Announcements #1: “What’s the point?”
September 19, 2019 by Extinction Rebellion
Dear rebels,
“What’s the point of me studying science, when all you do is ignore it?”
“What’s the point of training to be an athlete, when I won’t have clean air to breathe?”
“What’s the point of studying history, when all of humanity is heading towards becoming history?”
See what school strikers in India have to say.
Young people across the world are voicing the questions and rage we all sit with every day. Because, unless we act now there is no point. And we all know there is no time to dwell in existential crisis mode, we need to sound the alarm and claim our futures back.
So let’s be led by all the brave students who are walking out of school this Friday and as we march into October 7.
The time is now! Join the global climate strikes on Friday, block off Dover on Saturday, build support for a game-changing Climate and Ecological Emergency bill in Parliament and get ready for a world-changing, planet-wide wave of rebellion just 18 days from now!
Are you ready for October?
We need informed rebels on the streets.
Download Telegram and follow this link to join our essential October Broadcast channel. Join our webinars to find out more about mass mobilisation, contemplating prison, and hunger strikes. Check out the additional information documents for hunger strikers and potential prisoners.
If you need, or can offer, accommodation; please see this form; if you’d like to travel to London on one of our coaches, see here for tickets.
And, of course…SIGN UP TO REBEL IN OCTOBER HERE!
To add your action to the international map, see here.
To connect to rebels in your local area, find your nearest XR group on this map. If there’s no active group near you, you can start your own! Stay up to date with local upcoming events here, or start your own event by filling in our talks and trainings form!
If you can support us financially, see here to donate now.
UK rebels, sign up to Inside XR for a weekly round-up of activity from national working groups. If you fancy joining the national team, check out the Rebel University buddy scheme.
Previous newsletter issues can be found here.
Upcoming Actions
Global Climate Strike
20 & 27 SEPT | A strike near you!
On the 20 and 27 September, students will lead the way by walking out of school and protesting on the streets and everyone (young, old or in between) is invited to walk with them to reclaim our shared future. The Global Climate Strike is a progression of Fridays for Future, and is organised in the UK by the Student Climate Network. Find your local strike here.
If you are joining a strike, think about the future that we want to create together. What does it look like, how do we get there? Start a discussion, share thoughts, concerns and solutions. Act out our third demand on the streets by running your own youth & children’s assembly, find out more here.
There are going to be thousands of new rebels out on the street tomorrow, so don’t forget to take some sign up sheets! We have a new Data Entry team that can help you type up sign ups if you take a clear photo and email to xr.dataentry@gmail.com.
Dover Blockade & Beach Party
21 SEPT | Pebbles Kiosk, Promenade, Dover
This Saturday, rebels will be causing hours of severe traffic delays in Dover by blocking major roads connecting Dover to the continent. Highlighting Britain’s vulnerability to food shortages caused in an ecological breakdown. There will be no food on a dying planet.
This prelude to the October Rebellion will be powerful and seen by the world. And to maximise its impact, we need as many of you as possible! So, arrestable or otherwise, make your way down to the promenade for the last beach party of the summer. Find out more here.
Climate and Ecological Emergency Parliamentary Bill
EVERY DAY | Your MP’s office
A game-changing bill containing our three demands is on its way to Parliament! If it is passed, our three demands will become law – a big step forward in beginning to transform society and addressing the climate and ecological crisis.
Things are pretty chaotic in Westminster right now, so it is likely that the bill will be discussed in the next Parliamentary session in October/November. We will need as many MPs as possible to back the bill and need your help to win them over!
Write, call or visit your MP to ask them to support the bill. Find out more about the bill and what you can do to get your MP on board here.
Feeding the Future
OCT 9 | 10.30am, Westminster
Our infants will live to bear the full brunt of the coming climate disaster. Which is why rebel mothers are gathering together mid-rebellion to stage an Extinction Rebellion Mothers’ Nurse-In. If you wish to join them, check out the event page here.
Announcements – get ready for October!
A Call to Arms
Something’s happening in the world. You know it, don’t you? You can feel it. The weather’s getting hotter. The Amazon is on fire. And something else is happening. We’re coming together.
Help us spread the word to get EVERYBODY into London from 7 October….
(And if you’re arrestable, here are 2 easy steps for you to help us recruit even more brilliant people like you!)
Wellbeing Weekly Wednesdays
October will be beautiful, powerful, disruptive and extraordinary. It will also be busy. We will all be putting in that extra mile, and taking care of ourselves and each other is the only way we will win.
XR’s Rebellion Support Office (RSO) wellbeing team is coordinating support across all of the sites in London, and they need your help creating a healing and supportive network for all of us. Are you a good listener over a pot of hummus and carrots or do you have special skills to share? Then join Wellbeing Wednesdays!
Telegram
During October, we will use Telegram, a mobile app, to make important decisions together. To stay in the loop and make your voice heard, join the broadcast channel for the October Rebellion here.
There are also separate channels for mass mobilisers and young people – the more the merrier!
Top tip: When you download Telegram, in the privacy/security settings, you can change your name and hide your number – highly recommended if you’re joining a group that’s thousands strong!
Rooms for Rebel Families
Families from across the UK want to join us in October, but they need a safe place to stay as a family. We seek rebels (and non-rebels) in and around London who have an extra room/sofa bed and are up for hosting a family or parent-child combo. We are also looking for those who could offer showers and facilities in the daytime.
If you are one of these marvelous people, please contact extinctionrebellionfamilies@gmail.com with the following details: how many you could accommodate, your location and your available dates. Thank you in advance for your kind hospitality.
Bus with Us!
The Rebellion nears, and we begin to plan our journeys to London. Join fellow rebels on coaches to the capital – buy your tickets here. These coaches are your chance to touch base with local rebels, settle nerves, set intentions and generally feel a sense of camaraderie before the action begins.
For rebels with disabilities for whom coach travel is not possible, please follow this link to apply for subsidised rail transport.
Tech Security
Rebels on the front line, if you plan to get arrested, know best practice for securing your phone. This is to protect you and the rebels in your branch and working group from the police. An important part of regenerative culture is respect for each other’s privacy, security and anonymity.
Given the pre-emptive arrests we saw prior to Heathrow Pause, this is particularly crucial for action organisers. Here is a 6 step procedure to organise securely in XR. Read the Phone Lockdown guide here, and the Laptop Encryption guide here for more information.
If you have any questions, contact secure@rebellion.earth.
EXtRa EXtRa! Read all about it!
Extinction Rebellion is launching a newspaper on 23rd September!
The Hourglass is no ordinary edition of ‘climate reporting’, but a paper that aims to tell the whole truth.
We call fellow rebels to help spread the message by collecting copies of The Hourglass from distribution points on the 23rd and leaving them in public libraries, pubs, doctor’s surgeries, community centres, health food stores and cafes. Take them into work, post them through letterboxes, give them away outside tube stations…
Let’s change the dialogue around the crisis we are in, by getting the message out there. We need to reach people outside of XR, so that they can begin to act as if the truth is real.
To help with distribution contact: distributionxrnewspaper@gmail.com
For all other queries: hourglass@rebellion.earth
Rebel Librarians
You may have noticed an XR book exchange trolley doing the rounds in April. Well, it is looking to expand in time for October, and it needs more rebel librarians. If you can donate, source or transport books, push a trolley, or otherwise be of service, please contact the lovely Rosemary on their Facebook page. Cardigan and glasses optional!
Places, Spaces
In October, we want to project the truth onto Westminster (quite literally!). We are looking for places and spaces in and around the area to project our messages. To do this, we need sites with a power supply, roughly 150m from a tall building, landmark or similar. Does that sound just like a spot you know? Please contact alex@limbiccinema.com.
The XR UK Organism
Ever get confused about how the parts of XR UK fit together? Our views of the XR UK Organism should help. They give a visual snapshot of our ever-evolving structure, and provide contacts for each circle. Sorted.
Your newsletter needs you!
The wonderful team behind this very email is gearing up for its most ambitious project yet: daily, international coverage for the two weeks following October 7. Fans of our work may recall a similar service in April; so we know what we’re doing this time – and we know that we’ll need help!
We’ve got a whole list of roles which need filling. All of them can be completed remotely, and very few need training or experience, meaning wherever you are in October, you can help. If you’d like to know more about how you can help, please see our outline.
Where is the rest of my news?
Our movement is growing, and so are our newsletters! So, to prevent information overload, we are experimenting with a new format: sending a UK-specific announcements round up in between our fuller international news issues. This is email is an announcement, so it doesn’t contain all the news items you may want to read. But fear not, we’ll be sharing a round-up of the best XR stories we can find very soon!
And finally…
We leave you with the inspiring personal story of one of our unsung heroes, a doula and coordinator of our Disabilities Network; and one rebel’s account of the Heading for Extinction talk, delivered to our elected officials in Parliament.
Love & Rage
