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Extinction Rebellion Protests Stop Business As Usual Across The Planet

  • By Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance

Above: Death Masks at Westminster, October 7, 2019.

Extinction Rebellion blood on the Wall Street bull, October 7, 2019.

The newest climate crisis campaign of Extinction Rebellion, called “International Rebellion,” has begun. On October 7,  Extinction Rebellion began two weeks of disruptions intended to show governments that citizens are not satisfied with their lack of actions to curb climate change and protect wild species.

Across the globe, activists blocked roads and staged demonstrations in big cities on Monday, part of a wide-ranging series of protests demanding much more urgent action against climate change. Associated Press reported that “Demonstrators stopped traffic in European cities including Berlin, London, Paris and Amsterdam. In New York, activists smeared themselves — and emblems of Wall Street — in fake blood and lay in the street. In some cities, activists chained themselves to vehicles or pitched tent camps and vowed not to budge.”

The Climate News Network reported police protected 10 Downing Street but did not stop XR from blocking streets. They wrote, “Handing out leaflets entitled: ‘It’s time to tell the truth’, the protestors stressed their key message: ‘We are in trouble. Sea levels are rising. Heatwaves are killing crops. The Arctic is melting, and Africa and the Amazon are on fire.'” People carried “homemade placards: ‘Choose Extinction or Rebellion’, ‘We can’t eat money, we can’t drink oil’, ‘Mars for the Privileged, Earth for the Poor’, and ‘We must rise before the tides.’”

New York City Police arrest activists with the Extinction Rebellion movement as they demonstrate outside the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, kicking off a wide-ranging series of worldwide protests demanding much more urgent action against climate change. AP.

Wall Street was a target of protests because investors are funding fossil fuel infrastructure and profiting from the continued use of fossil fuels even though they know it is destroying the planet. AP described the Wall Street protest writing, “In New York City, protesters doused a famous statue of a charging bull near Wall Street with fake blood. One protester waving a green flag climbed on top of the bull. Other activists splashed with red dye staged a ‘die-in’ in front of the New York Stock Exchange — lying down as if dead while tourists gawked.”

Extinction Rebellion, Act Now, Toronto, Canada, October 7, 2019.

Extinction Rebellion was founded in England last year and has chapters in some 50 countries. The group said the protests Monday were taking place in 60 cities worldwide in countries including Turkey, Canada, South Africa, and Mexico. This morning, in a newsletter Extinction Rebellion wrote:

It’s happening. It can’t be ignored. It’s only growing stronger.

It’s a rebellion.

We’re back on the roads – with as much joy, fear, love and courage as ever. We’re shutting down cities – not because it’s fun (though it can be), but because it’s our last option for stopping this toxic system in its tracks.

Our world is dying. To save it, we’ll need everyone – wherever and whoever you are – to do your bit.

And though we’re still somewhat short of the shared, global consciousness we need, we’re getting ever closer.

This International Rebellion which began on Monday is so vast it’s almost impossible to take it all in. Thousands of people flood 60 cities across the globe, with over 700 brave rebels arrested as they stand up for their right to life, and that’s just the start.

In their newsletter, they highlighted some of the cities writing, “the 11 vibrant sites held around the centre of London, the choir of Amsterdam rebels, the blood poured on the bull statue in Wall Street in New York, the ambition of our banner-hangers, the Red Brigade arriving in Tel Aviv and Istanbul, underwater protest art in Mexico, and the boats of every shape and size that we are so desperately trying to keep afloat.” The newsletter went on to highlight cities in every continent. Below are tweets showing actions around the world.

Here is how to get involved with Extinction Rebellion.

take to the streets on six continents, united in joyous, nonviolent rebellion against criminal inaction on the climate and ecological emergency.

Extinction or Rebellion Banner in London

Extinction Rebellion Die-In on Wall Street

Chicago

Washington

Arrests on Bridge in London

London

Setting up camps in streets around Westminster

George Monbiot opens vegan food market

Link between climate and war highlighted in this London protest

Linked to a mock Trident Missile to block streets

Amsterdam

Germany

Parents protested for their children.

Australia

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