In an incredibly short period of time we have endangered a world that took billions of years to evolve. We are just a tiny link in the great chain of living organisms, so who are we to put it all in jeopardy with our ecological blindness and deadly technologies? Don’t we have an obligation, a responsibility, to our planetary future and the generations of humans and other species to come?
Roman Krznaric – The Good Ancestor
Dear friends,
With less than six weeks to go until The Big One, we’re getting excited. Over 300 of you have confirmed that you will be joining us in London already, and we’re hoping for even more to sign up over the next month. For all the details, check out our dedicated page for people in Oxford to get ready for The Big One.
Dates for your diary
- Saturday 18th March, 11am-1pm: Dirty Water (Thames Water HQ, Reading)
- Tuesday 21st March, 7-8pm: XR Oxford Open Call on The Big One (online)
- Thursday 23rd March, 7-9:30pm: New Rebels Social (White House, Abingdon Road)
- Friday 24th March: National Day of Action on divestment
- Saturday 25th March, 10am-4pm: Outreach stall (Gloucester Green)
- Saturday 25th March, 2-3:30pm: How do directly affected women strive to access water! (online)
- Sunday 26th March, 2-4:30pm: Block printing workshop (St Mary & St John CE Primary School)
- Tuesday 28th March, 6pm: Finite film screening + XR Oxford Q&A (Phoenix Picturehouse)
- Wednesday 12th April, 10am-4pm: Outreach stall (Gloucester Green)
- Saturday 15th April, 2:30-4:30pm: XR Oxford Singers (Headington – contact xroxfordactions@gmail.com for more info.)
- Friday 21st – Monday 24th April: The Big One (London). Make sure your diary is clear, and tell your friends!
Help needed
Oxford Open Call on The Big One
As part of XR’s plan to get 100,000 people surrounding parliament in April, calling for rapid and just climate action, we are inviting other groups who share our aims and values to join us, so we can all amplify one another’s voices. This call is being held for local groups who are interested in coming, but perhaps don’t yet have all the information they need about the event. We’d also love to hear what other groups are hoping for from The Big One, and if time allows, to discuss how we can work together on projects in future. Zoom call on March 21st, 7-8pm – register here.
News
Act Together!
On March 1st XR Oxford hosted a Community Talk as part of our mobilisation efforts for The Big One on 21st – 24th April.
We were joined by Roman Krznaric, philosopher and author of The Good Ancestor, who spoke about the importance of leaving good legacies for future generations. He pointed to the “fierce urgency of the now”, marked by the slow violence of rising temperatures and sea levels and declining water tables. At this time of social and economic injustice, so strongly linked to the climate and ecological emergency, we need to understand what our relationship to the future is. And while acknowledging that millions struggle today with the immediate consequences of climate devastation, particularly in the global south, we must also grasp the scale of the injustice that faces the tens of billions of people who are yet to be born.
Read more here, or watch the whole talk on Youtube here.
Dirty Water – Wave 2
The second wave of our Dirty Water campaign will take place in Reading, on Saturday March 18th from 11am to 1pm at Thames Water HQ, Clearwater Court, Vastern Road, RG1 8DB.
A carnival of pollution, poo costumes, floating turds, dead fish, placards, props, speeches, drummers, singing and more…let’s tell Thames Water exactly what we think of them!
This is a rail strike day, so those attending need to use other means to get there. This may include 39 & 40 buses to Reading from Oxford. The best parking is Hills Meadows: 73 George St, RG4 8DH.
XR Reading is organising the event – follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
New Rebels Social
Come along and meet others who have recently joined Extinction Rebellion, as well as some who have been involved for longer. You’ll also be able to find out more about the plans for heading to London in April, as well as what is going on in London. Thursday 23rd March, 7-9.30pm in the Upstairs Room at the White House, Abingdon Road, OX1 4PQ.
Eh! How do directly affected women strive to access water?
Women directly affected by crises in water, poverty, climate and nature, are rarely heard. There are many obstacles – lack of technology, lack of education, lack of funds, language to be interpreted, transport needed to a local town with a hall, lack of electricity and more… The same obstacles that affect their daily lives make it difficult for their voices to be heard.
But women everywhere want to be heard as equals in a troubled world – especially women on the frontlines of the crises in climate, water, nature and poverty. Women in two rural communities in Uganda and women who have been displaced and are now living in an urban slum in Kampala, will be online, will see those they are talking to, be seen and heard and share their reality with the rest of the world.
On 25th March from 2-3:30pm, online, directly affected women will be expressing the pain of their reality, airing out their concerns on different injustices, some of which are a result of climate change. Register here.
Block printing workshop
If you’d like to try your hand at block printing, or have done it before but fancy another go, we are holding a block printing workshop so that you can print clothes, patches, flags and bags with iconic XR designs. We’ll be printing flags and patches to take down to London, but please feel free to bring your own things for an XR makeover! Plain or not too strongly patterned fabrics tend to work best. Children welcome, but will need adult supervision at all times.
Come along to SS Mary and John School, Meadow Lane, OX4 1TJ, on Sunday 26th March from 2-4:30PM.
Finite Film Screening
In Germany, concerned citizens stepped forward to save an ancient forest from one of Europe’s largest coal mines. They form an unlikely alliance with a frustrated community in rural England who are forced into action to protect their homes from a new opencast coal mine.
The Phoenix Picturehouse are holding a special screening on Tuesday 28th March at 6pm. Book your tickets here.
Join us after the screening for a Q&A hosted by XRO, with director Rich Relgate, and panellists:
- Sarah Webb, Special Educational Needs tutor and Just Stop Oil supporter
- Chris Church, Campaigns officer with Oxford Friends of the Earth and Director of Community Environment Associates
- Rabhya Dewshi, clinical psychologist and XRO activist
In love and rage,
The XR Oxford Crew