Police approach sitting protestors at an Extinction Rebellion public demonstration, 2019.

Poppy Lindsey

Over the years, we’ve become increasingly aware of individuals and pressure groups taking to the streets to raise public awareness of issues through disruptive activism.

Some are more popular than others, gaining public, media and political support – the ‘Free Palestine’ marches across London have reached numbers of over 300,000.

Disruptive activism has culminated in historical successes for disadvantaged people and altered the socio-political scope forever.

Yet, at the time of these causes, protestors regularly face criticism for the lack of justification for their disruption. They also face comments around the impact of the disruption, who is affected by it, and who should really be paying the price. 

Disruptive Activism Across History

The Suffragettes

Over 100 years on, today’s society generally looks upon the suffragette movement favourably, admiring the radical acts of figures like Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davidson. But at the time, the women’s rights movement’s disruptive activism was seen as nonsensical, uncivilised and even criminal.

The Suffragettes explored a range of activist techniques to get the principles of their cause through to changemakers, including art, debate and lobbying. However, their disruptive demonstrations are widely regarded as the driving force for their eventual success in 1918, when women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications were granted the right to vote.

Emily Davidson is best known for being knocked down by the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913. She was acknowledged as a martyr, dying for her beliefs in women’s suffrage, but Davidson had been a figure of unbelievable strength many years before her death.

During a stint in prison for setting postboxes on fire in the name of her cause, Davidson was force-fed as a result of a hunger strike. She subsequently jumped from a balcony in the prison in what she called a “desperate protest.” Davidson said the idea in her mind was that “one big tragedy may save many others.”

This act of disruption and attempted martyrdom paved the way for Davidson’s tunnel-visioned efforts, and the success of the movement can be significantly attributed to her riotous demonstrations.

AIDS Die Ins

Fast-forward many decades, and another persecuted group was turning to disruptive activism, this time with ‘die-ins’.

The AIDS crisis took hold in the 1980s, ravaging LGBTQ+ communities in a deadly epidemic.

The grassroots political group named ‘ACT UP’ emerged to organise protest events where masses of people lay down in a public space, feigning death. The die-ins used civil disobedience to draw stark attention to the vast numbers of deaths happening under the noses of governments.

Public disruption commonly aims to force governments to recognise the urgency behind the protestor’s cause. It begs the question of why it takes a mass public disruption for policy-makers to recognise what is important to the public they represent.

Since the AIDS die-ins, play-acting death and public funerals have become a hard-hitting way of cutting through complex discourse and publicising the raw consequences of crises like the AIDS epidemic.

Extinction Rebellion

Another group that see the influence of conducting wide-scale disruptive action, including public funerals for nature and biodiversity, is Extinction Rebellion. The international movement uses non-violent disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse. 

Speaking to Richard Ecclestone, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion (XR), it becomes clear that the group was founded following a huge amount of analysis and research, immediately implementing disruptive activism, rather than treating it as a last resort.

Ecclestone says: “To create the changes that we need, you have to build a mass movement from the outset. 

“The action had to be impactful, would get us noticed, and would get the seriousness of the twin emergencies of the planet and ecological breakdown front and centre into policymakers’ minds.”

“The causes never seem justified or ‘important enough’ until reexamined with hindsight”

Speaking on the success of the mass disruptive activism displayed by Extinction Rebellion in April 2019, Ecclestone said: “The co-founders were invited for a meeting with Michael Gove (Environment Secretary 2017-2019).

“In the immediate aftermath [of the demonstrations] Parliament declared a climate and ecological emergency.” 

Extinction Rebellion continues to work tirelessly to raise awareness of the dire climate emergency facing the world, and in 2023 launched its ‘The Big One’ campaign. The organisers switched their primary aim from disrupting the public to getting the attention of the government. 

Richard said: “We have to adapt.

“We’ve decided not to use public disruption as a primary tactic of ours going forwards. We’re not going to be sitting in the road, we’re not going to be blocking traffic. We’re going to switch to targeted actions against the perpetrators of the crisis.”

Extinction Rebellion continues to perform direct demonstrations on those fuelling the climate crisis, recently staging protests outside the GB News offices and the London Science Museum. 

The Justification of Disruptive Activism

Disruptive activism seems to work but, looking back in history, it is rarely received positively.

The causes never seem justified or ‘important enough’ until reexamined with hindsight – perhaps a lesson that policy and change-makers should take onboard.

There is a huge reliance on media attitudes toward the cause in question, almost entirely determining the success behind the demonstrations. 

The Just Stop Oil protest group is known to stage radical demonstrations on roads and motorways, as well as at well-known places such as Oxford University and the World Snooker Championships.

“…we should all be reminded of the historically negative attitudes toward large-scale events now viewed as society-shifting”

Just Stop Oil often come under fire for delaying emergency vehicles as a result of their protesting, with one particular incident hitting the mainstream press and turning many members of the public against the group’s tactics.

The Daily Mail and The Sun, with some of the highest readership numbers amongst the UK press, reported in October 2022 that disruption caused by Just Stop Oil protests on the Dartford Crossing meant ambulances were delayed in arriving at a fatal crash on the M20 motorway.

However, the South East Coast Ambulance Service rubbished these claims, stating that they arrived at the scene well before the papers reported. Just Stop Oil also refuted the reports, stating on X that the group will always move out of the road for emergency vehicles.

It’s clear that the media has a profound impact on the public’s view of disruptive activism, often clouding the sight of the successes gained from such demonstrations.

Many groups resort to public disruption following more passive efforts and now see the cause as demanding urgent attention, while others, such as Extinction Rebellion, take the active decision to begin with large public acts of disturbance.

Many cannot see current causes as justifying such disruption, but we should all be reminded of the historically negative attitudes toward large-scale events now viewed as society-shifting acts of heroism. 

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Featured image courtesy of via Flickr. No changes were made to the image. Image license found here.

Poppy graduated from the University of Reading in June 2022, with a degree in Philosophy and Politics. She currently works as Welfare Officer at Reading Students Union, and is starting formal journalism training in September 2023 at News Associates. She has a keen interest in human rights, social action, and the intersectional feminist movement.

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