The Next Week of Rebellion in Australia - When?
Wave 2 / Next Rebellion Week Dates
When do you think our next week of Rebellion should be?
Based on a recent meeting of actions rebels from around Australia, there's a broad set of criteria for choosing when to have the next week of rebellion:
- Have a few months to organize. (Note: There are many rebels who want to crack on with actions ASAP - I would encourage them to continue to do so despite whatever dates are floated here, but to ALSO participate in the dates that other rebels coalesce on.)
- Have it after the summer heat, but before the winter cold.
- Avoid school holidays when parents are busy and people are away from the city.
- Avoid indigenous observances such as invasion day.
April and May were clearly more popular for the group of rebels at this meeting for the next week of rebellion.
Base on these criteria, and the timing of holidays in Australia, there are some clear favourites for when to hold a week of rebellion, between:
March 22 - 28, versus April 26 - May 2.
When do you think the next week of Rebellion should be?
Please use the form to your right to give your feedback, or comment in the matching topic on the Base.
We will come together to review the feedback and confirm the date this Sunday, 6th December at 7:30pm Sydney time.
Background
On wednesday evening 25th November we had a meeting of actions rebels from around Australia, attended by 15 rebels from every state, including:
- 4 from Adelaide
- 1 from Hobart
- 1 from Perth
- 1 from Newcastle
- 2 from Melbourne (3 if you count me)
- 3 from Sydney
- 3 from Brisbane
We discussed when the next week of rebellion should be, with the aim of starting a process to set a date.
We talked about positive criteria for a good date. Criteria raised were:
- Doing it as soon as possible versus allowing a few months of organizing and mobilising time.
- Doing it after the heat of summer but before the cold of winter.
- Avoiding school holidays and Easter holidays when lots of people leave the capital cities, and parents are having quality time with their school-aged children.
- Avoiding invasion Day and other indigenous observances.
Regarding the first point, one group member spoke passionately about the need to get out and rebel as much as we can, and the need to force the government to accept a Citizen’s Assembly on climate asap due to the urgency of the climate emergency and impending mass starvation. However, multiple people urged more time for regeneration after the December actions as well as time to mobilize and organize. I encouraged the tension to be resolved by those with the energy to take action to do so in the time before any weeks of rebellion.
The other points were relatively non-controversial.
A quick temperature check of the group made it clear that March and April were favourite months for the next week of rebellion.
Some suggested preferences in these months was
Group members were asked to go away and take feedback from their actions groups on a date for a week of rebellion in March or April 2021. (NB: For groups who think they don’t have capacity to organize a whole week of rebellion, modify appropriately.)
What Next?
This is what the calendar looks like for March and April:
If we are to avoid the school holidays, than the whole of April is ruled out apart from the last few days.
I would argue that by looking at the criteria given by the group, a clear favourite emerges of the week starting 22 March. This week avoids school holidays, and does not clash with any other public holidays or Close the Gap day. Any group that wants to rebel for more than a week can continue into the following week which ends with the Easter Holidays. It’s the 12th week of the year, giving groups a good amount of time to organize and mobilize in preparation (and giving more intense action rebels time to plan big actions beforehand in January and February). The school holidays are a week later, giving a logical period in which rebels can have some regen time.
I would therefore encourage rebels to take feedback on the idea of having a week of rebellion in Australia from March 22. A possible alternative I would compare it to would be the week starting on April 26, the day after Anzac Day. Monday April 26 is the public holiday observed in ACT, Qld, SA and WA for ANZAC day so many people will have the day off, but it isn’t the day of memorial services. This week would be suitable if groups feel they want a longer time to organize.
I will be taking feedback from groups around Australia on these dates and hopefully we can come to a conclusion at an All-In meeting about the Extinction Rebellion Australia Mass Mobilisation on Sunday 6th December.
When do you think the next week of Rebellion should be?
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