Rebelling for Climate
Nature does not ask, nature does not negotiate. Nature is radical. Extinction Rebellion have collaborated with FAC to call for a Global Climate Strike from September 20th – 27th. The time for civil disobedience is now.
“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience.” ― Howard Zinn
You have seen these headlines:
July - The Hottest Month Ever Recorded
Melting Icebergs
Amazon on Fire
Hurricane Hits Bahamas
Maybe they left you sad, angry, helpless…
Maybe you were watching Greta Thunberg sailing to America to spread her message of Fridays for Future, wondering: is this going to change anything?
Maybe you are craving good climate news.
Then, this is it:
There is something powerful we can do.
The time of waiting for “those above” to take action is up.
As we regain the power, we regain lost possibilities.
An even greater message is that action has created a difference already many times in the past.
History showed us that what is legal does not equal just nor moral. In any case, even the most respectful law is just painstakingly slow.
And we are running out of time.
Civil disobedience is about making choices. It is showing up for what you believe. Do you believe in few people destroying the Earth out of myopic greed or do you believe in us, the nature itself, fighting for our own survival?
It is that simple.
There is one primary reason for non-violent civil disobedience: because it works.
But it also creates a society we strive for – of connected, responsible citizens. It encourages a regenerative culture. Civil disobedience is based on a more direct democracy.
Democracy is about choice. It is about the right to “check” the ones we elected as our representatives.
In 1955 dressmaker Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus.
She was arrested, lost her job, but a year later the segregation became illegal.
She recalls:
“It was just time ... there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long.”
Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Arab Spring – Civil Disobedience contributed immensely to many inspiring battles for justice. Now it is the time to use it for the most urgent of all – the climate crisis.
That is why Extinction Rebellion together with Fridays for Future and many supportive organizations call for a Global Climate Strike.
A Global Climate Strike has been called for between September 20-27th and has been declared a week of international strike action. It is expected that hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren will take to the streets around the world.
Extinction Rebellion, an environmental activist movement, has grown to take direct nonviolent disruptive action to highlight the emergence of necessary action towards just transition.
Oh, but isn’t civil disobedience a bit too... radical?
“Radical” got the bad press, yet what it literally means is "relating to a root”. By definition, radical is forming an inherent or fundamental part of the nature. Botany still relates to radical as springing direct from, the base of a plant, organic. In medicine it is being used to signify intended to be completely curative. Music speaks of “radical” as belonging to the root of a chord, while linguistics - to the roots of a word. Interestingly, in chemistry the term signifies a group of atoms behaving as a unit. Some synonyms: far-reaching or thorough, independent.
We can only hope to be radical.
Nature is radical. Nature does not ask, does not negotiate, does not excuse herself. Nature has had enough.
It does give warnings though.
But we do not listen.
200 species become extinct every day. These eco-systems cannot be replaced.
We have known about the crisis for too long now.
A ‘Climate Emergency’ has now been declared by parliaments around the world but our governments continue to act in a manner that supports the further drain of the planet’s resources. In the face of aggressive lobbying by the petro-chemical industry and entrapment within the global economic dream of never-ending growth, it becomes political suicide to enact the legislation agreed upon by international protocols. Yet, not enacting it is a much greater suicide - that of a human race.
The consequences of us postponing urgent and radical actions to tackle climate crisis are that many people have and will lose their lives. Many more will be forced to migrate, leaving behind their homes and fearing for the safety of their family. Business-as-usual is no longer a viable option.
Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Al Gore, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative urged young people to engage in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants:
"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience."
We can all support the movement by joining the young people in their action and come out on the streets.
Numbers are crucial.
Check GlobalClimateStrike.net for info on activities going on in your area, to download posters to print and know-hows.
If the kids can act now, so can we.
Katrina Dybzynska & Joe Campbell
Extinction Rebellion
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