Extinction Rebellion Northeast Earth Rebellion
Tuesday 21st April, 2020, Earth - Extinction Rebellion will use the 50th anniversary of Earth Day to launch a series of actions targeting the government and the fossil fuel industry for their criminal failure to address the climate and ecological emergency.
The COVID pandemic, which proves that denying science costs lives, has forced chapters to abandon nonviolent direct actions planned for Earth Day. Some will still launch physical actions - Washington DC will send out small teams of guerrilla gardeners, and New York is planning solitary actions in an empty city - but the pandemic has meant that most have shifted their actions online.
The planet and its people are suffering the devastating impacts of a pandemic that has killed more than 160,000 people, sunk economies and ruptured societies around the world, revealing the deep vulnerability at the heart of our economic and cultural life. On Monday, the cost of a barrel of oil fell to $30 below zero, the first time oil prices have ever turned negative.
“The system is unsustainable and the myths of eternal economic growth that have driven us for so long are crumbling before our eyes. Now is the time to imagine a new world. What comes next is up to us,” said Phillip Vachon, a spokesperson with Extinction Rebellion, an international movement that spans more than 70 countries and uses nonviolent civil disobedience to halt the mass extinction and climate breakdown that threaten to trigger societal collapse.
With locusts ravaging large parts of East Africa and America’s breadbasket entering a megadrought that could last for centuries, global heating and the rapid collapse of the natural world will make it even harder for our civilization to recover from the impact of COVID-19.
“Like everyone else, we’ve had to adapt. We were ramping up for massive actions all across the country that would have captured the imagination of the nation. We’re still disrupting and rebelling but in new, innovative ways,” said Kerith Creo, a rebel based in New York.
“We are living through extraordinarily painful times, but this is still a good moment to spread messages of courage, empowerment, support, compassion, empathy and actions that prove another world is possible,” Cindi Clark, New York based member of Extinction Rebellion Arts said.
On April 22nd, rebels across the country will focus their actions on showing that a better world is possible. Rebels in Washington DC will send out small teams of guerrilla gardeners to plant fruit and nut trees, herbs and vegetables in abandoned lots in the city’s “food deserts”, where people who’ve been hit hardest by the pandemic already lack access to healthy food.
In New York, thousands of people will take part in a citywide digital strike. In solidarity with frontline communities hit hardest by both COVID-19 and the climate and ecological crisis, rebels will take to social media to share home-made signs, posters, and art in a mass demonstration online.
On April 23rd, chapters across the nation will lend their weight to Stop the Money Pipeline, a powerful coalition that wants banks to stop funding the destruction of life on Earth by ending their financing of fossil fuel projects. Some chapters are encouraging people to cut up bank cards and switch from dirty banks like JP Morgan Chase to more ethical banks, like Amalgamated Bank, Beneficial State Bank, and Aspiration.
Other chapters will engage in social swarming by targeting specific financiers with thousands of social media posts throughout the day.
The pandemic has sent shockwaves through society. As basic supply chains break down and the economy implodes, the emergency proves that politics as usual cannot cope with catastrophe. American democracy is at stake. So on April 24th New York will also host an online teach-in to explore how Citizen’s Assemblies - XR’s third demand - can create a more just, sustainable, livable world by bringing back power to the people.
“The pandemic teaches us that building the world we need and healing the Earth begins with taking care of ourselves and each other,” said Annalena La Porte, member of Extinction Rebellion New York.
WHO: Extinction Rebellion believes it is a person’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their government. The international movement aims to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of societal collapse. XR has branches in 70 countries and 350+ cities.
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