5:30pm Today, London: Extinction Rebellion to shut down Brazilian Embassy with a Queer Party to Save the Amazon
November 15, 2018 by Nils
5:30pm Today, London: Extinction Rebellion to shut down Brazilian Embassy with a Queer Party to Save the Amazon
Welcome to the Rebellion! LGBTQ+ people, Brazilians and their allies are hosting a big queer party outside the Brazilian Embassy in London at 5:30pm tonight to save the Amazon.
Coorganised by Brazilian Women against Fascism UK and Extinction Rebellion, this protest party highlights the global nature of the climate crisis. It is part of Extinction Rebellion’s nonviolent uprising against the British government for its criminal inaction on the climate and ecological emergency, in the run up to Rebellion Day on 17th November.
Following the election of Bolsonaro, activists from Extinction Rebellion – an environmental movement that has, this week, shut down BEIS, DEFRA with multiple around 50 willing activist arrests throughout Westminster – are showing solidarity with minority groups in Brazil and protesting Bolsonaro’s reckless plans for the Amazon. [1]
The party will climax with a ritual eating of Bolnosaro. A huge cake has been made with his face on it. This ritual remembers – and ridicules – the first settlers of Brazil who feared being eaten by the Tupinabas and Caetes (indigenous people of Brazil) as well as humiliating Bolnasoro and his hatred of Brazilian indians.
Bolsonaro has promised to open up tracks of indigenous lands and the Amazon rainforest to development which will be disastrous, threatening the planet’s lungs and tipping us into runaway climate change.
“His reckless plans to industrialise the Amazon in concert with Brazilian and international agribusiness and mining sectors will bring untold destruction to the planet’s largest rainforest and the communities who call it home, and spell disaster for the global climate,” Amazon Watch program director Christian Poirier told CNN.
Brazil is already the most dangerous country to be an environmental protector [2]. It is also the most dangerous country to be LGBTQ+ [3].
Matthew Todd, former editor of Attitude magazine and the author of Straight Jacket: How to be gay and happy, said:
“We must wake up and take responsibility. This is not a case of either/or – it is possible to campaign on multiple issues at the same time. We are on the verge of something literally unimaginable from which scientists say there will be no way back.”
Joanna Nastari, an actor and activist who is half Brazilian and will be co-hosting the Queer Party to Save the Amazon said:
“We stand on the brink of climate breakdown. We cannot allow Bolsonaro to preside over the biggest climate wrecking government of any nation yet to come. If the Amazon goes, we all go. We need to fight back and to stand in solidarity with all people under threat right now in Brazil. And for all of us, who are under threat from runaway climate change.”
10am Saturday 17th November – Southwark, Blackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster and Lambeth Bridges to be blocked in London
2 days until Rebellion Day, which will be the climax of the first week of civil disobedience. Gather from 10am on a bridge of your choice. NOTE: Do NOT meet in Parliament Square. People are expected to occupy the five separate bridges, participate in a sit-in protest that will bring central London to a standstill. Performers, musicians, and artists will be leading the action and people from all across the country will be arriving in coaches throughout the day.
Extinction Rebellion demands that the UK government immediately declares a climate and ecological emergency; reduces to zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, and creates a citizen’s assembly to oversee these changes.
NOTES:
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About Extinction Rebellion
Time has almost entirely run out to address the ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices, with human extinction also a possibility, if rapid action is not taken.
Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by its Government.
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Extinction Rebellion’s topline demands are:
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The Government must admit the truth about the ecological emergency, reverse all policies inconsistent with addressing climate change, and work alongside the media to communicate with citizens
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The Government must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels
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A national Citizen’s Assembly must be created, to oversee the changes, as part of creating a democracy fit for purpose.
Website: https://risingup.org.uk/XR/; facebook https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellion/; Rebellion Day facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/1758991460816073/; twitter https://twitter.com/ExtinctionR; hashtag #extinctionrebellion
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Declaration of Rebellion: https://rebellion.earth/declaration/
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Queer Party to SAVE the Amazon’. Details of this public protest are here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/252083962143963/. If you would like to attend please be in touch with press@risingup.org.uk
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All details of Extinction Rebellion public events can be viewed here:
https://rebellion.earth/events/ If you would like to cover a public event then please contact press@risingup.org.uk
The RisingUp network promotes a fundamental change of our political and economic system to one which maximises well-being and minimises harm. Change needs to be nurtured in a culture of reverence, gratitude and inclusion; whilst the tools of civil disobedience and direct action are used to express our collective power.
Website http://www.risingup.org.uk/; facebook https://www.facebook.com/RisingUpUK/; twitter https://twitter.com/RisingUpUK