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Environmental group announces rebellion

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environmental group, Extinction Rebellion, declaration, Parliament Square, government inaction, Business as usual is no longer an option.

Environmental group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has officially announced its nonviolent uprising against what it sees as criminal inaction by the British government on the climate emergency and ecological crisis.

Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel using peaceful civil disobedience when faced with criminal inactivity by its government.

And so at 10am on 31 October, a Declaration of Rebellion was made in Parliament Square in London.

They pointed out that time has almost entirely run out to address the ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction and abrupt, runaway climate breakdown, and that scientists, economists and many other credible voices anticipate societal collapse and mass death as inevitable, with human extinction a real possibility, if rapid action is not taken now.

In view of this, a series of nonviolent disruptive actions have been planned, beginning on 12 November and leading to Rebellion Day on 17 November.

And they are inviting everyone to take part.

The group’s key demands are:

The government must admit the truth about the ecological emergency, reverse all policies inconsistent with addressing climate change, and work alongside the media to communicate with citizens;

The government must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels; and

A national Citizen’s Assembly to oversee the changes, as part of creating a democracy fit for purpose.

Abi Burdess, a writer and a mother of two who was at Parliament Square, told DeSmog UK that reading the report by scientists from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had been a wake-up call.

The report, published earlier this month, warned that the global economy has to move away from fossil fuels by 2030 if countries are to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels – a target which could still have significant impacts but which scientists say is the top-end of a safe limit of warming.

Burdess accused the UK government of “criminal negligence” over the lack of response to the report.

“We need leadership that will confront the problem directly and explain to people that they will have to choose between their cars or their kids. There is a window of opportunity to do something about the climate crisis but it has to happen now,” she said. “We need the equivalent of a World War II effort, where everyone pulls together.”

“I have realised that the threat won’t be faced just by my grandchildren but by my children too,” she added.

Extinction Rebellion also said that if the government did not respond seriously to their demands, civil disobedience will commence from 12 November.

“Now is the time because we are out of time,” the campaigners say; “There is nothing left to lose. It is our right and our duty to follow our consciences and rebel.”

“We do not take the step of disrupting the lives of Londoners lightly, however given the inaction by successive governments to respond to the climate crisis we face, we have to raise the alert,” Stuart Basden, from Extinction Rebellion, said.

“We feel deeply that if we come together as ordinary people and communities in the limited time we have available to affect change, we can face this crisis together.

“The first step,” he added, “is to ensure people are fully informed of the extreme gravity of the situation.”

And Gail Bradbrook, also of Extinction Rebellion, said: “The time to stand up for our world, the ecosystem in which we all live, has come.

“Supporters of Extinction Rebellion have held almost a hundred talks and workshops all around the country so far, with the aim of mobilising people to take part in civil disobedience actions to highlight our perilous plight.”

“We understand that this may lead to arrests and possible imprisonment. We are ready for that. It is a sacrifice we make with great consideration.

“It is clear that we need to have the courage to put authentic and real pressure on the government to take action to solve the ecological crisis, otherwise what future do we have? Let alone our children or grandchildren.

“The IPCC fails us, our government fails us, the NGOs have failed us.

“Business as usual is no longer an option.”

Extinction Rebellion has, ‘in accordance with our consciences, and with a clear duty to our children, our communities, this nation and planet’, declared a non-violent rebellion ‘on behalf of life itself and against our criminally negligent government.

‘Our government’s abject failure to protect citizens and the next generations from unimaginable suffering brought about by climate breakdown and social collapse is no longer tolerable.

‘We cannot stand idly by and allow the ongoing destruction of all that we love. Our hearts break and we rage against this madness. We have both a right and duty to rebel in the face of this tyranny of idiocy, of this planned collective suicide.

‘Join us.’

For more information, go to the XR website or their facebook page or Twitter or #extinctionrebellion

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