A Year in Review
Extinction Rebellion and its Climate Spring, a year to remember
Two global rebellions, hundreds of actions of peaceful civil disobedience around the world
Establishment of over 800 chapters in more than 70 countries
Over 20 national climate emergency declarations, hundreds at local level, one at a continental level (European Union)
Number 1 influencer during the UN’s COP25 – a pile of shit from whence the sweetest roses will grow
December 31st, 2019, Planet Earth - When a group of people from all walks of life, inspired by scientists, embarked on an outrageous mission back in April 2018 never could they have imagined the impact their experiment would have across our planet.
Gravely aware of how society has failed to cope with the worst existential crisis humanity has ever faced, their plan was to create the largest climate-related civil disobedience movement in history.
Since then Extinction Rebellion (XR) has launched two global rebellions and hundreds of actions of non-violent civil disobedience around the world. It has established more than 800 chapters in more than 70 countries. XR’s first demand - that government tell the truth by declaring a climate emergency - has been adopted by 20 nations and one continent (Europe). Hundreds more have been declared by local authorities all over the world. XR is already being called the world's most high-profile environmental movement.
As 2019 draws to a close, Extinction Rebellion pauses to look back on some of the year’s milestones. The global movement, which is defined by its nonviolent civil disobedience, continues to revolve around three basic demands, adapted to local realities:
TELL THE TRUTH - The international community must tell the truth and declare a planetary climate and ecological emergency.
ACT NOW - The international community must act now to stop ecocide, halt biodiversity loss, reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030 and adapt to our changing circumstances.
BEYOND POLITICS - The international community must work to create and be led by Global Citizens’ Assemblies based on Justice, common mutual survival interest and wellbeing for all peoples and Life on Earth.
In some countries, like the United States, XR has added a fourth demand: that the just transition prioritizes the most marginalized and affected people.
To disseminate and deliver their demands, XR organized two international rebellions, in April and October. The April rebellion took London by storm, breaking through citizen’s indifference as rebels took over the heart of the British capital for two weeks to celebrate life. XR branches made their global debut in Buenos Aires, Paris, Buenos Aires and Sydney, to name a few places. Actions resulted in thousands of arrests, generated economic losses in the millions and moved the British Parliament to declare a climate emergency - the first legislative body in the world to do so.
In the United States, rebels in Washington DC glued themselves to each other and to the passages beneath the Capitol to demand the House declare a climate emergency. As XR seeks to build a movement of movements, rebels then shut down the capital city in September in coalition with other groups, barricading roads with a yacht, ladders, vehicles and thousands of people. During the October rebellion, rebels in New York soaked the Wall Street bull in blood before flummoxing police by dropping a boat emblazoned with the words “Tell the Truth” into the middle of Times Square. And the artistic, love-filled beauty of the movement was on display in San Francisco when rebels chalk painted a street mural that stretched for two blocks as they shut down the city’s financial district.
With similar acts of civil disobedience around the world, Extinction Rebellion has single-handedly changed the conversation and forced the world to talk about the climate and ecological emergency. The rest is history, as the rebellion spread to the farthest shores. From France to Germany, South Africa, Ghana, India, New Zealand to Chile, XR’s stylized hourglass symbol flew over Earth’s most unexpected corners, with the exception of a single continent: Antarctica.
Day by day, rebels around the planet wove alliances, be it with established environmental organisations like Greenpeace or new movements like Fridays for Future. Crucially XR has reached out to diverse sectors of civil society and especially to people from all walks of life.
“The climate and ecological emergency knows no borders,” said 23 year-old Dutch student Pippi Van Ommen. "If the sea level rises up by two meters, my hometown, and much of my country will not survive. I was not an activist before. I heard about Extinction Rebellion through Instagram and now I dedicate all my time, despite having had to hand in my thesis over Christmas. XR is not right or left. It represents all social sectors and age groups, there is no hierarchy and everyone is welcome."
One of the most iconic images was a call to “Rebel for Life”, emblazoned across pink and yellow ships moored in the middle of streets in the world’s major cities, including Washington DC and Times Square in New York. “We are all in the same boat” is the message it carries, launching the emergency into the imaginations of the public and rebels alike.
Extinction Rebellion is radically different to other movements. It is made up of engineers, doctors, the unemployed, retired, students, scientists, journalists. In short, it is a movement of ordinary, or rather, extraordinary, normal, humans. "XR uses civil disobedience to shake consciences in the face of the climate crisis. It is a group bursting with energy. It appeals to emotions, to a vision of a destroyed future if we don't act," said Egbert Born, a 53-year-old poet from Amsterdam.
Adelheid Lüchtrath, a 67-year-old German doctor, summarized her year by explaining how she had “never been arrested, nor fined, but would be willing to spend time in jail, if it helps the climate struggle. I’ve been fighting climate change for 40 years because politicians have done nothing. They do not want to react."
Across the world, XR has met with politicians and governments. A grandmother who went on hunger strike in November to protest the Irish government’s failure to act on climate change met with Environment Minister Richard Bruton. In Spain, XR met with the Ecological Transition minister, Teresa Ribera, as well as with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, while Sweden’s environment minister agreed to meet with Swedish hunger strikers. In the United States hunger strikers occupied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Capitol office.
During COP25, the UN’s 25th yearly climate summit, the movement has cemented its reputation as a serious player at the political table. Despite a last-minute change of venue as social unrest shook Chile, the global movement made itself felt in Madrid.
Inside, co-founder Skeena Rathor and UK coordinator Tim Crosland met with the presidency and looked towards COP26 in Glasgow, highlighting the need for authentic cooperation and unity in the face of adversity.
Outside, XR’s Rebels without Borders, from over 20 countries, undertook acts of civil disobedience (and discobedience) to express their outrage every day, culminating with a pile of horse manure delivered to the UN climate summit’s doorstep. The message attached read: “Dear Leaders … The Horseshit stops here.” A few days later social media analytics company, Onolytica (https://onalytica.com/blog/), ranked XR as COP 25’s number one influencer.
Despite all this, emissions continue to rise and the COP25 Christmas pantomime proved hopelessly inadequate at setting any significant change in motion, kicking the can down the road to COP26 in Glasgow. Extinction Rebellion will most certainly be in attendance.
For all of us at XR, 2019 has represented the year in which we delivered a cosmic climate and ecological wake-up call. We will continue to Rebel for Life, bringing our compassionate revolution to every last continent. Time is running out and Extinction Rebellion will remain at the frontlines of the planetary emergency, an engine of change in a withering world. In 2020, the whole world will join the party. Stay tuned for the Spring rebellion.
WHO: 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:
What Emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers | This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook | FAQs