Why I Chose to Be Arrested
I was recently in Copenhagen (Denmark) with the movement Extinction Rebellion. We were protesting the Danish government’s inaction on climate change. Extinction Rebellion is a movement that uses civil disobedience. During an action, my sister and I glued ourselves to the outside of the biggest bank in Denmark and I got arrested. Below is a text I posted on Facebook.
Yesterday afternoon I was arrested for the first time in my life. Arrested at a police station in Copenhagen. I had to sit in a cell alone for three hours with only a blanket, a mattress, and two papers about my rights, one in Danish and one in English.
How did I end up there, you may be wondering? Or you may know. It was a completely voluntary and a conscious decision. My choice. Let me explain why I did it:
The Amazon is burning. A rainforest with a climate that does not ordinarily allow forest fires. An impossibility has become a reality. And the fires are worse than last year. They are bigger, there are more of them, and they are more deadly. Yes, the world’s largest wetland is on fire.
California [USA] is on fire. In fact, the entire west coast of the United States is on fire. Where my aunt and cousins live, outside of San Francisco, California, the air is thick with ash. In fact, nowhere on the entire west coast is the air clean enough to be okay to breathe. And if it was bad last year, it’s at least twenty times worse this year. Twenty. Times. Worse.
And the clouds of smoke have now made their way all the way to the U.S. East Coast—Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; and New York.
The world is on fire.
And I have not even mentioned Africa or Asia because quite frankly I do not know what is happening there. Of course, it is my personal ignorance, but it is also, at least as much, part of the dehumanizing, racist system we live in where the consequences of our own actions do not matter if they occur elsewhere, where people have darker skin than ours.
What I do know is that more and more parts of Africa are becoming uninhabitable. The new, unpredictable weather is destroying harvest after harvest. The extra heat in the already hot places means that it is no longer possible to live there. People are fleeing. People are starving. People are dying.
And if we don’t do something very, very soon, it will only get worse and worse.
I know this is unpleasant. Scary. Insecure. Inconvenient. I’m sorry for that. I do not want you to have to think about this. But we all need to know. The alternative is more fires, more starvation, more death.
So why did I let myself be arrested?
Because we have to do something, and I can no longer sit passively and watch as all of humanity runs toward the precipice. I have to shout “stop.” It is my responsibility, my duty. This was my way of shouting stop.
I allowed myself to be arrested because humanity means more to me than my freedom. How can I get others to listen if I myself am not willing to go ahead, show the way, and make sacrifices? I need you to listen. I need you to not shut down but instead to jump on the train with us who are going to demand a better future than the one that is currently waiting for us.
I only have my voice. My voice and my body. And I intend to use my voice and my body as much as I can. Not only for myself (although my future is also at stake) but also for all people who are not heard, who have no voice. Because colonization has devalued and dehumanized them in our eyes. Or because their house has just burned down, so they may not have time for things such as protesting.
In fact, I did this for a large majority of the world’s population, whose situation does not allow them to do anything similar. I, who can, must act. For who else will do it? And I, who have the incredible luxury to choose, must choose solidarity, compassion, and a good life for all on earth. In front of my personal comfort.
Three hours in an empty cold cell, with a faint smell of urine and nothing to do. Good time for reflection. And I came out of that cell with a stronger sense of what’s important in life. Not materialistic wealth, but people. People are important. It wasn’t things I was missing in there. It was not a cellphone or a hot shower I was missing but someone to share my time with.
You may think I made a mistake in doing this. It’s okay. Everyone can think as they do. But I think the time for passivity and comfort is over. I think we need to be braver. And it starts with acknowledging the truth: We live in a world that is heading toward a rampant climate collapse. We will not fulfill the Paris Agreement. The earth will become two, three, four, five, or six degrees warmer.
So, if you do not agree with what I did, what do you think I should do? And what will you do yourself? Where do you draw the line? When does this become so serious for you that you can no longer stand still and watch? Maybe it’s too late then.
Maybe it’s already too late. But I don’t think so. I think we have a chance, but I need all of you. The more we are, the greater the chance we have. And the more people are out on the streets, the less the risk that I will have of being arrested again. In fact, I do not have to sacrifice my freedom if we all help and do this together. But you are required to participate. You are needed.
I want to thank you for reading this far. Thank you for wanting to listen to what I had to say. Sara and I are fine (she was also arrested, but that’s her own story to tell) and are at least as strong as before. Our uprising continues.
Höör, Sweden
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of wide world change
(Present Time 202, January 2021)