On July 11th, Extinction Rebellion Hastings and St Leonards (XRHSL) temporarily installed 1,200 pairs of children’s shoes on Hastings Pier, in a performance installation entitled GONE.
Echoing a recent Extinction Rebellion action in Trafalgar Square (London), the empty shoes, the rising tide, and the haunting sense of absent children drew attention to the fact that young people are most vulnerable to the climate and ecological emergency.
For this action, XRHSL was represented by 56 local people, whose ages ranged from three to 92 years old, and who - despite the excellent weather - dressed in black to express a powerful sense of mourning for the loss of all our children’s future.
All participants followed social distancing guidelines, with many visibly moved as the visual impact of hundreds of pairs of empty shoes gradually built up.
Climate Change may have been displaced by Covid-19 but it has not gone away and is worsening. Children will starve in their millions. People in the global south are likely to suffer most, but climate change will have enormous impacts everywhere, including here in Hastings. We demand that government takes action, now.
Activist and grandmother, La Pethick, 83
But, in face of scientific consensus, the UK government continues to support the use and extraction of fossil fuels, our carbon footprint is rising, and carbon-intense industries are offered tax-payer funded bailouts to help them recover from lockdown.
Extinction Rebellion demand that government act immediately in response to this existential threat, which is globally significantly more serious than the ongoing, and devastating Covid-19 crisis.
In a recent polls, only 9% of the UK population want to go back to the way things were before the pandemic, and 48% agree that the government should respond with the same urgency to the climate and ecological crisis as the coronavirus crisis.[1][2]
When our film crew had finished, all the shoes were gathered up, and 200 pairs were donated to a local families charity. XRHSL returned the pier to the state in which they found it, and would like to thank Hastings Pier for granting permission for this event.
Extinction Rebellion (AKA XR) is a non-violent direct action protest group with the goal of preventing further mass extinction and damage to the climate. The group has three main demands.
1. Tell the truth - Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
2. Act Now - Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
3. Go Beyond Politics - Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
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PRESS RELEASE 21 May 2022 STRICTLY EMBARGOED FOR PRIOR RELEASE Link to images below, available from 7.30am Saturday 21st May 2022 and throughout the dayhttps://show.pics.io/xr-global-media-breaking-news/search?tagId=6287a77655c6330012b0e1c7 Videos and Livestreams taking place from around 8.30am. Available to view afterwards.https://www.facebook.com/XRSouthEastUK/ Press contacts: XR South East Media Team : xrsoutheastmedia@gmail.com Social Media : #FlyingToExtinction : #PrivateFlightsCostTheEarth : #StopPrivateFlightsNow Updates […]
The SLP, ExxonMobil's new Southampton to London Heathrow aviation fuel pipeline, is cutting a swathe of destruction across South East England; putting planet and people before profit and enabling our government's ecocidal airport expansion plans.
Press Release : Extinction Rebellion stops work on aviation fuel pipeline to Heathrow. Extinction Rebellion South East UK Photographs, please click here Livestream from around 10.00am and available afterwardshttps://www.facebook.com/XRSouthEastUK/Updates on twitter https://twitter.com/XrSouthEastUK For Immediate Publication — START — Funeral cortege of eco-protestors invade site to dig grave and mourn the climate destruction that the project […]
STRICTLY EMBARGOED FOR PRIOR RELEASE Link to images below, available from 9.30am Monday 18th July 2022 and throughout the day:https://xrb.link/E6Nu86 Videos and Livestreams taking place from around 8.30am. Available to view afterwards. https://www.facebook.com/XRSouthEastUK/ Press contactxrsoutheastmedia@gmail.comHashtags : #InvestInLifeNotDeath : #OurChildrensFuture : #ClimateChangeBringsConflict : #WarIsEcocide Updates on social media https://twitter.com/XrSouthEastUK : https://www.instagram.com/xrsoutheastuk/ Invest in Life not Death. […]
It is the intention of Extinction Rebellion to continue protesting at Farnborough Airport.Announcements may, or may not, be made public in advance on our social media. Extinction Rebellion is a non-violent movement and at all times we will act in accordance with our Principles and Values using non-violent strategy and tactics to bring about change. […]
Amazon’s fulfilment centre at Dartford, Kent is being blocked by climate activists who are disrupting the company’s business on its busiest day of the year. The action is intended to draw attention to Amazon’s exploitation of its workers and environmentally destructive and wasteful business practices on Black Friday.
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