We talk to some of the most effective leaders of those new protest groups, from the mother of three grown-up children who has come late to civil disobedience to the teenage veteran of four years of targeted activism. If the protesters have a joined-up rallying cry it is that shared sense, emphasised by reaction to the ideological extremism of the incoming government, that “Enough is enough”. As Ian Byrne MP, one of the organisers of the new and growing movement of that name, argues: “We are faced with a winter in which millions of people, many of them in full-time work, will be unable to pay for their food or heating or housing. It’s an event, socially and politically, that none of us have seen in our lifetimes. And, as we are also seeing, people won’t accept it.” Tim Adams

Ian Byrne: ‘There’s got to be a complete rethinking of how the economic system works for people’

Tracey Mallaghan: ‘I hate disrupting lives. But people can see the sense in what we are asking for’

Tracey Mallaghan never considered herself to be politically minded. The single mother of three grown-up children was a healthcare assistant until 2011, when she lost her job due to illness (she has fibromyalgia, anxiety and depression). Her life changed in 2019 after she saw a news report about the Extinction Rebellion protests, which led her to research the climate crisis online. “I realised my kids were in real trouble, and I couldn’t understand why the government weren’t doing anything about it. I hadn’t left my house on my own for two years – but I knew I had to get to London.” She travelled from her home in Milton Keynes to see the protests, suffering a panic attack on the train on the way. “I got to Trafalgar Square and saw all these people on the road – and had this bizarre feeling that I had to sit down, too.”

It was the beginning of a journey that has taken Mallaghan deep into the activist movement and to what she calls the “pointy end” of civil disobedience. She has taken part in actions for XR, Burning Pink (which campaigns for civil assemblies) and Insulate Britain. As a result, she now has a criminal record – for painting graffiti on the windows of the Department of Health – and has served a week-long stint in HMP Bronzefield. “It was a sad, dry place. I had the overwhelming sense that whatever we were all doing there, it wasn’t about benefiting society.” She has been wearing a tag for the past 11 months after breaching bail conditions, and only got it removed last week. It’s been quite a metamorphosis, both for her and for her family, who took a while to come around. “The first year and a half [of being involved in activism] were very challenging for the family. But my kids love me and now they are really supportive.”

Christina Adane: ‘Ending food poverty shouldn’t be a battle, but the work has to be done’

Aditi Jehangir: ‘There’s definitely a lot more visible anger. You can see that people are more energised than ever’

Kwajo Tweneboa: ‘I don’t want to be here in 20 years, advising them on things that still need to change’

Source: The Guardian

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