Breakout

Description

We meet Safi lying in the entrance to a petrol station in West Wales, in a bid to deter local motorists from using fossil fuels. Unfortunately for her, the station is big enough for cars to simply drive around her. Gary, the local police officer, shows up and rather exasperatedly tries to explain how she\'s not actually changing anything, and if she doesn\'t move he\'ll have to take her to the station. Safi is resolute, her 18-year-old passion for the climate crisis unmatched in all of Pembrokeshire. Gary sighs, knowing her speech well, and tells her she doesn\'t have to get in the police car as long as she goes to the station. She concedes, and they travel together, Safi on her scooter on the footpath, and Gary driving slowly next to her with his police lights on, all half a mile down the road to the station. As Safi gets booked in, Gary\'s rather more sniffy colleague Sheila gloats that Safi might now face a real prison sentence, as the law for convicting peaceful protests recently changed. Safi tries to bluff her way through, but the news rattles her. Normally she gets a slap on the wrist and a night on bail for her demonstrations, but going to actual prison? She\'s only 18, and has uni and jobs to think about. As Safi wrestles with this new information, Gary and Sheila discuss the latest TikTok trend. Over the police radio there is a warning that a valley-wide curfew is to be imposed, due to rising flood levels. Gary and Sheila are confused, a curfew? There\'d been no warning about this, and the flooding was mostly in rural areas. Over the radio they hear reports of panic buyers emptying shops, fights breaking out, and looting in some of the worst affected areas. As the three grow more tense listening to the report, suddenly a huge 7.1 magnitude earthquake shakes the prison walls to their foundations. The noise is earsplitting, the shaking intensifies until a unbearable level until - blackout. The noise of the walls crumbling continues over black.The whine of a back up generator kicks in, and some emergency lights blink into action. The dust settles around Safi and Gary and Sheila stand, Gary\'s sandwich still in hand. The radio announces electrical fires have broken out and and looting has swept across the county. Gary and Sheila are gobsmacked, and Gary starts to fret about his kids at home. He hasn\'t done his weekly shop yet and they used the last of the cheddar yesterday. Safi looks around at the rubble and her open door to freedom and offers a deal, if they drop the protest charges she\'ll take them to get some supplies from her Extinction Rebellion group, enough canned goods, water, and loo roll for a few weeks. The only condition, of course, is that they don\'t take a petrol vehicle. The final shot is Safi and Gary scooting along the Pembrokeshire coast.

Biblical Connection

Acts 16:16-25 - Paul and Silas in Prison. I wanted to look at this story through a modern lens, and ask the question: what would it take for prison walls to literally be shaken to such a degree that they break open? Climate-related seismic activity immediately came to mind. As I was reading the story, I was struck by the feeling of helplessness, and being trapped in a situation out of your control. As someone who has grown up following the climate crisis story, but with no idea how to \'fix it\', I really connected with the idea that Paul and Silas could only sing and hope for the best. I feel like writing is my version of \'singing\', a calling card to process and challenge injustices we\'re seeing in the world, to bring big issues into conversation through a broad, comedic lens that isn\'t finger-waggy or worth. I was also inspired by the recent change in law that allows police to prosecute those who are peacefully protesting, and wanted to examine that as an interesting paradox - especially as many people who are protesting the use of oil don\'t have unlimited wealth to afford to lose their jobs etc.