A dramatic account by Quaker Sue Hampton of how it felt to be part of an Extinction Rebellion occupation of A and O Shearman- a massive law firm acting for the fossil fuel industry. This happened in London, Dec 4th 2024. The photos are by Gareth Thomas.

WHAT LOVE REQUIRES OF US

Now that I’m in the glass lobby, my hands shake as I try to thread the rods through the fabric channels at the banner ends. We have just walked unchallenged through the revolving doors of a vast legal empire, and are standing in front of the reception desk. My fingers need help because I’m nervous. I’ve failed to pass as a city slicker a fair few times, even in the most convincing business clothes the charity shops can offer, but the exhilaration of the goal achieved is muted by uncertainty. Fifteen arrests in, with a spell on remand to add to my life experience, that’s grown with protesters’ sentences.  Security move quickly. We’re cordoned off from the employees we want to reach. Police officers arrive in numbers that keep increasing, and press us, through our Police Liaison, to leave. This end of the building is now locked down, and frustratingly the lawyers we need to engage are coming and going beyond reach of emotional, projected voices.

Holding the hand-crafted banner calling on A and O Shearman to cut the ties to fossil fuels, I feel the weight of the message we want to share. No smiles to camera. It’s a while before I realise, facing out, that the stained glass around the nearest entrance is not fake wisteria lit dark as it spills, but the fake oil sprayed by two rebels with black fire extinguishers. I can’t see the Grim Reaper up a tripod but an XR crowd has gathered and the faint tail end of black flares wisps into view. Inside, we have scripts, carefully researched, to read out, and I take my turn, hoping someone will hear. A few employees look down from the floor above, some of them taking photos or videos, but our audience is small. The police are impassive, even when I freestyle as a grandma with little hope. It’s the word ‘children’ that breaks me every time. I feel the love of my dad, who faced a tribunal just after the war, when I invite lawyers to be conscientious objectors too.

Half of the occupying crew have left to join the crowd but I’m not ready. Giving in to a system that criminalises truth tellers and backs the destructive power bases hastening climate and ecological catastrophe – and deepening profound injustice – feels like giving up. And the only time rebels were arrested in a lobby like this they were soon released without charge. But I ask myself what’s to be gained by staying. The anxiety I live with, somehow calmed by the appalling truth we’ve been delivering – because it’s so fundamentally necessary that I’m literally compelled, morally and spiritually, to do all this – surges back. If I walk away I will abandon the two who remain, and disappoint myself. If I’m arrested again, Leslie and my family will be distressed.

I walk away and out into drizzle. Damp messaging clings to the bronze baby elephants displayed as expensive testimony to philanthropic care. Looking back to the lobby, I feel guilt and relief as I see my two friends arrested. But I’m hungry, and it’s good to greet familiar faces and share XR hugs. Now I see the figure up high and cloaked in black. Carrying scales that bear an Earth on fire and a stack of cash, the tripod climber already commands attention.  Soon he is surrounded by ‘oil slick’ creatures with white faces and red lips, whose theatrical but deeply silent presence stills many passers-by. Someone has counted over forty police officers, some of whom are now enclosed by the troupe with their cane-framed, wing-like arms and slow, mysterious choreography.

A gaunt-looking rebel, someone I’ve been seeing on such occasions for six years, has chained himself, from the waist, to a metal rail with a padlock. And I could cry, as he is patted down by an arresting officer, at the dignity and the desperation. The rebel who held the banner with me is carried out by an overkill of police while the rest of us cheer. I steel myself to a role I hate: offering leaflets explaining why we are there. Soon the numbers thin as the lunch break draws to an end. The Grim Reaper is uncovered and grounded. Rebels are heading home. It feels over. “A spectacular action!” cries a friend with a smile. “Well done.”

Next morning I find out that one of the occupiers was arrested not just for aggravated trespass but for conspiracy to cause criminal damage. The way language is inverted would seem darkly satirical if I could find the humour. Between 2019 and 2023 A and O Shearman did $285 BILLION of transactional business on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. Before the merger, both firms were given the worst, ‘F’ rating in the Law Students for this year’s Climate Accountability scorecard. That’s the year that’s hottest on record. There are many legal cases around the world trying to expose the real criminals.  Ecocide Law may come to pass, too late. Meanwhile in the UK, shamed by the UN, we continue to incarcerate those who sound the alarm. The legal profession, along with the insurance sector and the banks, is one of the big enablers sustaining a dying fossil fuel industry that seems willing to take humanity down with it. But I still believe in love.

Next week I interview artist Alexandra Buckle about her lino cut printing, her love of nature and teaching.

ABOUT LESLIE TATE’S BOOKS:

1. Love’s Register tells the story of romantic love and climate change over four UK generations. Beginning with ‘climate children’ Joe, Mia and Cass and ending with Hereiti’s night sea journey across Oceania, the book’s voices take us through family conflicts in the 1920s, the pressures of the ‘free-love 60s’, open relationships in the feminist 80s/90s and a contemporary late-life love affair. Love’s Register is a family saga and a modern psychological novel that explores the way we live now.
   • A signed copy of Love’s Register is available in pounds sterling here.
   • The paperback in other currencies is available here.                                                 
   • Ebook for Kindle in £s here and in $s here.                                                           
   • For other ebook reading devices here (all currencies). 
2. Heaven’s Rage is a memoir that explores addiction, cross-dressing, bullying and the hidden sides of families, discovering at their core the transformative power of words to rewire the brain and reconnect with life. “A Robin Red breast in a Cage / Puts all Heaven in a Rage” – William Blake. You can read more about/buy Heaven’s Rage here.
3. The Dream Speaks Back, written by Sue Hampton, Cy Henty and Leslie Tate, is a joint autobiography exploring imagination and the adult search for the inner child. The book looks at gender difference, growing up in unusual families and mental health issues. It’s also a very funny portrait of working in the arts, full of crazy characters, their ups and downs, and their stories. You can buy a signed copy of The Dream Speaks Back here.
4. Ways to be Equally Human tells the inside story of coming out as a non-binary person, from being ‘othered’ in gendered toilets to stepping up on stage & radio and taking action with Extinction Rebellion. Full of lyrical writing, humour and quirky insights, this is a book for lovers of language, nonconformists and passionate thinkers. You can buy a signed copy here.