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Extinction Rebellion (XR) groups of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee are teaming up to hold an online drop-in session on Zoom involving live music, poetry and banner-making.
As public gatherings remain off-limits under lockdown, Extinction Rebellion (XR) groups across Scotland are holding an online drop-in Zoom session on 23 May.
The XR groups of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, together with XR Scotland, will be holding the meeting at 2pm.The event is intended as an opportunity to socialise and organise, and will include live music, poetry and a banner-making activity. Participants are encouraged to display their banners on the street after the session as a means of raising awareness on the ongoing climate crisis.
The initiative is part of XR’s nation-wide Paint the Streets campaign. The idea is for people across the UK to take action in a creative way by chalking out colourful slogans and drawings on streets or painting pop-up bike lanes on traffic-congested roads. A collection of photos from the initiative can be found on the XR Paint the Streets Facebook page, including some testimonies from outside the UK.
“Lockdown poses a significant challenge to conventional organising methods, but it also presents us with an exciting opportunity to adapt and think about new ways of doing climate activism while maintaining physical distancing and staying safe,” said the XR Glasgow University student collective.
Social media has obviously played a prominent role, but XR groups do not seem intentioned to give up more traditional kinds of protest. A combination of tweet-bombing, phoning political representatives and visual street action were planned on 22 May for #AxeDrax, an XR campaign to stop the building of new gas power stations in the UK.
XR Glasgow University further commented on the importance of continuing to collectively demand government action over climate change in times of social distancing. A spokesperson said: “Although most of the world has come to a standstill for COVID-19, the ecological crisis continues, so it’s essential that we find ways of continuing to fight for climate justice while in lockdown.”
Free registration for Saturday’s drop-in and Paint the Streets banner-making session is still available on Eventbrite. Further details can be found on the event’s Facebook page.
