From Monday 15 July Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Summer Uprising – ACT NOW!’ to cause major disruption across five UK cities
July 10, 2019 by Extinction Rebellion
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Phone: Bristol, South West England: +44(0)7722062502, +44(0)7432 677696, +44(0)7527669942
Cardiff, Wales: +44(0)7580189876, +44 (0)7591800795
Glasgow, Scotland: +44(0)7904591052
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London, Central and South England: +44(0)7561098449, +44(0)7944894190
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What emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers
Trailer video for Summer Uprising – ACT NOW
Hashtags #SummerUprising #ActNow #extinctionRebellion
- From Monday 15 July regional Extinction Rebellion groups invite people from across the UK to join them in Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow and London to stage a series of beautiful and disruptive protests during next week under the banner Summer Uprising – ACT NOW.
- They are raising the alarm on why we need to demand of the government ACT NOW to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
- Each city will coordinate its own unique protest, drawing attention to different elements of the Climate and Ecological Emergency: Bristol – Rising sea levels; Cardiff – The sixth mass extinction; Glasgow – Solidarity with climate refugees; Leeds – Planet before profit, London – Climate justice.
- A thousand rebels have said they are willing to risk arrest and 500 rebels are willing to go to prison over the actions if necessary. Hundreds are prepared to block cities all week if local councils refuse to meet our demands.
- People are invited to come and join the creative resistance, including People’s Assemblies, art actions, music, performances, talks, workshops, food and designated family spaces.
- Extinction Rebellion also announces today that the next major International Rebellion will begin worldwide from Monday 7 October; the announcement comes as preparations begin for the East London Uprising this weekend, 12–14 July.
Time is running out…
At the end of 2018, after another year of record-breaking temperatures around the world, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General warned us that humanity faces a ‘direct existential threat’ if we do not change course by 2020. [1] We are now less than six months away from this warning and the necessary action needed to address the Climate and Ecological Emergency has not yet begun.
In the UK, the government’s own Committee on Climate Change has brought to the Government’s attention its failure to make progress in any of the sectors studied, or indeed to deliver upon 96% of the policies needed in order to meet the Government’s own 2050 target. The UK Government’s response to this emergency, is to continue making things worse for the next 31 years.
Although Extinction Rebellion welcomed the UK Parliament’s declaration of a Climate and Environmental Emergency shortly after we raised the alarm during our Spring Rebellion, we are yet to see substantive action. Today’s announcement by the Committee on Climate Change shows the situation is dire. We are not turning this boat around nearly fast enough. [2]
Monday 15 July – ‘Summer Uprising: ACT NOW’ begins
With this in mind, starting Monday 15 July Extinction Rebellion UK will return to block streets day after day creating open public spaces for creative resistance in five cities in England, Wales and Scotland – Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds and London. People are coming together through a set of UK wide regional acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to demand the Government ACT NOW to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Marking the beginning of preparations for Extinction Rebellion’s next International Rebellion which will begin on Monday 7 October 2019, the Summer Uprising will follow on from this weekend’s East London Uprising.
Each site will have family-friendly spaces, live music, print workshops, speeches and more. Everyone is invited to join this exciting coordinated Summer Uprising in the city of their choosing:
Sea Levels Are Rising and So Are We – Bristol (XR South-West England)
In Bristol the focus will be on rising sea levels. This reflects the city’s maritime history and its risk of floods, which NASA research warns are likely to be a regular occurrence by 2050 if climate breakdown isn’t urgently addressed. 22,300 residential Bristol properties will be at risk, and flooding is likely to affect power stations.
Russell Arnott, 38, Oceanographer, University of Bath
“We are taking action in Bristol to tell the Government to act now on climate change and ecological breakdown. Average sea levels have risen by 23cm since 1880 with devastating consequences. This is causing destructive erosion, flooding, more frequent hurricanes and powerful storms, killing and displacing millions worldwide. We have to wake up to the facts. This is a crisis to deal with, here and now.”
For updates on Bristol, follow Extinction Rebellion Bristol on facebook, twitter and their website.
The Sixth Mass Extinction is Already Here – Cardiff (XR Wales)
Cardiff will be transformed by the arrival of concerned citizens from across Wales who are determined to highlight the need for the Welsh Government to dramatically accelerate its actions in tackling the climate crisis and ecological emergency.
They will be occupying a central space in Cardiff – meeting from 11am Monday outside Cardiff National Museum. Dressed in yellow, protestors will represent dead canaries inspired by the words of Irish President Michael D Higgins, “If we were coal miners we’d be up to our knees in dead canaries”. The sixth mass extinction is here and it’s time to act now.
Stephen Lingwood, 37, Extinction Rebellion Cardiff
“People are dying right now of climate chaos in places like India. It’s only going to get worse. We’re at the beginning of the sixth mass extinction and a climate genocide and the government’s inaction is, in my view, criminally irresponsible.”
For updates on Cardiff, follow Extinction Rebellion Cardiff on facebook and their twitter.
The Future You Fear is Already Here: Glasgow (XR Scotland) #Justice4ClimateRefugees
Glasgow / Scotland’s focus for the Summer Uprising is solidarity with climate refugees. Climate crisis and ecological breakdown are not distant threats: all around the world people are already dying and being displaced. The future effects of the Climate and Ecological Emergency that we in the UK are terrified about – floods, food shortages, droughts and resulting conflicts – are already a reality for millions of people in the Global South/Majority World. The Glasgow event will have live music, a ceilidh, speakers on climate justice and refugee solidarity, and family activities with Wee Rebellion.
Daniel Armstrong, 24, Extinction Rebellion Scotland
“As the climate continues to break down, more and more parts of the world will become uninhabitable. Immigration is already seen as a big issue but it will only increase as more people are displaced. But if you’re faced with unlivable conditions due to extreme weather, food shortages and drought, you have no choice but to leave. From the perspective of my hometown Glasgow, where refugees are welcomed, we stand in solidarity with those affected not just by climate chaos but also those displaced by this global crisis.”
For updates on Glasgow, follow Extinction Rebellion Glasgow on facebook and their twitter.
Planet Before Profit: Leeds (XR North England)
Rebels will target Leeds’ financial sector, which is the biggest and fastest growing outside London, to draw attention to the links between banking and the climate and ecological emergency. Demands will be made for the finance industry to radically clean up its act and invest to be part of the solution, not the problem.
Rev’d Jon Swales (B.A Hons, M.A, MLitt), 41, Leeds
“Too often we remain silent in the face of injustice, oppression and extinction. I will not be silent for the sake of the world’s most poor.
“The Extinction Rebellion protests in Leeds will allow the alarm bell to ring loud and clear in the City in which I live and work. If this call is heeded perhaps we can avert the worst of what is yet to come. I intend to play my part in non-violent and love shaped protest.”
For updates on Leeds, follow Extinction Rebellion Leeds on facebook and their twitter.
We Are Nature Defending Itself: London (XR South-East England and National)
People are invited to gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice (time TBC) in solidarity with all climate activists defending our planet around the globe. We demand climate justice for all and call on Government to make ecocide law. We stand with those laying their bodies on the line to defend the natural world and commend their courage. We are nature defending itself!
Fletcher Horobin-Worley, 45, Extinction Rebellion London:
“The time to debate climate change is over. Now we must talk of climate justice. Now we must talk of moral obligations. Right now thousands suffer and die every year in the global south due to climate change. Entire island nations are being wiped of the map. Now we must meet our duty to shoulder the burden of adapting to climate breakdown. ”
For updates on London, follow Extinction Rebellion London on facebook, twitter and their website.
Extinction Rebellion around the world
The Summer Uprising comes as Extinction Rebellion’s rapid growth around the world continues, just as the Climate and Ecological Emergency becomes more apparent. There are now groups in 59 countries – including Israel, Romania, Sri Lanka and Argentina – with 351 groups across 248 cities and towns. Rebels in each corner of the globe are laying down their bodies and taking action, with more than 1100 people arrested in the UK and over 400 in other countries. Communities around the globe are uniting to demand climate justice.
With each protest that is shut down, several more grow in its place as more and more people of all ages and backgrounds come together to rebel against criminal Government inaction on the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. As our movement flourishes into something restorative and significantly powerful, we can no longer look at ourselves as separate from each other or from nature. We are nature. With each fire that rages in California or flood that devastates Kerala, we begin to see that each of these events affects us all.
Notes to Editors:
[3] The first new deep coal mine in the UK for decades has moved a step closer after councillors unanimously backed the plans: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-47629731
[4] Xu, Y., et al. (2018), ‘Global warming will happen faster than we think’, Nature, 564 (7734), 30–32; Henley, B. J., and King, A.D. (2017) ‘Trajectories toward the 1.5°C Paris target: Modulation by the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation’, Geophysical Research Letters, 44(9), 4256–62; Jacob, D., et al. (2018),‘Climate Impacts in Europe Under +1.5°C’, Earth’s Future, 6(2), 264–285.
More about Extinction Rebellion:
Extinction Rebellion’s top-line demands:
- Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
- The government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
- The government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
What emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers
Get involved
- In the UK, come to one of our events, join the Rebellion Network and let us know how you can help out.
- Start a group where you are: in the UK or around the world.
- Find your local group.
- Check out the International XR website, with links to the French, German, Italian and UK websites.
- And while your time and energy are of most importance, if you are financially able to donate money, see our crowdfunder.
About Rising Up!
Extinction Rebellion is an initiative of the Rising Up! network, which 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 while the tools of civil disobedience and direct action are used to express our collective power.