The government is not heeding warnings on climate change, XR says
The Covid-19 pandemic has restricted protests by climate activists for several months, but Extinction Rebellion (XR) is planning its comeback.
MPs returning to Parliament in September will face a blockade by XR as the activist group resumes live protests which have been on hold during the pandemic.
The world was at an intersection in crises, XR said. “Climate breakdown, Covid-19 and racial injustice are all symptoms of a toxic system that is driving us to extinction – a system built on economic inequality, extraction, the destruction of nature, and exploitation. We cannot carry on like this. The system is killing us.”
The government had ignored warnings about coronavirus, and was now ignoring warnings about climate change, it added.
Impact
As the UK emerges from lockdown, there was an opportunity to make the necessary changes, it said. “But business-as-usual is fighting to regain its hold. We can’t let that happen,” it said.
Activists will stage a peaceful blockade of Parliament on 1 September, the day Parliamentary business resumes after the summer break. XR also promised disruption in Cardiff, the North and Scotland, though did not go into details on what form that would take.
There will also be “high impact disruption” around the country over the August bank holiday weekend, organised by local groups.
Indigenous
“Beautiful, creative, high impact actions focused on our frustrations at government inaction and local issues will occur like waves in regions and nations across the bank holiday weekend, popping up all over the place, leading to a direct show of strength from 1 September,” it said.
A digital protest will take place for those who cannot travel. This will involve spamming the social media accounts, email addresses, and telephone lines of government offices, and shutting them down online, XR said.
XR is also planning a protest in solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Brazil on 9 August, to sound the alarm on the impact of Covid-19 on these communities, and to raise funds for indigenous rights campaigners the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.
This Author
Catherine Early is a freelance environmental journalist and chief reporter for the Ecologist. She can be found tweeting at @Cat_Early76.
