Multi-generational Activists from Extinction Rebellion Press the British Science Museum as part of London Fashion Week Protests, 2020

Beginning on 20 February 2020, activists of the UK-based network for climate activism Extinction Rebellion began a week of public protests targeted at London Fashion Week and the waste that fast fashion produces. The first action of the group was a staged die-in at the Making the Modern World gallery of the British Science Museum. Several protesters, from young children to their elderly grandparents executed this nonviolent act of disruption. Extinction Rebellion took other actions, such as blocking traffic at Gatwick Airport and a public march through downtown London to bring attention to the issue of the waste produced by fast fashion, which ultimately culminated in a petition in Parliament to suspend future Fashion Weeks and make more concrete strides towards environmental responsibility. 

The die-in was specifically aimed at the Making the Modern World gallery of the museum in order to draw attention to the illegal levels of air pollution in London and demand the end of the relationship between the museum and the company BP, or British Petroleum, who funded the exhibit. The gallery focuses on the history of technology and the impact of the industrial revolution, thus also making it about the history of large scale industrial pollution, according to the Extinction Rebellion activists.

Even more specifically, the Science Museum had agreed to a cultural sponsorship and partnership with Norwegian energy company Equinor. This deal brought in money from the company that the museum was using to fund its newest interactive children’s experience, Wonderlab. 

For the die-in, protestors laid peacefully on the ground for twenty minutes wearing masks that read “enough is enough on air pollution.” Some protesters wore signs that recounted statistics about British air pollution and the health effects it has on the young population of polluted cities like London. Some signs read, “40,000 premature deaths are attributable to long term exposure to outdoor air pollution” and “there are 9,400 excess deaths in the capital due to long term exposure to particulates and harmful gasses.” 

Bella Freud, Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller and sculptor Gavin Turk, all well known politically engaged activists, designed the protestor’s masks. They served as a visual and physical reminder of the contamination that air pollution levels cause. After the protests, Extinction Rebellion auctioned the masks to raise donations for their organization. 

The die-in highlighted the network's larger critique of the British Science Museum and similar institutions. According to Extinction Rebellion’s website, the organization “demand[s] that public and private institutions (like the Science Museum) declare a climate emergency, cut ties with the fossil fuel industry and tell the truth to the public about the climate and ecological emergency we (the world) are facing.”

Extinction Rebellion organized and executed several other protests in the same week, including a march through downtown London in collaboration with other climate action groups in order to express solidarity and shared vision for the future, again with the focus of drawing attention to the petition. Signs shown at the protest shared statistics about waste produced by the garment industry, and included rallying cries towards decreasing reliance on fossil fuels. 

Other notable events included a march through the arrivals and departures lanes to obstruct traffic in and out of Gatwick airport, as it was the preferred airport of designers and their cargo. The organization also published an open letter to the organizers of Fashion Week. These actions were organized in pursuit of concerns in regards to the waste produced by the fashion industry.

Extinction Rebellion also made an open call to the British Fashion Council (BFC) to cancel London Fashion Week on 13 February 2020. The contents of the letter included a call to cancel the upcoming Semester Fashion week and for the BFC to aid in lobbying the British Government for legislation that will “stop the fashion industry’s exploitation of the planet, people and animals.”

Livia Firth of Eco-Age, Safia Minney, and Simone Cipriani of Ethical Fashion Initiative all co-signed the letter delivered to BFC. As this was the second time that the groups Extinction Rebellion had sought to cancel fashion week using a letter, the group signaled that they would continue to ‘build pressure’ until demands were met. 

Angela Duncan, a spokesperson for animal welfare campaign group Animal Rebellion remarked that the goals of Animal and Extinction Rebellion were aligned in their sheared pursuit to cancel Fashion Week, citing that retailers have an ethical responsibility to conform to the demands of the letter. 

On 15 February 2020, the group did escalate actions by blocking off entry and exit points into Gatwick Airport. Signs read” No fashion on a dead planet” and “No more False Fashion”. Extinction Rebellion rallied support through organizations on Facebook, creating a public event for the march.