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Common Sense for the 21st Century: Only Nonviolent Rebellion Can Now Stop Climate Breakdown and Social Collapse

Roger Hallam

3.90 · Rating details · 111 ratings · 22 reviews

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Start your review of Common Sense for the 21st Century: Only Nonviolent Rebellion Can Now Stop Climate Breakdown and Social Collapse

Feb 25, 2020 Sean Barrs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star-reads, nature-ecology-enviroment, veganism-and-vegetarianism

This is the first book review I have written in 8 months.

Anyone who remembers me will understand that my disappearance off this website was sudden and unusual. I wrote 4 book reviews a week for almost five years and then I vanished. I stopped reading altogether. Did anyone miss me?

So, what have I been doing instead? Protesting.

The truth is, I got angry and frustrated at the world. I got angry about the way we treat the planet and all the animals that live in it. I’d been using books and fanta This is the first book review I have written in 8 months.

Anyone who remembers me will understand that my disappearance off this website was sudden and unusual. I wrote 4 book reviews a week for almost five years and then I vanished. I stopped reading altogether. Did anyone miss me?

So, what have I been doing instead? Protesting.

The truth is, I got angry and frustrated at the world. I got angry about the way we treat the planet and all the animals that live in it. I’d been using books and fantasy as escapism for a long time and then I realised that instead of trying to escape I should attempt to change the things I hate. I took to the streets and I tried to make a difference. I went on marches, I outreached directly to the public and promoted veganism and an environmentally sustainable way of life in every way I know how. I cycled across India to raise money for Veganuary. I ran (and won) a 70-mile ultra-marathon. And now I'm planning even bigger things in my attempt to make a difference.

The point is, I found the need to rebel and to fight against a system that is morally corrupt and one that will usher in the collapse of our environment if we do not do something about it. I became an activist. And I learnt that the only way we will change the system is if every single person who feels the same stands up and works towards a better future.

So here I am now, reading again. But I am reading with reason. I am currently putting a PhD proposal together geared towards sustainable food choices. All books I read from here will be those that can benefit me as an individual and can help fuel my activism and my hunger for change.

I am a member of XR (and many other protest groups) though I am YET to be involved in an arrestable action. This book details the principles behind the movement and its long-term goals.

I applaud its ambitions and will throw my weight behind them.

___________________________________

You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree
__________________________________ ...more

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Dec 27, 2019 Carlos Martinez rated it liked it

Shelves: environment

This brief 'action plan' for preventing climate breakdown is quite thought-provoking and certainly well-meaning, and the writing is appropriately urgent and persuasive, but unfortunately the author has failed to understand the basic principles of politics. Hallam's proposal is, essentially, for a few thousand people to stage a series of non-violent mass actions which trigger a government collapse. Extinction Rebellion will then convoke a Citizens' Assembly, the first and key task of which will b ...more

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Sep 08, 2019 Marc rated it it was amazing

I was quite impressed by this book, that is still looking for crowdfunding to be properly published. In it Hallam, who cofounded Extinction Rebellion, explains what is wrong with the climate (and biodiversity) and why civil disobedience is the only way to fix it.

Currently, politicians are too open to lobbyists and to focused on their own carreers to move as fast as required. I found that hard to stomach, but is is obvious that for example the Paris Climate Treaty is going nowhere. Hallam propose ...more

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Oct 02, 2019 Ryan Mizzen rated it it was amazing

I was inspired to read this after George Monbiot's comments, calling it brilliant and saying that it could become a classic of political theory. I agree with George. I also think Citizens' Assemblies could be a real alternative to the political chaos and ineptitude we currently have. ...more

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Jun 25, 2020 Tommye (The Fantasy Review) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: climate-crisis, non-fiction-read

RTC

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Dec 27, 2019 Erik rated it liked it

This short quick read offers a lot to think about. Perhaps Hallam is most brilliant as an organizer of non-violent street protest. His advice on how to deal with police and local authorities before and during a protest -- with respect, mostly, but also with advance notice -- differs from the practice followed by some street activists, and seems very well advised.

Hallam's program at the end to cut and reverse greenhouse pollution is also convincing. It's aggressive but not unrealistic.

And XR's si This short quick read offers a lot to think about. Perhaps Hallam is most brilliant as an organizer of non-violent street protest. His advice on how to deal with police and local authorities before and during a protest -- with respect, mostly, but also with advance notice -- differs from the practice followed by some street activists, and seems very well advised.

Hallam's program at the end to cut and reverse greenhouse pollution is also convincing. It's aggressive but not unrealistic.

And XR's signature tone of moral urgency and "telling the truth" no matter how harsh is much needed in the climate movement today and comes through compellingly in Hallam's text. I also applaud Hallam's advice to try to appeal to conservatives through getting away from the buzzwords of the left and using language that's both more common and partakes of traditional values like honor, courage and integrity. Taking inspiration from Thomas Paine in this book's title shows Hallam's own laudable attempt to talk his talk, and was what caught my attention in the first place. So, kudos there.

His proposals to overthrow national governments and replace them with some form of direct democracy (National and Citizens' Assemblies instead of the UK Parliament, for example) give me more pause. I'm not afraid so much that the idea is unrealistic and won't go anywhere, which is probably most likely. Here, I'm concerned instead with what would happen if somebody actually took Hallam up on his plan for extreme, out-of-nowhere revolution.

A few examples from localities in developing nations (eg, Puerto Allegre in Brazil) don't go nearly far enough to reassure me that such an extreme idea as replacing centuries-old democratic institutions in western countries like the UK and the US with untried schemes for direct democracy isn't just unrealistic, but also very ill advised. So, it raises big questions:

a) Is political revolution really necessary to fight the climate emergency?

b) Is the "national Citizens' Assembly" governance structure sufficiently proven in practice to actually increase democracy or to accomplish needed reforms effectively?

c) Is this idea to scrap everything and start over so crazy that, if some revolutionary group actually got the chance to try it on a national scale, it would lead to guillotines in the main square or hourly firing squads of "counter-revolutionaries"?

This "national Citizen's Assembly" part of Hallam's argument raises such concerns that I'm tempted to throw out his whole approach to climate activism and just hope that Extinction Rebellion fades away without growing strong enough to subject any actual society, even in a small nation, to some kind of anarchist/Maoist reign of terror.

Of course, it's reassuring to how remember how unlikely it is that Hallam's revolution will ever take place despite the ripeness of today's political climate for unpleasant surprises like Brexit and Trump.

I'm more reassured by the non-crazy tone of the rest of Hallam's methodology that I'm willing to cautiously accept many, if not all, of his prescriptions. Climate collapse is an urgent threat to civilization and governments have failed to act for 30 years. It's time to try something new. Some of what Hallam offers may be part of what we need to save our bacon. ...more

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Mar 09, 2020 Jake Marin rated it really liked it

This is an insightful outline for the kind of organization that we need around this issue, and as someone who is interested in climate activism, it was a great read.

That said, I cant help but feel that the outline Hallam proposes is not applicable on the scale that he claims it is. Hallam's ideas are informed by personal experience with climate activism and a historical civil rights context. But these claims that the kind of organization responsible for localized political and social changes ca ...more

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Apr 07, 2020 Mothwing rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, current-events, politics, textbook

This is a very scary, but very direct book calling to global action and showing how that could... very easily be organised. Hallam introduces easy steps to organise protest and direct action that reminded me a lot of the things Graeber writes about Occupy, though they differ on the stance of the police.

It also answers my question why, in my very leftist town that prides itself on being very alternative and has a strong group organising Fridays for Future, the car plant, steel works, and head of ...more

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Jan 04, 2020 Benjamin L Bachand rated it did not like it

Shelves: social-change

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 16, 2020 Roger rated it liked it

A booklet that tries to be both a manifesto , a pamphlet and a guide.

As the author states, this book is intended to bring about the same movement that the "common sense" of Thomas Paine set to free the USA from oppression, but in here it is mildly exposed that instead of having a group of people as our enemies, now we have a complete worldwide neoliberal system that needs to be broken down to evolve into something better.

As for the pamphlet part the author, who were one of the main figures in th ...more

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Jan 11, 2021 Matt rated it liked it

Has the right urgency around the problem and lays out a lot of good reasons why inaction is not an option, but is unrealistic and overly optimistic about the post-rebellion plan which makes the objective of overthrowing the government pretty much a nonstarter. How would we expect to carry on with all the things that government does right, or at least more right than would be the case without government or with a nonfunctioning government? Expecting the formation of a new government and a peacefu ...more

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Dec 04, 2019 Andrew rated it it was ok

There are huge weaknesses in the current 'official' responses to Climate change but I cannot see the extreme measures proposed in this book as being effective either. Mr. Hallam wants the overthrow of governments, not just tacking Climate Change. Extinction Rebellion depends on the power of protesters being arrested but the evidence is that police forces keep the number of arrests at a minimum, taking away the power.
And how do you prevent peaceful protests becoming violent? The current protests ...more

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Apr 20, 2021 Ash Orr rated it really liked it

I read through this book very quickly. Even though I'm a big fan of Hallam, I also wanted more material to go over that fits with the theory of change and Extinction Rebellion ( for which Hallam is a co-founder). This book delivered all that and more. It's no non-sense, just like Hallam. There's nothing apologetic or fancy here. It's just material you can use to grow your local chapters, and inspire yourself and others to get organized, and rebel. Hallam's academic background make him the perfec ...more

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Oct 24, 2020 Bryan Cebulski rated it liked it

Shelves: nonfiction-environmental, nonfiction-politics

Ehhh good intentions and some keen insights but Hallam lets corporate power off the hook way too easily by arguing that lack of proper environmental regulation is solely a government failure (it is on the surface, but public and private are way too entrenched not to address concurrently); he seems weirdly antagonistic to socialism (compares it to fascism in one offhand comment); and I think the George Floyd protests have shown concerted, massive nonviolent direct action does not necessarily make ...more

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Apr 08, 2020 James Duffy rated it really liked it

Shelves: climate-change

An interesting and innovative outline of political nonviolence theory and motivating climate action. Last two chapters had me hooked, definitely a great read for anyone interested in power dynamics and climate catastrophes. Warning: will make you want to take to the streets.

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Nov 28, 2019 Jes Hancock rated it really liked it

Shelves: current-events

I really liked that this booklet not only called for action but also gave us a step by step plan for not only staging a rebellion but how to finance the change and what to do after the Rebellion to ensure it's prolonged success. ...more

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Dec 10, 2019 Jim Kennedy rated it it was amazing

The perfect guide for civil disobedience tactics in the age where they are most needed.

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Oct 21, 2019 Steve Lawless rated it it was amazing

Important political action for our time. Inspired me to watch The Children's March. ...more

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Feb 01, 2020 Dana Buning added it

Required reading.

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Apr 09, 2020 Dan Carey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, non-fiction, gave-up-on-it

Too many assumptions arising from echo-chamber discussions, I suspect.

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Feb 02, 2020 Paul rated it it was amazing

Essential reading if you are worried about our present system of dysfunction in the British government. (Inveterate liar as unelected prime minister ? )

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Nov 28, 2019 Patrick M. Tighe rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Rubbish

This is the silliest document I have ever read. It seems like it has been written by a teenager. The author’s Pollyanna view of the crisis is delusional, totally undoable, based on a false view of the impact of climate change and full of general silliness. I regret buying the book/booklet.

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