Posted: September 3rd, 2022

Political Unrest and Extinction

Political Unrest and Extinction
Extinction Rebellion is an environmental and social movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to coerce governments to protect the world from climate change, wildlife extinction, and social and ecological damage. It started in the United Kingdom in October 2018 and spread to other countries in the world.
Currently, the movement is in 70 countries. Although the Extinction Rebellion is dominant in the western region, it is also getting followers in the Middle East. Presently, Lebanon, Qatar, Turkey, Palestine, and Israel are part of the Extinction Rebellion. Its members use mass protests to catch the attention of the government.
The Middle East is facing challenges, such as climate change, desertification, and lack of water. Extinction Rebellion members are campaigning for the government to give up fossil fuel for renewable energy. They are likely to face challenges such as wars, authoritarian regimes, and resistant monarchies that depend on oil for income and power.
In Lebanon, Joelle Zgheib founded the Extinction rebellion early this year. Environmental and social crises in the region motivated her to begin it. Their protests began in August, and they later joined other political and nonsectarian demonstrations in October. These mass protests were protesting against corruption, wastage of resources, and failure of the government to provide services such as clean water and electricity. Lebanon has close to forty members, and they held their first protest in Beirut. The members converted climate change documents into Arabic.
Since protests are illegal in Qatar, Extinction Rebellion members plan on using public advertisements and lobbying decision-makers. Asia and the Middle East are the most carbon-intensive regions. Qatar has more carbon dioxide per capita than any other country. Hydrocarbons lead to pollution, desertification, and reduction in food production.
Despite the conflicts in Israel and Palestine, they have joined the Extinction Rebellion. That is because climate change and global warming affect all irrespective of the country of origin. They use tactics such as protesting in front of government buildings, barricading petrochemical factories, and idling around the windows of the Israeli Stock Exchange.
The governments of the Middle East are grappling with how to reduce carbon emissions. Most of them are part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and they consented to curb global warming. Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Turkey are not part of the international accord. Turkey is also using tactics different from those of the western countries. They have started shows and performances to catch the public’s attention. The use of protests in Qatar and Turkey would not yield much as the law enforcers would arrest them.
References
Shah, Deepa. “Extinction Rebellion: radical or rational?.” British Journal of General Practice 69.684 (2019): 345-345.
Křížkovský, Matyáš. “Political Ecology as the ground for “new” anti-systemic politics? The case of Extinction Rebellion and catastrophic imaginaries1.”

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