Action Wellbeing, A.K.A. The People Holding Your Hand While You’re Locked To A Bathtub

LONDON–It takes only two minutes following Claire, a member of Trafalgar Square’s Action Wellbeing team, before we encounter an arrestee in need. I never learn this young woman’s name. Within an hour, however, it is hard to imagine that she isn’t my niece, or the neighbor’s college-bound daughter. We find her lying, propped on a sleeping bag on the pavement, with her right arm locked via a wide metal tube to another woman who is sitting in a yellow bathtub–yes, I realize this is a difficult image to keep in the mind. Picture a ceramic bathtub sitting on the […]

Spiritual Leaders Speak: Bridging Faiths in the Name of Extinction Rebellion

LONDON— The October Rebellion kicks off in light rain, and a coalition of Extinction Rebellion (XR) spiritual groups—including XR Christian Climate Action, XR Muslims, XR Jews, Sikhs, and XR Buddhists—band together despite the nip-your-cheeks wind to stride onto the road of Lambeth Bridge. It is a heavily used pedestrian and vehicle cross-point over the Thames, a short hop, its northern end practically in the Palace of Westminster’s shadow.  By 9 a.m, it is filled with the smell of incense burning, the voices of a four-part Christian choir singing XR’s Demands like they’re a holiday carol, samba drums, scores of […]