WBAI-NYC Upcoming Program

WBAI-FM Upcoming Program

Chris Hedges Report

Thu, May 4, 2023 6:30 PM

ROGER HALLAM: THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY

Roger Hallam, the co-founder in 2018 of Extinction Rebellion, was recently released after nearly four months on jail. He was imprisoned for making a 20-minute speech on zoom. He was arrested and jailed because he called for civil disobedience by climate activists, specifically the blocking of major road networks in London. Hallam is one of the most important and fearless leaders in the climate movement. He was arrested in 2017 after spray painting King's College London's Great Hall. He was charged with criminal damage and fined £500. He was later cleared after a court ruled his actions were a proportionate response to the climate crisis. He led the occupation of a number of public sites in London in April 2019 and sit-down protests on major U.K. highways in the fall of 2021. Activists from his group Just Stop Oil glued their hands to the wall after throwing tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers -- which was covered by protective glass -- at the National Gallery in London. Just Stop Oil activists have also spray painted a number of landmarks, including the Home Office, MI5, the Bank of England, an Aston Martin showroom and the rotating sign outside Scotland Yard.