Officials Cede to Hunger Strikers’ Demands as Extinction Rebellion Enters Day 3 of the Biggest Climate Hunger Strike in History
Earth, November 20 - Hundreds of XR rebels in 27 countries on six continents continued their hunger strike for a third day today to demand governments take immediate action to end the climate and ecological emergency that threatens the collapse of civilization..
More than 400 people with Extinction Rebellion have been on a Global Hunger Strike since November 18th to demand governments enact the group’s three demands. Many are also demanding that officials meet with them to discuss the planetary crisis on camera. They plan to continue fasting for at least a week, while several rebels have already pledged to go longer.
The hunger strike is working. Sweden’s environment minister has agreed to meet with Swedish hunger strikers. In the UK, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats have talked with hunger strikers on camera, with commitment to arrange follow up one hour meeting as requested by strikers. Another political party, Plaid Cymru, also agreed to an on-camera meeting. In the Netherlands on Wednesday (Nov 20) hunger strikers sat down with officials from the municipality of Wageningen for a recorded meeting to push for tougher action on the climate and ecological crisis.
“Rebels are desperate, hungry, and tired because they don’t want their families, kids, and future to die. Every moment the climate apocalypse grows nearer. We need to do everything in our power to stop it, before it’s too late,” said one of the organisers, Giovanni Tamacas, 20, from San Francisco, California, United State.
Rebels are hunger striking in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ghana, Holland, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. They stand in solidarity with the 820 million people the World Health Organisation says suffer from extreme hunger. This number will rise as the climate and ecological emergency intensifies, devastating global food supplies.
Six hunger strikers from XR Barcelona have stationed themselves at Palau de la Generalitat, the headquarters of the regional government. In the United States, hunger strikers with XR Washington DC occupied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office to demand that she stops blocking passage of the climate emergency resolution. Students at Columbia University in New York are demanding the university divests from fossil fuels.
Time has almost run out to address the ecological crisis, which includes the 6th mass species extinction, global pollution, and abrupt, runaway climate change. Scientists and other experts see societal collapse and mass death as inevitable, with human extinction a possibility, unless rapid action is taken.
Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government. Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are:
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Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
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Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
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Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
What Emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers | This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook
For more details: https://rebellion.global/newsletters/2019/10/31/global-hunger-strike/
For photographs and video from the Global Hunger Strike, please click here
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