We want to make this the Climate Election.

This week, our Hunger Strikers are raising the alarm with their bodies outside Party HQs, and politicians are taking note: four UK political parties have now agreed to meet them. XR groups up and down the country have been holding Climate Hustings and challenging candidates on their plans.

This General Election could be a turning point for how this country responds to the Climate and Ecological Emergency. The fertile ground is there, and now is the time to sow the seeds.

After nearly 200,000 people demanded a televised debate on the Emergency, Channel 4 have announced the first ever party leaders' debate dedicated to the climate crisis. Labour, Lib Dem, SNP and Green Party leaders have committed to appearing, and pressure is mounting on the Prime Minister to take part.

Next Sunday (1 Dec) marks the start of what we're calling the '12 Days of Crisis', an election-focused series of actions which will run until Election Day (12 Dec), and also coincides with the COP25 UN climate conference in Madrid.

The aim of the '12 Days' is to highlight our vulnerability and the immediate threat of the climate and ecological crisis to our way of life. Our water, food, healthcare, emergency services, jobs, pensions, transport, homes, our democracy. We rely on these things everyday, but we have little idea of how fragile they are.

While we will be putting pressure on party HQs in London, this is everyone's Election Rebellion. Rebels across the UK are already planning their local actions: from singing Crisis Carols and setting off sirens in public spaces, to occupations of prominent political targets.

Below are details of some actions that are currently planned for the '12 Days'.

If you’re organising an action and want support or for it to be included in future emails or broadcasts, add your action to this form or email [email protected].

If you’re planning an XR Arts & Culture action or performance during the 12 Days of Crisis, we’d love to know your plans and are here to help. Please email [email protected].

Here's a doc with ideas on how to answer tricky questions, like 'Which party does XR support?'.

***

PAINT THE STREETS | 30 NOV

The Paint the Streets Challenge is a national flyposting event that will be taking place on the 30th November 2019. Here’s the Facebook event. Join us on the Telegram chat where you will receive a series of flyposting, stickering and general disobedience challenges!

Contact your local group co-ordinator to arrange printing and collection of posters, stickers and flyers. We are not sending out posters, so please arrange printing in good time - we have budget for each local group.

Find all of the artwork and design info you’ll need here. More info here on Ordering Posters & Finance.

Your local group co-ordinator should have been e-mailed details of how to print posters, flyers and stickers for the #ElectionRebellion and #PaintTheStreets initiatives. If not, please ping Claudia Fisher on Basecamp with the name of your group, your Facebook page and a telephone number for your local coord.

🔔🎶 SOUND THE ALARM AND RAISE THE FLAG | 1 DEC 🎶🔔

Floods are destroying people's lives across the country. Millions of tonnes of crops are rotting in drowned fields, and the prices of staple goods are set to rise as a result. Australia and California have just suffered excruciating wildfires. Large parts of India are recovering from crippling drought. This is happening now.

As earth protectors, we have a duty to use our voices in this election to ensure the Emergency is the number one issue on everyone's mind. From politicians, we demand they sign the Three Demands Bill.

With sirens, pots and pans, sound systems, fire alarms and more, Extinction Rebellion groups across the UK will Sound the Alarm to usher in our 12 Days of Crisis.

Raise the Flag of Extinction on public buildings, schools, offices, town halls and landmarks - with or without permission. Imagine XR flags raised on buildings across the country, all on the same day. This is a Rebellion against the very real future of a decimated planet.

Join the Telegram Chat discussing this action here, and share the Facebook Page here. More info here.

XR MOTHERS AND BABIES NURSE-IN | 2 DEC

Photo by Clara Oxlade

Join the mothers and babies of Extinction Rebellion for a roving nurse-in outside main political parties' HQs.

In this beautiful ceremony, mothers and their babies will sing and feed their babies in a bid to get the leaders of our country to act on behalf of the next generation. Wearing sashes emblazoned with the words 'their future', they will demand that parties put the Emergency at the heart of this election.

When: 11am-2pm (please be prompt as there is a lot to cram in before school pick-up time!)

Where: Beginning at Conservative Party HQ (4 Matthew Parker St, Westminster, London SW1H 9HQ) before moving onto the other party HQs.

🐝🐝🐝 BEE-YOND POLITICS | 3 DEC 🐝🐝🐝

Our bee population is being threatened by extreme weather and habitat destruction, bringing with it crop instability and food vulnerability. The policies and politics of today are destroying biodiversity, the loss of which will eventually destroy us.

This election, the climate and ecological emergency needs to be at the top of the agenda. We know this. But some of our esteemed politicians seem to have forgotten.

Let's remind them.

Don a bee suit and rebel. There will be arrestable and non arrestable aspects, and plenty of room for creativity. More information on this action can be found in our General Election Kit List. To get involved, contact: [email protected]

⚠️ SEVERE WEATHER WARNING | 5 DEC ⚠️

Seven out of ten on the UK’s wettest years have occurred since 1998. The climate crisis is causing flooding, sea level rise and coastal erosion. Our homes, crops and livelihoods are vulnerable to severe weather.

Rebels, take to the streets of your local villages, towns and cities as part of a mass coordinated UK-wide action to deliver a severe weather warning that tells the truth about the climate emergency.

Put on your best weather presenter outfit, print out the XR weather warning map, and deliver the message loud and clear.

With parts of the UK currently submerged due to floods, we are feeling the effects of the climate catastrophe already. On the 5th day of the Election Rebellion we want to draw attention to the fact that the climate crisis causes floods, rising sea levels and coastal erosion.

By delivering ‘severe weather warning’ weather forecasts across the UK, we aim to illustrate that, though flooding means different things to different communities, it is an issue that threatens us all. It is more vital than ever that the government adopts our Three Demands Bill and begins to take the climate and ecological emergency seriously.

For more information and resources please join this Telegram Channel.

BIKES AGAINST BULLDOZERS - POLITICAL MASS | 8 DEC

Photo by Alannah Travers

Once upon a time, on the night Boris Johnson was first elected as MP for Uxbridge in 2015, he promised he would “Join John McDonnell in lying in front of the bulldozers” to stop the construction of Heathrow’s third runway.

This is an invitation for both Johnson and McDonnell to do just that.

A fan of an XR Critical Mass? Get involved in this Political Mass. We’ll be disrupting the road networks from Hyde Park Corner to a location near Heathrow Airport, where we will have our own bulldozer, along with music, food and a variety of speeches from local campaign groups and XR activists. Johnson, McDonnell and other local politicians will be invited to join us.

The ride will be disruptive to the traffic behind the critical mass but we are not planning to stay in the road when we get to our final destination near Heathrow.

This action aims to highlight the disparity of the government spending tens of billions on carbon intensive infrastructure projects compared to the dismal spending on low carbon infrastructure such as cycling.

We will also be highlighting how broken our political system is. Johnson's empty words are an example of the hypocrisy and greenwashing evident from all political parties, which is why we declare ourselves in rebellion against the current political system.

Wear black to symbolise the seriousness of an event that mourns for the loss of wildlife and biodiversity that will be brought about by the building of a third runway. Fly flags, play music and wave bulldozer banners and balloons to show that we do what we do with joy and hope that we can still make a difference - and that we can still change course to a brighter future.

Join the Telegram Chat here and share the Facebook Page here. For further information, email [email protected].

THE AIR WE GRIEVE | 9 DEC

Two million people are living with illegal air pollution in London today, including 400,000 children. Toxic air contributes to between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year across the UK. Worldwide, air pollution kills an estimated seven million people annually. We are all vulnerable in this time of crisis.

Join us to grieve the air that is no longer safe, protest against the negligence of this government, and to honour lives that have been lost to the carelessness of climate inaction.

On Monday 9th December, we will come together to sit peacefully in protest on highly polluted streets all across the UK. With performances, dynamic imagery, and creative messaging, this action will be a sombre and potent statement to whichever government comes into power.

We hope you will join our Facebook event. Please follow our Telegram Broadcast channel to for the specific details about this action.

Data referenced from 'Air Pollution Falling, London Millions Still Exposed', WHO Air Pollution, and Mums For Lungs.

STOCKING FILLER | 11 DEC

Santa Claus is coming to town! But have the UK’s political parties been good this year?

This action will highlight the distance between manifesto promises on the Climate and Ecological Emergency and the critically short time we have to affect change in a country still wedded to fossil fuels.

XR Santas and Rebel helpers, sign up for a fun, festive finale by joining the Telegram Broadcast Channel here. Further details to come.

🎄TWELVE DAYS OF CRISIS THEATRE 🎄| 1 - 12 DEC

For all 12 Days of Crisis, XR Theatrics will be putting the Emergency centre stage, touring across UK marginal constituencies to bring the truth to as many people as possible.

The performances aim to challenge candidates and their parties on their plans for dealing with issues including flooding, air pollution and food shortages: Will long queues for rations, air filters or water become the 'new normal'? How will ordinary people respond to scarcity and their own vulnerability?

Performances will be non-disruptive, but they will take a disturbing look at how we respond to one another in crisis.

Get involved here.

More events to be announced soon. While your time and energy are of the highest importance, if you are financially able to donate money, see our Election Rebellion crowdfunder.

Please join the XR Election Rebellion Telegram Broadcast Channel for the latest updates. Our Election Website - electionrebellion.uk - will be live VERY soon.

For now, the best place for all General Election information is our General Election Kit List.

***

Everything Extinction Rebellion does is political, but ‘beyond politics’ means we are beyond business as usual politics and do not identify with any individual party. Our Election Rebellion highlights the criminality of our current political system which has driven us to this abyss. We treat all parties and all candidates equally and demand they sign up to the three demands bill.

This Bill would ensure that the government commission and implement recommendations from a National Citizens' Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice. Our aim in this General Election is to get candidates to support the bill, giving it the best possible chance to be tabled in the next Parliament. If you’re willing to contact your local constituency candidates, contact us for an information pack and training or email [email protected].