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TOMORROW – 18 October
12pm – Whitehall Gardens – Red-Handed Rebellion
At the beginning of this Rebellion, we asked the Government one simple question: ‘What is your plan for the Climate and Ecological Emergency?’. So far, the only answer we have been given is that we are protesting in the wrong country.
The silhouettes signify that we are holding our hands up high in open rebellion against the UK Government. We are accountable for our actions and are willing to be caught red handed.
Just as cavemen did through their negative hand prints, we too are marking our connection with the earth.
On Wednesday, we delivered letters to 18 Government departments by hand demanding they produce their plans for addressing the Emergency by mid-November. Today, we will march in a solemn, unified and peaceful procession through Westminster, beginning at 11am at Whitehall Gardens by the William Tyndale statue. We will stop off at six Government departments and deliver specific demands to each one, decided by a series of People’s Assemblies during the Autumn Uprising.
We will raise our red hands, taking responsibility for our actions – we all have blood on our hands. We march in admission and recognition of the part we play in the injustice of this emergency, and the ongoing suffering of thousands of people around the world due to climate and ecological breakdown.
The procession will end in Parliament Square, where we will deliver our Emergency People’s Speech to invite the country to be honest about its failings and take responsibility for its role in the Emergency. If we want to, we can truly be the leaders we claim to be.
At the police station, we can take pictures of ourselves with red hands, posting on social media with the hashtag #redhandedrebellion. This will additionally force the police into a dilemma situation, as people line up waiting to turn themselves in.
This is an action for all. United we stand, we rise, we hold our hands high for the choices we have made and the actions we have achieved. Whether you march alongside, mark your hand with red, decorate the road with your handprint, or hand yourself in to the police, we invite you to join in a march of communion, recognition and shared responsibility.
Rebels will then continue the procession either to the Transition Ceremony, or should they wish to, to a police station to turn themselves in. This enacts Extinction Rebellion’s principle of holding ourselves accountable for our actions, by owning the impact and disruption caused by this Rebellion.