DISOBEY is a series of monthly online talks discussing the many ways to engage in nonviolent direct action.
Each talk will be a focused conversation on a specific tactic that anyone can use. Build your power and rewire the system through everyday acts of resistance.
A monthly, hour‑long online gathering will host a speaker who delivers a 30 mins talk on a specific nonviolent direct action (NVDA) tactic, followed by a Q&A session managed by an XR Host/Presenter
Each session features speakers with real-world experience, breaking down specific tactics—from boycotts and silent non-compliance to fly-posting—empowering you to take meaningful action right where you are and at the level you feel comfortable.
Please join us – to build community, disrupt the status quo, and reclaim power in a broken system. Let’s turn ordinary choices into revolutionary acts!
Talk 7: Cut The Power: Just Say No
Data centres need staggering quantities of water and electricity. A polluting company needs a steady supply of young workers. Take away any one of those inputs and the machine stops.
This month we meet two campaigns that have worked out exactly where the pressure points are — and are refusing the supply.
No Leeds Data Centre is a community group of over 170 people from all backgrounds, opposing the construction of hyperscale datacentre developments in Leeds and calling for a moratorium across the UK. Their petition gathered over 44,000 signatures within three months, raising concerns about:
- water and power consumption
- noise, infrasound, light and air pollution
- disposal of foul water and waste heat
- surveillance and security changes
- contributions to climate collapse
No New Workers is a youth-led grassroots campaign targeting the industries enabling new fossil fuels and weapons of war. Students, graduates and young people are promising no new workers for these industries until they divest from ecocide and genocide.
What we’ll cover
How a local planning objection becomes a mass movement. How young people can withdraw their labour before they’ve even entered the workforce. Why refusing to supply the machine is better than talking to it. And what leverage you actually have, wherever you are.
Disobey AGAIN AND AGAIN
Missed the talks or want to watch again? Now you can.
talk 6: a plastic free halloween
Disobey ~ Plastic Free Halloween | Extinction Rebellion UK
October 2026
talk 5: growing food = resistance
DISOBEY ~ Growing Food = Resistance | Extinction Rebellion UK
september 2026
For this talk, Disobey brought together two groups who don’t ask permission – they act.
The Lost Giants reclaim landscapes and narratives through giant puppets and public occupation, while Incredible Edible turns neglected public land into food-producing zones without waiting for council approval.
We discussed:
- How creative storytelling becomes disruption
- Why growing food on “public” land is a political statement
The Lost Giants
The Lost Giants is a creative resistance project using giant puppets, shared stories, and mass participation to reclaim landscapes, heritage, and nature from corporate control. Communities participate, occupy and remember. In doing so, they become harder to move, silence, or ignore.
Incredible Edible
Incredible Edible’s ethos is simple: plant food in public spaces that anyone can access. No permits. No fees. No consultation.
They expose the absurdity of land ownership laws while simultaneously feeding people. Every bed asks the question: who really owns this earth?
Incredible Edible started in Todmorden in 2008 and now forms a network of hundreds of groups around the globe. Their slogan: “if you eat, you’re in.
talk 4: Radical Stewardship: Taking Nature Into Our Own Hands
Disobey ~ Radical Stewardship ft. Paul Powlesland | Extinction Rebellion UK
About the Speaker:
Paul Powlesland is a UK barrister, activist, and founder of Lawyers for Nature. He lives on a narrowboat along the River Roding in East London and leads the River Roding Trust.
Wednesday 8th July, 6-7pm
An environmental lawyer organizes a volunteer cleanup of a polluted river. Volunteers remove 200 bags of rubbish, branches, and silt to restore a local waterway. Instead of praise, he faces an investigation by the Environment Agency—for acting illegally without a permit.
This paradox exposes a broken system: we prosecute those who restore nature while ignoring the industrial polluters destroying it.
In this special edition of Disobey, we explored how ecological stewardship itself can be a form of Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA). Join us as we move beyond traditional protest to discuss what happens when ordinary citizens take responsibility for the land, regardless of bureaucratic red tape.
The talk covered:
- how to turn everyday acts of care into a movement.
- practical ways to reclaim public space and support restoration projects
- how to challenge systems that criminalize compassion
- and more….
talk 3: Withdraw Your Money & Resist AI
Disobey ~ Withdraw Consent, Withdraw Money | Extinction Rebellion UK
Wednesday June 10th, 6-7pm
AI and the banks which finance fossil fuels and heavy carbon technology are wrecking our climate and our future. But by acting collectively we can challenge these systems and end their dominance.
Learn:
- Effective tactics to reclaim our agency from AI dominance
- How to ditch your unethical bank and switch to an ethical alternative
- Navigating algorithmic bias in education to avoiding faux-social chatbots
- And more…
About the speakers:
- Sam is from Switched and the Bank Better campaign.
- Dylan is a PhD researcher specializing in everyday resistance.
talk 2: Come What May, Keep Big Tech at Bay (coz that’s NVDA)
Disobey ~ No To Big Tech | Extinction Rebellion UK
About the speakers:
- Matt Tutt: Founder of No To Big Tech. A grassroots movement dedicated to rising up collectively to dismantle Big Tech and supporting the shift to ethical, privacy-first alternatives.
- Kimwei McCarthy: XR activist bridging digital rights and climate action.
Wednesday 13th may, 6-7pm
Big Tech has us in its grip: fuelling hatred, threatening democracy, and practising surveillance capitalism. But collectively we can defeat it.
XR took to the streets earlier this year to demand a pause on AI and Big Tech dominance. Now this DISOBEY talk takes us from protest to practice by showing you exactly how to withdraw your data and funding from the system we are fighting.
Worried about going offline?
We aren’t talking about digital starvation. High-performance alternatives are often anti-capitalist and can save you money too.
Matt and Kimwei will break down the full spectrum of resistance. Whether you’re in for a pixel or in for a gigabyte, learn how to choose the right level of action for you to keep Big Tech at bay.
talk 1: the UK water pollution scandal
Disobey ~ Only Fools Pay for Dirty Water | Extinction Rebellion UK
With Caz Dennett and Steve Conlon from the XRUK Dirty Water Campaign team.
Wednesday 8th April, 6-7pm
April 1 was the billing date for UK water bills. But water companies charging us to dump sewage in our rivers and seas is no joke.
If you’re tired of water companies making enormous profits out of polluting our precious waterways, while the regulator looks on and we pay through the nose, now’s the time to act!
Caz is an experienced campaigner on water who has withheld waste water payments since 2023.
Steve runs the campaign Water Pressure, building public calls for a Citizens’ Assembly on Water
Discover the full spectrum of resistance, including:
- Bill boycotts
- Local actions
- Community Assemblies on Water
- and more….
Please join us – to build community, disrupt the status quo, and reclaim power in a broken system. Let’s turn ordinary choices into revolutionary acts!
If there are no talks scheduled, try back later, or take the opportunity to catch up on the talk videos featured above.