So let’s talk about it.
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.
The DISOBEY talk series is dedicated to the many methods of collective nonviolent direct action available to us all.
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 4: Radical Stewardship: Taking Nature Into Our Own Hands
With Paul Powlesland, UK barrister, activist and founder of Lawyers for Nature.
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 explore 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 will cover:
- 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….
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.
talk 3: Withdraw Your Money & Resist AI
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)
Join Matt Tutt and Kimwei McCarthy to learn how digital sovereignty is a powerful form of nonviolent direct 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.
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.
Together, they 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
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….