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CLIMATE RUSH ON THE RUN - SEPTEMBER 2009 Click here to read the Roadshow blog and find out what we got up to when we toured the country with a horse and cart in September... WEDNESDAY 1ST JULY 2009 Well done all you Rushers who made your feelings about agro-fuels clear at the LOVE LIFE HATE PALM OIL Dinner and Dance on the 1st July. For those who weren't able to join the fun, there are some lovely photos of the event here and nice write-up in the Evening Standard here . On Monday evening over 500 of you met outside Chatham House. We put on our red sash, some inscribed 'PEDAL POWER', others 'DEEDS NOT WORDS' or 'CLIMATE RUSH', and we set off through the streets of London. The police, impressed by our peaceful presence, helped us to shut down the streets of London, and the people on the streets watched in awe as flagged bicycles carrying climate suffragettes rushed past them. We handed out a newspaper explaining our presence and encouraging the bemused public to get involved. Our tour passed the sites of a number of climate criminals, the head offices of BP, BAA, RBS and SHELL, before we arrived at Parliament Square. We raced around it twice before reaching Westminster Bridge where we dismounted and opened up our picnic baskets. We had taken the bridge and there we would stay celebrating our peaceful occupation for over an hour. The MPs watched from their Westminster windows as we dropped banners reading 'DEEDS NOT WORDS', 'NO NEW COAL' and 'REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF DECEMBER', the date when we will mount a rush on Parliament, this time getting in and occupying it ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Summit. Congratulations all who attended our most recent show of peaceful civil disobedience. We welcome all of your continued involvement in our campaigns. Don't hesitate to get in touch, we want your help and we love your support. With love and revolution X CR some press links (and good photos too) Four activists from environmental action group Climate Rush glued themselves around a statue in the lobby of the Houses of Parliament today. Once fixed they spoke about the impacts of climate change, to the surprise of MPs, civil servants and tourists. At 10am three women and one man, dressed in white like the original Suffragettes and wearing red 'climate' sashes, used superglue to stick their hands around the sword carried by a statue of Viscount Falkland. Exactly one hundred years earlier (27th April 1909) a Suffragette, Marjory Hume, chained herself to this sword to protest for women's suffrage. Police were forced to cut the stone sword to set her free. One hundred years on, the police had to rely on solvent to unstuck the protesters. Rusher Cadi St John, a twenty year old student at Bristol University said: 'A hundred years ago women were forced to break the law to have their voice heard in Parliament. A hundred years on and nothing's changed. I'm in my first year at uni and I'm almost ready to give up and become a full-time campaigner about climate change. Like so many of my generation I'm terrified about what the future holds, but instead of environmental action Labour promises new coal fired power stations and a third runway at Heathrow. This is the only way I can make myself heard.' Chris Kitchen, another rusher and a secretary for The Institute of Education said: 'We don't want to wake up to a climate crisis which will be caused by the same political cowardice and chronic short-termism as the economic crisis. It's now or never. The politicians need to stop relying on unproven technology and get stuck into real climate solutions.' Last week Ed Miliband gave the go ahead to a new generation of coal fired power stations, which will use unproven CCS technology to reduce emissions. If this technology fails it will lock us into a carbon intensive energy future and make it impossible for Britain to make emissions cuts. Climate scientists predict that there will be no summer Arctic ice as early as next year. This could be the beginning of runaway climate change.
For interviews and pictures please call Lucy - 07751 805 275
CLIMATE RUSH AT THE UK COAL AWARDS, THURSDAY 26TH FEBRUARY To all the rushers who came last week - we had an absolute ball and it was a massive success: read more at these links here:
HERE AT CLIMATE RUSH HQ WE'RE ASKING : WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET ARRESTED THESE DAYS? Here's what we did on 28th January 2009: Braving rain and incarceration 8 gals and two guys (Edwardian garb) chained themselves to the railings outside parliament. We were there to remind those MPs debating the expansion of Heathrow today that we will never stop holding them to account. When the police looked left and saw us (it took them twenty minutes...) we were solemnly told that our actions were unlawful. We were, they explained contravening the Serious and Organised Crime Prevention Act. They gave us 10 minutes to unlock ourselves or we were nicked. Serious? Yes. Organised? Well, almost... But Criminal is not the word. The deadline came and went. Demanding DEEDS NOT WORDS we stayed chained where we were. Tensions mounted. The Prime Minister zoomed past. Still we refused to move, and still the police said 'please'. A specialist removals team was called in. We braced ourselves. Nothing happened. The team was apparently stuck in traffic somewhere around Hendon. As we write, the debate jolts in the House of Commons. But it is only symbolic, the MPs will never be allowed a vote on the future of Heathrow. This is not democracy in action. It was outside Parliament, when illegal protestor and disgruntled police saw eye to eye that the spirit of democracy lived. Up the Revolution! CR PS : All donations for chains, padlocks and postage stamps gratefully received via the donate! button
WHAT DID CLIMATE RUSH DO AT HEATHROW ON 12.01.09? On Monday 12th January at 7pm over 1000 Climate Rushers took Heathrow’s Terminal 1. When the string quartet played its first note picnic blankets reading: ‘NO DOMESTIC DEPARTURES’ and ‘CLIMATE CHAOS – IT’S NO PICNIC’ were rolled out and promptly sat upon by the Edwardian-decked crowd. Carry-on cases were rummaged in and cucumber sandwiches, samosas, flapjacks, cupcakes and cloudy lemonade where pulled out and passed around. The police were somewhat bemused (and out in their hundreds) but what could they do to over 1000 peaceful women and men, listening to music, sharing food and enjoying each others company. We were committed to staying put til 96 minutes had passed. We wanted to remind the government that we only have 96 months to stop climate change so they’d best get on with it. Once dinner had come to an end the dancing began and 1000 people jumped around the Terminal shouting: ‘no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no no Third Runway’. We were all laughing and smiling and chatting and, of course, sticking two mighty fingers up at Labour’s plans to expand the airport. Their announcement’s expected later this week. So when that announcement comes let’s all remember what we are capable of: just how much power we have because let’s be honest, if going to Heathrow can be so much fun then let’s shut it down every other week. Click here for a video of Dinner at Domestic Departures. And click here for a message from Caroline Lucas!
Above: Hundreds of protestors converge on Terminal 1 on 12th January WHAT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT CLIMATE RUSH HEATHROW? more The Times more The Daily Mail
WHAT DID CLIMATE RUSH DO AT PARLIAMENT ON 13.10.08? On 13th October 2008 1,000 women in sashes, men in costume and colourful creatures of all shapes and forms gathered in Parliament square. We were celebrating the centenary of the Suffragette Rush. After hearing inspirational speeches from Rosie Boycott, Joy Greasely (Women's Institute), Caroline Lucas MEP and more these Edwardian-decked women broke police lines, lightly vaulted makeshift barriers and rushed towards the doors of Parliament. Our fists banged against their closed doors and our Suffragette chants resounded through the Chamber as civil servants peered nervously through windows above - DEEDS NOT WORDS, DEEDS NOT WORDS. Our demands? No new coal power stations, an immediate stop to all airport expansion, and 80% reductions in carbon by 2050. WHAT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT THE CLIMATE RUSH ON PARLIAMENT? Click on the links below to read articles about the Climate Rush on the following websites: The Guardian - Comment is Free
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