Rebel inc.

I can't know for sure, obviously, but a few guesses spring to mind.

First of all: The vast majority of the world's population are sick and tired of a small arrogant and privileged minority in the western world telling them how to prioritise. They fight poverty, malaria, HIV, and an ever present threat of the collapse of society, and now we tell them to give more rights to women and save electricity.

Priorities are key, and we are doing huge efforts to save energy, now that the prices are skyrocketing. We should have done so years ago, for the sake of the world's temperature, but we didn't.

Priorities are not an unfamiliar concept to us.

Secondly: Linking ideological struggles makes it too overwhelming. The fight for Women's Rights, rights to vote, independence and equal pay was linked to racial equality and even socialism. To a small minority this linking was logical and even observed as necessary. To the large majority is sounded like an encouragement to completely reconstruct the lifeboat that barely secures our survival. Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East (90% of the world's population) received the message with complete indifference.

The large progress came after these links were abolished. Now as many girls as boys are going to school, globally, but not thanks to the suffragette movement.

The Extinction Rebel Movement will fail the same way.

Global warming threatens the glaciers in the Himalayas, and consequently the huge rivers that provide all necessary water in India, China and Southeast Asia. That is more than 70% of the world's population.

With many of these people struggling with acces to electricity, and many living from hand to mouth, global warming, however, is not their immediate priority.

Linking global warming issues to veganism and socialism (or at least anti-consumerism) is not making this easier to sell in Guangzhou, Tamil Nadu or Yemen.

I am not predicting the failure of this message in the future. It is happening right now.

Arrogant and privileged western world activists glueing them selves to the wall in an art museum confirms to them that is is vitally important to cut all ties to the western world, and ignore all the condescending messages from there.

China, on the other hand, is more present in the real world, and see Human Rights as the rights to eat, turn on the lights and go to a hospital. They promise prosperity, and with the Belt and Road Initiative ("the New Silk Road") they are delivering what they promise, without arrogance and linked ideologies.

What we need to do is focus on inventing and marked solutions that will provide these people with day-to-day necessities in an environmentally responsible way, and keep all the ideologies separate.

Women's rights are important. Fighting slavery is important. Racial equality is important. Global warming is important. Curbing consumption is important. Limiting religious influence is important. Gay rights are important. Healthy nutrition and healthcare is important. It all matters.

But ONE subject at a time.

And even better if the message is not delivered by a group of young, privileged, arrogant people from the western world.

This was respected for a few hundred years, after which millions of statues have been made, of a man no one has the slightest clue what looked like.

This might explain why his appearance differs so much from one end of the buddhist world to the other.

Fun fact number one: Did you know that the first epicenter for the spread of Buddhism was present day Afghanistan?

Fun fact number two: North Korea and The People's Republic of China claims to be predominantly atheist, but if you choose not to believe that Buddhism is presumably the world's second largest religion, with more followers than Islam?

Fun fact number three: Did you know that orthodox Buddhism (Theravada) according to western definition is not a religion but a philosophy (since there's no mentioning of God(s) in Buddhism), and it's therefore perfectly possible to be a Christian Buddhist? In China it's not unusual to identify as a Buddhist-Taoist-Confusionist. In Thailand it's common to be a Buddhist and believe in the spirit world. Thai's (and many others) are also often found to be praying to The Buddha for favours...

Just like in Christianity people will pray to the statue in front of them, and not give a shit about the scriptures.

"Please let my team win the tournament!"

Fun fact number four: There is no archeological or historical evidence of Prince Siddhartha Gautama ever having lived, and the story of the prince choosing to leave the palace life might be a little too convenient as an explanation why the Kapilavastu kingdom were absorbed by the neighboring kingdom. In fact there are clues pointing to the idea that The Buddha might be a composed character (two or more people combined to one for simplification). This, however, has no significance to Buddhists, as he is not divine in any way. Only the teachings (The Dharma) has significance, not who – or how many – came up with them.