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People power vs planetary problems
Protest is having an effect — that’s why the powers that be are cracking down, writes CND general secretary KATE HUDSON ahead of this Sunday's international conference
An XR activist is carried away by the police

IS IT a taste of things to come? This week the police slapped a Section 14 order on Extinction Rebellion protesters across the whole of London. This is an unprecedented attack on the right to protest and is of grave concern to us all.

The right to protest was hard won and we cannot see it eroded or stripped away by the Johnson government. The police may have served the order but it could not happen without the say-so of this deeply backward and reactionary government.

So this is the time to strengthen, celebrate and defend our movements. The upsurge in activity in recent weeks and months has been a joy to behold. Last month we saw not only the climate strike but the powerful protests at DSEI arms fair, against the trade in death which blights countless lives.

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