From India to Ireland: a week of Extinction Rebellion actions
India – ‘A Hindi translation of Greta Thunberg’s speech was read out’
I am part of XR [Extinction Rebellion] Bhopal. The group is still in a very early phase and is working mostly on educating people about climate issues. On the evening of 15 April 2019 some school students and local activists gathered at Bhopal’s upper lake in solidarity with XR international rebellion week. There were speeches, dancing and music. A participant also read out a Hindi translation of Greta Thunberg’s speech to a large crowd.
According to some scientific reports, we might already have crossed major planetary tipping points and are already on the verge of imminent collapse by the end of the century. A more conservative assessment places that threshold 10 to 20 years away. Meanwhile, the impacts of warming and ecological collapse will continue to escalate. In India, natural gas extraction and coal-based power plants are expanding and there has been a massive increase in internal aviation transport. We need to transform or move beyond these suicidal institutions and many individuals and groups are already working on it, including our small group in XR Bhopal. I hope we will be able to sow the seeds of new institutions to support or replace the collapsing ones – without which there is no chance of maintaining a zero-emission world and no chance of avoiding extinction.
Sarthak Tomar, law student and activist, Bhopal, India
