stand being locked up.

I can stand the prospect
of going to prison

for however long, because
it's towards the end of my life.

I've had so much. Why
shouldn't I pay a price?

(camera beeping)
(camera clicking)

(camera clicking)
(camera beeping)

(crowd) This is what
democracy looks like!

- [Man] If we could have
arrestables sat in the road,

that would be fantastic.

Any arrestables.

(lighthearted music)

(upbeat music)

- [Officer] Right, mate,
you going to get up?

Or am I going to have
to carry you away?

- That's what civil
disobedience is all about,

drawing out the violence
of the system upon oneself.

It's a sacrificial act.

It's not a conventional,
materialistic,

don't get yourself into
trouble mate act, right?

(mournful horn playing)

Anyone who's watching
this thinks this is weird,

then wake up to what
western culture is based upon,

that Christian tradition
which is sometimes

people are called upon
to sacrifice themselves

for the greater good.

Don't think that
what I'm saying here

is some sort of weird thing.

What's weird is the
culture that thinks it's weird.

If you think this is weird,

then you've cut
yourself off from history.

And history is coming back.

(Officer) Stand up please Sir.

(crowd cheering)

And that's translating
into ordinary people

stepping forward to put
themselves in harm's way

to protect their children
and grandchildren.

That's it. It's new.

It hasn't happened before. Not
since the Second World War.

Don't think this is
"climate change activism".

No, that's not what it's about.

It's about people scrambling

to save what they love the most.

♪ Power to the people ♪

♪ Power to the people ♪

♪ Power to the people ♪

♪ Power to the people ♪

♪ The people have the power ♪

♪ The people have the ♪

- [Man] Power!
- [Crowd] Power!

- [Man] People!
- [Crowd] People!

- Power!
- [Crowd] Power!

- You can describe democracy

as a technical set
of arrangements.

But there's another
definition of democracy

which is popular empowerment

in the collective
decisions of society.

And technically we're a
democracy, but as we all know,

there's massive disillusionment
with how it feels.

This mass disillusionment

can be transformed
into mass empowerment

through the
ecstasy of rebellion.

(energetic music)

♪ Extinction! Rebellion! ♪

- [Man] Extinction!

- [Crowd] Rebellion!

- Suddenly loads of
people feel empowered

to actually make
their mark on history.

(intense drumming)

It's possible to
institutionalize that

through reinvigorated
democratic deliberation,

and historically the
best way of doing that

is through assemblies
of ordinary people.

It's possible to come out

with something
significantly better

in terms of
democratic governance

than what we've got at the
moment and, most significantly,

something that can
successfully deliberate, and

legislate on the transformation
of the global economy.

And without that it's game over.

♪ In dangerous times ♪

♪ Hold fast to courage ♪

♪ In dangerous times ♪

♪ Hold fast to love ♪

♪ In dangerous times ♪

♪ Hold on to courage ♪
(crowd cheering)

- During this journey

I've discovered
depths of strength in me

that I had no idea existed.

♪ In dangerous times ♪

By living this
business as usual life,

we are missing so much
of who we really are.

♪ In dangerous times ♪
(crowd cheering)

And once you take
that oppression off,

it's like having a wet blanket
removed from your shoulders.

You suddenly, "Oh, that's
good. I feel really good now."

♪ In times of danger ♪

♪ Hold fast to love ♪

♪ We all need love ♪

You suddenly discover that
there's all this common ground.

Yeah, I have complete
strangers who come up to me now

and thank me for what I
am doing, and all they do,

all they see is that.

And, and they go, "Oh,
you're welcome." (laughs)

(somber music)

- [Roger] The
opportunity is a chance

to live life to the full.

And living life to the full
means living without lies.

And the biggest lie of our
society is everything's fine

and the climate catastrophe
isn't going to happen.

Well,
once you've got rid of that lie,

it doesn't just enable
a technical solution.

It enables a mass social
revival, spiritual revival

of what it means to be human.

Because then suddenly

we've got the massive
collective project

called let's try and survive.

And what do humans like
more than anything else

is a massive,
collective moral project

that brings everyone
together in community.

(soaring music)

(gentle chiming music)

(pensive music)
(chiming continues)

(slow orchestral music)