by Susan Spieler, PsyD
Note from Kathie MM: It is still January 2019, the month of resolutions, and we should continue to celebrate all the New Year’s resolutions made by people working to make the environment great again–thereby trying to ensure a future for life on earth. There will be no peace and social justice without an enduring environment and no enduring environment without worldwide citizen activism. Susan Spieler shares a great example of a movement whose time had come decades ago. Join the Extinction Rebellion! And Join Engaging Peace.
When people feel endangered, disputes intensify. When food and water are increasingly scarce due to wildfires and droughts, people become desperate and violence increases. Passivity regarding environmental issues is giving way to climate activism. Of particular interest to proponents of peace and social justice is a new non-violent activist movement called Extinction Rebellion (XR) that seeks media attention by organizing highly visible and well-orchestrated events.
This movement made its first appearance in London where the ER provoked arrests by stopping traffic on the London Bridge. And, on Saturday January 26, 2019, the first US XR event of the year began in NYC in front of the Plaza Hotel and was followed by a march along Fifth Avenue with brass band parade music.
I was there.
The event culminated at a major tourist attraction, Rockefeller Center Ice Skating Rink, where a group of activists, dressed in black, did a DIE-IN on the ice, forming an XR icon with their bodies.
Meanwhile another activist climbed to the top of the huge golden statue that faces the skating rink and hung a very large black banner. (Note the activist on the top of the sign, to the left, in the photo below!) The banner said:
“CLIMATE CHANGE = MASS MURDER
REBEL FOR LIFE
INTERNATIONAL REBELLION WEEK
APRIL 15, 2019”
For more about the January 26 action, you can read here.
To prepare for the April 15, 2019, event, read here.
SUSAN SPIELER PSYD
Susan is a clinical psychologist/psychoanalyst practicing in Manhattan. As Director of Continuing Education at a psychoanalytic institute in NYC, she developed a program for mental health professionals about Climate Psychology. As a member of NYC’s Resilience and Emotional Support Team, she provided mental health services to evacuees after Superstorm Sandy (2014). She has presented psychoanalytic papers about climate change engagement at international psychoanalytic conferences. And as Coordinator of NYC Grassroots Alliance, she organizes monthly climate events for the public and has been involved with climate activism in NYC. Susan is an active member of Psychologists for Social Responsibility and is on a committee that is preparing to launch a North American branch of ClimatePsychologyAlliance.org, which was founded 7 years ago in the UK.