Events
We meet every Wednesday at 7.30 either in person or online via Zoom. We’d love to welcome you, please get in touch if you would like to meet us.
What’s happening…
- Meeting this week
- Rebel Rhythms
- March Around The Houses
- About Citizens’ Assemblies
- What’s on at the climate emergency centres
- Sit for Climate
MEETING THIS WEEK We will have a meeting this week on Wednesday 16th August on Zoom. Contact us for details.
REBEL RHYTHMS
WAB REBEL RHYTHMS is the local group’s Samba-inspired band. Drumming bands make an amazing contribution to rebellions and other actions. They are inspired by Brazilian Carnival music and bring rousing rhythms and an atmosphere of celebration to Extinction Rebellion. They create a lively and massive sound that is impossible to ignore. They draw people to the sound, and therefore to the protests and actions. They get people dancing. They drown out the police.
No experience is necessary, you learn as you play. Find out more, and join in here. The upcoming practices are as follows:
- 11th September 6:30 to 8:30pm practice in Milford
About Citizens’ Assemblies
The focus of the current action is to press on our three demands. One of these is for Citizens’ Assemblies to be used to make decisions, because governments have proven themselves incapable of doing so. And we need to be able to explain to people why that is so important.
An example of the evidence that governments do not make good decisions about the climate emergency, apart from all of our lived experiences of climate chaos, is that political parties do not stick to their own pledges. Here are just three of the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto pledges that have been torn up recently:
- We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.
- We will guarantee the current annual budget to farmers in every year of the next Parliament. In return for funding, they must farm in a way that protects and enhances our natural environment.
- For many families, energy costs are a major source of financial pressure. We will keep our existing energy cap and introduce new measures to lower bills.
We know the energy crisis is no excuse for reneging on the third of these. Oil, gas and energy companies are making massive profits off the back of the high prices everyone is paying for energy. That is an easy problem to correct if you are not a close bed-fellow of those companies. Democracy as we experience it doesn’t work. Even if you vote for a particular party and its policies, there is no guarantee these will be adhered to. That’s why, to tackle the climate and environmental crisis, XRUK does not tell people what the solution is. XR demands that Citizens’ Assemblies do this, based on a thorough understanding of the problem and the available options.
The demand for Citizens’ Assemblies is the focus of XR actions in October and through to April. To have a good understanding of what Citizens’ Assemblies are, and to help us with outreach work so we can explain this demand to other people, a really helpful video has been posted on the XRUK website. It’s called Global Perspectives on Citizens’ Assemblies. It’s well worth watching
What’s on at the climate emergency centres
What Next? in Waverley and Zero in Guildford continue to increase their range of activities. Check out their websites for latest activities.