AT THE risk of sounding patronising, it should be said that the Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters in London and Edinburgh are to be admired for their energy, concerns and commitment.

They have succeeded in drawing more media and public attention to the mortal threat posed by global warming and climate change. Mass — and in many cases unnecessary — arrests and court hearings should help ensure that the publicity continues.

As expected, spokespersons for the movement are coming under increasingly hostile media scrutiny, which means that XR needs to be very careful in its choice of who represents them, especially on television.

Of course, it is grossly inaccurate and offensive to tell one of that body’s young co-founders that “you sound to me like a right-wing fascist”  and “you’re a load of incompetent middle-class self-indulgent young people” who tell the rest of us how to lead their lives, as Sky’s Adam Boulton did today on live television.

Veteran advocates of Brexit are well used to such rudeness and abuse at the hands of Mr Boulton and his colleagues, although these interviewers would never dream of insulting Gina Miller, say, or an anti-Brexit MP, a top business executive or a US diplomat in such terms.

Unfortunately, however, some XR leaders and supporters have failed to make the best of the opportunities so far to express their views.

In truth, they are also hampered by the basis and focus of some aspects of their movement’s campaign.

The Morning Star, like its predecessor the Daily Worker, has a long history of supporting militant extra-parliamentary struggle including industrial action and mass civil disobedience. We recognise that this may often cause disruption to the lives of others not directly involved, yet this can be a price worth paying for the greater good.

Yet there must always be careful consideration of the balance that needs to be struck between making an impact and winning the battle for public opinion.

Tipping buckets of fake blood outside Downing Street or springing up near-naked with placards in the Commons public gallery is unlikely to alienate the great British public in its current mood.

But repeated days of demonstrations that cause huge inconvenience to many thousands of citizens can become counter-productive, especially when the protest has already made its point and millions of people are sympathetic to the cause in question.
 
Many will agree with XR that this Tory government must tell the truth about climate change. They might also be open to persuasion that a citizens' assembly could usefully monitor progress in reducing carbon emissions, although this core demand is rather a nebulous one in relation to this as well as other issues.

However, the XR insistence that carbon emissions in Britain must be cut to zero by 2025 will strike most people, on consideration, as hopelessly unrealistic.

The changes required to meet such a target in energy generation, transport, industrial production, construction and afforestation are profound and all-encompassing.

They would necessitate state intervention, planning and investment on a scale that would amount to the revolutionary abolition of capitalism. They are certainly incompatible with the capitalist free-market foundations of the European Union.

That is why the XR movement should now consider not only a drive to educate a mass army of would-be educators, so that its supporters can go forth and convince millions of people of the case for radical measures to curb all kinds of greenhouse gas emissions.

It should also target the hundred or so corporations that originate more than two-thirds of all those emissions across the world and who will fight to the death to defend their system.