Police arrest some very dangerous ‘Dirty Scrubbers’ before a day of action against insurance companies in the heart of London, UK.
This issue: Insure Our Future! | DRC vs Green Growth | Founder of XR Zambia
Dear rebel,
Without insurance, fossil fuel projects like oil pipelines and coal mines can’t operate. And just 20 companies insure 70% of all fossil fuel projects. Yet these corporate linchpins to our ecocidal system have mostly flown under the radar. Until now.
For one week, thousands of activists launched a hundred coordinated actions targeting major insurance companies right across the globe, demanding that they pull the plug on the fossil fuel industry.
And at least some insurance executives were listening. Find out more about the Insure Our Future campaign, and the precious victories, in Action Highlights.
An activist pours ‘oil’ onto money during an Insure Our Future rally in Indonesia.
You can also read a Special Report about how rebels in the DRC are coping with war on their doorstep. A brutal Rwandan-backed militia has invaded the mineral-rich east of the country, displacing more than 10 million people. We speak to members of XR Goma University as the militia approach their city.
In Action Round Up we cover the return of A12 blockades by Dutch rebels, the continuing protection of arctic wetlands by Finnish rebels, and many more inspiring acts of disruption by rebels around the world. And finally in Humans of XR we speak to the founder of XR Zambia about her journey into ecoactivism.
Insurance companies are meant to protect us from risk, not pave the way to a world completely overrun with it. As long as the industry keeps backing ecocidal fossil fuel projects, we must keep disrupting their business and holding their executives to account. No insurance, no drilling. No justice, no peace.
This newsletter is available in multiple languages. Use the globe icon (top right) to change language.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
26 FEB–3 MARCH | Global
Insure Our Future, a worldwide coalition of activist groups, has finished a week of action that saw rebels occupy buildings and stage performances around the globe to highlight how the often-overlooked insurance industry facilitates the climate crisis.
Rebels joined thousands of activists in 31 countries spread across every continent bar Antarctica to launch actions targeting major insurance firms. And some of those actions resulted in precious victories.
Due to a lack of transparency in the insurance industry, it is not always clear which projects are backed by which companies. But what is clear is that most insurance firms are prioritising unethical and downright hypocritical policies that are damaging communities in every region of the world.
Rallies in (clockwise from top left) Switzerland, Uganda, Nigeria, USA.
American homeowners are increasingly being told that their properties, damaged by extreme weather, are ‘uninsurable’ - while new infrastructure for the nation’s liquified methane gas exports is readily covered. Grassroots organisations in Texas and Louisiana peacefully occupied the Houston lobbies of Chubbs and AIG to condemn these major insurers for enabling emissions while dismissing the consequences.
In London, rebels allied with various organisations to occupy the offices of five major insurance companies, and later an 800-strong Carbon Bomb Defusal Squad linked hands around insurer Llyod’s of London to block anyone from entering. Insurance executives were targeted after work too, with rebels visiting local pubs to strike up chats with them about climate change.
In a sign of how repressive the UK is becoming, a greenwashing performance by the ‘Dirty Scrubbers’ was abandoned after they and their greenwashing machine were arrested en route. But XR UK’s impressive campaign did bear fruit - the CEO of insurance company Zurich is due to hold talks with activists, and insurer Probitas has withdrawn support for the Pan-African-pipeline EACOP and a new UK coal mine.
Rallies against Tokio Marine in (clockwise from top left) Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, The Philippines.
The call to abandon EACOP echoed around the world, with Fridays for Future Uganda staging a special dance performance and Stop EACOP activists in Tanzania calling on Chinese state-backed insurers to drop the ecocidal project.
Tokio Marine was singled out by activists across Asia, including in Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Japan for its support of global coal production and its withdrawal from the Net Zero Insurance Alliance after pressure from fossil fuel lobbyists.
There were more than 100 actions over the week - too many for one newsletter. But it’s clear Insure Our Future has mobilised an incredible campaign, and applied the right kind of pressure on an industry that’s spent too long flying under the radar.
Follow Insure Our Future campaigns on their website.
JAN / FEB | Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Activists in Goma denounce state and international inaction after savage attacks by a Rwandan-backed militia. Photo: LuchaCongo.org
“Inside every phone there is the blood of a Congolese person.” These words from a rebel in Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), encapsulate the deadly links between war, the plunder of resources, and climate breakdown.
Nowhere is this more devastatingly clear than in the DRC, where M23 militias financed by the Rwandan government, which is in turn funded by the UK, the USA, and many others, are committing mass murder and ecological destruction as they surge into the east of the country.
On the rare occasion that the mainstream media covers the DRC, it is portrayed as a poor nation with a “complicated” conflict-riven backstory. But this framing omits the catalyst for the region’s violence since its colonisation - resource robbery.
“The conflict, which has persisted in the east of the DRC for almost 30 years, and is the deadliest since the Second World War, is mainly economic,” explains Nobel Laureate Dr. Mukwege. Since 1996, more than 10 million people have been killed, with countless more being displaced, raped, or forcibly recruited (even as children!) into armed groups. “The illegal trade in minerals is recognized as a root cause.”
On International Women's Day, Congolese activists in the city of Beni demand justice for the women suffering violence in DRC. Photo: @luchaRDC
The current fighting has now displaced more than 10 million people, triggering another wave of indiscriminate killings, mass rape, and disease, while militia armies ransack the country’s rainforests with illegal logging and poaching.
Though the Congolese people have long been vampirized by extractivism, with over 70% living on less than $1.90/day, the DRC is actually the world's richest country in terms of wealth in natural resources.
DRC’s fossil fuels have been exploited by foreign corporations for decades. In 2023, rebels from XR University of Goma travelled thousands of kilometres across the country, mobilising communities to oppose the sale of new oil and gas blocks, most of which overlap protected areas and would be linked to the ecocidal EACOP pipeline.
Today, Goma’s activists are spending long hours caring for the massive influx of internally displaced people amid food shortages and cholera outbreaks. Others in their networks have been displaced and suffered violence and even death. For Congolese rebels, the struggle for environmental justice and the struggle against repeated cycles of violent resource plundering is one and the same.
A rally in Nairobi, Kenya calls out Rwandan aggression in DRC. Photo: @luchaRDC
As global finance gears up for “green growth”, the DRC’s resource wealth has again brought violence to its door. The world's largest coltan reserves, vast caches of copper, diamonds, tin, gold, and more than 63% of global cobalt are prized by armed gangs who sell them to corporations and wealthy states wanting to manufacture phones, computers, batteries and increasingly, renewable energy technologies.
In the chaos orchestrated by the militias, minerals are more easily syphoned to Rwanda, where they are exported. The US Treasury estimated that last year more than 90% of DRC’s gold was smuggled to countries including Rwanda and Uganda, where it is refined and exported, mainly to the United Arab Emirates. Rwanda is also somehow the world’s primary exporter of coltan, despite being one of the lowest mineral producers in Africa. Without conflict minerals, the numbers just don’t add up.
In a solidarity action both outside and inside the UK’s Parliament, rebels denounced the UK government for giving Rwanda vast sums to service its extreme asylum policies, and therefore indirectly enabling the theft of $24 trillion in natural resources from the DRC.
Rebels outside the UK Parliament protest the financing of violence in the DRC.
International donors see Rwanda as a useful regional power through which to carry on plundering Africa. Its economy is growing, and its infrastructure is developing at speed. Yet this growth has only benefitted a tiny elite, and the Rwandan government has become increasingly authoritarian, with mounting human rights abuses.
“We see the height of cynicism in terms of geostrategy and a policy of double standards” says a rebel in Goma. “We see what is happening in Ukraine, what is happening in Gaza. Why not what is happening in the DRC? Why aren’t there sanctions against Rwanda, which officially, visibly, supports these militias?”
Rebels in DRC are urgently calling for a green transition that puts justice first, not new revenue streams, and that dismantles colonial exploitation once and for all. Otherwise, our green transition will turn red with the blood of Congolese men, women, and children - collateral damage to enrich the same old racist elites.
Follow XR Goma University on Facebook.
3 FEBRUARY | The Hague, Netherlands: Around 2000 rebels return to the A12 to call for an end to the vast fossil fuel subsidies paid by their government. This was the 36th rebel blockade of the motorway, but the first since the Dutch parliament agreed to reappraise and even abolish certain subsidies back in October 2023. Since then, the Dutch Senate voted against any change, and it has been business as usual. Later in the month, 40 rebels blockaded the Finance Ministry for its subsidy inaction. Another A12 blockade has been announced for the 6th April.
4 FEB | Kigali, Rwanda: Activists with Scientist Rebellion protest outside the Ugandan High Commission and the DRC Embassy to call for an end to both EACOP and the auctions of DRC peatlands for oil exploration.
9 FEB | Johannesburg, South Africa: XR Gauteng protests outside Standard Bank’s HQ to demand it stop backing the vast oil pipeline EACOP as well as various gas and coal projects across Africa. Police swarmed the small, peaceful protest, but the rebels promised to return every Friday until the bank meets its demands.
13 FEB | Budapest, Hungary: Rebels confront the president of Shell Hungary as he speaks at Corvinus University, and are (depressingly) dragged away by fellow students. Photo: Dániel Alföldi
14 FEB | Italy: XR Italy launches actions in eight cities on Valentine's Day to denounce the toxic relationship between their government and the climate. Rebels in Turin (pictured), Milan, Bologna, Treviso, Rome, Udine, Bari and Palermo used ironic street performances to remind people about the record temperatures, floods and droughts that have battered the country over the last year.
17–29 FEB | Viiankiaava, Finland: Rebels use steel tubes, locks and tripods to repeatedly shut down an exploratory drilling site in arctic wetlands in Northern Finland. The mining industry wants to extract nickel and copper from the protected nature reserve, and XR Elokapina is continuing its incredible campaign to stop them. Relaxed safety guidelines, riot fences, and constant security personnel have made their work harder, but the rebels from Finland and Sweden continue to disrupt the drill rigs, skiing to the site in teams as big as 40 and as small as one.
1 MARCH | Buenos Aires, Argentina: Rebels join an alliance of protesters outside the National Congress to keep a close watch on their new President during his state-of-the-union style speech. He recently called Congress a “nest of rats” after it rejected his ecocidal Omnibus law that would have let corporations plunder the country’s natural resources with impunity. Meanwhile, his severe economic cuts have led to rocketing inflation and soaring poverty across Argentina.
2 MAR | Berlin, Germany: Inspired by XR Netherlands’ campaign, a "Stop Fossil Subsidies" alliance, including rebels, blockade a main road. 400 activists called for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and denounced plans for a motorway expansion in the area. For every €13bn of German taxes spent on environmental protection, at least €48bn is spent on environmentally harmful subsidies.
2 MAR | Brussels, Belgium: Inspired by XR Netherlands’ campaign, and joined by visiting Dutch rebels, XR Belgium also demands an end to fossil fuel subsidies! 150 rebels disrupted city traffic until they were encircled by riot police and forced onto the pavement. Elections are imminent in the country, and rebels have plans for a wave of actions until voting day. Photo: @Engrainagemedia
2 MAR | Lyon, France: 400 activists from XR Lyon and Youth For Climate Lyon visit Arkema, a factory that produces PFAS aka forever chemicals, which have contaminated the rivers, soil, and drinking water of the region. Activists scaled the building, dropped banners, updated the company logo, and blockaded entrances. An army of riot police arrived to protect the ecocidal company, and they used tear gas, pepper spray, and truncheons to clear the protest, causing three serious injuries.
4 MAR | Dublin, Ireland: Rebels rally with the Grim Reaper outside a banking conference sponsored by JP Morgan, the world’s worst bank when it comes to fossil fuel investments since the Paris Agreement. You can read a first-hand account of the action on the XR Ireland website. Photo: E Connolly
Precious campaigning for a new law to cancel debt in Lusaka, Zambia.
I set up XR Zambia in 2018, not long after Extinction Rebellion first appeared. I was not completely new to climate activism, as I had got involved with Citizens’ Climate Lobby here in Lusaka where I live.
When we first got XR Zambia up and running, many people joined us, though the last few years it has been harder to sustain big numbers. Even so, there is a core team of about 20 of us, and we work hard planning actions and educating our fellow citizens about the causes and impacts of climate change.
I have been aware of the climate and ecological crisis for a long time. I grew up in a village on the edge of a large forest, and as I got older I saw that it was becoming more and more depleted. My activism really started there, with reforestation: getting local people to plant a tree for every tree they cut down.
There has been more flooding in my home village in recent years, and my father’s house was destroyed by one particularly bad flood. Droughts are also worsening, and all of this is raising the price of food. Many people do not have enough to eat, and many girls cannot study at school as they are simply too hungry.
What feels very hard is that Zambia has contributed so little to greenhouse gas emissions, but we are suffering so badly. Anxiety is very high here, as we are facing more, and worse, droughts, floods, crop failure. Sometimes all of this makes me want to give up on activism – there is so much suffering. But then it also makes me carry on, because we must keep fighting to end this suffering and make our lives better. We have no choice.
In XR Zambia we work on many areas, including clear water access, plastic pollution, and climate education. At the moment, we are focusing a lot on debt cancellation, because a country like mine can’t do much about the climate crisis while weighed down by so much foreign debt.
More than a third of Zambia’s annual budget goes on debt repayments. So we are fighting, alongside Debt for Climate, to get this unjust debt cancelled by the IMF, the World Bank, and corporations like BlackRock.
We wanted to stage an action in central Lusaka as part of the Insure Our Future campaign, but we couldn’t go ahead as the police would not give us a permit to protest. However, I was part of a Mothers* Rebellion action on International Women’s Day, and in April we are organising a march with Debt for Climate to coincide with an IMF and World Bank meeting. We will march again on African Liberation Day in May.
The situation is very hard, but I keep fighting and hoping that we will get the debt cancelled, stop polluting the planet, and make things much better for us and for our children.
If you know (or are) a rebel somewhere in the world with a story to tell, get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
The ‘Yes Marbles’ join the A12 blockade in the Netherlands - suited civil servants with oil pumps for brains.
Report: The Insurers Secretly Backing the US Methane Gas Boom
The Rainforest Action Network and Public Citizen reveal how at least 35 global insurance companies are underwriting liquified methane infrastructure across the US Gulf South that, if built, will export the same yearly emissions as 239 coal plants.
Report: The Fraud of Plastic Recycling
In the same month that microplastics were found in every human placenta tested in a study, the Centre for Climate Integrity released a report on how Big Oil and the plastics industry have promoted recycling for more than 50 years, while knowing it is not a viable solution to plastic waste. How disgusting can these people get?
Music Video: Bosembo by Ben Kamuntu & Ben Man (4 mins)
This powerful song by members of Goma Slam Session, a collective of young poets and rappers from the DRC, is part of a campaign to seek justice for the crimes committed in the country from 1993 to date, including those documented in the UN Congo Mapping Project report.
Report: UN Global Resources Outlook 2024
Global extraction of natural resources will increase by 60% by 2060, with calamitous consequences for the climate and the environment. That’s the headline of this new UN report. The stripping of Earth’s raw materials has soared by almost 400% since 1970, and is already responsible for 60% of global heating impacts, 40% of air pollution impact, and more than 90% of global water stress and biodiversity loss. Seriously people, either capitalism dies or we do.
Article: Mothers* Rebellion - A View from Kenya
Mothers* Rebellion has launched their fourth global rebellion (which we’ll cover next issue) and this interview with a young mother in Nairobi gives an insight into what this movement means to, and how it can evolve with, activists in the global south.
APRIL | Global
Momentum is building with Earth Day just over two months away! EARTHDAY.ORG (EDO), the global organisers of Earth Day, is seeking to showcase your work and support mobilisation to XR events throughout Earth Month.
Please register your April actions here to draw EDO activists to your events.
Contact Evan Raskin, Earth Day campaign manager, at raskin@earthday.org to discuss media highlights and potential funding support.
Coming Soon
Why would scientists break the law for climate change?
The short documentary film "Plan Z: From Lab Coats to Handcuffs" follows psychology professor Colin, biologist Abi, and ‘Scientists for XR’ co-founder Aaron's journeys into civil disobedience.
Watch the impressive trailer, donate to the ongoing production, and sign up for release details by heading to the film’s official website.
17 FEB | Copenhagen, Denmark: Filled with love and rage, rebels and activists with Scientist Rebellion Nordic stage a Valentine-themed blockade of Copenhagen Airport to demand a ban on private jets. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
Thank you for reading, rebel. If you have any questions or feedback, we want to hear from you. Get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
]]>Fridays For Future march in Bonn, Germany, 2019. Photo: Mika Baumeister
This issue: XR Finland vs Mining | XR Austria vs Tunnel Spider | USA Stops LNG?
Dear rebel,
In 2015, world leaders agreed to sweeping cuts in carbon emissions so that global temperatures would not rise by more than 1.5°C. The Paris Agreement set this cap because beyond 1.5°C, the impacts of global warming became much more extreme.
But global warming has now exceeded 1.5°C for an entire year, and in that time the world has been hit by relentless extreme weather. The Paris Agreement has done nothing for the 133 people killed by unprecedented forest fires in Chile this month, or the 53,000 Indonesians forced to flee their homes after flooding from torrential rains.
And the Paris Agreement has done little to the policies of the governments that signed it. Based on current emissions, the world is still heading for 3°C of warming by the end of the century. These are dark days for humanity, but this newsletter does contain a couple of reasons to keep the flame of hope alive.
An Austrian rebel scales a lamppost during an action against the Tunnel Spider.
Firstly, we have the rare sight of something positive happening in American politics, with the President announcing a pause on new liquified natural gas terminals until the climate impacts are better understood. The news was met with both joy and scepticism by US activists, and is analysed in our Special Report.
Secondly, we have the reassuringly common sight of rebels putting their bodies and freedom on the line to protect their corner of the world from extraction and further emissions. Find out why Finnish rebels braved temperatures of -25°C, and why Austrian rebels are fighting a spider with a dinosaur, in Action Highlights.
Finnish rebels use skis to access a mining drill site in a remote nature reserve.
If you’re still feeling despair that we’ve collectively blown our chance for a stable future (fair enough) then turn that despair into action. Whoever you are, wherever you are, you’ll find two upcoming global campaigns you can join, and rebel roles you can volunteer for, in Announcements.
1.5°C is dead. But what matters isn’t the passing of a numerical threshold - it’s ending fossil fuels and making our civilization sustainable. Every step on that road keeps the world a little cooler, and the future a little less frightening.
This newsletter is available in multiple languages. Use the globe icon (top right) to change language.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
16 DEC 2023 - ONGOING | Sodankylä, Finland
Finnish rebels occupy a mining corporation drill site in a remote nature reserve.
Braving deep snow and freezing -25°C temperatures, a group of rebels has spent the last month (plus a week in December) interrupting mining exploration in a nature reserve in northern Finland.
Viiankiaapa is a beautiful stretch of marshland and lake-dotted forest in eastern Lapland, home to many endangered plant and animal species, and officially protected by both Finnish and EU law. But British-listed mining corporation Anglo American has a licence to ‘explore’, and is intent on drilling beneath the old trees and fragile fenland soils for copper and nickel, which exist in abundance in the area.
Although they are not currently allowed to extract the metals, there is widespread concern that Anglo American will succeed in changing Finnish law, and unleash a wave of extraction in once protected areas. The mining company has been working for years to achieve this, indulging in ever more greenwashing to make their case.
Elokapina’s cycle: infiltrate drill sites, scale machinery, get arrested, go to jail.
Courageous members of Elokapina (XR Finland) are putting their bodies in the way to stop a round of test drilling. To reach this remote, dark, snow-clad destination, they had to use cross-country skis and set up camp near the drilling area, using special clothing and sleeping bags to make the bitingly cold temperatures survivable.
From their base, they have repeatedly sneaked into the mining site, scaling fences, climbing onto machinery, and locking on for periods as long as five hours. Each time, Anglo American has been forced to halt drill activity in line with their own health and safety code.
Since mid-December, several of the rebels have been arrested, held overnight in jail, and fined. Most have then made their way back to the camp, ready to continue the cycle of disruption and arrest. Unhappy with the nearest police station being an hour’s drive away, Anglo American have recently brought in increasingly aggressive private security guards who have shoved rebels and hit their cameras away.
Despite the intense cold, darkness, and aggressive security, these plucky rebels are not budging. They will be as disruptive as possible until 15th March, when Anglo American must stop work in time for the nesting season of rare local birds. And rebels are planning a big surprise for the company before then - so watch this space.
Follow Elokapina’s (XR Finland’s) campaign on Twitter/X and Instagram.
12 & 31 JANUARY | Vorarlberg, Austria
A rebel alliance protests against the Tunnel Spider, a car-boosting mega-project.
Main roads linking Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland all meet in the Austrian border town of Feldkirch, and traffic jams have been a problem there for decades.
But instead of investing in badly-needed public transport, local authorities decided to pour hundreds of millions of euros into a vast underground roundabout system, which will increase capacity for cars. A first exploration tunnel has already been dug.
"We're in a climate crisis, and it’s crazy to burn money for fossil projects”, says our contact from XR Vorarlberg, the province where Feldkirch is located. “We’re proposing a number of better ideas for the exploration tunnel, like turning it into a huge farm for locally grown mushrooms.”
Rebels call the ecocidal mega-project Tunnel Spider. As well as evoking the fitting image of a hidden, menacing, multi-legged creature, the name handily “angers those who are trying to market the project as something good.”
Rebels with their dinosaur outside the Vorarlberg state parliament. Sign on the right: ‘We had no choice…”
XR Vorarlberg has been protesting the Tunnel Spider for months as part of a joint campaign with local NGOs, grassroots movements, and political parties. Since October 2022 there have been ten major actions, including occupying government buildings three times. And the rebels have won some precious victories.
“We’re in an election year, and the current government has already decided to pass the final decision over the project on to the next legislative period. And the media now writes about a ‘controversial project’ when they mention the Tunnel Spider.”
In January, XR Vorarlberg saw their local struggle turn international. 70 German activists from Last Generation and Ende Gelände (on their way to protest the World Economic Forum in Davos) joined a rebel street blockade outside a Tunnel Spider information centre. The activist alliance used tripods and pipe-locks, and climbed traffic lights and lampposts, to stretch a huge spider web across the street.
Austrian rebels rallied again two weeks later outside the state parliament, and while there were no reinforcements from the global climate movement, there was a giant dinosaur. Police didn’t like the reminder that we are in the 6th mass extinction event, and shut the protest down, so rebels blockaded a nearby street, then joined a rally outside the state museum. All humans and dinosaurs managed to avoid arrest.
Find out more about XR Austria’s campaigns on their website.
9 JAN | North Kivu, DRC: Members of XR Rutshuru march with communities living beside Virunga National Park to oppose proposed oil and gas exploitation there. They want the Congolese government to safeguard the park, protect the millions of people who depend on it, and cancel any active licences for oil exploration there.
11 JAN | Kampala, Uganda: Another activist with Students Against Eacop is violently arrested and detained by Ugandan police. The trial of seven activists being held in Luzira prison will start this month. The group refuse to be intimidated and vow to continue their peaceful campaign against the ecocidal oil pipeline.
12 JAN | Adelaide, Australia: XR South Australia targets a regional cycling race because it is sponsored by Santos, a fossil fuel company. Rebels were a loud and colourful presence at an opening ceremony and along the route around Adelaide. They called on the South Australian government to dump Santos as sponsor.
16–17 JAN | Sandefjord, Norway: 30 rebels blockade the entrances and driveway to the Oil and Energy Conference, where 62 new oil production licences were handed out. Police eventually cleared the blockades so the heavily delayed conference could begin. But the rebels returned with car horns, amps, vuvuzelas, cowbells, recorders, tin whistles, pots and pans, and disturbed the presentations within. They also gave the oil elite and their politician lapdogs an especially early wake-up call the next morning (the conference was in a hotel). XR Norway are demanding an end to new oil licences and a start to decommissioning the oil industry. They promise to keep disturbing the oil elite wherever they gather.
18 JAN | Paris, France: Victory! French rebel Coline (front, centre) finally returns home after a concerted campaign by friends, family, and rebels to get her freed. She was imprisoned in Senegal under conspiracy charges for going to a rally by a presidential candidate in November, and faced life imprisonment. The election is being continually delayed by the current president, who has already served a maximum two terms, but has the backing of the French government.
22 JAN | Toronto, Canada: A brand new Red Rebel brigade pays a visit to the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada, the biggest funder of fossil fuels in the world since the Paris Agreement.
24 JAN | Buenos Aires, Argentina: XR Argentina joins thousands of activists, unions, and citizens in a nationwide strike against the ecocidal and repressive laws being introduced by the new president of Argentina. If passed, his ‘omnibus law’ will see the country enter a dark era of banned protest and unregulated extractivism.
27 JAN | Farnborough, UK: Rebels, local residents, and climate queen Greta Thunberg protest against the expansion of Farnborough Airport, which would see private jet flights grow from 50,000 to 70,000 a year. Private jets are up to 30 times more polluting than passenger airliners, and service an unfathomably selfish elite. A week later, Greta walked free from a London court after being arrested for ‘public disorder’ during protests at an oil and gas conference in the city last year.
28 JAN | Copenhagen & Aalborg, Denmark: Rebels from XR Denmark and Scientist Rebellion blockade a main road leading into Kastrup Airport to demand a ban on private jets. Drivers got angry, shoving rebels aside and driving through their banners. A journalist covering the event was hit by a car and taken to hospital. Meanwhile, three scientists (pictured) blockaded a private jet at Aalborg Airport. Private jet use in Denmark quadrupled between 2020 and 2022. A four-hour private jet flight emits as much carbon per person as an average European does in a year.
28 JAN | Brussels, Belgium: XR Belgium launches a wave of actions against fossil fuel subsidies ahead of national and EU elections. 150 activists hosted a traffic-blocking street party and demanded a future free from fossil fuels. 70% of Belgians are in favour of stricter environmental safeguards, yet the politicians sit on their hands.
1 FEBRUARY | Virginia, USA: A ‘Mountain Mama’ with Appalachians Against Pipelines locks onto a helicopter used to transport workers to a remote site of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, delaying construction for many hours. She and another protester were arrested and jailed.
26 JAN | Washington, D.C., USA
The science is clear. Scientist Rebellion joins protests outside the North American Gas Forum in Washington, D.C., in October 2023.
The fossil fuel industry had big plans for America’s natural gas, which is fracked from the ground and liquified for easy export abroad. More than 20 new Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities were earmarked for construction along the Gulf of Mexico, despite having the same cumulative pollution as 675 coal-fired power plants.
But those plans won’t be going forward - at least not for now. After decades of protest by frontline communities, especially in the Gulf Coast where most of these facilities would be constructed, a large coalition came together to take the fight to Washington, D.C. Three days of rallies and civil disobedience were planned outside the Department of Energy, with 1,000 people taking NVDA training and risking arrest.
But days before the disruption was due to begin, the American President announced a pause on LNG export approvals, and the start of taking climate and environmental harm into consideration during any future decision-making.
A huge coalition has campaigned against LNG in Washington D.C., including the Vessel Project (Photo: Jamie Henn), Climate Defiance, XR DC, and Third Act.
The initial reaction was universal joy, with everyone from giant NGOs to frontline communities, youth movements, and elders celebrating the announcement. After years of dogged campaigning, petition delivering, and pressure on Congress for precisely this decision, here was a victory that felt well-earned.
Climate Defiance, who have been hounding D.C.’s oil-friendly elite, called it “the most significant move any President has ever made on stopping fossil fuels.”
But rebels from XR DC, whose campaign to Electrify DC is intricately linked with the push to stop LNG, sounded a note of caution, calling the win a “ray of hope” in a difficult fight with an industry that has its claws deeply embedded in the country. “There are still 8 LNG export facilities in operation and 10 more already approved, setting the U.S. on a path to double the volume of LNG exported by 2028.”
The fight continues. On Feb 8th, Friends of the Earth Action activists disrupted a Big Oil funded senator who is opposed to the LNG pause.
Over the past months, the climate justice movement has mobilised closely with the Palestinian Liberation movement, and there are concerns that the climbdown on LNG is a cynical way for the President to shore up his youth vote in an election year.
There’s also the fact that America might not have enough gas to warrant the new terminals. Days before the LNG announcement, data from the Department of Energy revealed that the country’s gas supply was in terminal decline, with consultants telling the government to reevaluate supply before approving any more exports.
Whether this dramatic policy shift was spurred more by dogged activism, desperate vote-seeking, or good old-fashioned resource depletion - it demonstrates weakness in one of the most powerful cogs of our global fossil-capital system. That weakness is worth celebrating, and worth pushing for further gains and new horizons.
The cover of a graphic novel about degrowth and misunderstandings around it.
Graphic Novel: Who Is Afraid Of Degrowth?
Illustrator Céline Keller has crafted this beautiful graphic novel about degrowth and why it seems to upset some people. The book manages to explain why this economic theory is the answer to climate activists' prayers and to debunk some persistent myths around it. The link takes you to a free digital download, but be sure to support the crowdfunding campaign for printed copies while you are there.
Video: No One Should Have More Than £10 million (58 mins)
Novara Media interviews academic Ingrid Robeyns, who advocates for economic limitarianism, a.k.a. capping extreme wealth and making the billionaire extinct. She makes a compelling case that wealth concentration is inherently unjust, undermines democracy, and is the root cause of the climate and ecological crisis.
Article: What the Climate Movement’s Debate About Disruption Gets Wrong
This essay argues that many climate activists are chasing the wrong metrics. Rather than aiming to win over a majority of the public, we should be focusing on repeatedly disrupting elite decision-makers - in a way that hurts their wallets. The overthrow of racial segregation by activists in 1960s America is used to prove the essay’s case.
26 FEB–3 MAR | Global
The Insure Our Future network is gearing up for its first Global Week of Action. Activists around the world are going to target the insurance industry for their role in the climate crisis.
Insurance is the Achilles heel of the fossil fuel industry. Without insurance, most new projects can’t go ahead, and existing ones must close. Insurers are facilitating ecocidal projects like EACOP, methane gas in the US, and oil drilling in the Arctic and North Sea. We’re calling them out, but we need your help!
9 MARCH | Global
Mothers* Rebellion invites you to our 4th global rebellion! The Saturday right after International Women's Day we'll be manifesting around the world, to demand climate justice and highlight the fact that women and children are the ones most affected by the climate emergency.
Mothers* circles are static and emotional seated protests, created to make it easy to join, but hard to look away from. Local groups exist in 25+ countries across all major continents. All and everyone is welcome!
Visit our website or contact mothersrebellionsweden@gmail.com
Apply Now
Interested in joining the XR Global Support team and helping to grow and strengthen XR groups around the world? All you need is a computer, online access, free time, and a strong commitment to climate activism. Roles currently available include…
Website Team Coordinator: Organise the software development team working on the rebellion.global website, identifying what tasks need doing and managing progress. Ideally, you are a JavaScript developer with knowledge of Vue.js, or the desire to learn it. Previous coordinators will be on hand to show you the ropes.
(~3 hrs per week)
Media & Messaging Internal Coordinator: The Media & Messaging team amplifies the actions of rebels around the world, especially groups in the Global South. It also produces content for the XR Global website and social media channels. The internal coordinator role involves keeping the various teams within Media & Messaging functional, secure, and harmonious.
(~20 hrs per week)
To apply for these roles or any other, fill in this onboarding form. If you have any questions, get in touch at onboarding@rebellion.global
18 DECEMBER | Freetown, Sierra Leone: Alhassan Sesay, the founder of XR Sierra Leone, dies. Despite living with a disability, he spent decades campaigning for the planet, gaining love and respect from rebels across Africa and the world. As well as coordinating XR Sierra Leone, he also taught children how to protect the environment by founding the Sierra Leone School Green Club. He will be missed.
Thank you for reading, rebel. If you have any questions or feedback, we want to hear from you. Get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
]]>“When growing up in a rural area in Kenya, I saw a lot of challenges that women faced especially in accessing resources. In the community of Kenya, males are the head of household and they are the ones to give directions on what is to be done. Most landowners are men but the land is cultivated and taken care of by women. There are a lot of uncultivated lands and women don't have power to do that and that pushed me to study a course in gender and development studies to help rural women and empower them through education. I have a university degree in Gender and Development Studies.”
In her work she focuses on education about adaptation of farming in a climate-changed world. She advocates for the rural women since they often are the key person to provide food and water for their children although the man is the head of family.
“Personally I love farming a lot,” Betty continues, “and whenever I was home for holidays my dad could support me and I could do commercial farming for vegetables and it helped in paying school fees for my siblings. That's my motivation for working with rural women. With support from male counterparts, the issue of food shortages especially with the escalating climate crisis can be dealt with from a community level.”
Every now and then the line breaks because the internet is both unstable and expensive, which still is the reality for many people in Kenya.
“For how long have you been a Mothers* Rebellion activist?”, I ask when we’re online again.
”I have been an activist in Mothers* Rebellion for 8 months and I'm also active in the Global Wave of Climate Action. It’s a network for women in rural villages. In Kenya, as in many other countries in Africa, women are responsible for about 50% of the farming but the landowners are mostly men. Therefore, gender equality goes together with education about climate change and adaptation to new ways of farming. It’s important to lift women’s and girls’ voices but also to work with raising awareness in general about the fact that inequality doesn’t benefit anyone. Especially not the children.”
I am curious about the awareness in general about the climate crisis in Kenya, and Betty explains:
“A year ago, there was a bad drought in Kenya and Kenyans in general are quite aware of global warming and face new weather patterns on a local level, for instance it’s raining now in the beginning of November which normally is a dry month. Droughts and floods affect farming severely, and new ways of farming need to be taught.”
Since we are part of the same movement and I have been drawn to Mothers* Rebellion and the global level of involvement due to my strong belief in climate justice I want to know why she ended up with Mothers* Rebellion and her opinion of the rapidly growing movement which started little more than a year ago in Sweden, Uganda, Germany and Zambia as a branch of Extinction Rebellion.
“Mothers* Rebellion is a good movement although the word rebellion can be a bit offensive, and people wonder what you are rebelling against.”
This makes me think. I haven’t reflected on how Mothers* Rebellion, as a name, can sound different in Kenya, and other parts of the world, to how it is perceived in the Global North. Rebel means something else in Kenya than in Sweden where I come from. Due to Kenya’s history and colonial heritage rebel is a much more offensive term. Sweden has no history of rebelling, rebel armies or being convicted for uprisings. The closest to rebellion against the state I know of is the Union and mass strikes in the 1930’s. Maybe the women’s suffrage as well, but they were never called rebels.
It is legal, though, to organise and have a circle of women and allies in a public space in Kenya; it falls under the law ‘Freedom of Speech’. You only need to apply for permission from the police. To spread the word and organize, Mothers* Rebellion Nairobi uses WhatsApp and it’s a small group of friends who show up. In order to make Mothers* Rebellion grow as a movement, Betty would like to get some help to set up a Facebook page and an Instagram page. It would be helpful to get instructions and assistance from a media person in the Mothers* Rebellion global team. A homepage could also be a good start for collaboration.
When I ask what she wants to add she says firmly:
“Children are most vulnerable to global warming and all children should have equal rights to a liveable future.”
Well that's where we meet, Betty and me. Climate justice is the umbrella term which can carry our message further. We do this for the children. All children.
Betty Ngeno, active in Mothers* Rebellion, Kenya
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554417594401
and Matilda Bergström, active in Mothers* Rebellion, Sweden
December 4, 2023
Read more about Mothers* Rebellion here.
The year 2024 is upon us, and we need change more than ever as we approach 2025. Please consider donating to help sustain our actions and build a healthier world and future. With love and rage.
]]>Earth Uprising activists protest a new motorway in France. The French state tried and failed to outlaw the group last year - one of many protest victories in 2023.
This issue: XR Argentina Uncertain Future | Green Rivers in Italy | 2023 Victories |
Dear rebel,
In 2023, we saw the world get battered by extreme weather, we saw global heating break all records, we saw an oil company host COP and hail vague promises as progress, we saw the West rollback on climate pledges while giving a nod to genocide in Palestine, and we saw billionaires build bunkers in preparation for societal collapse.
As we gear up for another year of protest, we could probably all do with a bit more hope. Which is why you should keep reading. Because as well as covering December’s most inspiring rebel actions from around the world, this issue also remembers some key victories by rebels and their allies over the last year.
Rebels perform a special dance during a campaign against extractivism in Argentina.
In Action Highlights we report on a nationwide campaign against extractivism in Argentina, where courageous rebels are continuing to protest despite threats from an authoritarian new president. We also investigate a gross overreaction by the Italian state, with rebels being banished for years from Venice for (harmlessly) turning one of its rivers green.
For a New Year boost, our Special Report picks out six victories from 2023 that prove peaceful protest works. Each entry is a precious jewel to savour, and should put a spring in your step as you march the streets this year.
Climate Defiance ruins an honorary dinner for the CEO of ExxonMobil. In 2023, the new group terrified Washington and met with the White House. Victory!
Finally, in Humans of XR, we speak to an inspiring rebel living in Sri Lanka who is both a climate and a human rights activist after witnessing terrible crimes during the mass protests of 2022 that swept away the government.
The newsletter team wishes all rebels a very happy and hopeful 2024, and looks forward to reporting on another year of courageous actions and precious victories.
This newsletter is available in multiple languages. Use the globe icon (top right) to change language.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
4 DEC | Nationwide, Argentina
Rebels perform a group dance while marching through Buenos Aires.
Since the large-scale Atlanticazo protests we covered a few months ago, the streets of Argentina haven’t gone quiet. December saw the launch of a huge campaign by more than 128 assemblies, organisations and indigenous communities to oppose extractivist governments all over the world.
XR Argentina was a key part of the coalition, with 10 regional groups bringing banners, drums, and actions to marches across the country. In Buenos Aires, rebels performed an intricate group dance while tethered together by threads, mirroring the mycorrhizal networks that bind fungus to plants and nourish entire ecosystems.
The campaign followed the election of a new Argentine president, who stood on a platform of populist and ultra-neoliberal policies. He quickly issued a decree that scraps or weakens over 350 laws, and XR Argentina released a detailed statement warning of the terrible ecological damage it will cause.
A delegation from Jujuy join the march in Buenos Aires (left), a Mapuche woman talks about the suffering caused by extractivism in Patagonia (top right), and rebels protest beside the Argentine Sea, which is earmarked for offshore oil drilling.
The decree will enable a surge in rural land sales to foreign companies, reduce oversight of mining companies, and weaken indigenous land rights. Worse, the new government has followed the decree with an authoritarian crackdown on free speech and protest. Activists face being stripped of state benefits and billed for police deployment.
XR Argentina stresses that all these repressive changes are unconstitutional, and rebel groups are discussing how to navigate the new legal landscape and continue public protest. Right now, the future for rebels in Argentina is full of uncertainty.
Follow XR Argentina on Instagram.
9 DEC | Rome Venice Milan Turin Bologna Bari, Italy
Rivers turn green to denounce the failure of COP28. Banners: The government speaks, the earth sinks.
In a disturbing trend that has become the new normal in Italy, peaceful eco-activists are being branded a “danger to security and public order”, banned from cities without trial, and criminalised under anti-terrorist laws intended to prosecute the mafia.
Here’s what the Italian government considers so dangerous: In a coordinated day of action, rebels turned the rivers of six cities green with a harmless dye to denounce the inaction of COP28, and used climbing gear to suspend themselves from bridges to show how life is hanging by a thread.
Papier-mâché houses were displayed sinking into the waters, while rebels played music, made speeches, distributed leaflets, and engaged with curious pedestrians.
In Venice, 28 people were arrested, including a random tourist and members of the press. 27 charges and five city bans lasting 4-years were served, though the police were forced to revoke one expulsion order because it illegally banned a student from attending her university.
A rebel plays her double bass under the Ponte di Rialto. She was arrested, and the instrument was confiscated by the police.
The police overreaction caused a public outcry. Fifty teachers from Ca' Foscari University wrote an open letter calling the response an "intimidating and unhealthy act for a democratic society". In Torino, a petition signed by 2500 people, including many professors, asked the government "to guarantee maximum freedom of demonstration and to avoid the criminalisation of dissent".
But the Venetian police refused to see sense. Two weeks later, everyone identified with the Grand Canal action was summoned for an "oral warning”, a prelude to special state surveillance usually reserved for members of the mafia. And two more city bans were served days later, also based on illegitimate legal grounds.
The Italian government is trying to construct a narrative that defines those who join climate movements as eco-terrorists and criminals. Italian rebels, meanwhile, will keep telling the truth.
Follow XR Italy using this Link Tree
25 NOVEMBER | Belgrade, Serbia: XR Serbia played a football match against Capitalism FC in front of the Serbian parliament during COP28. Ecocidal corporations like Rio Tinto want to dig up Serbia’s rich mineral deposits, and the politicians are happy to oblige. Weeks later, rebels joined a series of huge blockades in the capital after the government was accused of stealing a December election. Police used tear gas and violence to clear the protests.
2 DECEMBER | Barcelona, Spain: Rebels occupy the Barcelona European Parliament office to denounce COP and demand a European Citizens' Assembly. They sprayed the building with black paint, dropped a banner, and chained themselves to the balcony, while others blocked the road outside.
8 DEC | Rotterdam, Netherlands: 130 rebels block the main access roads to the Europoort, the most polluting port in Europe. After hours of disruption, the Mayor of Rotterdam invited XR for talks about making the port more sustainable. During the meeting, the Mayor acknowledged the port had a major pollution problem and a green transition was necessary, but promised only to discuss the matter further with the company running the port.
5–10 DEC | Melbourne, Australia: The December Rebellion disrupts city traffic for four days, culminating in a massive slow march and sit-down that saw 75 arrests. Indigenous groups, Red Rebels, and Blinky the giant burning koala, joined hundreds on the streets to resist seismic blasting, fossil fuels, and the global war machine. Photo: Ari Hatzis
9 DEC | Global: Rebels join hundreds of protests across 40 countries, including the UK (top) and COP28 host, UAE (bottom) to mark a Global Day of Action for Climate Justice and demand a ceasefire in Gaza, highlighting how the climate crisis and genocidal violence are both results of the same unjust global systems.
12 DEC | Oslo, Norway: Rebels shut down the headquarters of Norway’s largest trade union group for its support of the oil industry and failure to offer its workers jobs in a green transition. The blockade forced arriving union employees to face people “drowning” in oil and either support or reject further oil exploration. The government recently banned deforestation, though is still happy for its oil industry to commit ecocide beyond its own boundaries.
15 DEC | Kampala, Uganda: Four more student activists are violently arrested during a protest outside the Ugandan parliament. As well as demanding an end to EACOP, they demanded the release of seven student activists imprisoned earlier in November. The seven students were released a few days later and accused the prison of torture. The four newly incarcerated students will not be up for release until the 10th January.
16 DEC | Liège & Antwerp, Belgium: Code Rouge/Rood activists from across Europe disrupted Liège Airport and Antwerp Airport to demand degrowth of the aviation industry and an end to private jets. Police used batons and pepper spray to violently arrest hundreds of protesters as they headed to Antwerp Airport, though some still managed to access the runway and block all private jet traffic. But the police weren’t ready for a second target! 600 activists entered Liège Airport, Europe’s fastest growing cargo airport and the main EU hub for e-commerce giant, Alibaba.
17–18 DEC | Cape Town, South Africa: Rebel paddlers take to the sea to resist the arrival of a seismic blasting ship from Australia. The ship will blast continuous sound pulses for four months to find fossil fuels under the seabed, killing marine life as it does so. The paddle protest followed a beach rally earlier in the month.
18 DEC | Seattle, USA: XR Seattle blockades an Amazon warehouse to protest the colossal damage the corporation is doing to ecosystems and communities around the world. Rebels demanded accountability and drastic reform as five protesters locked on beside a crowd of supporters. The action was originally meant to happen on Black Friday, but was postponed when details were leaked to the police.
Victories in 2023 in (top) the Netherlands, Panama, France (bottom) DRC, UK, USA.
As we gear up for another year of protest, we could probably all do with a bit more hope. So here are six victories from 2023 that prove peaceful protest is the answer, and can keep us buzzing on the streets...
Paul Hawken's idea is simple: anything that supports living systems in accumulating carbon is likely to address climate change AND carry other great benefits, from biodiversity enhancement to economic prosperity. This book is an accessible but thorough exploration of what kinds of projects provide that support and why. Anyone engaged in resource management, community organisation, or infrastructure design can use Hawken's book to figure out how to be part of the solution.
Remember that “resource management” can include your own garden. Paul Hawken does not try to claim that any small effort can save the whole world, but his advice does apply to both large and small scales—and he provides plenty of examples of seemingly powerless people who found ways to make a surprisingly big difference.
Regeneration is a book of principles, not procedures—a valid and useful approach to advice-giving, but it could surprise readers, and some might also wish the book had a reference section. But in a world where most authors seem focused on climate solutions that are either too big for most people to implement or too small to really matter, Paul Hawken threads the needle and offers some truly useful advice.
Avoid Amazon. Support local bookshops. Buy your books at Bookshop or Hive.
Melani is arrested during a protest by the Socialist Youth Union. Photo: Tharaka Basnayaka @tharaka_
Ten years ago, I started working at a farmer’s market in Colombo, which was also a social enterprise that prioritises people and planet over profit. I had always been concerned about the climate crisis, and working there inspired me to turn this concern into action.
The first protest I organised was in 2019 as part of global climate strike by Fridays for Future. My friends and I made posters, went to a local park, and asked people to join us. Then I joined XR Sri Lanka. Initially, we organised actions such as tree planting and trash audits because disruptive protesting in Sri Lanka was very unsafe.
In 2022, mass protests against the government broke out across the country, which became known as Aragalaya (The Struggle). I joined with a few friends in a tent, and after nearly four months of protesting, the presidential and prime ministerial residences were occupied by the people. During these protests, something happened which drew me to human rights activism, as well as climate activism.
While we had been targeted with tear gas and water cannons by the police before, and even got arrested, I had never felt thoroughly unsafe. But on coming home after spending days at the protest site, we heard that the military had surrounded it. Our friends were still there, and we quickly returned, only to be met by a wall of soldiers.
A member of the military grabbed my phone and started to delete footage I had taken of the protests. When my friend stood up for me, they grabbed him, hit him in his face and dragged him off.
It was terrifying; we didn’t know where he was for over three hours. He was beaten by the police for the entirety of this time. To this day, he does not dare to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission because the military threatened to come for his family.
Since then, I have been involved in several causes, and I raise awareness about the intersection between climate change and human rights violations. I now understand that lack of accountability for human rights violations also leads to no accountability for environmental and economic crimes.
There is this narrative pushed by governments and the private sector that tackling climate change is a privileged endeavour, and that living standards have to go down for emissions to go down. In Sri Lanka, we have seen time and time again that this is not true, and that it takes tremendous risk and courage to speak out for the truth.
If you know (or are) a rebel somewhere in the world with a story to tell, get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
26 FEB–3 MAR | Global
The Insure Our Future network is gearing up for its first Global Week of Action from Feb 26 to March 3, targeting the insurance industry for their role in the climate crisis.
Insurance is the Achilles heel of the fossil fuel industry. Without insurance, most new projects can’t go ahead, and existing ones must close. Insurers are facilitating ecocidal projects like EACOP, methane gas in the US, and oil drilling in the Arctic and North Sea. We’re calling them out, but we need your help!
Learn more and sign up. (Based in the UK? Wait for details of XR UK’s Mini-Rebellion, which will be connected to this campaign.)
Global
Campus Climate Network is assembling a working group for faculty members, with a focus on the role of faculty in supporting student-led campaigns to divest from fossil fuel financing and affiliations on campus. If this is something you'd like to be a part of, please fill out this faculty interest form.
If you are a university student who wants to find out more about Campus Climate Network, email Alicia Colomer: acolomer@campusclimatenetwork.org
Register to be sent a link to our next coalition call.
23 DEC | Grenoble, France: More than 100 people call for the release of a French rebel who was imprisoned in Senegal in November and faces a life sentence. Coline Fay was arrested for showing up at a courthouse to support an anti-corruption Senegalese presidential candidate. The French government is suppressing the story because it supports the current Senegalese president. Global protests are being planned. If you are interested in joining them, join this signal chat.
Thank you for reading, rebel. If you have any questions or feedback, we want to hear from you. Get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
]]>The COP28 President attends a meeting in Dubai on the day the people of Panama celebrate their Supreme Court closing an ecocidal copper mine.
This issue: Panama vs Copper Mine | UAE’s Land Grab in Africa | XR Bolivia
Dear rebel,
If a rehab centre was letting in drug dealers, you’d question its commitment. If that rehab centre was being run by a drug cartel, you’d give up all hope entirely.
It sounds ludicrous, but that is the relationship between the world’s premier climate summit and the fossil fuel industry. A record 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists were let into COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, and the man in charge of the conference is the CEO of the host nation’s oil company.
The UN conference where the world should be uniting to end the fossil fuel industry has instead become a space for oil companies to do secret business deals and deny the scientific reality that fossil fuel use must end.
Panamanians rally outside their Supreme Court as it decides whether to close a copper mine so unpopular it caused hundreds of thousands to take to the streets.
In a Special Report, we expose the truth behind the UAE’s roadmap to ‘solving’ the climate crisis without dismantling its oil industry, showing how its purchase of a vast region of Kenyan forest for a carbon credit scheme is resulting in the brutal mass evictions of the indigenous people living there.
In better news, Action Highlights focuses on a wave of protest in South America that is building in Bolivia and led to a historic victory for the people of Panama, where the Supreme Court has ruled that a giant ecocidal copper mine must close.
The victory in Panama came at great human cost - activists were shot by motorists and blinded by police. But it is proof that peaceful protest can overcome corporate interests and reshape our politics in a way that climate summits currently cannot.
A man draws water to sell from Lake Kivu in Goma, DRC, both a source of drinking water and an unstable store of greenhouse gases. This image by @bienfaitcn was 1st place in the XR Global Photography Contest - see more in Announcements.
That doesn’t mean we can ignore COP, even as preparations are underway for another petrostate, Azerbaijan, to host the summit next year. The planet is heating too quickly to completely abandon our best chance of a unified global response.
Instead, we must call out world leaders who try to legitimise the car crash that was COP28, and demand fundamental reform to how the summit is run. It’s time for the UN to shut the door to fossil fuel lobbyists, and limit the voting and hosting rights of oil states once and for all.
Drug dealers and drug cartels be damned. Let the rehab centre do its work.
This newsletter is available in multiple languages. Use the globe icon (top right) to change language.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
28 NOVEMBER | Panama City, Panama
Victory! The people of Panama have won an almighty battle against the mining industry. After weeks of nationwide protests against a huge ecocidal copper mine, Panama’s Supreme Court has ruled the mine must shut down, and its Congress has issued a moratorium on all new mining.
The protests drew in hundreds of thousands of Panamanians, angered by years of corruption between the government and the mining sector. The Canadian owned copper mine was operating with no state oversight, and the pollution was so out of control that indigenous communities were drinking toxic groundwater while mine employees had bottled water flown in.
Protesters march through the streets of La Chorrera city in central Panama.
The campaign included motorway blockades, a shutdown of the copper mine’s port using small boats, and culminated in a march through Panama City attended by 250,000 people. But it was all sparked by smaller protests last year, organised by environmental organisations like Ya es Ya! (the Panamanian chapter of Scientist Rebellion) and Panamá sin Minería as well as workers’ unions.
The protests pulsed with a special cultural character that meant dancing and music were just as important as marching and blockades. But they were also sites of great tragedy. While the protesters remained peaceful, police and some motorists reacted with appalling violence.
Police used extreme violence and expired tear gas to try to end the protests.
Five protesters were killed, two shot to death by an American whose car was blocked on the Pan-American Highway. Several protesters were also partially or wholly blinded by police, among them a photojournalist and two children.
The people of Panama have overcome shocking acts of violence to claim an astonishing win, and have vowed to continue their campaign by targeting other ecocidal mines. Their bravery and persistence should inspire us all.
Follow Ya es Ya! on Instagram and Twitter.
NOVEMBER | La Paz, Bolivia
November has been an active month for XR Bolivia, who have been co-organising large weekly actions in the capital against widespread ecological and social injustices blighting the country.
Vast forest fires exacerbated by a severe drought have consumed around 3 million hectares of Bolivian forest, destroying dozens of indigenous communities and countless ecosystems, and closing schools nationwide due to the smoke.
Yet the government has done nothing to stop the slash-and-burn farming methods igniting them, and is also facing protests by mining unions who want to extract gold from protected natural reserves.
XR Warmis highlight the cost of the climate crisis to women. Banner: Not earth nor women are territory for conquests. Depatriarchise environmentalism. Ecologise feminism.
In the first week of November, rebel activists marched to the Vice-Presidency building in the city centre to call on the government to repeal the ‘incendiary laws’ that relaxed restrictions on forest clearing, and to resist the demands of the miners.
Later in the month, more than 100 protesters gathered in front of the Ministry of Fire Defence to demand the government declare a national disaster and provide more resources for volunteer firefighters.
On the final weekend of the month, XR Warmis (XR Women) rallied through the streets of the capital to highlight how women are more vulnerable to the climate crisis, with gender-based violence, harassment, and trafficking all more likely in the aftermath of extreme weather disasters.
Rebels rally through La Paz against forest fires and mining concessions. Banner: Our mother earth won’t be negotiated or sold, it will be defended!
XR Bolivia was started two years ago by people in La Paz hungry for a new way to do activism. “We wanted to change the perspective on activism here in Bolivia, because it was mostly done by NGOs or in a very passive way,” says a co-founder.
“We quickly gained attention nationwide and were joined by a lot of people who have been activists for a long time and were also looking for this radical change.”
Most of its members are involved with sister groups like XR Warmis, Scientist Rebellion and Debt For Climate, and XR Bolivia also works in alliance with various regional ecoactivist, ecofeminist and indigenous groups.
“We work from a decolonised perspective”, says the co-founder. “Part of that is the direct work we do with indigenous people, who are most affected by environmental destruction. We don’t want to be their voice, but a channel for their voices to be heard.”
Follow XR Bolivia on Instagram and TikTok.
NOVEMBER | Sasimwani, Kenya
An Ogiek family retrieves belongings from their destroyed home. Photo: OPDP
The carbon market gives a licence to pollute, paid in blood. What else can we conclude when corporations and nation states can claim to offset their pollution by "protecting" forests, and in the process evict indigenous communities?
The UAE’s hunger for carbon credits is causing the violent eviction of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in Kenya. With the support of a US consultancy firm, UAE carbon trading companies pledged to invest $450 million in credits at the recent African Climate Summit in Nairobi. A stipulation of their agreement with the Kenyan government was to reduce emissions from any forests protected by the scheme, and the Kenyan president then ordered the eviction of all people living in them.
The destruction of homes by forest rangers has already started in the Mau Forest, despite court orders ruling that the indigenous Ogiek people living there have community rights over their land and cannot be evicted.
Villages burn on Ogiek land ‘protected’ by UAE carbon credits. Photo: OPDP
Carbon land grabs are not new, but the size, scope, and speed of the UAE’s recent land grabs are unprecedented. Blue Carbon, run by a member of the Emirati royal family, has signed deals for 24.5 million hectares in five African countries. The goal is to generate vast numbers of cheap carbon credits that can be bought by the UAE to “offset” their ballooning fossil fuel emissions planned over the coming decades.
In the process, the company aims to steer negotiations at COP28 towards developing “suitable market infrastructure” so the UAE and other oil states can use offsetting to sustain business as usual for as long as possible. At COP28, the rules of how to buy and sell these carbon credits are being decided.
We face a pivotal moment where carbon land grabs could sweep the Global South. If the UAE succeeds, money meant for environmental protection could instead fund mass displacement, and the erasure of indigenous people.
Carbon credits are merely reputation in money form. Their price and popularity has crashed before, in part thanks to activist and investigative outcry, and they can be crashed again. Rebels in Kenya and communities around the world are resisting this massive fraud and speaking out in solidarity with the Ogiek people. The Blood Carbon Scam can be stopped – but only if we spread the truth.
Sign this petition to stop the eviction of the Ogiek community in Kenya.
2 NOVEMBER | Rempang Island, Indonesia: Thousands of indigenous people are facing forced relocation to make way for a state-backed ‘Eco City’ centred around industry, trade, and tourism. 16 ancient villages will be cleared. XR Makassar is organising a social media solidarity campaign to pressure the government to change course.
7 NOV | Belgrade, Serbia: Rebels join other ecoactivists to storm a conference on ‘sustainable mining’, where the government plans to sell access to Serbia’s rich mineral deposits. XR Serbia had asked to be part of a panel discussion about mineral extraction, but were turned down. They showed up anyway, and called for a new economy and a new society focused on the needs of all living beings, not just a handful of ultra-wealthy shareholders and politicians.
15 NOV | UK: XR UK launch ‘Don’t Pay For Dirty Water’, a campaign calling for a boycott of the wastewater charge in water bills. Water privatisation in the UK has led to billions in profits for shareholders, but rivers polluted with sewage for everyone else. Raw sewage is being dumped thousands of times a day by water companies looking to maximise profits.
17 NOV | Johannesburg, South Africa: XR Vaal and XR Gauteng join other groups to disrupt Sasol’s Annual General Meeting. 15 activists stormed the stage and read testimonies from communities across South Africa who have been ruined by the energy, chemical, and mining giant’s pollution. Sasol’s executives offered the activists a 20-minute meeting behind closed doors. When the activists insisted it take place publicly, the executives chose to cancel the AGM.
17–19 NOV | Global: Mothers Rebellion organise a 3rd global wave of action, with circles of mothers and allies forming in over 30 countries across 6 continents to highlight the urgent risks that children are facing due to runaway global heating. Photos (clockwise from top left): Kampala Uganda, Delhi India, Madrid Spain, Helsinki Finland.
21 NOV | Seoul, South Korea: XR Korea joins other activist groups to condemn Israel's invasion of Gaza and the many thousands of innocent civilians that have been killed. Shoes were laid out in a public square to commemorate the victims.
24 NOV | Kampala, Uganda: Student activists march to parliament to deliver a petition against EACOP. 7 were arrested, beaten in police cells, and after four days, remanded to prison, where they still remain. At COP28, the Total CEO backing EACOP was confronted about the arrests and promised to call for their release.
24–27 NOV | Newcastle, Australia: 3000 activists, including rebels, take part in a four-day blockade of the world’s largest coal port. The People’s Blockade, organised by Rising Tide, was the largest peaceful civil disobedience protest for climate action in Australia’s history. 109 people were arrested for demanding an end to new coal projects - the youngest was aged 15 and the oldest 97.
25 NOV | Gävle, Sweden: Rebels team up with Forest Rebellion and other groups to blockade a pulp mill run by Stora Enso. The Swedish-Finnish forest giant owns pulp mills and eucalyptus monocultures in Brazil and Uruguay that are linked to ecocide, indigenous dispossession, and money laundering. Find out more about Stora Enso’s litany of crimes and why it is uniting activists across Sweden, Finland, and Latin America.
28 NOV | Torino, Italy: Rebels disrupt a major international military and aerospace convention. 3 activists harnessed themselves to a walkway overlooking its entrance and dropped banners. The war industry destroys life and is responsible for 5% of global emissions. Despite this, military spending is ballooning across Europe.
Police water-cannon rebels on the 1st day of a historic 27-day highway blockade in September against fossil fuel subsidies. This image by @maarten.photomic came 2nd in the XR Global Photography Contest - see more in Announcements.
Documentary: Breathless (28 mins)
The BBC investigates the devastating health impact of gas-flaring on communities living near oil fields. Among the case studies is the UAE, where gas-flaring by state oil company Adnoc is causing asthma, lung disease, and cancer, but no one speaks out for fear of being imprisoned.
Video: BBC Interviews Roger Hallam (51 mins)
The XR co-founder tries and fails to make a complacent BBC journalist emotionally engage with the climate crisis in this fascinating debate. The link takes you to Hallam’s blog where you can also find his verdict on COP28 - run by fascists, legitimised by liberals, and facilitating the greatest holocaust in human history. A tough verdict, but on current evidence difficult to argue with.
Article: Can XR’s Surprise Success in the Netherlands Be Replicated?
An investigation into how XR Netherlands’ sustained blockade of the A12 motorway led to a political breakthrough over fossil fuel subsidies, how that victory has inspired new rebel blockades across Europe, and whether such success can be replicated.
Report: Climate Equality - A Planet for the 99%
The richest 1% of humanity produces more carbon emissions than the poorest two thirds combined, and will cause the heat-related deaths of 1.3 million people over the coming decades. That is the devastating finding of this report by Oxfam, which goes on to call for hefty taxes on the super-rich and fossil fuel companies.
Article: How Colonial Rule Radically Shifts Responsibility for Climate Change
Carbon Brief calculates the historical carbon emissions of countries, but makes colonial powers accountable for the emissions of colonised countries while they controlled them. These more just figures still result in the US and China topping the list, but the old European colonial powers see their share of emissions rocket, while former colonies see their shares drop. For example, the UK’s total emissions nearly double, while India’s fall by 15%, placing it below the UK in the table.
The Atacameños del Altiplano community chief looks over the Los Patos river, from which water is extracted for lithium production in Catamarca, Argentina. This image by @gastonbejas came 3rd in the XR Global Photography Contest.
The first XR Global Photography Contest has closed, and these three photographs were chosen via public vote from a shortlist of 12 picked by a panel of judges. The images, themed around water, will be part of a travelling exhibition and an online exhibition, and the 12 shortlisted images will feature in a special calendar.
The Judges Panel found choosing the shortlist a challenging task. The photographs were not only visually stunning but also powerful communicators of environmental issues, amplifying the voices of people too often ignored. They appreciate the commitment of all entrants to using photography to drive positive change, and look forward to continued collaboration.
29 NOV | London, UK: A Just Stop Oil activist is arrested for singing her protest song “We Tried” outside one of the many homes of the British Prime Minister. Make the song a Christmas No.1 by buying it on iTunes. All proceeds go to climate causes.
Thank you for reading, rebel. If you have any questions or feedback, we want to hear from you. Get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
]]>Appalachians Against Pipelines (AAP) occupy the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which when completed will pipe gas to a BAE systems factory supplying weapons to Israel.
This issue: Oily Money Out! | Atlanticazo Argentina | A69 Blockade | Palestine
Dear rebel,
Five years ago, more than 1000 people gathered outside the British Parliament in London for a declaration of rebellion. It was Extinction Rebellion’s first-ever public action, and the declaration finished with the line: “We act in peace, with ferocious love of these lands in our hearts. We act on behalf of life.”
A rejection of violence and a love for all life have been integral to our movement since its inception. That is why we cannot be bystanders to the mass slaughter of innocent people living in Gaza, a slaughter now so sustained and indiscriminate that top UN officials are calling it a text-book case of genocide.
The Israeli government says it is acting in self-defence after Hamas militants committed their own mass slaughter of innocents. But a massacre of civilians cannot justify an even greater massacre of civilians. And such a response will only fuel further extremism and conflict.
Rebels gather for the first-ever XR action in London, on 31st October 2018.
Instead, it resembles the brutal mindset of the old colonial powers. They also subjected their rebellious indigenous subjects to dehumanisation, dispossession, and destruction, as they rapidly extracted resources from their lands and seeded the climate catastrophe that we are now desperately trying to avert.
Today those old colonial powers, so instrumental in creating and sustaining this long and bloody conflict in the Middle East, have chosen to endorse the slaughter, even exacerbate it, while criminalising those who peacefully protest against it.
It is for all these reasons and more that our movement must unite in calling for a ceasefire, and pressure our governments to seek a diplomatic solution that ensures peace, dignity, and justice for everyone living on these lands, irrespective of race or religion.
A protester is arrested after briefly managing to enter the ‘Oscars of Oil’ in London.
The history of Palestine and Israel and the links between this conflict and climate justice are explored further in this month’s Must Reads. We also speak to a rebel with Palestinian roots in Humans of XR.
In Action Highlights we report on the blockade of the ‘Oscars of Oil’ in London, how French police used so much pepper spray during a motorway protest that they set fire to a field, and a wave of action against seismic exploration off the Argentine coast.
Finally, in Solidarity Corner we feature Defend Our Juries, a group resisting outrageous new restrictions being placed on the trials of ecoactivists by British judges, including the banning of any mention of ‘climate change’ in court, so that juries will find them guilty.
This newsletter is available in multiple languages. Use the globe icon (top right) to change language.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
17 - 19 OCTOBER | London, UK
An alliance of protesters including rebels rally outside the ‘Oscars of Oil’.
The activists arrived early in the morning in small groups. As they approached the towering hotel, a beacon of luxury just a short walk from Buckingham Palace, some were wondering if their plan was too ambitious.
But they set to work regardless, blockading each one of the hotel’s entrances. This was the venue for Energy Intelligence Forum, formerly known as the Oil & Money Conference, and casually known as the Oscars of Oil: a three-day summit for the CEOs of Big Oil firms to schmooze with politicians and dish out awards.
Frustrated delegates circled the building, looking for a way in, angered by the chants of the tight-knit blockaders. There were around 400 protesters in all, from an alliance of groups brought together by Fossil Free London. They had come from across the UK, across Europe, and even from as far afield as Uganda and Mexico.
A Ugandan activist with Stop EACOP speaks outside Standard Bank.
In the end, the delegates gave up, with the CEO of Shell having to give his introductory speech over Zoom. After a series of threats, police finally arrested 27 protesters, including a certain Swedish icon. All but one were charged.
Around 70 returned the next day for a noisy protest timed to interrupt a speech from the CEO of Equinor, the Norwegian firm set to drill the UK’s newly approved Rosebank oilfield. The police set up barriers to ensure access, but that forced the delegates to walk alongside the penned-back protesters who gave them a long, loud welcome, later enhanced by a group of XR drummers.
The rest joined Money Rebellion, Coal Action Network, and a samba band for a tour of London’s financial district, beginning with a rally outside Standard Bank because of its funding of EACOP, an ecocidal oil pipeline that will straddle East Africa. The tour ended with the occupation of three buildings housing a total of ten insurance companies.
Rebels occupy a skyscraper housing 8 insurance companies linked to fossil fuels.
Rebels chanted and waved banners in the foyers, demanding that the companies rule out insuring both EACOP and the recently approved West Cumbria coal mine. One rebel group even had a picnic. Police did not interfere, and after five hours the protesters ended their occupations.
The final day of the conference saw sixty health professionals join the action, staging a ‘die-in’ and a ‘climate inquest’ in the road outside the hotel and condemning the delegates inside for their complicity in a humanitarian disaster. Fossil Free London, meanwhile, marched to the headquarters of Barclays and J.P. Morgan, banks known for their grotesque and colossal financing of fossil fuels around the world.
The campaign showed how the climate crisis is being exacerbated by a network of banks, insurers, and Big Oil firms, and also fostered a heartening sense of togetherness among multiple eco-groups. The trials of those arrested will begin next week.
Follow Fossil Free London on Instagram.
4 OCT | Argentina
Rebels perform ‘oil tanker’ sounds outside the municipal office of Mar Del Plata.
Imagine being a sea cucumber or a coral or any other species of marine fauna. Whether you’re swimming around, clinging to a rock, or dragging yourself along the ocean floor, the last thing you want is a compressed-air bomb going off every six seconds.
That's what happens with seismic exploration. The explosions are used to map rock formations under the ocean floor to find the best spots for oil drilling. A ship recently left Ghana for the coast of Argentina to start seismically exploring the South Atlantic Ocean for an unholy trinity of oil companies: Equinor, Shell, and YPF, which is semi-owned by the Argentine state. A deep-water exploratory oil well will also be drilled in January.
It has triggered another “Atlanticazo”, a wave of protest by an alliance of activists against the exploitation of the ocean by oil companies. Actions have included disrupting YPF offices, invading a fossil fuel conference, and a special performance outside a municipal building using handmade hose instruments to replicate the sounds of oil tankers. International solidarity was shown by rebels in Ecuador, Mexico, Norway and the Netherlands, among others.
An Atlanticazo rally in Misiones, Argentina (top left) plus solidarity actions in (clockwise) Ecuador, Colombia, and the Netherlands.
The Argentine government first tried to approve offshore oil exploration back in December 2021, but sparked the largest protests that the coastal city of Mar del Plata had ever seen. The movement spread along the coast and across the world, dubbed Atlanticazo in tribute to the “Chubutazo”, an epic campaign where the people of Chubut province successfully resisted a mega-mining project.
The government argues that offshore oil platforms will bring in much-needed foreign currency to pay off the country's huge international debts, but protesters argue that corporate extractivism is what impoverished the country in the first place and will only make matters worse.
21 - 22 OCT | Toulouse, France
A protester kneels before riot police in surrender during a motorway protest.
More than 10,000 people from across France have protested against an unnecessary and environmentally destructive new motorway. Preparatory work is already underway on the A69, which aims to connect Toulouse with the quiet town of Castres 70 km away – despite a national route already linking the two locations.
A group named ‘La voie est libre’ (‘The way is clear’), formed in 2022 to try to stop the construction and save an estimated 200 trees (some hundreds of years old), wildlife reserves, houses that had sheltered families for generations, and at least 500 football pitches worth of land, much of it fertile enough to grow food.
XR Toulouse joined up with ‘La voie est libre’ a year ago, to share civil disobedience tactics and support their struggle. After staging multiple smaller actions, they jointly organised an 8,000-strong protest against the A69 in April. This latest resistance, after three months of planning, saw an even bigger turnout.
Thousands join the anti-A69 march through the rural southwest of France.
Thousands of people, young and old, urban and rural, came together to march, cycle, and drive tractors along the existing route, passing open farmland and quiet villages before congregating in a field where organisers provided food, marquees, kids’ entertainment, and more. Some protestors built a barricade across the marching route.
The next day, a group of activists tried to set up a ZAD (Zone to Defend) in an empty house on one of the construction sites, but were forced out by riot police swinging batons and firing tear gas. The violence spilled into a neighbouring field where protestors, some with children, were camping (with permission) and looking forward to a talk by renown climate scientists. The police let off so much tear gas that the field, parched after Europe’s heatwave summer, caught fire.
Police charge protestors and release copious amounts of tear gas.
The A69 was first proposed thirty years ago by a pharmaceutical and cosmetics company, and their tireless lobbying finally persuaded the French government to go ahead with the project in 2006. It is set to cost 20 euros for drivers to access the road, making it unaffordable for the majority of locals who are on low-incomes.
At least nine people were arrested and are awaiting trial, and many were injured by police. Meanwhile, the French Interior Minister is seeking evermore repressive laws against climate activists and protests in general, as seen in his recent effort to ban all pro-Palestinian protests across the country.
The alliance of activists involved in the blockade are taking time to recover and plan next steps. There is a vision to turn the A69 into a cycle highway, with regenerative projects along the route, like a centre for teaching people about eco-building. Despite intensifying state and police violence, these citizens are determined not to give up.
Follow XR Toulouse on Instagram and Twitter.
6 OCTOBER | Kampala, Uganda: Activists with Justice Movement Uganda are pepper sprayed by police during a peaceful protest against EACOP outside TotalEnergies headquarters. Three weeks later, two peaceful Stop EACOP protesters were arrested and imprisoned overnight. A UN official has said the repression of peaceful protest in Uganda is “very disturbing”.
11 OCT | Isangi, DRC: Another new rebel group is born thanks to the ‘Petrole Non Merci’ campaign of XR Goma University. The city of Isangi is located in a region renowned for its abundant peat bogs, land which has been earmarked for oil development by the Congolese government. Local people have formed XR Isangi to protect their land from extraction and destruction by international oil companies.
12 OCT | Worldwide: Thousands of people around the world, including rebels and Debt 4 Climate activists, rise up to demand the cancellation of the debt crippling the Global South. The global day of action, which coincided with a meeting between the World Bank and IMF in Marrakech, Morocco, saw mobilisations across Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. There was also a counter-summit in Marrakech, attended by a coalition of activists. Global South debts are tiny compared to the estimated $7.9 trillion in climate reparations owed to the region by the Global North. Photos (Clockwise from top left): Panama, Bangladesh, Morocco, Tanzania.
9 - 15 OCT | Helsinki, Finland: XR Elokapina launch their forest rebellion, a week of slow marches to highlight the exploitative and ecocidal environmental policies of their government. A key demand was to stop the felling of a 400-year-old forest neighbouring the capital.
16 OCT | Appalachia, USA: Dozens of activists with AAP, including indigenous Americans, occupy two construction sites of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Banners and armlocks highlighted the connection between the pipeline and the genocide in Gaza. MVP will pipe gas to a BAE Systems factory that supplies white phosphorus and other weapons to Israel. Construction was paused for the day, and five arrested activists spent the night in jail.
17 OCT | Cape Town, South Africa: Rebels are joined by bus-loads of pro-oil/gas protestors on the opening day of African Energy Week, a conference focused on fossil fuel expansion and greenwashing rather than clean, cheap renewables. It turned out the pro-oil/gas protestors had been paid to turn up, and when they heard about the true impact of fossil fuels, many apologised for being on “the wrong side” and asked to join the rebel protest.
23 OCT | The Hague, Netherlands: Rebels from the action group ‘Justice Now!’ rally outside the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in condemnation of the war crimes by the Israeli state.
23 OCT | Rome, Italy: 100 rebels dressed as Pinocchio block the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Some chained themselves to the entrance, some locked on to each other, others scaled poles in front of the building - all to denounce the climate denialism of their government. 40 rebels were dragged to a nearby police station and held for over eight hours. 5 were expelled from Rome for up to two years.
25 - 26 OCT | Washington DC, USA: Rebels and ecoactivists from across the US rally outside a luxury hotel to confront industry executives and government officials attending the North American Gas Forum. They blocked the car of a top official trying to leave the conference, were cleared by police, then re-blocked it as it reached a nearby street. The next day, rebels shut down the construction of a $4.5 billion gas pipeline in the capital.
26 OCT | La Paz & Santa Cruz, Bolivia: Rebels rally outside government ministries demanding action on the wave of forest fires sweeping the country. They want sanctions against those responsible, law changes, and an emergency to be declared. XR Bolivia promises more actions if these demands are not met.
28 OCT | Berlin, Germany: Although XR Germany cancelled the action days earlier due to the “tense global political situation”, a thousand protesters, including rebels, activists with Scientist Rebellion and Last Generation, as well as a delegation from XR Netherlands, still blockaded a major street to stop fossil fuel subsidies. The action was inspired by the success of the similar campaign in the Netherlands. Some activists glued themselves to the tarmac. Police used pain holds as they dragged them away.
28 OCT | Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Australia: Rebels and activists with Disrupt Burrup Hub rally outside multiple ABC studios after the broadcaster agreed to pass confidential footage of ecoactivists onto the police. An ABC crew were embedded with Disrupt Burrup Hub as they planned a protest against an enormous gas project on sacred Aboriginal land. The move was called ‘a chilling breach of trust’.
My name is Shireen. I’m of Palestinian/Lebanese/Syrian heritage, was born and raised in the United States, and now live in London. I’ve been an activist my whole life – from a young age I’ve always known that you have to speak out against oppression, because the stakes are too high not to.
Growing up in diaspora, I quickly understood our loss of home and country. It was talked about constantly. We protested, gave money to charities, and boycotted. I saw my parents and family standing up, so I stood up. I was also impacted by the Quaker influences in my life, from my mother’s side of the family and from my schooling.
Growing up as a young Arab American in the 80s and 90s, the media was so unrelentingly biased and inaccurate about anything related to Palestinians that it felt like you were constantly under attack. Society, at that time, was often ignorant and racist against Arabs. It felt suffocating if I didn’t speak out. I found outlets in protesting, literally feeling myself being present to say “I don’t support this,” and being able to assert our history in an environment that wilfully excluded it.
I wrote papers in school and college about Palestinian reality under Israeli occupation, and became active with Students for a Free Palestine (a predecessor to SJP). We held talks, die-ins, replicated checkpoints – we worked hard to insert Palestinian perspectives into what was a very hostile environment. After college, I moved into working in public health, focusing on human rights for marginalised communities in the SWANA region, including Palestinians.
I always knew that the planet was in trouble, but I never really saw the connection until my husband pushed me to get my head out of the sand. I did, and I panicked. Then I got involved. As with my activism around Palestine, being active against the Climate & Ecological Emergency (CEE) helps my mental health. I couldn’t be on the sidelines just letting harm happen, not doing anything.
As I learned more about the climate crisis, I learned that it is also an issue of justice with links to colonialism. These aren’t the headlines when it comes to the CEE, but they are the bones of this calamity. It’s taken a lot of time and learning for me to make these connections, but there is no future without climate justice through an anti-colonial lens.
Right now, I’m trying to manage my visceral response to the Israeli state’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. It’s been paralysing and galvanising at the same time. Most of my energy is going towards platforming voices from Gaza and helping friends gain a broader perspective of what’s happening. And of course, attending marches.
In spare snatches of mental space, I am very involved in the XR Global blog. We publish articles to help share XR’s view on climate related topics, always trying to platform voices from the Global South. I’m also active with XR Wordsmiths, where we just finished a beautiful Solarpunk writing project, and am part of XR Lewisham.
I am motivated by visions of a better world for my children and every child on Earth. We owe it to them. We stand on the shoulders of giants, from Harriet Tubman to Edward Said, and must keep their legacy of astounding courage and moral clarity alive. Empires fall, the world is constantly changing, and that also motivates me.
What I love about activism is the connection to other people and being surrounded by love. Activism comes from a place of love, and you feel that. I love seeing people change, on a personal level – whether it’s their actions or political outlook, seeing the impact you can have is heartening.
The challenge is that change doesn’t happen quickly enough and there are so many battles to fight, it can feel exhausting and overwhelming. Balancing activism and being present for my family in the way that I want to be can be difficult.
There is a concept that is central to the Palestinian struggle: ‘sumoud’, steadfastness. I look at our history of resistance, and am so inspired by this indefatigable fight that Palestinians have in them. We have been occupied, dispossessed, walled in, deported, starved, made homeless, blamed, tortured, expelled, blockaded, maligned, imprisoned, bombed, are currently being killed with genocidal intent, and still Palestinians respond, “We will not leave our land”.
That kind of courage is a call to action for everyone. The stakes are too high to not do anything, about Palestine and about preserving our planet. If there was one message I’d like to share with the global XR community, it is: ‘sumoud’ – keep going.
If you know (or are) a rebel somewhere in the world with a story to tell, get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
XR Peace prepare banners for the Big One in London, UK in April this year.
This month, Must Reads is dedicated to the conflict between Palestine and Israel: its history, its present reality, and how it relates to our own struggle for climate justice and the preservation of all life.
Article: What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about?
This simple guide by Al Jazeera explains one of the world’s longest-running conflicts, unpacking key moments like the Balfour Declaration, the Arab revolt, the UN partition plan, the Nakba (“Catastrophe”), the Six-Day War, the Oslo Accords after the first Intifada (“Uprising”), and the blockade of Gaza after the second.
Video: Ta-Nehisi Coates on Palestine (27 mins)
Author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks to Democracy Now about his recent journey to the region, his shock at how closely it mirrored the segregationist America resisted by Martin Luther King Jr., and his commitment to non-violent opposition to Israel’s apartheid regime.
Article: Everybody Wants Gaza’s Gas
The oil and gas reserves off the Mediterranean coast are worth $500 billion. But according to the UN, Israel does not have sole legal entitlement to it. Some is in Palestine, and much of the rest beyond national borders, meaning it must be shared by both parties. Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2008 illegally brought the Palestinian gas fields under sole Israeli control. The UN estimates billions of dollars in loss for the Palestinian people.
Article: The Political Economy of Israeli Apartheid and the Spectre of Genocide
Written in 2014, this analysis ties the Israeli state’s increasingly genocidal views towards Palestinians with changes in Israel’s economy, namely a burgeoning hi-tech-military-security sector requiring testbed conflict, and cheap labour from the Global South making Palestinian workers increasingly surplus to demand. The author worried genocide might loom. He has been proven terrifyingly prescient.
Article: The ‘Desert’ Was Already Blooming
An exploration of the links between colonialism and climate breakdown being experienced by Palestinians, and how climate justice means freedom for all. Features infographics by Visualising Palestine.
Article: Israel’s Environmental Apartheid in Palestine
An overview of how Israel has exploited the environment in Palestine/Israel, dispossessed Palestinians of their natural resources while leaving them with the pollution of that exploitation, and greenwashed the ecocidal nature of its actions.
A doctor literally upholds the law at the Inner London Crown Court.
Jurors in the UK have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to their conscience. But it seems that this right, which has existed since the 17th century, is now seen as a threat to the British establishment following a series of jury acquittals where activists were cleared of wrongdoing despite having “no defence in law”.
In response, judges have started limiting what defendants are allowed to say in front of the jury, sending people to prison for saying “climate change” or “fuel poverty” when stating their motivations. As one former government lawyer put it, “what does the right to fair trial mean if you can’t speak and explain why you did what you did?”
In March, a retired social worker held up a sign outside court stating a jury’s right to decide on the basis of their conscience, and was promptly arrested. Ironically, she was sent to the Old Bailey, a criminal court in London, where a plaque bearing the same message is proudly displayed.
People sit outside the Old Bailey, bearing the same message as a plaque inside.
The shock of this arrest reverberated beyond the usual activist echo chambers, with people from all walks of life protesting the increasing corruption of the criminal court system. The placard-holding protests proliferated, and 40 people, including a priest and an Olympic athlete, wrote to the government to demand it “prosecute them too”.
Soon after, Defend our Juries was born, a campaign dedicated to protecting the rights of jurors and defendants from the Government’s escalating attempts to undermine them. In September, the campaign held its first national day, with 252 people gathered around 25 crown courts across the country.
A spokesperson described the movement as highly intersectional, with Extinction Rebellion, Palestine Action, Quakers, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil activists sitting alongside former policemen and lawyers.
It is the latter for whom this issue cuts deepest, the spokesperson continued; fair trials by jury are what prevent abuse of power by courts, police, and ultimately the government. This affects the entire country.
Defend our Juries will host a National Day of Action on 4th December. Sign up here.
31 OCT | 23:00 UTC | Online
GS Regen are holding free Regen 101 workshops for rebels to attend each month. The workshop is a beautiful introduction to Regenerative Cultures for those new to XR, and an essential experience for those already involved.
Regen 101 is an experiential, practical, and educational workshop that explains Earth Emotions, Self-care, Burnout, and Emotional Debriefing, leaving the group with an understanding of embodied Regenerative Activism.
We make great efforts to centre the Regen101 workshop on systems of care, deep listening, decolonisation, inclusion and welcoming new perspectives respectfully.
The first Regen 101 workshop was held in August 2019 in Sydney, and the Regen 101 Booklet was developed during the later Black Summer Fires. It is a love letter to the three billion animals lost.
Register for the Regen 101 Workshop on Tuesday 5th December at 23:00 UTC. Workshops for 2024 will be announced on XR Global Support Events.
If you would like to organise a Regen 101 workshop for your organisation, contact regen@organise.earth
25 OCT | 07:00 - 08:30 UTC | Online
GS Regen are holding free Climate Cafés for rebels to attend each month. A Climate Café is an informal, open, respectful, confidential space to safely share thoughts, feelings and emotional responses to the climate & ecological emergency.
Join trained facilitators Christie, Cerrie and Sam for a quiet, reflective and supportive experience not designed to lead participants to any conclusion or particular action.
Register for the Climate Café on Wednesday 29th November 2023 from 7:00 AM to 8:30 AM UTC
For more global events and trainings, visit XR Global Support Events.
16 OCT | Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria: Greenpeace activists from Bulgaria, Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Romania team up to paint ‘CRIME’ on the cooling tower of a pollution-spewing coal power plant.
Thank you for reading, rebel. If you have any questions or feedback, we want to hear from you. Get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
]]>Telling the truth means being ready to accept when you have been led astray, got things wrong and so have to modify your views. Five years since the launch of Extinction Rebellion, this world we live in is changing so dangerously fast that it demands we revisit our assumptions and learn some painful lessons. It is now clear that 2023 is very likely to average more than 1.5 °C above a 1850-1900 baseline. Whilst emissions are still rising world wide. It is only through commitment to the truth that we might help humanity and wider life around as we enter a disturbing new era.
We got something wrong. We were misled. So, we misled you too. Aerosol pollution matters decisively to our global climate. There are other factors deserving of more serious attention such as forest cloud seeding and ocean health. Many factors were sidelined by scientists who were narrowly focusing on CO2. In addition, IPCC processes did not find an adequate way to address issues of extreme risk where data was deemed insufficient or where there was higher uncertainty *, such as aerosols, methane release from permafrost, and feedbacks from wildfires or droughts rendering sinks incapable of sustaining their role in the system. This misled other scientists, academics and activists including us.
Some of us have attempted over the years to responsibly communicate the extreme and cascading risks, and the severe consequences of not taking emergency action. Despite founding the movement on the precautionary principle we found ourselves being ground down. For years we were moderated, and moodsplained by experts from narrow disciplines who demanded we change our press releases, our lectures, and play down the reality and potential speed of catastrophic consequences. As we pass into the horrors of a 1.5 °C plus world, at least 10 years earlier than the worst official expectations, we realise we should have made a firmer stand. As we observe some top climatologists claiming we need to wait decades before accepting that the planet is 1.5 °C warmer, we also realise that silence about our disagreements is no longer an option for us, or the climate movement.
Understanding how this repression happened is important. We would welcome any career climatologists, academics and journalists who undermined our communications in public to make amends, especially as they have influenced attitudes amongst those who judge us. But more importantly, for the sake of life on Earth we must tackle this emergency with our eyes wide open to everything that we need to do from this point forward. The rapid heating and extreme events of the last year demonstrate that overall predictions of institutionalised climate science were less accurate than the conclusions of generalist scholars and leading climate activists, who better saw the frightening signals through the noise produced from siloes, hierarchies, and privilege. Notably, economists, politicians and consultants pulled the conversation in the opposite direction to what was needed. Because these people carry an identity associated with ‘authority’ they were not challenged enough by journalists, lay people, or activists.
XR was always about responding to the whole ecological emergency, not just the climate. We need to bring this back to the fore, as much for the climate as for nature. We need to prioritise preserving and growing forest cover, learning how to restore the oceans' role in atmospheric modulation, experimenting with marine cloud brightening in the Arctic and exploring every option for climate restoration and cooling, and even consider reversing recent shipping fuel regulations if they are causing an aerosol ‘termination shock’. And at the same time we must reject the lie that high consumption societies do not need to power down equitably, with the rich going first. We waste vast amounts of energy, which is unspeakable in these circumstances. The rallying cry from here on is that we Must Stop Oil, end the fossil fuel era, and we must also urgently start the repair of Planet Earth, our only home.
We are entering a new era for humanity and the prospects are terrifying. We committed five years ago in October 2018 to live in truth. Our movements need to look directly at that truth and act according to reality. That means being in resistance, standing for peace, justice and freedom.
Signed: Clare Farrell, Gail Bradbrook, Roger Hallam.
October 2023
*A footnote in the IPCC AR6 SPM: "Warming levels >4 °C may result from very high emissions scenarios, but can also occur from lower emission scenarios if climate sensitivity or carbon cycle feedbacks are higher than the best estimate. {3.1.1}"
]]>Dutch rebels brave a police water cannon during an epic 4-week road blockade.
This issue: XR Netherlands Mega-Blockade | XR NYC Rebellion | XR Taiwan
Dear rebel,
Climate breakdown has begun and the world in which we live is collapsing. That was the combined verdict of the UN chief and the pope after the world went through the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer on record.
But it’s not just the heat that has been a death sentence for so many thousands. September saw a global wave of storms and flash floods that washed away entire communities, most devastatingly in Libya, where at least 11,000 have drowned.
Meanwhile, the politicians with the power to stop this unravelling are avoiding climate summits, or rowing-back on already inadequate climate policies. And Big Oil backed think-tanks are criminalising climate protests and vilifying those who take part in them.
Faced with this dystopian reality, our movement has responded with ingenuity and bravery. This month we feature rebel actions that show new levels of determination, that harness new tactics and alliances, and that take place in brand-new regions.
Dutch rebels remain defiant in their stand against fossil fuel subsidies.
In Action Highlights, we feature a road blockade in the Netherlands that lasted 27 days, saw 9,000 rebels arrested, and pushed the Dutch parliament to table new legislation that could see fossil fuel subsidies abolished. We also cover rebellion in New York, where XR NYC coordinated with dozens of allied organisations to create a week of action on the city streets.
In Solidarity Corner we look at a fascinating new campaign that uses deepfake video, sophisticated PR, a fantasy modular iPhone, and good old-fashioned street protest to urge corporate giant Apple to embrace a sustainable business model.
And finally, in Humans of XR we talk to a rebel helping to rekindle XR Taiwan, a part of the world we rarely get to cover in this newsletter.
Rebels in New York are arrested during a blockade of the Federal Reserve.
The era of global climate breakdown is here, and far sooner than most expected. But we do not have time to despair.
Instead, we must prepare. For the devastation to come, for the widespread rage it will unleash, and for the actions that can channel that rage into protest - protests large enough to dethrone the elites who have led us off this cliff edge.
This newsletter is available in multiple languages. Use the globe icon (top right) to change language.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
9 SEPT - 5 OCT | The Hague, Netherlands
Rebels defy police water cannons that were so powerful they caused bruising.
On the first day, rebel organisers expected 10,000 protesters. But by midday, 25,000 had arrived. Their mission: to blockade the A12, a major road running through The Netherlands’ political heart, and do this every day until the government abolished all subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
As with previous A12 blockades, the police quickly deployed powerful water cannons and beat the rebels with batons. 2400 were arrested, including dozens of minors. But the police violence did not stop the rebels from coming back.
They returned, day after day, always at midday, their numbers bolstered by rebel delegations from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and the UK. The police continued their intimidation, confiscating musical instruments (the orchestra played on), reporting underage rebels and their parents to the Dutch child protection service, and only turning off the water cannons once XR Netherlands took them to court.
Despite police violence and intimidation, the blockades remained peaceful.
Finally, after 27 days of continuous peaceful rebellion and more than 8,800 arrests, the blockade was suspended because of an amazing political turnaround. The government had submitted a motion to parliament calling for the “scaling down of different fossil fuel subsidies”.
Rebels will not return to the streets until the motion has either been passed into law and assessed, or voted down. But whatever happens, this blockade has already become an iconic example of the power of peaceful civil disobedience.
Current Dutch fossil fuel subsidies are estimated to be between 39.7 and 46.4 billion euros a year. The higher than expected figure emerged after recent independent research, and forced the government to admit that the subsidies were delaying a green energy transition.
Follow the A12 Blockade campaign on Facebook and Twitter.
13 - 19 SEPT | New York, USA
An alliance of activists blockade the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.
Grounded helicopters, an occupied museum, blockaded banks, public nudity, and 186 arrests - just some of the headlines from the week-long Fall Rebellion that saw rebels from across the country converge on New York before the city hosted a UN Climate Ambition Summit.
The rebellion was run according to a new strategy that saw dozens of climate groups protest alongside and in harmony with XR chapters. As an XR NYC activist explains, “each group would take a lead on a single action, with other groups and individuals joining as many actions as they could all over the city”.
XR NYC opened the rebellion by disrupting helicopters at the city’s private heliport, with police ending the protest after 90 minutes. Meanwhile, 50 activists from an alliance of eco-groups blockaded the headquarters of BlackRock, a major funder of new fossil fuel projects, and four naked rebels gatecrashed a runway of New York Fashion Week.
Citi bankers get upset when activists blockade their ecocidal workplace.
The rebel alliance returned the next morning to blockade all ten entrances to the headquarters of Citibank, which claims climate leadership while being the world’s second-largest funder of fossil fuels ($332 billion since the Paris Agreement). Angry bankers tried (and failed) to push through the hundreds of activists to get to work.
The blockade tactics were repeated at the Federal Reserve Bank, where so many activists were arrested they had to queue down Wall Street in handcuffs waiting for police to bus them away. The tactics were used again at the Museum of Modern Art, which has ties to a billionaire involved in fossil fuel projects on Indigenous land, and was forced to close for the day when rebels occupied it for over five hours.
People of the Wetʼsuwetʼen Nation blockade the Museum of Modern Art for ties to a billionaire who is funding an illegal gas pipeline across their land.
The pinnacle of the rebellion was a vast march that saw tens of thousands of climate activists, scientists, indigenous groups, and unions pour through the city to demand an end to fossil fuels. Part of a global wave organised by March To End Fossil Fuels, it demonstrated the amazing alliances being forged in the city.
“We have a very strong and diverse coalition going on in New York”, says our XR NYC source. “We invited people from all over the country, they helped with logistics, led protests, did jail support – it was a huge melting pot that brought thousands together. And for the next rebellion, we’ll invite the world”.
Follow XR NYC on Twitter and Instagram.
13 SEPTEMBER | Denmark: Victory! Danske Bank has divested from corrupt coal giant Adani Group after a sustained campaign by Scientist Rebellion Denmark and other eco-groups. Activism works!
15 - 17 SEP | Worldwide: More than 600,000 people join marches all around the world to demand an end to fossil fuels. The historic weekend of action was organised by Global Fight To End Fossil Fuels in alliance with thousands of organisations, including XR and Fridays For Future. Marches took place in 60 countries (even the North Pole) and culminated in New York, where world leaders were meeting for the UN Climate Ambition Summit. Photos: New York, Bangladesh, Nepal, North Pole.
15 - 23 SEP | Worldwide: Mothers and their allies formed circles in 81 cities across six continents as part of a second Global Mothers Rebellion. Check out more images from the symbolic sit-downs on the Mothers Rebellion website. Photos: Sweden (Jonathan Pye) India, UK, Zimbabwe.
15 SEP | Melbourne, Australia: Rebels rally against seismic blasting exploration for gas off the south Victorian coast, a home to whales and other precious marine life. They visited Australia’s offshore energy regulator to demand an end to gas extraction, which releases vast amounts of methane - a greenhouse gas 86 times more warming than CO2. Photo: Julian Meehan
15 SEP | Kampala, Uganda: Police arrest 4 student climate activists as they protest against the banks funding EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline). One activist required emergency medical assistance after their arrest. They were imprisoned for five days for “causing inconvenience to the public” before being released on bail.
19 - 21 SEP | Johannesburg, South Africa: XR Gauteng occupies the HQ of Standard Bank, demanding the institution openly discuss its fossil fuel financing. Private security dragged the rebels (and a reporter) from the lobby and knocked one unconscious. Undeterred, the group set up a protest camp outside the building. After 3 days, security used punches, kicks, and choke holds to clear the camp. One rebel was dragged into the bank HQ by police and held for 4 hours before being transferred to a police station and held overnight. XR Gauteng are planning an even larger demonstration at Standard Bank in the near future.
21 SEPT | Brazil: Victory! The Supreme Court rejects a proposal that could have legalised the theft of indigenous lands by extractive industries. Hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people faced being evicted by mining, drilling, and farming corporations if they could not prove they were living on their land on October 5, 1988, the day the national Constitution was signed. Days after the verdict, a new reserve for uncontacted tribes in Peru was approved by the Peruvian government after a 17- year campaign. Photo: Tukumā Pataxó / APIB
22 SEPT | Paris, France: Rebels and activists from ATTAC France occupy Le Bourget Airport. They cut through fences and planted fruit trees on the runway to stop the ultra-rich from using their ecocidal private jets for the weekend. Police arrived quickly and arrested 13 activists.
23 SEPT | Ghent, Belgium: For the fourth time, rebels hold a ‘civil disobedience picnic’ on the city’s inner ring road. 135 activists gathered on the tarmac to demand their government stop subsidising the fossil fuel industry by 13 billion euros every year. After 14 hours, the police intervened and 14 rebels were arrested.
25 SEPT | Banjul, Gambia: XR Gambia hold their first climate change seminar.
25 SEPT | UK: 240 people across the UK replicate an action by a rebel now threatened with prison for holding a sign outside court. The rebel held up her sign about the rights of juries during a climate trial in March. She did it because the judge banned the climate activists being prosecuted from mentioning climate change in their defence. Civil liberty campaigners believe her prosecution is part of an escalating attack on the right to protest by the UK’s government.
28 SEPT | Vienna, Austria: Rebels block one lane of a major road in the city centre to protest the construction of a new motorway. They brought a 6m wooden scaffold and chained themselves within metal pipes, creating a taste of the traffic-jam future that the A26 will bring. The fossil mega-project has seen costs balloon by 60% since planning began, and rebels demanded that the 1.19 billion euros be used for healthcare, education, and nature preservation instead.
The Act Different website launches the iPhone Infinite.
In September, an international collective of over 50 activists, including rebels and “laughtivists” (humour-based activists) from The Yes Men, launched Act Different.
The website contains swish animations, photos, even the pricing plan, of a brand-new iPhone, the iPhone Infinity: a modular, repairable, and customisable iPhone with a low environmental impact that could last for a lifetime!
Better yet, you can watch the CEO of Apple launch not just the iPhone Infinity but also an entire new business model - one that sees the world’s biggest company put the wellbeing of Apple workers and the planet above corporate profits.
Sadly, the iPhone Infinity is not real, and nor is the sustainable new business model. The CEO presentation is a deepfake video created with the help of AI. But this campaign is so convincing that you might just believe it could be! And that is exactly what the creators wanted. They call it a psychomagic act, a therapeutic visualisation tactic to show people what true corporate social responsibility could look like.
Activists in London add the iPhone Infinity to Apple’s in store devices (left) and activists in Edinburgh give a talk outside an Apple store (right)
The collective have worked for months on the project, and have already caught some media attention. But this is only the beginning. All across the world, rebels and other activists have been visiting Apple stores to advertise the Apple Infinity, and to talk to customers about sustainable production and the right to repair.
The campaign aims to bring together Apple stakeholders, including manufacturers, employees and consumers, to pressure the company to not just ‘think different’ but act different.
To do this, the collective have created the Apple Alliance, a working group committed to reshaping Apple. In an open letter to the Apple CEO (the real one, not the AI version!), they invite him to join this Alliance to make positive change. His response is pending, but the campaign will continue, with or without him!
Visit the Act Different website, follow them on Instagram, and sign their petition.
Jen (right) with fellow members of XR Taiwan. Their banners read ‘Extinction Rebellion’ and ‘This is an emergency’ in Mandarin.
I’m from the USA but have been living in Taiwan for seven years now. In 2019, I set up a local XR group in Taipei. I’d become increasingly anxious about the state of the climate, and the total lack of an adequate response from the world’s governments. At the time, there wasn’t much climate activism going on around me, and I worked hard to get XR Taiwan established. But personal events meant I had to withdraw in 2021.
In the past months, I’ve had a bit more time and energy to devote to activism, so I worked with friends to revive the group. For our first action, a few of us who normally meet online gathered in a park for a meditation session, and we laid out banners with a QR code so passers-by could find us on Facebook. It wasn’t a huge event, but it felt really good to meet up in person and get things going again.
My decision to get back into activism was partly prompted by becoming a mother. My responsibility as a parent has made me feel the urgency of the climate emergency even more intensely. I know I can’t do everything, but I need to do something. I want my child to know that I tried to do what I could.
I’m also a teacher, and I care so much for my students, for what their futures will look like. Living in Taiwan, we are all too aware of the great danger of rising sea levels.
With the crisis accelerating, it is easy to fall into despair, but I try to remain hopeful. Being part of the international XR community brings me hope and strength. Forging links with other groups, seeing others around the world acting and building community is so inspiring to me.
I know that burnout is a real risk. You can get so enthused and ambitious, take on way too much, then get overwhelmed. I’ve learned to be wiser, to not overload myself, to just do what I can, so that I can keep going over the long term. As a Buddhist, I find meditation to be a deep source of support.
It feels like the increasingly frequent and severe climate disasters are waking more and more people up and are bringing more people into activism. This gives me hope. So does the XR global community: I have felt a lot of warmth and support since returning. Though none of this is easy, I have hope - and I’m ready for our next actions.
If you know (or are) a rebel somewhere in the world with a story to tell, get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
A Dutch rebel sees the funny side of police tactics during the recent A12 Blockade.
Podcast: Tipping Point
A 3-part podcast about how a team of young scientists released a groundbreaking study in 1972 called “The Limits to Growth”. It predicted the ecological crisis that we are now living through, but was ignored. A heartbreaking and inspiring story about ideas that are now finally flourishing in the degrowth movement.
Article: Meet the Shadowy Global Network Vilifying Climate Protesters
The New Republic investigates the Atlas Network, a little-known but enormously powerful network of think-tanks linked to Big Oil who are vilifying climate protesters and writing the legislation to put them in jail.
Report: Planet Wreckers: How 20 Countries Risk Locking in Climate Chaos
Oil Change International shows how just 20 countries are responsible for 90% of the CO2 emissions from oil and gas extraction planned between now and 2050. The USA, Canada, Australia, Norway, and UK, countries who could most easily afford to phase out oil and gas, are responsible for the majority of those emissions.
Video: News From A World In Flux
XR UK highlights important news around climate activism and science in these monthly discussions between an XR co-founder and a conservation scientist. In this episode, they cover the UK Government’s U-turn on net-zero targets, how think tanks are taking responsibility, and rebellion in the Netherlands.
Article: On The Wrong Side of History
The XR Global blog explains how the UK Government has both ripped up climate commitments with help from unaccountable think tanks, and repeatedly underplayed the nation’s role in climate breakdown.
Deadline: 1 NOVEMBER
XR Global Support is holding a global photography contest. We are asking you to submit your best photograph on the theme of WATER.
This contest is an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges and struggles surrounding this vital life source, water. The selected images will be part of a touring exhibition, an online exhibition, and 12 images will be published as a calendar.
Submission deadline: 1st November 2023. For more info, visit our website.
Apply Now
Know a climate activist with a story that deserves to be told?
This is your chance to nominate someone who should be interviewed on Everyday Rebels, the upcoming XR Global Podcast. You can also nominate yourself!
Fill out this short form to explain why your candidate should be on the podcast (be patient, it may take a moment to load).
If we feel there's a match, we'll get in touch to plan an interview. Thank you for helping us tell meaningful stories from and for our beautiful movement!
For questions or suggestions about the podcast, email: podcast@rebellion.global
Apply Now
Interested in joining XR Global Support and working with rebels around the world?
Our mandate is to help start and grow local XR groups across the globe by offering training, resources, tech support, media promotion, and more.
XR Global Support Fundraising is looking for volunteers to join their team.
Interested? You’ll simply need access to a computer, a bit of free time, and a strong commitment to climate activism.
The first step is to fill out this volunteer registration form.
25 OCT | 07:00 - 08:30 UTC | Online
GS Regen are holding free Climate Cafés for rebels to attend each month. A Climate Café is an informal, open, respectful, confidential space to safely share thoughts, feelings and emotional responses to the climate & ecological emergency.
Join trained facilitators Christie, Cerrie and Sam for a quiet, reflective and supportive experience not designed to lead participants to any conclusion or particular action.
Register here for the Climate Café on Wednesday 25th October from 07:00 - 8:30 am UTC
31 OCT | 23:00 UTC | Online
GS Regen are holding free Regen 101 workshops for rebels to attend each month.
Regen 101 is a beautiful introduction to Regenerative Cultures for those new to XR, and an essential experience for those already involved in the movement. It is experiential, practical, and educational, and weaves through topics so that the group leaves with an understanding of embodied Regenerative Activism.
Join our facilitators, Christie & Cherry in this nourishing experience that explains Regenerative Cultures, and covers Earth Emotions, Self-care, Burnout, and more.
Register here for the Regen Workshop on Tuesday 31st October at 23:00 UTC
For more global events and trainings, visit XR Global Support Events.
A rebel drag queen uses her charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent to make a very good point during the A12 Blockade in The Netherlands.
Thank you for reading, rebel. If you have any questions or feedback, we want to hear from you. Get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
]]>Downing Street, London - image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
Recent months have demonstrated the willingness of the current UK Government to pursue climate harming policies. Approval of a new coal mine in Cumbria and licences for extraction in the North Sea went forward despite being widely criticised. A by-election where opposition to expansion of the London ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) was claimed to have affected the result, led the Prime Minister (PM) to declare that he was “on the side” of motorists. The roll-out of reduced urban speed limits across Wales was also proving to be a controversial and polarising issue. All of this had intensified debate around green policies and their associated costs; in particular, whether they could be used as a “wedge issue” to gain political advantage at the upcoming UK general election.
With the government trailing badly in opinion polls, a reckless move in this direction was viewed as a definite possibility; yet the timing and the way in which it happened left many reeling, including members of their own party. The planned announcement was rushed forward, after parts of the speech were leaked and triggered an immediate backlash. As the world’s politicians met at the UN in New York to discuss doing more to tackle the climate crisis, British PM Rishi Sunak was outlining his plans to do less. His claims that the UK was on target to achieve net zero targets directly contradicted the latest assessment by the government’s own independent advisers. In a bizarre twist, he also announced that he was scrapping proposals that had never even existed.
The speech was condemned in the UK and abroad as jeopardising the future of our planet for short-term electoral benefit. Extinction Rebellion (XR) does not align itself with any political parties or advocate for specific solutions. However, there will clearly be policies (whoever proposes them) which take us in the direction of achieving our demands and others that don’t - it’s clear this announcement falls firmly into the latter category. What it also highlights are significant issues with impacts extending way beyond the UK.
Whilst UK influence on the international stage has undoubtedly diminished post Brexit, what happens in Britain still has wider implications. Being the birthplace of the industrial revolution and one of the largest sources of historical emissions places a unique responsibility on the UK to be at the forefront of decarbonisation efforts. The UK was the first country to introduce legally binding carbon reduction targets. In 2019 it became the first country to declare a climate emergency and the first major economy to put a requirement to achieve net zero into law. Sadly, the UK has subsequently made nowhere near enough progress in delivering against these promises; something that will be compounded by this latest backtracking. The announcement further undermines the UK's ability to provide global leadership and sets an extremely dangerous precedent. Many politicians around the world reacted with horror and disbelief to last week’s announcements. However, others will no doubt be watching closely to see whether following a similar path might benefit them electorally.
Ironbridge - birthplace of the industrial revolution - image by ian kelsall from Pixabay
The clear scientific consensus is that we need to reduce carbon emissions as rapidly as possible. 2050 is a completely arbitrary deadline, which in no way represents a desirable or safe timescale. We’re seeing horrific evidence of the damage we’ve already caused to our planet every day, much of which will be irreversible. The sooner we reduce emissions, the less severe the consequences will ultimately be. The speech attempted to justify the proposed changes with claims the UK was ahead of other countries and could afford to slow progress, whilst remaining on track to reach net zero by 2050. This was an unambiguous example of the 2050 deadline being used as justification for delaying action on the CEE. Let’s be clear - no country can afford to slow its progress.
The statistic frequently used by the UK Government to support claims of world leading progress is an almost 50% reduction in emissions since 1990. Whilst this figure isn’t incorrect, it presents an incomplete picture, as it’s based on territorial emissions. These are emissions generated within territorial boundaries of a country and exclude those associated with imported goods and international air travel. The UK imports far more goods than it exports, and research in 2019 showed UK citizens taking more international flights than any other nationality (total number, not just per capita). It’s therefore not difficult to see why territorial emissions would be the UK Government’s preferred measure. The problem is this massively understates the environmental impact of the UK and facilitates the deflection of blame towards countries such as China, which manufacture and export goods to meet UK demand. The claim that the UK is only responsible for around 1% of global emissions also ignores the UK’s leading role in funding fossil fuels globally. A 2021 report found that UK financial institutions were responsible for 1.8 times the UK’s annual carbon emissions.
Buildings in the City of London - image by Joe from Pixabay
The famous quote in the heading above shouldn’t be misinterpreted as suggesting statistics are another form of lies and that no reliance should be placed on them. Accurate statistics have a vital role to play in enhancing our understanding and assisting decision making. However, we need to be alert to the way in which statistics can be manipulated and used selectively in order to create a very misleading picture. Many politicians and corporations around the world are accused of doing exactly this, to create the impression they’re doing far more to address the CEE than is actually the case.
In the speech it was repeatedly claimed that the changes represented a rejection of short-termism. This was probably a recognition that short-term gain certainly appeared to be the primary motivation. Some recent polling suggested that key voters needed by the government to retain power would be receptive to the watering-down of some net zero commitments. One of the issues identified was concerns around potential costs. Excessively heavy emphasis on costs within the speech appeared cynically targeted at these voters. It’s difficult to view this as anything other than a clear example of short-term political expediency driving policy, rather than making decisions that are the best ones in the medium to long term. It illustrates how our current political systems create incentives to prioritise winning the next election ahead of doing what is actually in everyone’s best future interests.
The UK government pushed back the date for phasing out petrol and diesel cars - Image by Andreas Lischka from Pixabay
XR advocates for citizens' assemblies as a means to inform and involve ordinary people in decision making. You can read more about how they can help address problems with our political systems in this guest blog.
The UK Government was criticised for politicising the work of its own independent political advisers, the Climate Change Committee. Attempts to undermine the legitimacy of even the most reliable and authoritative sources of information are a worrying trend not limited to the UK. XR’s first demand is that governments tell the truth about the CEE and the actions necessary to address it. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that limiting global warming required “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”. Many people have concerns not only about the CEE, but also how it will impact their own lives. In the absence of trustworthy sources of information, these fears can be exploited and misinformation can flourish.
In many cases, those affected most severely by the CEE are the ones who have contributed least to creating it. It’s essential that climate justice is embedded within solutions. We need a just transition, which helps reduce and remove inequalities rather than exacerbating them. Support for climate action risks being undermined by concerns that the impacts will not be shared fairly. Last week’s speech was criticised for containing numerous misleading claims about costs and changes that might be imposed. It suggested those calling for faster action were driven by “ideological zeal” and unconcerned about costs and disruption to ordinary families; seemingly more interested in promoting division than bringing people together. It warned moving too fast risked losing the consent of the public, yet made no mention of projections that delaying action would actually prove far more costly. The irresponsibility of politicians deliberately adding to misinformation and fears for short-term political gain cannot be overstated.
The way in which lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry are able to influence policy makers is a global issue. Nowhere is this more blatant than COP28, which will be chaired by the Chief Executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company - it’s difficult to imagine a more obvious conflict of interest. The current UK Government makes little effort to disguise its close links with the ‘think tanks’ of Tufton Street. These think tanks are secretive about their sources of funding, but it’s extremely clear whose interests their work benefits. Increasingly draconian anti-protest legislation introduced by the UK Government has been linked back to them. Climate campaigners in the UK are being jailed for mentioning the climate emergency in their defence in court. Contempt of court proceedings have been initiated against a protestor for simply holding a sign outside a court reminding jurors that they could act in accordance with their conscience. It’s clear that the influence of these lobbyists is extremely harmful to both democracy and our planet.
Oil rigs in Scotland - image by Elliott Day from Pixabay
Politicians misleading the public and delaying climate action for short-term electoral gain are no better than the oil companies who knew, but hid the truth about the harm they were causing. History’s verdict on those still determined to continue along this ecocidal path will not be kind. Sadly, the prospect of being viewed as amongst the worst criminals in history appears to be insufficient deterrent. Their unwillingness to change course means it falls to ordinary people like us to do everything in our power to stop them. History shows us that progress is usually hard won and we have to keep pushing for it. Please join us in the fight to save our planet or make a donation to support our work.
Protest sign - Image by Kevin Snyman from Pixabay
]]>The people of Ecuador rally to stop oil extraction in Yasuní National Park. Photo: Fernando Muñoz-Miño
This issue: Ecuador Stops Oil | XR Sudan | Adriatic Climate Camp |
Dear rebel,
This issue, we have something rare and exciting for you: good news.
It starts with our report on Ecuador, where the public have voted to ban oil drilling in the Amazon in a national referendum that might be the first of many in the region. XR Ecuador contributed to this amazing political victory. Find out how by heading to Action Highlights.
The good news continues in Action Round Up, where we bring you a beautiful update on the struggle to close an illegal coal mine in Wales, as well as a ground-breaking court victory for young climate activists in Montana, USA.
Rebels at the Adriatic Climate Camp access a nearby gas terminal.
But this is climate activism, and the pure positivity can only last so long. In Action Highlights, we report on a second Adriatic Climate Camp in Croatia, where a beautiful five-day camp for rebels everywhere was marred by police violence.
Also in this issue, the founder of XR Sudan tells the courageous, tragic, moving story of their group in Humans of XR. It is a tale of democracy crushed, of state torture and murder, of the incalculable devastation of war, and the unfathomable bravery of rebels who believe in their cause.
Members of XR Sudan in 2019, the year of its founding.
This newsletter rarely gets to dabble in good news, but when it comes to tales of inspiring, fearless activism, we are always spoilt for choice. Whether it be in war-torn Khartoum, on a Croatian island, or along the edge of the Amazon, ordinary people are standing up and demanding better for this planet.
It’s their heroism that makes the bleakness of this global crisis bearable, and allows this newsletter to brim with hope as well as heartache, issue after issue.
This newsletter is available in multiple languages. Use the globe icon (top right) to change language.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
20 AUGUST | Ecuador
This is a story about a victory ten years in the making. The decision to put fossil fuel extraction in a biodiversity hotspot to a democratic, nation-wide vote was historic. But then, on the day of asking, the people of Ecuador chose to kick the oil industry out of Yasuní National Park. 58% voted to keep a billion barrels of oil firmly in the ground.
Yasuní, located in Ecuador’s east on the border with Peru, is designated a UNESCO world biosphere reserve and is home to many hundreds of bird, fish, mammal and reptile species. Petroecuador, Ecuador's state-owned oil company, is now legally required to halt fossil fuel operations in the region and dismantle its infrastructure.
XR Ecuador launched a public information campaign to support the protection of Yasuní and ensure engagement in the referendum. A rebel involved explains: 'many people did not know that there was going to be a referendum or did not know how to vote because the question was formulated in a complicated way. And we also had to fight a huge disinformation campaign that was launched by fossil fuel companies'.
Members of XR Ecuador in Quito vote in the referendum.
XR LATAM (Latin America) also joined the campaign, encouraging local groups from across the continent to show their support for the referendum in video messages and solidarity actions. Activists in neighbouring countries are already planning how to follow Ecuador’s example.
But it was YASunidos, a civil society organisation founded ten years ago and dedicated to the protection of the Yasuní, that made the historic referendum possible. They quickly collected the 750,000 signatures to enable it, then won a long legal battle when the former government tried to void half of the names.
'The result is an opportunity to think about a different kind of economy, and it gives a lot of hope', says our rebel source. 'After ten long years of campaigning, it was a moment that many of us in Ecuador have been waiting for. However, we don’t think that this is over. A lot of Ecuador is divided up between mining companies. We can’t rest, despite this victory'.
XR Argentina hold a Yasuní solidarity rally outside the Ecuadorian embassy.
The government initially voiced support for the referendum, but Ecuador's president has already indicated he plans to ignore the result of the vote.
'It is up to the constitutional court to make sure that the will of the people is carried out', says our rebel source. 'What’s important now is to make noise at an international and local level to defend our democracy'.
Rebels and grassroots communities are organising to protect the result, and protect the National Park from other types of exploitation like mining. Residents of Quito, Ecuador’s capital, also voted overwhelmingly to ban gold and copper mining in the Chocó Andino reserve, a biodiversity hotspot 40km from the city.
Follow XR Ecuador on Twitter and Instagram.
23 - 27 AUGUST | Krk, Croatia
Protesters inside the terminal are shoved back and have their goods seized by private security - actions illegal under Croatian law.
After a successful debut in 2022, the Adriatic Climate Camp returned this summer with twice the turnout. Around 160 rebels gathered on the Croatian island of Krk for XR Zagreb’s five-day festival centred around community, learning, and the peaceful disruption of a nearby Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal.
But despite the right to peaceful gathering being set in Croatian law, and despite XR Zagreb liaising with the police over safety, the final protest at the state-owned LNG terminal, which is a large international importer for the EU, was met with violence.
26 activists braved the sea and police water cannons to enter the terminal and unfurl banners. After being shoved back by private security, a delegation of waiting riot police then pinned down the protesters, keeping them in painful pressure holds before throwing them into vans and driving them to custody cells. There, they were held for up to ten hours with no food, water, medical help, or phone calls.
Snapshots of Adriatic camp life: socialising, vegan food, trainings, protest.
XR Zagreb is exploring options for legal action against the police and security, but the violence in no way deflated the camp, nor reduced the hunger for another one. Organisers promise to adapt the camp next year to avoid waiting riot police.
Rebels came from across Europe to take part in the camp’s daily workshops, trainings, entertainment, and vegan food, with a few even travelling from as far as New Zealand and the USA. A third of the attendees were not even ecoactivists - this was also a space for human rights, gay rights, animal rights and anarchist groups.
As well as a space for sharing activism ideas and know-how, the camp held trainings in climbing and kayaking, and hosted drama, speed-dating, and stand-up comedy nights. And after the last detained rebel was released, the camp concluded with a big celebration on the beach.
Follow XR Zagreb on Facebook and Instagram for Adriatic Climate Camp news.
2 AUGUST | Germany: Rebel actions were held in Nürnberg and cities across Germany on Earth Overshoot Day. August 2nd was the day when humanity used up all the resources the planet could sustainably provide for the whole year. For comparison, in 1971, Earth Overshoot Day fell on December 25th. Capitalism requires infinite economic growth, and that means our planetary boundaries are being increasingly disregarded.
2 AUG | Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand: Restore Passenger Rail returns to the streets for a very slow march around Canterbury University campus. The group wants their government to restore passenger rail travel throughout the country, with a railway line from the C.19th already set up for most of the routes.
5 AUG | Amsterdam, The Netherlands: LGBTQIA+ rebels disrupt Canal Pride Amsterdam with a banner calling for queer rebels to take action against fossil fuel subsidies. Banners were also dropped that celebrated trans people and refugees, and dismissed the ‘rainbow’ capitalism of the event’s corporate sponsors.
13 AUG | Seoul, South Korea: Rebels hold a sharing event to try and re-establish a safe community. XR Seoul was shaken by an incident of sexual harassment last year, and the group suspended all actions to focus on resolving the issue. Progress has been made, but the healing process continues.
14 AUG | Montana, USA: Victory! Young climate activists win a ground-breaking court case. A Montana judge ruled that state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment by allowing fossil fuel development. The state will appeal. If the verdict stands, it will set an amazing precedent for future climate litigation. Photo: Robin Loznak
15 AUG | Wales, UK: Victory! The UK's biggest opencast coal mine will finally close in November! The announcement comes after a sustained campaign by rebels and locals against the illegal coal mine, including a two-day blockade in July. XR Cymru demanded the mine workers be retrained for the site restoration work ahead.
21 AUG | Jinja, Uganda: XR Great Lakes Region holds a workshop with local school children about the climate crisis. The visit was part of an educational tour that began earlier in the month. It included rehabilitating a local water source and visiting Itanda Falls, which is threatened by a hydroelectric dam funded by China EXIM Bank (also a funder of the EACOP pipeline).
28 AUG | Nevada, USA: Activists from XRNYC, Scientist Rebellion and Rave Revolution block the road into ‘Burning Man’ festival, demanding that its organisers ban private jets and single-use plastics. The festival has a ridiculous carbon footprint and is basically a temporary city in the desert. But drivers reacted angrily, and police reacted violently, driving directly into the blockade and wrestling the protesters to the ground with guns raised. Four were arrested and face trial in October. You can hear from two of them by listening to this XR LA podcast. Ironically enough, a few days later the police were forced to close the same road after extreme storms turned the desert into mud, trapping 70,000 festival-goers with limited food and water.
1 SEPTEMBER | DRC, UK: Rebels in the UK and DRC hold simultaneous protests against Anglo-French oil company Perenco. Activists rallied outside its London HQ (top) and in Moanda (bottom left), an impoverished area in the DRC which Perenco is exploiting for oil. XR Moanda was recently formed thanks to the ‘Petrole Non Merci’ campaign, with rebels from XR Goma University touring the country to raise resistance against the 27 ‘oil blocks’ recently sold by the Congolese government to Perenco. Two weeks earlier they helped form another new chapter, XR Lobolo (bottom right), in Yahuma territory, a peatland region containing one of Perenco’s new oil blocks.
4 - 6 SEP | Nairobi, Kenya: Rebels from across Africa converge on the Kenyan capital to protest outside the African Climate Summit, a new three-day conference attended by (some of) Africa’s leaders to discuss… green growth and climate finance! Hundreds of activists marched for total system change rather than more financial greenwashing, and rallied for the cancellation of Global South debts. They were not heard. The summit’s final declaration was met with heavy disappointment.
I first learned about climate change a long time ago. I don’t remember exactly when. But at university, my knowledge and activity around environmental issues increased, and I understood how countries like mine in the Global South are less responsible yet more affected by the climate crisis. This left me with the urgent question, why don’t we raise our voices?
I was introduced to XR while watching the news. I searched the internet and social media for more information. Seeing XR groups in the Global North using peaceful protest to garner global attention inspired me. I felt like rushing out and taking action against the ecocidal crimes committed by my government and global corporations!
I founded XR Sudan at the beginning of 2019. The group had 12 active members, and there were two more local groups, the Ahfad Girls’ Group and the Darfur Region Sons’ Group. Over the next three years we launched many actions.
We ran awareness campaigns about the climate crisis and eco-crimes in Sudan in universities and neighbourhoods across Khartoum. We rallied in front of embassies during the G7 summit and against the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. We discussed the illegal logging of Sudan’s forests and carried out local clean-ups. We also joined pro-democracy protests on the streets of the capital.
People supported us and asked us to keep pressure on the government. They had seen the severe weather in Sudan, and the devastating floods, crop failure, and other disasters that resulted, in addition to many terrible environmental crimes, like the burying of Chinese and Iranian nuclear waste in the country.
XR Sudan joins pro-democracy marches in Khartoum, July 2020.
But on October 25, 2021, a military coup took place in Sudan. We continued to organise our peaceful activism as usual, but we noticed the security forces watching our movements. We were attacked by a militia called the Rapid Support Forces. They shot at us, and as we ran to hide from the bullets, a member of our group called Muhammad was hit twice in the chest and fell as a martyr.
Dr. Muhammad Abdul Rahim was just 27 years old and passionate about environmental issues and the climate crisis. After joining XR Sudan, he helped to launch a Covid-19 awareness campaign in the most crowded areas of the capital, and coordinated planet preservation festivals in primary schools.
When we went to our friend Dr. Muhammad’s funeral, soldiers arrested me and two others. We were placed in Soba prison, where we were psychologically and physically tortured. They falsely accused us of terrorism and being a “foreign agent,” charges they often use against democracy activists to cover up the accusers’ crimes.
I was absolutely certain that they would kill me, as they killed Muhammad and so many other activists. But a month later, the former Prime Minister brokered a deal with the military, and one condition was the release of all political activists. I was released along with the other two members.
However, the security forces soon came back to arrest me. Again, I managed to escape, but they hunted me for six months. Whenever I felt insecure, I moved to another place. It was a difficult and harsh period, and I decided to seek safety outside of Sudan.
XR Sudan visits the director of Khartoum Water on World Water Day, March 2021 (top left), provides health education, masks, and sterilisers during the Covid outbreak, January 2021 (bottom left), and protests outside the embassies of the G7 during their summit, June 2021 (right).
The war in Sudan now is not a civil war, despite what some say in the media. The truth is that neocolonialism is the root cause. Sudan has vast resources of gold and uranium and oil that have made it a target for a long time, and countries are now arming the militias in order to prolong the war and plunder Sudan amid the chaos.
This war has left the capital Khartoum and the Darfur region completely destroyed. Thousands of my people have been killed and millions displaced. In Darfur, militias are carrying out ethnic cleansing, replacing the indigenous population with people from neighbouring countries who belong to their tribes.
Sudan is now going through a dangerous historical juncture. Either there will be a unified sovereign state, or Sudan will become divided and destroyed. I ask those reading this to pray for my country, to listen to this beautiful podcast that explains the conflict so well, and to consider donating to the Sudan emergency funds of UNHCR, Islamic Relief, or Médecins Sans Frontières.
The spirit among the XR Sudan team taught me the meaning of participatory work. We worked hard to ensure the safety of our planet and future generations, and stand against injustice and human rights violations. I learned determination, patience and persistence, and that there is hope for a better, healthy and clean future. Muhammad died, but he did not die among us.
If you know (or are) a rebel somewhere in the world with a story to tell, get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com
The title pretty well explains this book—it is a complete briefing on climate change. The current, most up-to-date edition is the fifth, but older editions are still useful as the basic science has not changed much over the decades. Of course, where we are in the process of this disaster has shifted.
The author intends this work as a kind of textbook suitable for everyone from high school to graduate school. It is introductory, but written with scholarly thoroughness and depth. The text is quite dry, for the most part, as it makes no pretence about what it is, a book about an important branch of science.
And yet no particular scientific expertise is necessary to read it. There are facts and figures but no equations. Important concepts are explained. Technical terms are minimised.
Climate change is the issue of our time, and while simplified talking points are enough to get an activist started, sooner or later it becomes important to really understand the science. That’s when it’s time to reach for the complete briefing.
Avoid Amazon. Support bookshops. Buy your books at Bookshop or Hive.
Download Now
The 1st issue of the XR Disabled rebels' network zine, now titled ‘Unconquerable Voices’, is available for download.
Disabled people are at greater risk than able-bodied people in our climate crisis. This is due to stigma along with barriers imposed by our society and the environment. Yet disabled people have largely been left out of actions and discussions about climate change. ‘Unconquerable Voices’ seeks to rectify this.
‘Unconquerable Voices’ is a collection of artwork, poetry, personal anecdotes and much more by disabled people, expressing their experiences of disability in the context of climate change. Nothing about us without us.
Download the issue. Promo and download tutorial videos also available.
SEP 27 | 08:00 - 09:30 UTC | Online
GS Regen are holding free Climate Cafés for rebels to attend each month. A Climate Café is an informal, open, respectful, confidential space to safely share thoughts, feelings and emotional responses to the climate & ecological emergency.
Join trained facilitators Christie, Cerrie and Sam for a quiet, reflective and supportive experience not designed to lead participants to any conclusion or particular action.
Register here for the Climate Café on Wednesday 27th September from 08:00 - 9:30 am UTC.
OCT 3 | 23:00 UTC | Online
GS Regen are holding free Regen 101 workshops for rebels to attend each month.
Regen 101 is a beautiful introduction to Regenerative Cultures for those new to XR, and an essential experience for those already involved in the movement. It is experiential, practical, and educational, and weaves through topics so that the group leaves with an understanding of embodied Regenerative Activism.
Join our facilitators, Christie & Cherry in this nourishing experience that explains Regenerative Cultures, and covers Earth Emotions, Self-care, Burnout, and more.
Register here for the Regen 101 Workshop on Tuesday 3rd October at 23:00 UTC.
For more global events and trainings, visit XR Global Support Events.
14 AUG | Naarm / Melbourne, Australia: XR Westside visits an ExxonMobil fuel depot to blockade the driveway and put on a show. ExxonMobil spent more than $37 million (US) funding climate science denial between 1998 and 2019 and is the world's 4th largest greenhouse gas emitter.
Thank you for reading, rebel. If you have any questions or feedback, we want to hear from you. Get in touch at xr-newsletter@protonmail.com.
This newsletter is brought to you by XR Global Support, a worldwide network of rebels who help our movement grow. We need money for this crucial work.
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