Making sense of Extinction Rebellion Indonesia activism through a performative perspective on rights claiming

Abstract

One of the most common ways to shed light on injustice is through rights claiming. This study examines how Extinction Rebellion Indonesia frames its claims and mobilises strategies to contest dominant discourses and construct new political subjects. In doing so, it highlights the performative dimensions of rights claiming, that is, a dimension that is concerned with not only what is said or demanded but also what is enacted, embodied, and transformed through action. The study is based on 10 interviews with activists and various secondary resources, including academic literature, social media posts, and webpages. Adopting a social constructionist lens, the study develops a framework that combines social movement, human rights, and feminist theories. From a performative perspective on rights-claiming, the study found that through engaging with XR’s framing processes and nonviolent action, XR Indonesia activists challenge mainstream climate narratives that see climate change as natural and apolitical and that “ordinary people” do not belong in climate protests. Instead, they insisted on appearing as political subjects who demand a political reconfiguration based on the idea of rights, justice, and equality. In effect, this transforms activists’ subjectivities and experience with climate injustice. One of the main challenges is to maintain this commitment and engagement with a more radical idea of rights so as not to risk the movement falling back to the old model of environmentalism it initially rejected.