IT is hard to disagree with many of the points that the group Extinction Rebellion are making. Humans face a climate crisis of their own making which is being exacerbated by their selfish inability to give up some of their luxuries.
The planet is being damaged by big business in the quest for profits – for instance, as the Government has now acknowledged, it is appalling that water companies should be allowed to pump raw sewage into rivers and seas when it rains because they won’t invest in enough sewers.
Although Amazon offers its customers a great service and keeps countless manufacturers going by providing a market place, it is true that it harms the high street and immorally pays the lowest tax that it can.
But just as the people of Extinction Rebellion have a right to protest about all these things, so the people of Darlington have a right to go to work.
No human should set out to harm another human, and yet Extinction Rebellion by their actions have deliberately harmed those Amazon employees who have lost pay – employees who are on low wages and will feel the pinch while Jeff Bezos will be unaffected.
What right does Extinction Rebellion have to deny Amazon employees the choice of where they work? And what happens if Extinction Rebellion gets its way and closes Amazon because it doesn’t like its dubious practices, who will be next: garages selling diesel cars; newspapers which contain disobliging opinions?
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