Sorry for the Inconvenience But This Is an Emergency
The Nonviolent Struggle for Our Planet’s Future
An insider’s candid account of our new era of mass protest, issuing an energetic call for action in the face of existential threats.
Description
As floods, fires and unprecedented heatwaves rage across the planet, more and more people are turning to nonviolent action to achieve political change. Can it work?
Doctor and aid worker Lynne Jones offers a compelling, ground-level account of the last five years of protests in the UK, exploring how and why ordinary citizens have resorted to extraordinary methods to confront the global climate and nature crises. Drawing on her experiences opposing nuclear weapons at Greenham Common airbase in the 1980s, and sharing her journey in movements like Extinction Rebellion today, she reflects on both public history and her personal story to answer key questions about nonviolent action in a world on the brink. Can we learn from the protest movements of the past? How do you communicate with those who disagree? What are the most effective forms of disruption in a Western democracy? Is property damage nonviolent? Is the law just? How important are direct interventions, boycotts and non-cooperation? What can we learn from indigenous activists in the Global South?
A lifetime of activism has taught Jones that we all have more power than we realise. It’s time to use that power for meaningful, transformative change—before it’s too late.
Reviews
‘Vivid and livid, a compelling and compassionate book about how to make the world a better place. Not only has Lynne Jones participated in many of the landmarks of civil disobedience, she writes about them with crystal clarity. As you read, it’s hard not to feel history torque, it’s hard not to get excited about change.’ — Mark Cousins, filmmaker and writer
‘Using her remarkable experience as a tireless nonviolent activist, Lynne Jones asks probing questions about how to promote social and climate justice. Her inspiring stories and diary entries from the frontline show movingly that we all can help create a better world.’ — Anne Karpf, sociologist, journalist and author of How Women Can Save the Planet
Author(s)
Lynne Jones OBE is a child psychiatrist, WHO and UNICEF consultant, and author of acclaimed books including Outside the Asylum and Then They Started Shooting. BBC Radio, The New Statesman, the London Review of Books and O, The Oprah Magazine have featured her field diaries from conflict and disaster areas.
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