Extinction Rebellion Brighton Newsletter
17th May 2022

xrb

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?

DROP BP PROTEST AT BRITISH MUSEUM

Members of Brighton XR took part in a protest at the British Museum on April 23rd to protest against the continuing sponsorship of the British Museum by BP.

Find out more

MONEY REBELLION AGM SEASON SHUTDOWN

The AGM season provides an excellent opportunity to make our point loud and clear. Clare and Nic from XR Brighton visited both HSBC and Barclays AGMs in the past fortnight . The Eyes, which featured prominently at COP26 in Glasgow, and on the Kill the Bill March in London on 15th March, went to watch over HSBC at the Festival Hall.

Watch it here

The Barclays AGM took place on 4th May in Manchester where protestors’ actions stopped the AGM while three who had glued themselves to their chairs to delay eviction from the room were unstuck by the security guards. . After disrupting the first 45 minutes of the process, one of the previously glued rebels was permitted to put a question during the formal Q&A session which secured an agreement from the Chairman, Nigel Higgins, to meet with Sir David King to have a briefing from the renowned expert on the climate crisis

Hugh was at the Standard Chartered AGM where protesters stopped the Chairman’s opening remarks with statements about Standard Chartered’s appalling record on funding fossil fuels. After protesters were ejected, Market Forces persuaded the bank to end its funding of controversial Indonesian coal mining company Adaro. But much further to go there.

Brighton XR members outside the Barclays AGM in Manchester. Barclays is the biggest investor in fossil fuels in Europe.

Brighton XR members keeping an eye on HSBC in London!

Members of XR after being ejected from Standard Chartered’s AGM in London

MONEY REBELLION AGM SEASON SHUTDOWN

Every Spring, the finance industry comes together to hold their Annual General Meetings - where they celebrate profits, approve bonuses and churn out greenwash ‘Climate Strategies’.

This year, we're taking mass action with #DefundClimateChaos to disrupt business as usual at their AGMs. We’d love you to join us.

Upcoming AGMs to target:

- Lloyds of London

08.30 am, Thursday 19th May at 1 Lime Street, London EC3M 7HA

- Shell

09.00 am, Tuesday May 24th at Central Hall, Westminster, Storey’s Gate, London SW1H 9NH

Venetia Carter has been jailed for two weeks for spray painting the slogan in support of fellow activists who are being charged, along with Venetia, with blocking a motorway junction last September.

Venetia said:

“I am here because of a non-violent act taken as a rational and compassionate response to the failure of our government. It is failing to meet legally-binding targets for carbon emissions set under the Paris Accord.

“It is failing to communicate to the people at large the emergency that Parliament itself has declared. This failure could cost us our lives, our children’s and grandchildren’s lives.

“It seems that what I have done is a crime and I have been advised there is no defence in law that I could offer with a reasonable hope of success.

“I know that it is not a crime to be a bystander, to watch as the world burns, when scientists are pleading with us to act to avert the unimaginable suffering entailed by global ecological and societal collapse.

“But I would rather stand here and plead guilty to criminal damage than to stand on the sidelines, wringing my hands and bear the guilt of failing to act at this crucial point in history.”

OTHER CAMPAIGNS

Pension Board meeting at County Hall in Lewes

Please attend the Pension Board meeting at County Hall in Lewes (BN7 1UE) at 10am on Friday 27 May to support:

(a) the call for Brighton & Hove representation on the decision-making body for the East Sussex Pension Fund;
and
(b) the call for the East Sussex Pension Fund to make a public commitment to fully divest from fossil fuels (oil, coal & gas).

Please note: you should aim to arrive at the Hall no later than 9.45am, to give you time to pass through security.

BACKGROUND:

ESCC runs the local government pension scheme covering Brighton & Hove: the East Sussex Pension Fund. Brighton & Hove employees make up more than a quarter of the Fund’s roughly 77,000 members and pay over a third of annual contributions to the Fund [1]. However, Brighton & Hove residents currently have no say in the Fund’s decisions which are made by the East Sussex Pension Committee, a five-person body consisting solely of East Sussex County Councillors.

BHCC has repeatedly called on the Fund to stop investing in fossil fuels, most recently in February [2]. The Fund currently has tens of millions of pounds of local people’s pensions invested in fossil fuels [3].

On Friday 27 May, Brighton & Hove City Councillor Tom Druitt will be at County Hall in Lewes, at a meeting of the East Sussex Pension Board, to propose that East Sussex County Council (ESCC) expand the decision-making body for the East Sussex Pension Fund (the so-called East Sussex Pension Committee) by adding two Brighton & Hove City Councillors.

Among other things, such an expansion would ensure that the Fund finally makes a commitment to divest from fossil fuels.

Please support this proposal by attending the Pension Board meeting at County Hall on 27 May.

WHAT’S NEXT?

NEW ANTI-FRACKING CAMP IN BROCKHAM

Please support how you can and share far and wide.

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/401554570595791/)

Don’t Drill Dunsfold | Facebook

UKOG And IGAS are both wanting to drill for oil and gas at Dunsfold as part of their plan to drill across a large area of the Weald! We are a collective that doesn't want this to happen!

XR HAS A WIDE VARIETY OF NETWORK GROUPS WHICH HAVE GROWN ORGANICALLY.

While this is a strength of the movement, it can also be hard to follow!

Broadcasting Channels:

To stay updated with core UK info join the following Telegram channels:

- Rebellion Broadcast

(UK actions, action support, strategy and Rebellion updates.)

Telegram Group

Mattermost

- Movement Broadcast

Telegram Group

Mattermost

- XR UK Live Action Content

(For sharing photos, videos and info of actions as they're happening.)

Telegram Group

To submit a post to the Rebellion broadcast team send an email to xr-action@protonmail.com, at least 2 weeks before an action/event.

The broadcast team consists of reps from across 10 UK circles including M&M Regions & Nations, Arrestee & Legal Support, Hive, Actions, Relationships and more.

To request Movement Broadcast posts, email xrcommunities@gmail.com.

To read more about the comms process info visit xrb.link/JG7Mx7Y