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Extinction Rebellion changes tactics

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1609338742615035905

UK Extinction Rebellion has announced as a New Year’s Resolution a change of tactics. The focus has shifted to disrupting government instead of engaging in disruptive protest. Part of XR’s move is promoting their ‘The Big One’ campaign starting 21 April 2023.

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As we ring in the new year, we make a controversial resolution to temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic. We recognise and celebrate the power of disruption to raise the alarm and believe that constantly evolving tactics is a necessary approach. What’s needed now most is to disrupt the abuse of power and imbalance, to bring about a transition to a fair society that works together to end the fossil fuel era. Our politicians, addicted to greed and bloated on profits won’t do it without pressure.

We must be radical in our response to this crisis and determined in our efforts to address the climate and ecological emergency, even if it means taking a different approach than before. In a time when speaking out and taking action are criminalised, building collective power, strengthening in number and thriving through bridge-building is a radical act.

XR is committed to including everyone in this work and leaving no one behind, because everyone has a role to play. This year, we prioritise attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks, as we stand together and become impossible to ignore.

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Climate protest news 25 April 2022

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A selection of climate protest news – apologies that I’m inevitably missing many.

  • Earth Day on Friday saw many protests in North and South America including one protester who took his own life through self-immolation.
  • Insulate Britain declares UK courts ‘ “a site of non-violent civil resistance”, saying the UK legal system no longer has any legitimacy.’
  • A very broad injunction granted against fuel protests in Essex.

Wynn Bruce took his own life in protest outside the US Supreme Court.

A US climate activist has died after he set himself on fire outside the US supreme court building in Washington.

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On Sunday, Kritee Kanko, a Boulder-based climate scientist and Zen Buddhist priest, said Bruce was a friend and member of her Buddhist community, who had been planning the self-immolation for “at least one year”.

“This act is not suicide. This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis,” Kanko said in a tweet.

In a subsequent interview with the New York Times, Kanko said she could not be certain about Bruce’s intentions. She told the newspaper that “people are being driven to extreme amounts of climate grief and despair” and that “what I do not want to happen is that young people start thinking about self-immolation”.

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Arrests made after XR blocks printers for US newspapers including NYT on Earth Day

Insulate Britain declares courts ‘site of civil resistance’, saying legal system not legitimate

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In an open letter to the UK judiciary, the group wrote: “We understand that this is a difficult time for the UK judiciary and we trust that you will connect to our shared humanity as we come to ask you for help…

“If a government insists on destroying the nation state, then that government is involved in tyranny. It is involved in an act of criminality of the highest order.

“It becomes the duty of all people of conscience to oppose that tyranny as an act of self-defence.

“The criminalisation by the judiciary of ordinary people attempting to preserve lives and the very fabric of our society is abhorrent.

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Oil protests: High Court grants injunction against Essex demonstrations

An injunction to prevent people protesting at oil terminals and outside petrol stations has been granted at the High Court.

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The injunction applies to all petrol station forecourts in the county as well as several oil terminals.

Activists have staged protests across the county for several weeks.

Protest group Just Stop Oil wants the government to halt new oil and gas projects.

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Climate protest news 21 April 2022

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Just Stop Oil calls one-week halt to protests in hope of action from No 10

Just Stop Oil has said it will suspend its direct actions against fuel distribution for a week, but has told the prime minister its members will escalate their disruptive protests “if you do not fulfil your duty to the people”.

For two and a half weeks, the climate activists have been targeting oil terminals and oil tankers in the Midlands and the south-east of England with blockades and mass trespass.

The government and petrol retailers have attempted to downplay the scale of the disruption to fuel deliveries. But there have been widespread reports of petrol station forecourts running dry in various parts of the country.

Just Stop Oil’s activists have vowed to continue their campaign until the government agrees to a ban on new oil and gas extraction projects, or until they are all jailed.

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Extinction Rebellion and Palestine Action activists blockade entrance of Israeli arms firm’s London HQ (Yesterday)

CLIMATE activists today targeted the London HQ of Israel’s largest private arms firm in protest at “brutal” attacks on al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli forces in recent days.

Members of the youth branch of Extinction Rebellion teamed up with the Palestine Action group to blockade the entrance of Elbit Systems’ offices in Holborn on Wednesday morning.

The groups said the action, which saw activists lock on to the entrance of the building at 77 Kingsway Road and hurl red paint across the facade, forced the offices to shut for the day.

Palestine Action said the activists wanted to show solidarity with Palestinian worshippers during Ramadan after Israeli forces launched a series of raids on the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, injuring dozens of Palestinians.

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‘No Wars, No Warming’: Extinction Rebellion Marches on NYC 18 April 2022

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Members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) marked Tax Day with the “No Wars, No Warming” demonstration outside a federal building in NYC where various agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), have offices.

Demonstrators perched on top of and locked themselves to two 15-foot tripods installed near the Charging Bull sculpture to block traffic on Broadway, according to organizers. Nine activists were arrested.

“We recognize that the people who are most often placed in harm’s way from armed conflict are also the people who have and will continue to face the brunt of the climate crisis,” says the XR event webpage. “In this moment, after two years of Covid-19, our tax money should be funding social services that benefit the communities most impacted by the climate crisis and most affected by decades of systemic underfunding.”

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Continue ReadingClimate protest news 21 April 2022

Climate protests news

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Summary: Scientist Rebellion protests worldwide, fuel shortages happening as protests blocking fuel depots continues, Extinction Rebellion protests at Oxford circus and 2 London bridges at start of protests.

Dozens Arrested as Scientists Worldwide Mobilize to Demand ‘Climate Revolution’

More than 1,000 scientists across the globe chained themselves to the doors of oil-friendly banks, blocked bridges, and occupied the steps of government buildings on Wednesday to send an urgent message to the international community: The ecological crisis is accelerating, and only a “climate revolution” will be enough to avert catastrophe.

“World leaders are still expanding the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can, but this is insane.”

What organizers described as “the world’s largest-ever scientist-led civil disobedience campaign” kicked off just days after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report detailing the grim state of efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C by century’s end, a target set by the Paris accord.

As one of the report’s authors put it during a press call earlier this week, “Unless there are immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, 1.5°C is beyond reach.”

Warning that the IPCC report’s language was watered down at the behest of governments unwilling to rapidly phase out fossil fuels, scientists and their allies took that message further during their direct actions on Wednesday, operating under the slogan “1.5°C is dead, climate revolution now!”

“I’m taking action because I feel desperate,” said U.S. climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who along with several others locked himself to the front door of a JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles. A recent report found that the financial giant is the biggest private funder of oil and gas initiatives in the world.

“It’s the 11th hour in terms of Earth breakdown, and I feel terrified for my kids, and terrified for humanity,” Kalmus continued. “World leaders are still expanding the fossil fuel industry as fast as they can, but this is insane. The science clearly indicates that everything we hold dear is at risk, including even civilization itself and the wonderful, beautiful, cosmically precious life on this planet. I actually don’t get how any scientist who understands this could possibly stay on the sidelines at this point.”

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Why is there a fuel shortage? What is causing the latest diesel supply issues at UK petrol stations

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Climate activism groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have teamed up to block key terminals across the country to protest the environmental effects of oil and gas.

The action groups said they want to disrupt fuel supplies to London and the South East of England and will continue to do so until the Government agrees to stop all new fossil fuel investments immediately.

Oil pipeline distributors ExxonMobil UK, said the protest, which started on 1 April, shut down three of its terminals as a result.

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Thousands of Extinction Rebellion protestors bring London’s Oxford Street to a standstill

Climate activists, including an Olympic gold medallist, have staged a sit-down protest in Oxford Street and Regent Street, blocking traffic in the heart of London’s shopping district to call for no the Government to stop new investment in fossil fuels.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Speakers’ Corner at Hyde Park on Saturday morning before marching into the centre of the city’s West End.

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Extinction Rebellion protests block Vauxhall and Lambeth bridges

Extinction Rebellion climate change activists have staged protests in the centre of London for a second day, blocking Vauxhall and Lambeth bridges.

Hundreds of protesters prevented cars and buses crossing but ambulances were let through.

The Met Police said 38 arrests were made on Sunday and officers had now moved protesters from the bridges.

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Extinction Rebellion blockade Amazon warehouses on Black Friday

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Extinction Rebellion protest at Fife, Scotland.

Extinction Rebellion blockade Amazon over ‘exploitation of people and planet’

Extinction Rebellion (XR) blocked Amazon distribution centres on “Black Friday”—a day of sales and big profits for the business. 

The group occupied Amazon sites across Britain, in Germany and in the Netherlands in protest at its “exploitative and environmentally destructive business practices”. Climate activists are planning to continue the blockade for the next couple of days. 

Rosie, a student supporter of XR, spoke to Socialist Worker from the blockade at the company’s distribution centre in Doncaster in South Yorkshire. She said Amazon is exploiting “people and planet”. 

She said activists arrived at the depot at 4 am, with rebels locking onto concrete blocks and erecting a bamboo structure at one entrance. 

The group blocked the entrances that HGV lorries use to travel in and out of the centre, effectively halting distribution.

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Extinction Rebellion blockades Amazon UK hubs on Black Friday

Activists target distribution network to highlight company’s treatment of workers and environmental impact

Climate activists have blockaded Amazon distribution centres across the UK to highlight the company’s treatment of its workforce and what they say are its “environmentally destructive and wasteful business practices”.

Scores of Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists locked themselves together and used bamboo structures in an attempt to disrupt the online retail company’s distribution network on Black Friday – one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Unveiling banners reading “Infinite growth: Finite planet”, protesters said the blockade was part of an international action by XR targeting Amazon “fulfilment centres” in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator#Political_ideology_and_policy_positions

The Spectator is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs.[1] It was first published in July 1828,[2] making it the oldest weekly magazine in the world.[3]

It is owned by Frederick Barclay, [dizzy: [ed: the surviving] one of the ‘Barclay brothers’ who may be described as filthy rich i.e. extremely rich and extremely polluting and destructive] who also owns The Daily Telegraph newspaper, via Press Holdings. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture. It is politically conservative. Alongside columns and features on current affairs, the magazine also contains arts pages on books, music, opera, film and TV reviews.

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https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-snobbery-of-extinction-rebellion-s-amazon-blockade

The snobbery of Extinction Rebellion’s Amazon blockade

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Extinction Rebellion is fundamentally a movement for austerity. No wonder it is unpopular. We like our holidays, we like our comforts and we like our Black Friday bargains, so bugger off.

Tory MP Who Criticised Climate Action For Impact on World’s Poor Has Stakes in 18 Extractive Companies

A Tory MP who suggested it is “morally wrong” to discourage poor countries from pursuing high-carbon growth on climate change grounds has a financial interest in numerous fossil fuel and mining companies.

Among the 18 extractive companies listed under the MP’s entry in the parliamentary register of interests are Shell and the world’s largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger.

Marcus Fysh, a member of the “Net Zero Scrutiny Group” of MPs recently launched to push back against the government’s climate policies, told talkRADIO earlier this month the developing world should not be forced to follow greener economic pathways, speaking of the abject poverty he had witnessed in India.

“It is frankly morally questionable, morally wrong some might say, to try to withhold the prospect of development from such people that could improve their lives,” he said. 

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