(New York Post) These aren’t your ordinary anti-capitalist climate crusaders.
Extinction Rebellion, the radical environmentalists who tried to blockade traffic to counterculture festival Burning Man on Sunday — only to be rammed aside by tribal police — are funded by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, along with an heir to the Getty fortune and outdoor retailer Patagonia.
The group calls itself part of a “decentralized, international and politically non-partisan movement” demanding climate action — and until now has largely stuck to causing disruption in Europe.
Under its banner, protesters have superglued themselves to the Speaker’s chair in the British parliament, blockaded busy roads — often by affixing to each other and the asphalt — and even attached themselves to the top of a plane. Allied groups in Europe have vandalized a Walmart heir’s superyacht.
Extinction Rebellion was blocking traffic driving to the Burning Man counter-culture festival until members of the local tribal police department smashed through the barricade in a truck.FNTV
Activists from coalition group Seven Circles, including Extinction Rebellion protesters, had caused this enormous traffic jam until cops burst through their barricade.FNTV
On Sunday the eco-warriors from Extinction Rebellion, known as XR, were one of a group of activists called Seven Circles who went after Burning Man festival-goers, setting up a blockade of a road into Black Rock City, Nev., to protest against capitalism.
They wanted Burning Man leadership want a ban on private jets, as well as single-use plastics and “unnecessary propane burning,” according to a statement released Sunday by Seven Circles. The festival ends by literally burning a tower.
“The time has come,” said XR organizer Mun Chong. “Burning Man should aim to have the same type of political impact that Woodstock had on counterculture. If we are honest about system change, it needs to start at ‘home’.
In the House of Commons in London, Extinction Rebellion activists broke into the chamber then superglued themselves to the Speaker’s chair in a move reminiscent of the January 6 attack on the Senate chamber in Washington DC.
Another XR protester climbed on top of a regional jet at Bristol Airport in south-west England and superglued himself to it.
“Ban the lowest hanging fruit immediately: private jets. No single individual should have the luxury of emitting 10 to 20 times more carbon pollution than a commercial airline passenger. Burners, rebel with us.”
The protest, however, ended when Rangers from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Police Department smashed through the barriers before detaining demonstrators at gunpoint, which XR called “horrifying.”
XR, which was first founded in the UK, receives most of its funding from individual donations.
In the Spanish vacation island of Ibiza, another XR-allied group spray painted Walmart heir Nancy Walton Laurie’s superyacht.AP
Another set of XR allies handcuffed themselves to a plane at Geneva Airport during a private aviation conference.AP
But it is sharing in millions of dollars in grants being given out by the Climate Emergency Fund, whose founders include Rory Kennedy, the documentary-maker daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
She set it up in 2019, with its first financial injection coming from oil heiress Aileen Getty, a British-born granddaughter of the oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty.
The effort supporting “disruptive climate activism” awarded $5.1 million in grants to 44 groups last year, according to its website. The fund says it does not finance violence, but lets recipients decide how to spend the money.
The movement to mobilize climate activists is also attracting some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Adam McKay, director of “Don’t Look Up” and “The Big Short.” McKay, 55, pledged $4 million to CEF last September, Bloomberg previously reported.
Rory Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy’s 54-year-old daughter, cofounded the Climate Emergency Fund in 2019. The nonprofit has funded 112 organizations since its inception, including Extinction Rebellion.Getty Images for Clarins and The Malibu Foundation
Aileen Getty, the 66-year-old granddaughter of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty, also initially funded CEF, reportedly giving $600,000 to the group. She is a friend of many Hollywood stars, including Sharon Stone.FilmMagic
“These direct action groups get by with so little that $4 million is just such a game-changer,” CEF executive director Margaret Klein Salamon told Bloomberg in April.
More than 2,000 donors contributed to CEF last year, according to its annual report, including Disney heir Abigail Disney and actor Jeremy Strong, of HBO’s “Succession.” Private planes featured frequently in the hit show.
McKay’s $4 million promise helped the nonprofit quadruple its total value of grants doled out to climate agitators between 2021 and last year, Bloomberg reported.
Actor Jeremy Strong, star of HBO’s hit drama “Succession,” was among 2,000 donors who contributed to CEF in 2022, according to its annual report.HBO
Adam McKay, 55, who directed apocalyptic climate change movie “Don’t Look Up” which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, pledged $4 million to CEF in September, Bloomberg reported in April. DiCaprio spent the summer on a superyacht.©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
CEF, which has funded 27 groups thus far in 2023, solely supports climate advocacy organizations that hold disruptive protests, but does not fund violence, Salamon told Bloomberg.
XR, which is primarily funded by the public, received $362,701 in donations in 2022, according to its annual report. CEF was one of its three largest contributors.
One of the others was Patagonia, the outdoor clothing retailer whose vests are favored by Wall Street workers, and a French movie company called Pulp Films. Their collective donations totaled $73,000.
Among XR tactics have been targeting art galleries, spraying pain near masterworks by Goya in Madrid last year. Other groups they are allied with have vandalized works by Van Gogh and others.
in the UK, XR has claimed it is stepping away from direct action which has seen it target particularly central London, including the famous Trafalgar Square.
