Protests planned in Prague for the beginning of October are intended to "disrupt business as usual," says one of the organisers of the "Extinction Rebellion" movement.
"Extinction Rebellion" Czech branch has joined the protests against climate change organised by the environmental group. The protests will call on politicians to take urgent action to address climate change; the protests will begin on Thursday in Prague, and the main day of action is expected to be Saturday, when a large demonstration and traffic blockade are planned for Wenceslas Square in Prague.
One of the protest organisers, Filip Rosenkranz, speaking about the reasons for the gathering, says:
"All the small-scale activities will culminate on Saturday at Wenceslas Square. The events will combine a festival-like atmosphere with a protest, halting traffic. We will use a strategy of broad civil disobedience to achieve goals based on our understanding of the climate crisis."
"We have only a few months left to change the course of civilisation regarding carbon emissions, and widespread civil disobedience is the only credible path to bring about this change, this change of course! Saturday’s events will be the first action of this kind."
Many people will say that this is not the right time for activism, as a large memorial event for Karel Gott is scheduled for Saturday.
"We hear these objections, and we respect people's right to mourn Karel Gott. We do not plan to disrupt the memorial events. We believe our actions are very, very significant; it is a matter of life and death, and we do not plan to change the location, time or scale of our protests."
"I agree that the planned actions will be disruptive. One of our main strategies is to disrupt the usual order, the usual routine, because everything 'usual' is bringing us closer to extinction."
Currently, the sixth mass extinction of species is taking place on Earth – this time due to our society and carbon emissions. We want to stop it so that we have a chance for life in the future!
Our actions are not and will not be violent! We are not and will not be violent towards people, neither in word nor in deed! We will not shame or offend anyone. Our actions will always be peaceful and even a little festive."
"Extinction Rebellion" is a relatively new group. Our membership is growing rapidly; about 400 members are active on our communication platform.
"We operate as a decentralised movement in more than 60 countries. There is a team that coordinates the general strategy of action, for example, by setting the start of the international resistance (7 October). But each country and each individual group can choose whether they want to join these dates. It is their choice whether and when to act!"
(Translated from English)