30 August – 01 September 2024

Wow! What a weekend that was!

We promised three days of creative, peaceful protest at Windsor Castle to put our long-standing demand for a citizens’ assembly forward as a solution to a political system failing to tackle the climate and nature and emergencies. And despite a frenzy of disinformation spread by the more disreputable sections of the press (hello Daily Mail, The Sun, The Telegraph) who repeated falsehoods about us having secret plans to “storm the castle” in “three days of chaos”, that’s what we, together in our hundreds, delivered, in love, rage, joy and with great food!

On Friday we came from all over the country to gather in Windsor Home Park in a beautiful camp that was to be our base for the next three days. In the late afternoon we marched to the Long Walk that leads to Windsor Castle for a performance lead by the Oil Slicks, accompanied by funeral drummers, fawning bankers, politicians, and media barons. Afterwards we heard talks from scientist Dr Charlie Gardener on how the fossil fuel giants have captured our political system to ensure their obscene profits continue to roll in, even while the planet burns. Tom Hardy outlined the role played in this criminal enterprise by the fossil fuel funded think tanks – many of them located in Tufton Street in Westminster and/or associated with the international Atlas Network.

Saturday started with a procession to the front of the Castle where we delivered a pink post box filled with letters to the King written by children and adults with our hopes and fears about climate change and the nature emergency. Of course, it’s been hundreds of years since we were ruled by a King and we upgraded democracy to a Parliamentary system, so this action could only ever have been a symbolic one. We suspected from the outset that these letters would not be accepted by the castle and would never reach the King – and that is indeed what happened. The post box was removed by the council shortly after rebels processed to the Long Walk for the centrepiece of the weekend – the mass assembly, or Massembly.

After some great lunch prepared by rebels, we sorted ourselves into groups of six to start the Massembly – a three hour deliberative process where we made sure everyone was heard as we discussed the question “How can we take meaningful steps to upgrade democracy?”. We heard about democratic innovations that have been implemented successfully around the world, discussed their merits and came up with some ideas of our own. A simultaneous online assembly was held for those who couldn’t attend in person, bringing the total of online and in-person participants to a total of 450. The results were uploaded by our individual groups to the pol.is platform.

The weekend culminated on the Sunday in a two-hour XR-style occupation outside the front of the Castle. We heard from speakers from a wide range of speakers, including Scientists for XR, Rebecca Lester from the People’s Plan for Nature, Kirsten Downer from the Sortition Foundation, Assemble, Lazarus from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Indio from XR’s Relationships Circle talking about the upcoing COP 16 on Biodiversity in Colombia, and Geraldine from the All African Women’s Group.

At the same time, rebels from all over the UK had brought with them games for the fUNfair – a funfair that was deliberatively rigged to make sure you could never win the game. The parallels to our current system were not lost on the passers by on Windsor High Street, who enjoyed taking part while listening to music and doing some block printing with XR’s super star Block Printers.

Musicians and performers included: Pandora’s Diary, Sam Davis, Sayers Music, Leilani, Kimwei, Merry Of Mayday Morris, Al Head and poet Adz.

The occupation ended with a moving theatrical action dramatising the death and rebirth of democracy.

The three days in Windsor signalled things to come from XR UK, with a heavy focus on our failing political system and an urgent need to create a system that is inclusive, fair, and long-term. The weekend in Windsor may be done, but our work to Upgrade Democracy is far from over!

Please see our professional photo library for more wonderful images of the weekend, including the fUnfair, Dogs of XR, and the camp.

After the weekend was over the local I Love Windsor website gave testimonies from the local MP, residents and businesses and concluded that XR had proved ourselves “very considerate guests.” In their online wrap-up the BBC quoted an XR spokesperson who said:

“We have the smallest of windows to avoid tipping points in the climate system. Politicians must grab the gift of establishing a citizens’ assembly on climate and ecological justice to expedite the urgent action we need.”

Thanks to you and everyone that made it happen!