For anyone planning to go to Glasgow, please see our Going to COP26? post.
If you can only commit to one action, please come to the march on November 6th – we’re hoping it will be the biggest climate march ever in Oxford!
GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION – 6TH NOVEMBER
On 6th November, people all over the world will be coming together to demand climate justice from the COP. This will be the biggest popular demonstration on climate the world has ever seen – this a march for everyone, please get people on board!
At 1pm on Saturday 6th, people of Oxfordshire will meet at Manzil Way, Cowley Road (setting off at 1.30pm), and finish in a rally on Broad Street. The XR samba band is tipped to lead the march, and we can all provide colour with flags and banners.
Daily Outreach – 31st October – 12th November, 12-2pm.
An XR presence in the city centre every day during COP!
We’ve decided to have a daily presence at lunchtime in Cornmarket to remind the public about COP and the urgent need for decisive action on the climate. There will be no action on 6th November because of the march for climate justice.
Please just turn up if you are free. There will be banners and leaflets. We will have an A-board with a very brief daily update on what’s been happening at COP, and we’ll aim for conversations with passers by.
CALL THE ALARM – SATURDAY 30th OCTOBER, 17:30
All over the country, as part of XR’s Deep Water Rising national action, people will gather along waterways and on bridges to call out governments, fossil fuel investors and industries on their damaging greenwash tactics, and to make the link to the increased flood risk towns like ours face as a result of climate inaction.
We will gather on the Plain, at the entrance to Cowley Place, from 17.30, with torches/candles/lanterns (it will be dusk!), flags, and chalk. We will move onto Magdalen Bridge in time for a two minutes silence at 17.58, before we call the alarm at 18.00 with pots and pans, samba drums, church bells – all things noisy! Leafleting and outreach throughout.
Stewards and deescalators will be needed – if you can help, please contact xroxfordactions@gmail.com
Red Rebels Pilgrimage – Sunday 31st OCTOBER
In the run up to COP26, Red Rebel Brigade groups UK-wide will complete a silent, three-day relay pilgrimage by train, starting in Truro and finishing in Glasgow on day 1 of the conference.
On Sunday 31st October, Oxford Red Rebels will be bearing silent witness to the climate emergency at the Headington Shark at 9am and will travel to Oxford Train Station at 10.30am to spell out the CODE RED message of IPCC report. They will then take the train to Birmingham to pass on the ‘baton’ (a giant banner) to the Birmingham Red Rebels at 1pm.
The red rebels need guides to facilitate their movement, carry essential items, hand out flyers, and speak to the public. If you can help, please email xroxfordswallows@gmail.com.
VIGIL FOR CLIMATE – 1ST NOVEMBER, 18:00
On 1st November, to mark the beginning of the COP, we will be meeting at Carfax at 6pm for a solemn vigil to honour those, here and in the Global South, whose lives have already been lost or blighted by floods, wildfires, heatwaves and crop failure caused by global heating.
We will begin by singing, supported by local choir the Sea Green Singers, ‘Enough is Enough’, the COP song written by Scottish folk singer Karine Polwart (see singing workshop in ‘dates for your diary’) We will then stand in reflective silence until 7pm. Some people are choosing to stay on and keep their vigil through the entire night, and others are very welcome to stay for as long as they like to support them in this.
This is an inclusive action: please spread the word: all are welcome.
Bring candles/torches, and wear black.