XR activists are urging the leaders meeting at Carbis Bay in Cornwall to act ‘immediately’ to address the climate and ecological emergency.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) has revealed its plans for action for this month’s G7 Summit in Cornwall.
The series of protests will be focused on the failure of G7 nations to respect the global climate commitments they made in Paris in 2015.
XR activists are urging the leaders meeting at Carbis Bay in Cornwall to act ‘immediately’ to address the climate and ecological emergency.
Beginning on June 1st, Extinction Rebellion’s ‘G7 Rebellion’ will kick off with a series of actions in towns and cities across the UK, which will culminate with three days of protests in Cornwall. The group said that it expects around 1,000 protesters to make their way to St Ives for the summit.
The G7 Summit of leading economies – held from the 11th to 13th June – is seen as a key staging post before the UN conference on climate change (COP26) in Glasgow this November.
There are widespread calls for G7 countries to increase their ambitions for emissions reduction and climate finance assistance to developing countries ahead of the UN conference.
Melissa Carrington, a former environmental consultant from Dorset, says: “The reality is that none of the G7 nations are delivering on the promises they made in Paris in 2015. All claims of climate leadership are farcical, when no major economy has implemented policies consistent with limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“G7’s recent statements are the bare minimum that they can get away with. We need to see much greater ambition including an immediate end to financing and subsidies for all forms of fossil fuel and a massive scaling up of climate finance assistance to developing countries.”
G7 environment ministers have recently agreed that they will deliver climate targets in line with limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C and end direct funding of coal-fired power stations in poorer nations by the end of 2021.
CO2 emissions dipped slightly worldwide in 2020, largely due to the global Covid shutdown, but nowhere near enough to meet climate targets.
The information below is from Extinction Rebellion.
The plans for Cornwall
Friday 11th June: Sound the Alarm March, St Ives
On the first day of the G7 Summit Extinction Rebellion plans to hold a ‘creative and noisy’ protest march through the centre of St. Ives. Supporters are invited to ‘sound the alarm’ for climate justice by making as much noise as possible with air horns, drums, rattles and other instruments. The march will feature a large samba band and many pop up theatrical actions.
The theme for the day’s events is a reference to the fact that a wealthy minority of the world’s countries and corporations are the principal cause of the climate and ecological crisis, while its adverse effects fall first and foremost on the poor who have done least to contribute to the crisis.
Extinction Rebellion has requested that a delegation of activists from XR and associated movements is allowed inside the security corden surrounding the Carbis Bay hotel to deliver messages from communities on the front line of the climate and ecological emergency to the G7 summit.
Cathy Allen from Extinction Rebellion said: “The delegation is symbolic. It attempts to give voice to the anger of climate vulnerable communities who are not represented at the G7 summit to enable their stories to be heard by the world’s leaders.
“We face a situation of barbaric inequity, where the 50% of the world who contributed so little to our collective climate crisis (7%), are the ones facing the brunt of its impacts, and are also, as usual, the ones who have no voice at all at the G7 table.”
Protesters will gather from 11am at St. Ives Leisure Centre for speeches, before marching to Porthminster beach.
Speakers include Lily Stevens, a young climate activist from Cornwall, Dr Mya-Rose Craig, Rob Hopkins and Dr. Gail Bradbrook.
Saturday 12th June: G is for Greenwash, Falmouth
On the second day of the G7 summit, the focus of Extinction Rebellion protests will switch to Falmouth, where the group plans to hold another creative, non-violent march through the town. There will be creative art installations, speeches and theatrical performances, interspersed with singing and choir performances.
The theme for the day is government’s greenwashing of the Climate and Ecological Emergency. “The narrative from governments, corporates and the media has changed. They might appear to be saying some of the right things about climate action, but their words are often a cover for lies, half truths and disinformation,” XR said.
The actions for the day will focus on ‘calling out the greenwash wherever we see it’, including ‘fossil fuel companies trying to convince us they are part of the solution, banks promising Net Zero while pumping trillions into new fossil fuel projects and the UK government as greenwasher- in-chief, claiming climate leadership while simultaneously increasingly their support for the fossil fuel industry.’
Nat Squire, 24, an Osteopath from Falmouth said: “Our government claims to be a climate leader while every decision they make takes us closer to climate and ecological collapse. This is worse than greenwash, it’s a massive fraud and people my age will end up paying the price.”
Protesters will meet at 11:30am at Kimberly Park in Falmouth, before a march through Falmouth from midday. The protest will return to Kimberly Park from 3:15pm.
Speakers include Dr Mya-Rose Craig, Skeena Rathor and Dr. Rupert Read.
Sunday 13th June: All Hands On Deck, St Ives
On the final day of the G7 summit the Extinction Rebellion protest will return to St. Ives where a day of creative beach-based actions is planned, including art installations, music, speakers and ‘discobedience’.
The theme for the day is “All hands on Deck” a reference to Extinction Rebellion’s third demand for a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice to move beyond our broken parliamentary democracy and place power in the hands of citizens.
In the afternoon, the focus will return to the G7 summit and the main theme of “Drowning in Promises”. A creative art installation will feature a wooden model of the official G7 summit logo sinking beneath the waves as dancing rebels collapse on the sand in a die-in.
Activists will gather from 10am until 6pm at Porthmeor, Town Harbour and Porthminster beaches.
Speakers include Dr Mya-Rose Craig, Rob Hopkins, Mothiur Rahman and Dr. Gail Bradbrook.
UK actions
1st – 10th June: Blooming Greenwash. A group of cyclists are departing Shoreham on the 1st June and travelling 300 miles to the G7 Summit in Cornwall, to arrive on the 10th. With their boat, the “Bloomin’ Adur Too”, they will travel around 30 miles a day along the south coast. They will be performing plays and circus acts along the way to highlight government inaction on the climate and ecological emergency and false claims of climate leadership (“greenwash”).
5th – 10th June: Plymouth to Carbis Bay – Protect the Earth March. Groups from across the south west will come together to march across Cornwall to arrive in time for the G7 Summit. The focus for the march is global solidarity with front line activists and ‘earth defenders’ who are risking their lives in order to fight ecological destruction caused by foreign companies operating in their communities.
7th-10th June: Make the Wave. Four days of nationwide UK outreach actions for local groupsto get involved with, forming a ‘wave’ around the coastline that ‘will surge into an unstoppable force for change’.
10th June, 10:00pm. Light the Beacons. Campaigners will light the Jubilee Beacons or those on old Beacon hills as we urge world leaders to take the actions needed to save the planet.
Find out the latest XR events here.
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