By Group says need for urgent action has not diminished since outbreak of the pandemic and COVID-19 presents new opportunities for ‘economic reset’
Extinction Rebellion, the grassroots campaign group that calls for radical action on climate change, has announced plans for more protests at the bookend of the European summer.
Peaceful protests are being organised to take place in major cities around the UK including London, Cardiff and Manchester from the 1st of September, as well as smaller local demonstrations centered around the last August bank holiday.
In a newsletter sent out to activists, Tommy Moryton said that the government had ignored warnings of the pandemic that has ravaged public health and economies around the world, and were now showing signs of employing a similar attitude to the impending climate crisis.
“[The government is] ignoring warnings of a 4˚C warmer world from the Committee on Climate Change, a warning that could result in billions of deaths. Right now, our Government is bailing out big banks, big oil and climate destroyers with zero commitments to people [or] planet. They are racing us to the cliff edge of extinction. This has to stop.”
The group asserts that the shockwaves from the Coronavirus crisis present a unique opportunity to rebuild an economy that is not dependent on fossil fuels and environmentally damaging practices.
“We have an opportunity to do everything differently. To build a different future with justice, care and life at the heart of it. We cannot let that future slip away. We need to rebel.”
Plans are being shaped to blockade the palace of Westminster as MPs return from the summer recess, in order to force a parliamentary debate on climate change, and the setting up of a citizens assembly on the issue, saying democracy “needs an upgrade”. The group said “we’re not going to let them back in until they agree to put justice, care and life at the heart of their work.”
In the newsletter the group was careful to remind activists of the realities of the pandemic still raging throughout the UK and the global community, stressing the need for individual responsibility regarding physical distancing, masks-wearing, and hand-hygiene.
Photo by Li-An Lim on Unsplash
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