Headlining at Womad: Extinction Rebellion joins the international stage to spread the word on climate

A child stops, fascinated. Sun breaks through cloud swaddling the humid Wiltshire field. A 40-piece marching band, all dressed in silver crowns, marches towards the growing crowd at the Rebel Rebel festival stage at the Womad music, dance and arts festival. A young girl leads the musicians with cartwheels. Behind her an effortlessly exuberant couple dance and conduct the saxophones, trumpets, trombones and oversized drums.

They are celebrating the 300-foot diameter Extinction Rebellion (XR) crop circle created two days earlier to draw “attention to food security issues in the context of climate and ecological collapse”. Aerial photographs are needed to show the size of the work, which XR says is the largest extinction symbol ever made. It’s the first time XR, Womad and art collective The Circlemakers have worked together.

Small huddles of people eat sandwiches, some drink bear, others read. One by one they look up and make space for an assembly as the band approaches. A group of women dressed from head to toe in blood-red robes follows the musicians to obvious signs of shock among the audience. The outfits symbolise the bloodshed of the environmental crisis. The male speaks: “This is the Fallout Marching Band. The next song is from the days of the Aldermaston anti-nuclear marches, reminding us that the fight goes on.” The band was a feature of the Greenham Common demonstrations.

A sermon of sorts on this Sunday morning, but with no preaching, just a celebration. Like many other XR happenings at the festival, the band is a last-minute thing, musicians enlisted just before they need to play to show their support for the cause. But, together with the giant crop symbol, the message is clear. On Monday, XR revealed other symbols created simultaneously with Womad’s: a sand sculpture in New Zealand; flowers in Columbia; human beings in the US; paddle boards on Lake Morat, Switzerland; and a laser projection in Chile.

Resolution, passion and indomitability ooze from every corner of the festival: 79-year-old Calypso Rose sings about getting a Young Boy if her man leaves; Ziggy Marley dances to “Rebellion Rises” and his version of his dad’s “One Love” before backing Extinction Rebellion on the BBC; the Klezmatics explain how important it is to remember that the classic Yiddish singalong song Ale Brider is about universal sisterhood and brotherhood. Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha even bring animals and nature into the music with bird and forest sounds haunting their performances.

It all screams that anything is possible, linking past struggles with the present, art with the right to life, the political with the personal. An emotional mix, bringing me to tears with memories of my parents who played the same tunes as FMB, my mother singing and my father playing trumpet, when they took me to the anti-nuclear Aldermaston Marches in my pram, and their parents who fought Mosley’s fascists in the Battle of Cable Street. “Womad exists because of the ability of people of different cultures to collaborate positively and creatively,” global festival director Chris Smith says.

Womad does, of course, have a history of political and campaigning stands, from co-founder Peter Gabriel onwards to Smith’s criticism of hostile immigration controls last year. And there’s the work of the Womad Foundation. It helps community groups engage with artists from different parts of the world and, its website says, is “particularly interested in receiving applications from those working with refugees and asylum seekers. We aim to help groups or individuals use the arts as a way to support refugees, to bring people together in the community, to break down barriers and to help integration.’’

It’s all about openness as well as the exchange of ideas and cultures, as is clear from the presence of Greenpeace and Oxfam, alongside XR and artists from all parts of the world. This year’s event, the 38th, is being hailed as a landmark by the organisers. It attracted 39,000 people, who watched 300 performances and took part in 500 workshops, talks and events run by more than 100 artists from 50 nations. As usual, vast numbers of artists and genres were represented. Alongside the arts, music and dance, the festival continued its work of giving platforms to people who want to act and speak on social and political issues.

“We’ve been inspired by the efforts of Extinction Rebellion to create huge energy and global solidarity around the urgent need to tackle the ongoing climate and ecological emergency,” Smith adds. “It’s exciting that our two organisations were able to come together this weekend to celebrate the global cultures that form the core of our humanity, and inspire people to act to help preserve our species, our planet, and with them the global music art and culture we were celebrating.’’

Kate Cameron, 57, a university lecturer from Devon, plays percussion in the Fallout Marching Band and was make her presence heard at Sunday’s event. “I have always enjoyed expressing myself and my views through music,’’ she says. ”It was great to see so many people getting involved. It creates a good vibe and brings people together. I’m sure it can get people involved in a movement. Look at Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and the South African musical scene. Through expressing your feelings you can change people’s thoughts.’’

Jon Petter, 55, a music educator and community artist from London, plays clarinet in the band. “The band is more about the spirit than being a wonderful musician, but that makes it as inclusive as possible, which is also a big part of what happens at Womad. With climate change and XR the band has been given another push after being quiet for a few years. Playing at the weekend was a moving experience. Music can change people’s moods in a moment, so it is a powerful tool. Who knows if music has changed the world, but it has had a big impact. Hopefully we’ll do more like this at Womad.’’

More of the same would suit Julian Thompson, XR festivals coordinator, but with clear political goals. “There is a certain edge to having a bunch of direct-action people arriving at a festival,” he says. “We are more used to facing down police in London, so this is very different. We’ve got a message to get out to the world, and Womad shares an ethos with us in terms of giving a voice to the voiceless.”

XR has created symbols at other festivals, each representing its protests. Glastonbury, with the pink boat, was Oxford Circus, Womad was Waterloo Bridge, Wilderness will be Parliament Square, Boomtown will be Marble Arch. But Thompson says Womad stands out. “We want to build an internationalist movement and Womad has a strong international reach and cultural mix.”

He is keen to be explain that trees used to make the Rebel Rebel stage feel like Waterloo Bridge are “going to good homes in London, such as underprivileged neighbourhoods and schools”. He also responds to online criticism of cutting of crops just for an image, but he explains that the loss was minute compared to food waste and that it was worthwhile to make that point. He sees the need to construct a narrative.

“Throughout history, we have told our stories through spoken word, poetry and song. Visual art and metaphors like the Womad Crop Circle help to communicate our message.”

“Everyone needs to support the next Rebellion on 7 October, in London and around the world. You can’t have a million without one, so the choices each of us make right now matter. We all need to make our choice. We have to take joy in our existence, which again brings in music and arts. We are hoping to build on our relationship with Womad to keep telling our story and we are looking to build other connections all the time.”

XR has been grabbing so many headlines recently that it wasn’t surprising that a talk by Gail Bradbrook was overflowing. Thompson’s attitudes to working with others were reflected in her festival debate with Dale Vince, founder of the green energy company Ecotricity. “There’s nothing wrong with businesses,’’ she said, adding that it depends what they are doing. “Profit does not need to be the only motive. Businesses are just organisations and they can be doing good.”

Vince agrees. “We are businesses formed to change the world,” he says. “We need to change energy, transport and food.” He thinks that groups such as XR and Greenpeace can work with business for mutual and social benefit. “We get into politics as and when we need to do. We are agnostic. We are not worried about what people say. These ideas work in any arena where you get to people, from music and arts to a football crowd. We need to bring everybody with us. People at Womad are very receptive to the ideas that interest me, but it’s a two-way street. I always learn a lot by being there.”

The stumbling child and cartwheeling girl watching the Fallout Marching Band might not remember much about the spectacle, but they are certainly going to be affected by its message.