Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

Pop the kettle on, ‘Authoritarian Regime’ is starting

By day 3, the Rebellion has fully warmed up: we’ve seen bold and beautiful actions all over the place. And yet, as we bring more love, the police bring more aggression.

At Lambeth Bridge we saw the most shocking scenes of this Rebellion so far. During a critical mass bike ride, a swarm of police vans rushed in and kettled over 200 peaceful protestors. The Met held rebels in the rain for hours, searched and arrested everyone (including bystanders, independent legal observers and welfare rebels) and confiscated hundreds of bikes. Full story below.

Sadly, this unwarranted aggression is in no way an exception. Whether it’s misinformation, disproportionate use of force, or straight-up racism, this country’s police is once again being employed in an attack on our civil liberties.

We know that many officers are lovely people – with some even questioning their role – but in terms of policy, it’s looking like we’re on the path to Belarus.

As one person on Lambeth Bridge described as she awaited ‘processing’, more frightening than the process or even the climate science is the thought that “We are up against a wall that doesn’t want to hear the truth”. This writer finds it scary too.

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Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

If the trees die, so do we

On the first day, we found our feet and planted them in our public spaces. On the second day, we really got down to business. Rebels moved like water to target specific sites of ecocidal atrocity.

Manchester rebels expressed their outrage at fast-fashion giant and the  pension fund. In Cardiff, rebels painted sea level rise predictions in blue chalk paint onto shopfronts to evoke the very real prospect of most of the city being underwater by 2050.

Online, rebels are flooding the personal inboxes of Boris and Cummings with hundreds of emails and repeated phone calls to No 10 and the Treasury. One rebel described their calls as a polite disobedient dance: “We all know the steps, but who knows what our collective dancing may do?”

And in London, the corrupt, climate-denying think-tanks at Tufton Street were under rebel scrutiny, HS2 rebels delivered a massive, bleeding tree stump to DEFRA’s doorstep (and locked onto it!), and determined crowds succeeded in re-routing Boris himself.

Read the full newsletter here

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

Boats, Bills and and Boris the Bank Engine

You wouldn’t think we’re out of practice!

Across three cities yesterday, rebels poured onto the roads in carnivals of creativity and disobedience. We’ve only just begun, but what matters is we’ve found the magic once again: parents and their children, teens and retirees, so many people, beliefs and backgrounds, all coming together in a sea of colour, love and empathy.

In Cardiff, things went vertical with climbers on Welsh government roofs opening proceedings for a day of drums and flags.  

In London, rebels occupied Parliament Square for a day of disruption, education and dance. Significantly, the day ended on newly agile terms: no site-defending, but an organised dissipation. We’re sure the Met are just as curious as we are to find out what happens next!

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THE HANDBOOK

Please also see this link for a handbook giving further details on items such as pre-rebellion preparations, Covid-19 guidance etc:

TRAINING 

Midlands XR are currently offering lots of wonderful training opportunities at the following link:

Please see the handbook for further details but please note if you wish to attend a protest it is recommended you take the NVDA (Non-Violent Direct Action) training and ‘Know your rights’ as a minimum. 

COMMS 

You can join the Midlands Telegram - a messaging app to get regular updates on the rebellion

We may add more local channels soon...

The 2020 Rebellion is happening! From 12 noon on Tuesday 1^st September rebels from all over the country will gather in Parliament Square (and also in Cardiff and Manchester) to demand that MPs back the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill

Now is the time to step forward, whether online or in person, to support Extinction Rebellion! History shows that peaceful civil disobedience works and we don’t have much time.

Read on for how you can take part, whether on the streets or from home.

Rebelling from Home?

1. Join the Digital Rebellion

Digital Rebellion is a simple way to direct our voices to the key institutions of power that contribute to climate breakdown. We are also targeting our MPs to tell them about the CEE Bill. This is what we call glorified lobbying. It is a way of being inclusive to rebels that need to stay home and still want to be active. We are all in this together!

All across the country, action plans are being fine-tuned, props are getting a final layer of garish paint and the final zoom calls are reaching their check-outs full of excited anticipation.

Rebels in their local and regional groups are kicking off the Rebellion with a long weekend of civil disobedience, starting this Friday. This writer for one, can’t wait to see what you have planned!

It’s not too late to join your local group and get in on the action.

After what we’re sure will be a spectacular weekend, we will come together in Cardiff, Manchester and London on 1 September. Disrupting key powers and Parliament until they back the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill and set up a national Citizens’ Assembly (here’s why).

Find (nearly) everything you need to know for this Rebellion in this action pack. Get all the latest updates and plans as they unfold: join the UK-wide Broadcast and the local broadcast groups for Manchester, Cardiff and London. And read on to get an overview of what’s happening.

XR Midlands can help pay your expenses

• Rail Vouchers and other Travel

• Accommodation

• Support / Carers

• Food / Snacks

  Read more: Get help with rebellion expenses

Please find below the action pack for September. This is a live document and will be updated regularly.

In here you will find the WHY nows:interrobang:, WHAT we're asking for :mega:, the PLAN for London, Cardiff and Manchester :boom:, the ACTIONS so far 🥁 and HOW we'll communicate 🤳🏾 before and during. And then some extra bits and bobs :wink::sunglasses:

Hopefully this will give some clarity on what the heck is going on and link things together — please share far and wide!

Huge love, courage and respect to everyone working so hard on these amazing plans. It's never easy bringing everything together in this whacky, autonomous movement, but we're definitely getting there. Let's make this the best rebellion yet! 🥳

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ii8qT4ndMPhDESaMpQIXqb3d7tkFyHgWimxsG5uDoxs/edit

Dear Rebels,

So yes the REBELLION is upon us and we’re really hoping you can come and join us.

Please find the latest exciting rebellion proposals at the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RqtyvhzVviTQnNLI-1yaKoXQMDW7po5rt6GTxsBJqPs/edit?usp=sharing

Whether you fancy attending an action, rebelling at home, helping with pre- rebellion preparations or getting involved in planning a more local action, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved. Please do take a look.

Otherwise if you like the sound of what you see and feel ready to rebel, we’d love to hear from you and you can let us know by filling in and returning the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSengQJ6N9De1bRB7dyztddPNdH6Gjoa45JauIbpVp0lZLNJMg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Obviously everyone is free to do as they choose but if you would like to join us, we‘d love to connect with you and we’ll then aim to keep you informed about our plans as a group and help and support you where we can.

Love & rage

The Actions Working Group 

An XRWD Action Working Group has been set up to plan both local actions and coordinate trips to London for those who are planning to go.

If you want to join the group, please contact Maria (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

The group is currently meeting on Wednesdays from 8.30-9.30 on Zoom.

We will send out the relevant information asap. In the meantime, please consider whether you’re wanting to go to London or not. We want to encourage you to do the training before you go. You might also want to consider taking an active role or supporting from home. More information can be found in the Handbook for Life.

Finally, start planning your travel!

There is support available from Midlands XR for those who are struggling to pay for train tickets or childcare. The deadline for applications is Thursday 20th August.All you have to do is to fill out this form.