XR Unchained #17

Monday, August 24, 2020 by Extinction Rebellion

23 JUL | Bangladesh

Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future activists call for solidarity. “Bangladesh is drowning under flood water. Will the world stay silent? We care for the environment, we care for our existence.”

10 AUG - Adelaide, Australia

Extinction Rebellion activists chained themselves together in the foyer of Australian energy company Santos to protest the company’s Narrabri gas development.

The project, which has strong government backing, would involve up to 850 coal seam gas wells being drilled on 1,000 hectares of a site that includes the Pilliga forest, the largest remaining woodland wilderness in New South Wales (NSW). Santos says it could provide up to 200 terajoules of gas a day for 20 years, equivalent to 50% of NSW demand.

13 AUG - Sydney, Australia

Rebels take action outside the Sydney headquarters of CommBank, which has lent over Aus$12 billion to the fossil fuel industry after promising shareholders that they would adhere to the Paris Agreement.

14 AUG - Quito, Ecuador

Extinction Rebellion, alongside human rights and environmental organisations, demonstrate outside the Chinese Embassy to protest about the hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels which appeared in late July off the Galapagos Islands, threatening their unique marine ecosystems.

21 JUL - Jerusalem, Israel

In a powerful display of non-violent civil disobedience, Israeli rebels and other activists blocked the access roads to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. They were protesting against an anti-democratic law which will reduce parliament’s supervision of government actions.

They were violently cleared by police and one rebel was arrested.

20 JUL | Tel Aviv, Israel

Israeli rebels sprayed the entrance of the Harel Group, Israel’s third largest insurance company, with simulated oil. “In such a severe climate crisis,” they said, “it is insane to invest billions of shekels of our pension money in polluting fuels such as oil and gas!”

14 JUL | Seoul, Korea

Celebrating the birth of Extinction Rebellion Seoul!

30 JUL | Prague, Czech Republic

Czech rebels held a second ‘picnic’ at Prague Castle, including a performance of Discobedience, eating, singing, and a Buddhist meditation. They sent an open letter to the President of the Republic, asking for a meeting to discuss the climate crisis. The action continued into the night.

26 JUL | Manila, The Philippines

Filipino XR rebels joined environmental advocates and climate justice activists in mass protests against President Duterte’s State of the Nation address and to denounce the regime’s anti-people, anti-ecology policies. They expressed their defiance by bringing together umbrellas to form the sky, the land, and the sea, with the call “WE RESIST AS ONE PLANET”

26 JUL | Prague, Czech Republic

Members of Extinction Rebellion participated in a joint demonstration of twenty-seven organisations who marched to the Ministry of Agriculture to highlight the state's lack of drought action. They demanded that government reform the management of fields, forests and cities, and make rapidly achieving zero carbon a national priority.

Speakers included farmer representatives and citizens affected by mineral extraction and the construction of dams. XR rebels contributed to a protest by watermen under the iconic Charles Bridge and displayed five large hand-embroidered flags outlining possible ways to change our relationship with the natural world.

21 + 23 JUL | Warsaw, Poland

Second day of the hunger strike in front of the headquarters of Poland’s government-owned national television network, Telewizja Polska (TVP). Four Extinction Rebellion activists are protesting against the broadcaster’s silence about the causes and effects of climate change.

28 JUL | Wroclaw, Poland

Extinction Rebellion and other activists held a demonstration and die-in in front of the Wroclaw Pillory to protest against the city’s passivity about the destruction of nature and the climate crisis.

10 AUG | Vistula River, Poland

It is the longest river in Poland. It was and is of great importance in every corner of the country. As children, we sang songs about her and listened to her legends. The Vistula, queen of Polish rivers, is drying up due to climate change and disastrous corporate and human actions.

On 10 August, in the light of the setting sun and by the symbolic statue of the Warsaw Mermaid, XR Warsaw and a broad range of animal, youth, and environmental activists witnessed the Vistula’s funeral.

28 JUL | Orleans, France

Wearing face masks with the XR logo, Orleans rebels stopped shoppers at the summer sales to draw attention to the overproduction and mass consumption that is destroying the living world.

7 AUG | Strasbourg, France

Activists from XR Strasbourg, the Ecofeminists Strasbourg collective, the ZAD mobile movement and concerned citizens joined together to fight against the establishment of a giant 190,000 square metre e-commerce warehouse at Ensisheim, between Strasbourg and Basle.

19 JUL | Jardin des Plantes, France

Rebels from Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rebellion wore a variety of brilliant animal masks to perform an exciting Discobedience in support of a proposed Animal Referendum that aims to transform our relations with the animal world. The event took place at the Paris botanical garden, the Jardin des Plantes.

9 AUG | Indigenous Emergency, Worlwide

Using the colour symbolism of red and green to denote genocide and ecocide, solidarity actions were held on August 9 by Extinction Rebellion and allied groups all over the world to mark the Indigenous Emergency.

9 AUG | London, UK

‘Blood’ and ‘death’ in front of England’s National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, part of worldwide protests in support of Indigenous peoples. Photos: Talia Woodin.

9 AUG | Cambridge, UK

XR Youth lament the millions invested in fossil fuel and arms companies by the University of Cambridge and St. John's, Trinity, and Corpus Christi colleges. Photo: Caitlin Fay

17 AUG | Germany

XR Germany targeted domestic air traffic with peaceful blocking actions actions at 4 airports. In Munich, Lübeck, Berlin and Düsseldorf activists protested against short-haul flights that contribute to Germany's large and unjust carbon footprint. One brave rebel boarded a plane at Berlin’s Tegel airport and spoke to passengers to stop it taking off.

24 JUL | Bologna, Italy

In a symbolic action, Bologna rebels laid out 88 black and 12 red t-shirts in the city’s Piazza Nettuno to represent the proportion of Italian deaths from air pollution (black) and Covid-19 (red).

14 AUG | Helsinki, Finland

On the second anniversary of Fridays for Future, rebels blocked a main road in Finland’s capital to protest against the new Datteln 4 coal-fired power station in Germany. The plant is operated by Uniper, a subsidiary of the Finnish state-owned energy company Fortum.

The action was in support of the climate youth who called an European-wide action day against Datteln 4. 19 brave rebels got detained and were given fines for disobeying the police.

On its website, Fortum calls itself “a leading clean-energy company” and says a focus on reducing CO2 emissions “has been in Fortum’s DNA for decades.” Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) estimate Datteln 4 will emit 8.4 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

13 AUG | Helsinki, Finland

On 17 August, three determined Finnish rebels entered their eighth day of hunger strike to demand more rapid action on climate change. Their colourful camp is located between the parliament and Central Library.

One of the hunger strikers said: “We have one demand to the government, which is to commit to cutting carbon emissions by 20% by the end of 2021, and then by a further 20% every year so that Finland is carbon neutral, or net neutral, by the end of 2025.” Photo: News Now Finland.

7 AUG | St Ives, UK

One year after Cornish rebels performed their moving beach action, The Sea Is Rising and So Are We, a single red rebel retraced their steps. His anniversary action was as witness and a lament - a lament for lost lands, lost peoples, lost ocean life, lost Arctic ice and lost coral reefs. A year on, nothing has really changed other than the sea has risen further.

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About the Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion is a decentralised, international and politically non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency. Our movement is made up of people from all walks of life, contributing in different ways with the time and energy they can spare. Chances are, we have a local branch very close to you, and we would love to hear from you. Присоединяйся …or consider making a donation.