Newsletter 2019-11-21 – Twelve Days of Crisis

Posted on by Dave in Uncategorised

Twelve Days of Crisis

“Four calling birds”. Of all the gifts in ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, this one might be the most needed in our current crisis. 

What could they be calling for? The truth? Justice? A future? 

If the birds are calling, we can too.

Whether it’s singing our lungs out on Black Friday, or calling on our politicians to do what’s right on the climate crisis – hustings are imminent for both East and West Oxford constituencies – we can all use our voice.

And volume works – we’ve spread the word about the climate so much this year that both ‘climate emergency’ and ‘climate strike’ have been named Word of the Year by the Oxford English Dictionary and Collins respectively. 

In the run-up to the election, how can we make that call louder?

Contents:

  1. Upcoming Events
  2. #ElectionRebellion: How to take action
  3. All About Oxford’s Citizens’ Assembly
  4. Singing on Black Friday
  5. XR Muslims are looking for volunteers
  6. Local actions for a sustainable food system at the Oxford Farming Conference

Upcoming Events

Climate Crisis hustings

#ElectionRebellion: How to take action

Extinction Rebellion’s ‘12 Days of Crisis’ starts on 1 December and runs until election day. These elections will shift the UK’s future – let’s not let the climate crisis go ignored in voters’ decisions. But how?

1. Make your local climate hustings a big deal ✅

There are not one but two local climate-focused hustings coming up:

These have the potential to really bring climate issues to the forefront of local elections – but only if locals know they’re happening! Help by sharing the events on social media, to friends and family, and on local community boards.

Stuck for what to ask on the night? Help your potential MPs feel the heat of the climate crisis with one of these probing questions, curated by XR Oxford’s Advocacy team.

You can also volunteer to help out at either event by emailing: 

2. Tell voters the truth with this flyer toolkit ✅

Create your own Tell Voters The Truth Flyer with these handy templates and research sources, in order to put forward a neutral, comparative analysis of local candidates’ record on climate. 

The goal of these flyers is not to endorse any candidate or party, but to Tell Voters The Truth about local candidates campaigning to be their next MP, and their record on climate.

3. Join the Election Rebellion Telegram Chat ✅ 

Local groups will be creating their own actions, but there are also regional actions which re-unite the South East in beautiful Rebellion, shining a spotlight on the true crisis! 🧭🌍 

Don’t miss out on any regional actions – join the SE General Election Telegram chat.

People talking at a citizen's assembly.

All about Oxford’s Citizens’ Assembly

Tuesday 26th November, 7-10pm  | Please register

Roll up, roll up! Find out everything you could possibly want to know about Oxford’s own Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change, which invited 50 Oxford residents to deliberate over potential ways forward on the climate emergency. Oxford is the first city in the UK to use this approach for climate change, so there is a lot we can learn and teach from the process.

This event will explain what happened, how it was planned, and what XR Oxford did, plus analysis and presentations from XR Oxford’s Citizens’ Assembly Project Team and Oxford Citizens Assembly Network.

Learn more about Citizens’ Assemblies and why they’re a key demand

Sing! On Black Friday

Singing on Black Friday

Friday 29th November, 5.30pm | Westgate Shopping Centre | Event

On the next Youth Strike day (and also Black Friday), XR Youth are planning a catwalk action in the afternoon (around 4pm), and afterwards at 5.30pm will be a singing flash mob, in the style of the Glorious Rabble! 

We need lots of people to sing, and also to chat to shoppers and hand out leaflets. And you don’t need to be a ‘singer’ – the songs/chants are very simple and easy to learn, and people will be on hand to teach them. Please keep an eye on the Facebook/website event for further details.

If you would like to help with outreach, please get in touch with Radha (radha@uwclub.net). Leaflets will be provided. Please bring XR flags if you have them. If you haven’t done this before, and would like to be paired with someone who has, just ask.

Please note this is about supporting the Youth Strike movement and also highlighting the problems of the fast fashion industry, not about blaming and shaming individual shoppers.

XR Muslims are looking for volunteers

XR Muslims are looking for those who identify as Muslims and who’d like to help with any of their ongoing projects, including:

  1. Developing a Heading for Extinction talk with additional material from Muslim faith traditions.
  2. Arranging Heading for Extinction talks in your local mosques (masjids) and Muslim community centres.
  3. Creating a welcome pack for Mosques and Muslim community centres to introduce Muslims to both their local XR groups and the XR (national level) Muslim group.
  4. Writing a report on Muslim community leaders’ perceptions of XR and attitudes towards climate change.
  5. Running social media campaigns – we would love to have creative people to help us design materials and messaging. 

To get involved please get in touch with us at: XR.Muslims@gmail.com or join our Whatsapp group.

Artwork with a stag beetle and leaves, in black and white.

Local actions for a sustainable food system

7-9 January 2020

Our next big local action (or set of actions) is on the horizon! The food industry has their annual Oxford Farming Conference in January, and we can take the opportunity to demand transformative changes for a just and sustainable food system.

There will be an action for each of the three days of the conference. You can find the action outline here – please share this widely in your network and affinity groups (AGs), as we’ll commence with detailed planning now and encourage every AG to participate.

This is a set of non-law-breaking publicity and outreach actions which are ideal to integrate new rebels.

If you want to be involved with the planning – whether as part of an AG or not – please reach out to Till (XROxfordActions@gmail.com) or check out the Action Working Group’s google thread.

Where can I find more information?