Over the past week, Extinction Rebellion, a grassroots movement I have participated in both here in the UK and France, has been sending out newsletters regarding their ‘Election Rebellion‘, offering rebels the information to make informed decisions and demands.
While I am a member of XR and support (for the most part) their actions and choice to remain apolitical, as an individual, I do not believe the climate crisis can be divorced from politics. As a result of these beliefs, I’ve chosen to invest my time in both grassroots actions and political reform in tandem, in hopes I can help bookend the problems.
It’s not enough to be pissed about political policy after it’s been made, we have to stop giving power to people who don’t have the interests of the living at heart.
In addition to participating in XR, I have also recently become a member of The Green Party UK (in fact, as of Monday, November 18, I’ll be working for them part-time to help them – hopefully – win seats in this election). I joined them for a multitude of reasons, first, because I feel they are the only party who can properly address the climate and social justice issues which require immediate and drastic systems change, and second, because I feel they meet XR’s demands with honesty and integrity.
Extinction Rebellion, as part of this ecological election, asks each political party #whereisyourplan – so rather than a plan at face value, I used some of the money donated to me through Patreon, to attend The Green Party’s Autumn Conference in Wales a month ago, so I could witness their policymaking process and read their 200 page ‘Final Agenda’.
What I found, is that The Green Party meets XR’s demands, bar one tiny detail:
Does The Green Party Meet Extinction Rebellion’s Demands?
the answer is 99.9 percent yes
XR Demand: Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
The Green Party UK: was the first party in the UK to have all of its members declare a climate emergency. In fact, they’ve been telling the truth about the climate emergency since they were officially founded 30 years ago. The party’s origins date back to the 70s with the ‘PEOPLE Party’ and ‘The Ecological Party’ who worked to bring the issues of climate breakdown and global heating to the political realm before scientists had even come to a consensus on what was going down.
XR Demand: Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2025.
The Green Party: The Green New Deal (the one you know thanks to AOC and The Sunrise Movement breathing new life into it) was written by a group of environmentalists (many members of The Green Party) and Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, 11 years ago. In fact, net-zero has been written into every aspect of their policy since before XR became necessary. HOWEVER, at The Green Party conference I attended, I witnessed an hour-long debate over whether they should promise net-zero by 2025 or 2030. Interestingly, the only reason they have not promised 2025 is that they do not want to lie. The reality is, that they have not uncovered a path backed by scientific evidence to achieve net neutrality by 2025 .. .so in order to continue to TELL THE TRUTH they are sticking to 2030, rather than lying for the sake of publicity.
XR Demand: Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
The Green Party: Having witnessed the policymaking process at The Green Party conference, and witnessed ‘Citizen’s Assembly’ at XR, the only difference in function was that you have to be a Green Party Member to participate (it costs £3 to become a member). That said, if we put them in power, the functions of opening that process up to a public citizen’s assembly, which they wholly support, would be obvious. We’ve just got to vote for them and donate to them so they have the funding and voice to make the changes they’ve promised.
Will Extinction Rebellion UK Go On A Hunger Strike Because Of The 5-year Net-Zero Gap?
I sincerely hope not. If XR is going to make demands, and if those demands are met by The Green Party apart from the 5-year gap which can’t be currently met by science, this should be made clear to hunger-striking rebels. Many of the people rebelling with XR are often less educated on the issues and look to XR for advice and leadership. XR admits to having no proof that 2025 is possible, and because of this, I feel it should be made clear – that it is essentially science and honesty they’ll be striking against when it comes to The Green Party.
Yes, we need systems change, and yes, we need the government to change dramatically, but that is our responsibility as voters to put in place. Critical thinking, conversation, collaboration. These are the pillars of transformation in the creation of the regenerative culture. I truly believe we can do better, especially if we work together. I won’t support intentional misinformation no matter loud the roar.
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