At 9:25am on October 7 2019 I was arrested for participating in an Extinction Rebellion (XR) protest in Amsterdam. I know the time precisely because as I lay on my back, my arms and legs linked to other protestors, the tall clock tower of the Rijksmuseum was all I could see in my peripheral vision. Still lying in a police cell on that Monday evening I began to reflect on what had led me to this moment.
Me. Someone for whom climate change had always been a secondary concern; a niche, middle-class interest; a distraction from the fight for economic justice. I came to realise that I had made myself available for arrest not just for ‘the climate’ - though that’s the basis on which I believe my actions were legitimate - but for something more immediate, visceral and powerful: for the group I had joined. Though XR is a nonviolent group, I was reminded of the military saying that soldiers don’t die for their country but for their platoon.
But what had made me so loyal to a platoon I had known so briefly – during not more than a few short meetings in the weeks leading up to the protest? The answer – at least for me – lies in the power of religion-like elements such as myths, rituals and magic to sustain political and social movements.
