Rebellion in the Regions as London Assembly and local councils declare Climate Emergency

Phone: +44(0)7878535968 / +44(0)7549766448 / +44(0)7732576590 / +44(0)7535928734 / +44(0) 7479234522
Website: www.rebellion.earth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellion/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExtinctionR; #extinctionrebellion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/extinctionrebellion/
Photos/videos of XR demo at London Assembly today/Caroline Russell with XR people:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1m1v7Cs8JFkDM1gHp45OF-NwwhLzPZJO8 

Climate Factsheet for Rebels https://rebellion.earth/the-climate-factsheet-for-rebels/

Extinction Rebellion groups from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales today announced a Regional Rebellion Day on Saturday 15th December. Peaceful nonviolent protests are planned to pressure local councils in Ireland and the UK to declare a Climate Emergency, go zero carbon by 2025 and create Citizens Assemblies to deliver the required changes in the face of the ecological and climate disaster we all face. [1]

The news comes as today the London Assembly has declared a Climate Emergency, together with the local councils of Bristol, Stroud and Totnes, who have already done this. Countless others are expected to follow.

“We congratulate the London Assembly on its move today – as well as Bristol, Stroud and Totnes Councils – and urge other institutions to follow suit as the first step in acknowledging we are in an emergency,” said Dr. Larch Maxey of Extinction Rebellion.

“Extinction Rebellion groups are rising up to face this emergency. Throughout the UK and the world we are seeing people coming together to take peaceful action, to demand that there is an emergency response to what we face. Rebellion for the our future and our children’s children’s futures is an idea whose time has come.”

Regional Rebellion Day builds on Extinction Rebellion’s launch and exponential growth following people super–glueing themselves to the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, spray-painting the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, dropping huge ‘irreverent and direct’ banners from Westminster Bridge, throwing paint over the Brazilian Embassy and disrupting a City Hall ‘disaster planning meeting’. Thousands converged on the Thames and blocked five major bridges in central London in what is seen as the UK’s biggest peaceful act of civil disobedience in decades, followed by swarming events, which saw escalating economic disruption as London’s traffic was repeatedly gridlocked for days running.

Out of many hundreds willing to risk prison by engaging in peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience, more than 150 people were arrested.

Regional Rebellion Day

The Regional Rebellion day will see local groups in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and across England including Cambridge, Exeter, Totnes and Manchester pressing their local councils to pass climate emergency motions like those passed in Bristol, Stroud and Totnes.

Devon County Councillor Jacqui Hodgson notes: “As an elected politician it is my job to follow the climate science and listen to what people want. The science is clear: we have a climate emergency and these rising local rebellions such as those we’re seeing throughout Devon and the UK show that people want their elected representatives to step up to this unprecedented challenge. They demand action now.”

Regional Rebellion Day comes on the last day of the COP24 talks in Poland at which David Attenborough earlier made an impassioned speech warning: “If we don’t take action the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon”.

Notes

1. Climate Factsheet for Rebels https://rebellion.earth/the-climate-factsheet-for-rebels/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2018/oct/08/ipcc-climate-change-report-urgent-action-fossil-fuels-live; https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2017-07-02-three-years-to-safeguard-our-climate.html

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study

2. 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.

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

Declaration of Rebellion: https://rebellion.earth/declaration/

3. 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.

Website http://www.risingup.org.uk/; facebook https://www.facebook.com/RisingUpUK/; twitter https://twitter.com/RisingUpUK