BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion holds funeral service on Parl Sq, blocks square - Extinction Rebellion UK
Not in the UK? Visit the Global Website.

BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion holds funeral service on Parl Sq, blocks square

November 24, 2018 by Extinction Rebellion

For interviews and enquiries, email: press@risingup.org.uk
Phone: +44(0)7878535968 / +44(0)7549766448 / +44(0)7732576590 / +44(0)7535928734 / +44(0) 7479234522
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExtinctionR; #extinctionrebellion
 
 
  • More than 1,000 people are publicly mourning humans having wiped out tens of thousands of animal species with a memorial service at Parliament Square
  • A coffin, representing the future of life – if we continue on our current path – will be buried in the middle of the historic Conservation Area
  • There will be a funeral march to an undisclosed destination, stopping at Downing Street on the way
  • Expect non violent peaceful civil disobedience and potential arrests.
 
More than 1,000 people have filled Parliament Square, dressed in black, for a memorial service to mark the loss of life our planet has, is and will experience – around 200 species per day and rising. Humans represents just 0.01% of all living things yet since the dawn of civilisation, humans have caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants, while livestock kept by humans abound. [1]
 
Academic and Green party politician Rupert Read said: “We have to consider the possibility that we ain’t seen nothing yet … there is an *absolute* responsibility on the British Government to act and adapt to stop the worst from happening.”
 
Protestors have blocked all of the roads around Parliament Square and will bury a coffin, representing the future of all life on the planet. 
 
The Rebellion Day 2 protest event is highlighting the Government’s failure to recognise and act on the ecological and climate emergency, particularly in light of the fact we are in the sixth mass extinction. [3]
 
Kofi Klu from Pan-Afrikan Reparations Coalition In Europe said: “We are literally holding our Mother Earth down for corporations to disembowel her.”
 
Emily, 36 from London, said: “I’m standing amongst hundreds of people prepared to rise up in rebellion to save what we can of our future. The grief is palpable. But there is power in this shared mourning. We are going to take every action that we can, we are going to disrupt again and again and again so that space might be cleared where we can create a better future. 
 
“We ache for all the species that are dying but listening to such different voices from all around the world, from young people and communities on the front line of this crisis, we are ready, to take action, to fight back, to begin the courageous conversations within our community. This is just the beginning and we will never stop.” 
 
Invited guests, speakers and performers include folk singer Sam Lee, author of Only Planet Ed Gillespie, Kwame Adofo Sampong from Trade Unions and the Pan-Afrikan Community Link, Rabbi Jeffrey, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, rapper Dizraeli, the representative for Island States in the UN Farhana Yamin, Labour councillor Skeena Rathor, Esther Stanford-Xosei from the Pan-Afrikan Reparations Coalition In Europe, Beth Summers, plus a nine piece New Orleans jazz band and the Extinction Rebellion choir.
 
In a statement, Extinction Rebellion said: “We Rebel because we love this world. It breaks our hearts to see it ravaged, to watch so many people and animals all over this world already dying, to know that this will soon happen to our children without urgent changes. There is no way forward without giving credence to our grief”
 
“We are serious, this is an emergency, this is our home we are watching collapse.
 
Last Saturday, Rebellion Day 1 was a celebration of the life on earth the protesters want to save, as thousands came together in peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience, blocking five bridges deliberately in central London – a first in living memory. Rebellion Day 2, in contrast, will strike a sombre tone and will remember and mourn all the life lost, all the lives we are losing at the moment – around 200 species per day and untold numbers of humans – and the life still to be lost.
 
With people willing to be arrested on the day to highlight the climate emergency, Extinction Rebellion added:  “If people are arrested on the day, you will hear bells ringing.  Please pause, turn to watch and honour those that are being taken, in silent witness.” 
 
Protest events are also taking place at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, with a ‘Funeral for the Future’ procession beginning at Sheffield Cathedral, a banner drop from the Menai Bridge in Bangor in North Wales, plus peaceful nonviolent direct action expected in Manchester. A further solidarity event has been called in Berlin, as well as other events nationally and internationally. [4]
Notes:
  
  1. Extinction Rebellion solidarity protest events around the UK and internationally on Saturday 24th November:
In Scotland they are having their own declaration day on Saturday. https://www.facebook.com/events/1061177717398612/?ti=as
In Bangor north wales theres a banner drop planned for the Menai bridge! https://www.facebook.com/events/255145655178816/?ti=as
Manchester is planning direct action https://www.facebook.com/events/180839789450093/?ti=cl
4. 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. 
Extinction Rebellion’s topline demands are:
  • 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
  • The Government must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels
  • A national Citizen’s Assembly must be created, to oversee the changes, as part of creating a democracy fit for purpose.
 
Declaration of Rebellion: https://rebellion.earth/declaration/ 
5. About RisingUp
 
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.
 

Sign up for news