Extinction Rebellion: The green movement making waves in the UK

A new group called Extinction Rebellion, has called for mass civil disobedience in the UK starting next month and promises it has hundreds of people – from teenagers to pensioners – ready to get arrested in an effort to draw attention to the unfolding climate emergency. The group is backed by almost 100 senior academics.

The Extinction Rebellion charter, from the group’s website:

HOPE DIES, ACTION BEGINS

We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. Our children and our nation face grave risk.

The planet is in ecological crisis, we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event this planet has experienced. Scientists believe we may have entered a period of abrupt climate breakdown.

The earth’s atmosphere is already over 1°C warmer than pre-industrial levels. The chance of staying below the 2°C warming agreed upon in the Paris agreement are tiny.

Recent projections show we are on course for 3 degrees of warming and potentially much higher.

Children alive today in the UK will face unimaginable horrors as a result of floods, wildfires, extreme weather, crop failures and the inevitable breakdown of society when the pressures are so great.

We are unprepared for the danger our future holds.

The time for denial is over – we know the truth about climate change and we know the truth about current biological annihilation.

It’s time to act like that truth is real.

What does living with this truth call us to do? Will you die knowing you did all you were able to?

REBEL

It is clear that the political system has completely failed us – it shows a total lack of urgency and is backing policies based on wishful thinking.

Scientists made clear the implications of continued carbon emissions in 1990, CO2 in the atmosphere has since increased by 60%. You might say then, that those who govern us intend to kill our children and are presently engaged in a crime against humanity. In any democratic society citizens have not just the right, but also the duty, to rebel against tyranny.

POSITION

We are in an Ecological crisis caused by climate change, pollution and habitat destruction; a mass species extinction is underway. Our course is set to societal collapse, the killing of millions and possibly billions of people, human extinction is possible, the future is bleak and our children are not safe.

Change to avert the worst of the disaster is still technically and economically possible. It involves creating a world which is less frenetic and more beautiful; making the necessary changes will also create jobs. This is an emergency situation – action is urgent.

Our Government isn’t acting in accordance with what science and history tells us (e.g. the rise of fascism). Therefore our Government is criminally complicit. We have a moral duty to rebel, whatever our politics. Social science shows us that peaceful civil disobedience is an effective way to bring about change. Our lives have meaning when we follow our conscience and are willing to make sacrifices to protect what we love. We ask others who feel the same way to join our peaceful Rebellion.

ACTION

From the 31 October citizens of this country will commit repeated acts of disruptive, non-violent civil disobedience. There will be mass arrests.

We demand the UK declares a state of emergency, takes action to create a zero carbon economy by 2025, and creates a national assembly of ordinary people to decide what our zero carbon future will look like.

We are willing to make personal sacrifices. We are prepared to be arrested and to go to prison. We will lead by example, to inspire similar actions around the world. This requires a global effort but we believe it must begin in the UK, today, where the industrial revolution began.

We will not be led quietly to annihilation by the elites and politicians. We will fight their genocidal behaviour with honour, resilience, and peace, in the spirit of all those who fought for our freedoms before us. We call on everyone, regardless of your political beliefs to join us in fighting for our nation and life on earth.

DEMANDS

1. That the Government must tell the truth about how deadly our situation is, it must reverse all policies not in alignment with that position and must work alongside the media to communicate the urgency for change including what individuals and communities need to do.
2. The Government must enact legally-binding policy measures to reduce carbon emissions in the UK to net zero by 2025 and take further action to remove the excess of atmospheric greenhouse gases. It must cooperate internationally so that the global economy runs on no more than half a planets worth of resources per year.
3. By necessity these demands mean an initiative similar to those enacted at times of war. We do not however, hand further power to our Government, we demand a Citizens Assembly to oversee the changes, as we rise from the wreckage, creating a democracy fit for purpose.

Visit Extinction Rebellion website

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