Rashida Tlaib tells climate activists arrested for vandalism, blocking traffic to get ‘much more aggressive’

Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib urged a group of climate activists to get “much more aggressive” on the eve of massive protests expected in D.C. and New York this summer, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.

During a video conference call with roughly 125 protestors and activists – some of whom have been arrested for blocking highways, vandalizing art galleries and disrupting political events – Tlaib told the group that they wouldn’t get pro-climate legislation passed until “the streets demanded it” and encouraged people to take “direct action” to get what they wanted. Tlaib’s comments come before expected rallies in D.C. and New York that group leaders on the call said will be “massively disruptive,” according to Daily Mail.

“This rhetoric around the climate projects for national security is bullshit,” Tlaib said on the call. “We have to be much more aggressive in regard to fossil fuel expansion … if we don’t get the policies we need, if our legislative process is failing us – then direct action gets the goods.”

Joining Tlaib were Tim Martin, protestor with activist-group Declare Emergency, and Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion – a group that caused millions of dollars worth of losses during a 2019 series of protests in London. Hallam said he wants to create a similar “large-scale civil disobedience campaign on the climate catastrophe in the United States.”

Martin and Declare Emergency was recently responsible for the vandalism of an exhibit in April at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. The group also blocked traffic on a major D.C. highway during rush hour traffic in April, resulting in six arrests. In 2022, the group protested the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity, causing huge disruptions and more arrests.

“We aim for whatever causes the most kerfuffle, everyone has to see it. Everyone is impacted,” said Donald Zepeda, Declare Emergency’s Seattle mobilizer. “Doing massively disruptive, nonviolent civil disobedience, it’s a necessary and important part of getting us to where we need to be.”

Also on the call was Adam McKay, director of Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up.”

“Nothing cuts through the BS and rigmarole more than straight-up disruptive activism. I’m talking about the power of the people,” said McKay. “I’m talking about the people that created democracy, that threw the kings out of power.”

Dozens of climate activists – some of whom had previously been arrested for their protest efforts – were also on the call. Declare Emergency has planned a massive series of protests for August expected to take place in Washington, D.C., and New York, Daily Mail reported.

Rep. Tlaib, Declare Emergency and Extinction Rebellion did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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