“It was so important to come here today because there is such a wide mix of groups. The guy [Trump] on every level should not be in power, he should not be allowed in front of any TV camera, let alone as president of the United States, and to have him here, on a state visit with the royal family—that I do generally believe care—this is just not on. It really is not on.”
Like other protesters, Sarah was quick to reference the far-right march in London last Saturday, which attracted over 100,000 people and exposed deepening divisions within UK society, as a reason to protest.
“To have this guy here and for our government and our royal family to welcome him is such a fucking grave error,” she says, describing Trump as the “epitome of hate and violence.” “We are angry. We are all really angry.”
Photograph: Natasha Bernal
Clive Teague, who was at the protest supporting Extinction Rebellion Waverley and Borders in Surrey, says that this AI deal is one of many things the government is getting wrong. “[Trump] is there [in Windsor] because we’re here. If we weren’t here, he’d be coming down the Mall. We are here to stop him.”
Teague says he isn’t against the use of AI, as long as it is done with new, clean energy sources, not existing power. “We can’t keep burning fossil fuels to keep feeding into these data centers, because it’ll swamp the requirements for the rest of the world.” This sentiment was echoed on the march by other environmental groups, like Greenpeace, which objects to huge data centers being approved without what it considers to be a proper assessment of the impacts on local water systems and the power grid.
“Greenpeace is not opposed to AI,” Greenpeace UK chief scientist Doug Parr said in a written statement to WIRED. “The multi-billion-pound tech giants building new data centers should be forced to take some responsibility for funding solutions, whether it’s cooling methods using much less water or running on new, clean renewable power. It’s time for the government to lay down some rules and take responsibility instead of just cheerleading for the AI sector.”