Extinction Rebellion (rebellion.earth)
8 MAR | Across Uganda, DRC, Nigeria & The Gambia
XR Uganda organised a Women’s March in Mbale as part of International Women’s Day 2020, planting trees and teaching children about the Emergency.
Rebels highlighted how climate and ecological breakdown will impact women and the poorest communities the most. Women, such as those in Bududa, have been left ‘without anything – homeless, helpless, hopeless by unpredictable rains, floods and mud slides.’
Their situation is made worse by prolonged droughts, higher temperatures, increased crop failure, loss of livestock and increasing food insecurity.
The Mbale march also focussed on the need for access to quality education. When breakdown and instability hit, more children are forced to abandon their education and more girls are pressured into child marriage.
The brave women of Uganda are refusing to stand by and watch their future and their children’s future be lost. To achieve Climate Justice, we must focus on Social Justice.
Mugunga, DRC
Indigenous women in XR Hewa Bora surrounded a park warden camp and demanded an end to climate rape and sexual violence in the forest.
XR Abujacelebrated International Women’s Day in Nigeria and held discussions around the challenges women face as a result of the climate crisis and the need for equality.
Breaking Waves at Venice Carnival
20-25 FEB | Venice, Italy
The first Wave of Global Rebellion hit the canals of Venice last month, with rebels from across Italy carrying out a series of spectacular actions during the city’s annual carnival.
The protests kicked off with a blindfolded flash mob performance. Blindfolded rebels stood in solemn silence as a speaker called on the carnival revellers to open their eyes to the climate crisis, and join their rebellion.
Two days later, hundreds of rebels flooded the busy Venetian streets for a spot of joyful discobedience.
The next morning, a group of rebels blockaded the Ponte dell’Accademia, a bridge spanning the city’s Grand Canal.
The lock-in marked one of the first high-risk actions for XR Italy. Tensions were high as the rebels fitted into their arm tubes, but thanks to heartfelt chants and open dialogue, the blockade continued without violence.
Venice is made up of more than 100 islands inside a lagoon and has already suffered extensive damage from the climate crisis. Much of the ancient city is flooded year after year.
Will Venice become our next Atlantis?
Yet the Italian government and local authorities have still not declared a climate emergency. Without major policy change, the UNESCO world heritage site appears doomed. Or as the Italian rebels put it: ‘There’s no carnival under the sea’.
Indigenous Pipeline Protests sweep Canada
FEB | British Columbia, Canada
Photo by Darryl Dyck
An ongoing surge of civil disobedience rolled across Canada in February. Protests began in British Columbia, where Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs blocked railways to protest the construction of a multi-billion-dollar pipeline through their unceded territory.
After disturbing reports of forceful removal by police (as well as possible illegal restraint), these actions gained traction with Indigenous and solidarity protestors.
Meanwhile, in Ontario and Quebec, Mohawks disrupted rail networks; in Vancouver, 38 people were arrested for blocking access to shipping ports; in Toronto, 37 were arrested for bringing the city’s Union Station to a standstill at rush hour.
Much of this burgeoning civil disobedience has taken inspiration from the initial actions of the Wet’suwet’en chiefs, with the focus point of strategy being rail blockades. This has caused disruption to construction work, passenger and freight transport, and to the Canadian economy at large.
The scale of disruption is clearly evident with the news that Canada’s two largest railways have been covertly sharing railway links, and have diverted some key routes through the US.
The impact of this story has extended far beyond Canada with protests gaining support from groups all around the world.
‘Cheers to the end of the world!’
1 MAR | Lamma Island, Hong Kong
Dining in the South China Sea, Lamma Island, Hong Kong
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, XRHK staged a ‘dinner party’ off a Hong Kong Beach among the waves as a reminder that – even though the media has shifted its attention to the coronavirus – we are still facing catastrophic ecological and climate breakdown.
With the coal-fired Hong Kong power station as backdrop, rebels impersonated the 1%, “cheering to the end of the world as we know it, partying while climate change and associated natural disasters already kill the poorest and most vulnerable.”
Specifically, rebels intended to highlight Hong Kong’s vulnerability, as a coastal city, to sea-level changes, and the city’s lack of a viable strategy to address the looming crisis. “The adopted strategy – to replace one fossil fuel by another, in this case coal by natural gas – is, while less carbon-intensive, ultimately highly counterproductive,’
To read more on XRHK follow them here or here.
Heathrow victory for Earth protectors!
27 FEB | London, UK
Plans to expand Heathrow airport were ruled illegal because they clashed with the government’s commitments to tackle the climate crisis. The government must now either make a new proposal that is in line with the UK’s environmental targets or withdraw it entirely.
This exciting ruling by the British Court of Appeal has global implications. It is the first time that climate targets made under the Paris Agreement have carried legal weight.
The success of this court ruling gives some hope to the implementation of the Paris targets. If any other of the 188 nations that are party to the Agreement now green lights a high-carbon infrastructure project, there is a legal precedent to challenge the decision.
