08/10/2024
❤️🔥Another Friend in Prison. Another Fire in My Heart.
Larch Maxey stands as a beacon of resistance in a world teetering on the brink of climate catastrophe. For years, he has fought tirelessly for the survival of our planet against the carbon elite, and now, unjustly, he's been sentenced to three years in prison for his peaceful resistance. This is his story—and ours.
I first met Larch in a festival field. We planned to give a talk together on the extinction crisis. We’d only exchanged a few emails beforehand but clicked right away. He moved people in that tent with his tears for our crumbling world. We both did. And then that night, we danced like it was the last day of our lives.
Larch is old enough to be my dad, and he’s always treated me with that paternal kindness. But I’d never seen a dad dance like that. It was straight out of 90s rave culture - jittery movements that mesmerised and tickled me. We hugged goodnight and promised to stay in touch.
Those dances released us from the fear of a looming storm. We knew the tumultuous days of collapse and repression were ahead, but we steeled ourselves with joy and nonviolent discipline. Over the next two years, we launched British history's biggest civil disobedience campaign. We fought through the tears for our right to a habitable world.
During the weeks of rebellion, we blocked roads from 7 am to 3 pm before launching into hours of meetings and media interviews. I’ve never met someone who can sleep so little and yet smile so warmly. Ever the optimist, Larch even approached a local art college and asked students to help him block the Elephant and Castle roundabout. It was a fanciful idea to most, but it worked. Their young energy and enthusiasm made his day. He was so happy that night.
As we took five sites across London with thousands of others, Larch led the calvary of colourful resistance. Waterloo Bridge was his castle, and he gave his blood, sweat, and tears to protect it.
Larch’s deep resolve mirrors countless others who have laid their bodies on the line, standing firm in the face of a system determined to crush their spirits. Across the rebellion, he was a liaison between the dynamic and emotional sites of resistance, always carrying them with the love of a dad.
Afterwards, we camped together after driving across Europe to a climate gathering. Squished together, we told stories late into the night and giggled until our cheeks were sore. His peculiar diet of dumpster diving became known as ‘bin-based’. His particular food choice went from being edible to ‘Larchable’.
Whilst I drifted into the isolation of chronic illness, I watched in awe as he scaled trees for weeks to protect ancient woodlands and tunnelled under Euston station and oil refinery roads for weeks on end. He throws his whole life and soul into the movement. For that, he has been jailed for three years.
We knew prison was looming over us. We planned for it - we would expose the Government’s criminality by filling their jails as the freedom riders had done for the civil rights movement. Nevertheless, the pain of seeing a friend going to jail still punches me in the stomach. How many more will I see behind bars before our Government switches off its suicidal path?
Meanwhile, the real criminals—the fossil fuel companies and governments enabling them—continue their destruction unchecked. Larch’s imprisonment is a stark reminder of the lengths to which those in power will go to silence dissent and maintain their grip on a dying world.
All I know is this isn’t a moment to retreat. Larch has a warm determination and a community that will stick by his side. All he would ask of us is to give it our all. To shake off the fear of repression and embrace the life of a resister.
The nation's moral compass will be on trial if peaceful protesters fill the jails. How many like Larch will it let be locked up before a mass movement demands their release and no fossil fuels by 2030?
Each one means just as much to someone as Larch means to me. As a community, we are grieving. For someone to unjustly lose their freedom or life is always a pain to the whole. Yet, as we wipe aside the tears, we see a new action stage ahead of us. One that continues an age-old fight for the release of political prisoners whilst building the strength for a societal shift. One that resists fossil fuel infrastructure wherever corporate greed decides to pitch it next.
We must let our grief, ultimately an expression of love, fuel our fire. When we all burn with the brightness of resistance, will we be ready to win our freedom and lives again? Larch’s match has been lit - he’s waiting for you to help him light that dark cell.
You can write to Larch and all other political prisoners at rebelsinprison.uk
