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Extinction Rebellion: From social climate disobedience to cinema

Actress Naomie Harris and musician Brian Eno are two of the celebrities who support this global environmental movement that is gaining more and more supporters.

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"To make the politically impossible, politically possible," this is the goal of Extinction Rebellion, a global social movement that has become the happy pimple on the backside of neoliberal governments by practicing a form of non-violent resistance to call forcefully for a change in their environmental policies that does not throw us into mass extinction. 

Born in 2018 from a call to action by numerous experts who warned that the destruction of the planet was reaching a point of no return, these activists began to hold numerous sit-ins and demonstrations first in London, culminating in the Mythical Easter March of 2019, when a group of protesters blocked busy places in London for over a week.

The result was more than a thousand arrests and similar protests in 33 countries, boosting the popularity of the global group and of peaceful civil disobedience for the climate as fast as global warming. 

Today, Extinction Rebellion has the support of both the scientific community and many celebrities, who participate in their campaigns by raising awareness of what they are good at: acting, directing and producing.

In January, actor Joaquin Phoenix played a doctor seeking to save the Earth in a short film in support of Extinction Rebellion and Amazon Watch. Now it's the turn of musician Brian Eno and Afro-British actress Naomie Harris (Skyfall, Spectre).

The two have teamed up to produce the first of two animated films, Extinction Emergency, Why We Must Act Now, which have been directed by Israeli animator Miritte Ben Yitzchak and explore the threat posed by the accelerated extinction of species. 

"I am proud to be able to lend my voice to this project, which I hope will inspire viewers to support the ambitions of Extinction Rebellion with great urgency," Harris told Reuters ahead of the film's release on Thursday.

The actress, who plays Eve Moneypenny in numerous films in the James Bond saga and will also play in the upcoming No Time To Die, is giving the voiceover to the animation. Eno made the soundtrack. 

Keira Knightley will be the voice of the second animated film, entitled Climate Crisis, and Why We Should Panic.

As part of its manifesto, Extinction Rebellion has three basic demands of governments: the first is that they "tell the truth" about climate change, that they create citizens' assemblies to guide action and, above all and very urgently, that a target be set for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.

As reported by New Scientist, not everyone within the movement sees 2025 as a realistic date — in the case of the UK, the origin of the movement, the goal is to emit 80% less greenhouse gas by 2050.  Some advocate a "slightly" more flexible date, such as 2029. 

"2025 is too close, as many of the changes require changes in infrastructure, ownership and, of course, replanting of trees and reforestation, all of which take decades," Mark Maslin of University College London told New Scientist. 

Whatever the case, it all adds up in the fight against climate change and for the survival of life on Earth. As Greta Thunberg said, "Our parents are discussing the end of Game of Thrones while the planet is burning. Action is urgent."

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