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13 September 2020

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

Rebellion wraps up

Welcome to Rebel Daily #7 – the last issue of this Rebellion!

And what a Rebellion it has been.

Rebels have shown their true colours this Rebellion: the astounding bravery and dedication we’ve seen on the streets and online are testament to a movement that will not give up, no matter how nasty and unjust our opposition might become.

For some rebels involved, this is no joke. Papers like the Daily Mail have been singling out individuals to attack, even printing their home addresses. While certainly scary, we can take this kind of vitriol as a twisted mark of recognition: we’ve ‘levelled up’, as it were.

A full week after our newspaper blockade, the Murdoch press is still fuming. The government still seems unsure what to do with us. But, that’s okay. As we all know, we’re not here to be liked: we’re here to raise the alarm.

And it’s working. Almost in the same breath that they condemn our tactics, some articles are criticising government inaction on the climate crisis. Whether it’s celebrities or tragedies, the truth we represent is getting harder to ignore.

If there was any doubt, this September we’ve proved that XR has still got it. The colour and magic on the streets speaks for itself. We even resurrected the pink boat (watch its spectacular unveiling).

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09 September 2020

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

Climate CSI

We hope you enjoyed catching up on the rest of the world’s action yesterday – today we’re back with the UK Rebellion.

Tomorrow will be the last day of this wave of Rebellion, so if you’re dithering at all, come on down! Keep checking that London broadcast for the latest on what’s going on, and where.

It’s been quite a journey so far. The plan is to go out on a note of connection and celebration before we all disperse; it may be a little while before we all meet like this again.

Join the grand finale march on Thursday at 2pm, location tbc, which will conclude in some speeches and quiet reflection.

But, it’s too soon for goodbyes just yet – there’s still a fair bit of rebelling to do. And, for this team, many stories of joyful and exciting action to cover!

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07 September 2020

Things are really starting to gear up, we have a lot going on for all you lovely rebels to get involved in. Keep reading to find out!

LOCAL GROUP MEETING: outdoors, socially distanced, Tuesday 8th September.

It's the second Tuesday of the month and we are taking advantage of the light and the forecast for a dry and warm evening to have a socially distanced meeting outside instead of on Zoom. It will be at The Dell, a small, secluded community park between Warwick Place and Beauchamp Hill in Leamington, postcode CV32 5BH (opposite the Star and Garter Pub). Please arrive from 6pm for a 6.15pm start and we will finish at 7.30pm.

Bring a camping chair or something to sit on and maybe a spare layer to stay warm. We'll be having a check in, some chi gung with Carol and the usual opportunity to contribute items for an open agenda. Come and share Rebellion experiences, hear what it's been like in London, help to make plans and share ideas for our work locally. There will also be a short induction for new rebels - everyone is so very welcome to come along and find out what XR is all about.

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07 September 2020

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

We will not be intimidated

Welcome to Rebel Daily #5 – and what an eventful weekend it was! Ugly words from our prime minister provided a sharp contrast with our beautiful earth-defending actions.

Ever since we crossed the Murdoch media (for a single night!), the government has taken its repression to another level.

The intensity of policing and restrictions to civil liberties have left rebels feeling like they’re living in a dystopian novel. Food and water has been denied to HS2 rebels in trees for a second day running, in a truly shocking human rights abuse. Anyone trying to help the tree-protectors is getting arrested.

Police disbanded a socially-distanced democratic assembly in Trafalgar Square, threatening Covid fines at our masked faces until we left. ‘Assemblies’ of rebels are being hassled and it seems police now need only the flimsiest legal reason to move you on, in a Coronatime repeat of last October.  

We can only speculate about where this order has come from, but it’s probably not from the officers on the street.

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05 September 2020

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

Don’t read the news, be the news

Welcome to Rebel Daily #4 – some of the only news available today!

A team of over 100 rebels blockaded newspaper printers overnight, successfully preventing The Sun, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Times from reaching newsstands all over the country.

In one of our most coordinated and disruptive actions to date, rebels simultaneously took sites in Broxbourne, Liverpool and Glasgow with fantastically effective roadblock structures.

In a truly international rebellious effort, rebels in Sydney, Australia dumped a pile of manure outside Newscorp offices yesterday, calling for Murdoch to ‘Quit the Bullshit’.

At Broxbourne, two huge bamboo structures surrounded by two vans and several ‘lock-topusses’ proved too much for the police to handle. While they eventually untangled the 46 rebels locked onto concrete lock-ons and vans, the climbers atop the bamboo ‘Beacons’ remained very much out of the officers’ reach.

The blockade held strong from 10pm to 11am, at which time the climbers made their willing descent and were arrested.

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04 September 2020

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

Pop the kettle on, ‘Authoritarian Regime’ is starting

By day 3, the Rebellion has fully warmed up: we’ve seen bold and beautiful actions all over the place. And yet, as we bring more love, the police bring more aggression.

At Lambeth Bridge we saw the most shocking scenes of this Rebellion so far. During a critical mass bike ride, a swarm of police vans rushed in and kettled over 200 peaceful protestors. The Met held rebels in the rain for hours, searched and arrested everyone (including bystanders, independent legal observers and welfare rebels) and confiscated hundreds of bikes. Full story below.

Sadly, this unwarranted aggression is in no way an exception. Whether it’s misinformation, disproportionate use of force, or straight-up racism, this country’s police is once again being employed in an attack on our civil liberties.

We know that many officers are lovely people – with some even questioning their role – but in terms of policy, it’s looking like we’re on the path to Belarus.

As one person on Lambeth Bridge described as she awaited ‘processing’, more frightening than the process or even the climate science is the thought that “We are up against a wall that doesn’t want to hear the truth”. This writer finds it scary too.

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03 September 2020

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

If the trees die, so do we

On the first day, we found our feet and planted them in our public spaces. On the second day, we really got down to business. Rebels moved like water to target specific sites of ecocidal atrocity.

Manchester rebels expressed their outrage at fast-fashion giant and the  pension fund. In Cardiff, rebels painted sea level rise predictions in blue chalk paint onto shopfronts to evoke the very real prospect of most of the city being underwater by 2050.

Online, rebels are flooding the personal inboxes of Boris and Cummings with hundreds of emails and repeated phone calls to No 10 and the Treasury. One rebel described their calls as a polite disobedient dance: “We all know the steps, but who knows what our collective dancing may do?”

And in London, the corrupt, climate-denying think-tanks at Tufton Street were under rebel scrutiny, HS2 rebels delivered a massive, bleeding tree stump to DEFRA’s doorstep (and locked onto it!), and determined crowds succeeded in re-routing Boris himself.

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02 September 2020

Daily rebellion newsletter from XRUK

Boats, Bills and and Boris the Bank Engine

You wouldn’t think we’re out of practice!

Across three cities yesterday, rebels poured onto the roads in carnivals of creativity and disobedience. We’ve only just begun, but what matters is we’ve found the magic once again: parents and their children, teens and retirees, so many people, beliefs and backgrounds, all coming together in a sea of colour, love and empathy.

In Cardiff, things went vertical with climbers on Welsh government roofs opening proceedings for a day of drums and flags.  

In London, rebels occupied Parliament Square for a day of disruption, education and dance. Significantly, the day ended on newly agile terms: no site-defending, but an organised dissipation. We’re sure the Met are just as curious as we are to find out what happens next!

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01 September 2020

THE HANDBOOK

Please also see this link for a handbook giving further details on items such as pre-rebellion preparations, Covid-19 guidance etc:

TRAINING 

Midlands XR are currently offering lots of wonderful training opportunities at the following link:

Please see the handbook for further details but please note if you wish to attend a protest it is recommended you take the NVDA (Non-Violent Direct Action) training and ‘Know your rights’ as a minimum. 

COMMS 

You can join the Midlands Telegram - a messaging app to get regular updates on the rebellion

We may add more local channels soon...

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29 August 2020

The 2020 Rebellion is happening! From 12 noon on Tuesday 1^st September rebels from all over the country will gather in Parliament Square (and also in Cardiff and Manchester) to demand that MPs back the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill

Now is the time to step forward, whether online or in person, to support Extinction Rebellion! History shows that peaceful civil disobedience works and we don’t have much time.

Read on for how you can take part, whether on the streets or from home.

Rebelling from Home?

1. Join the Digital Rebellion

Digital Rebellion is a simple way to direct our voices to the key institutions of power that contribute to climate breakdown. We are also targeting our MPs to tell them about the CEE Bill. This is what we call glorified lobbying. It is a way of being inclusive to rebels that need to stay home and still want to be active. We are all in this together!

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26 August 2020

All across the country, action plans are being fine-tuned, props are getting a final layer of garish paint and the final zoom calls are reaching their check-outs full of excited anticipation.

Rebels in their local and regional groups are kicking off the Rebellion with a long weekend of civil disobedience, starting this Friday. This writer for one, can’t wait to see what you have planned!

It’s not too late to join your local group and get in on the action.

After what we’re sure will be a spectacular weekend, we will come together in Cardiff, Manchester and London on 1 September. Disrupting key powers and Parliament until they back the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill and set up a national Citizens’ Assembly (here’s why).

Find (nearly) everything you need to know for this Rebellion in this action pack. Get all the latest updates and plans as they unfold: join the UK-wide Broadcast and the local broadcast groups for Manchester, Cardiff and London. And read on to get an overview of what’s happening.

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20 August 2020

XR Midlands can help pay your expenses

• Rail Vouchers and other Travel

• Accommodation

• Support / Carers

• Food / Snacks

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