"You may well ask: 'Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?' You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word 'tension.' I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth."
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beloved friends,

Humanity is facing a crisis of extraordinary magnitude: Social and ecological collapse driven by climate change is happening now. Hundreds of thousands of human lives are being cut short by climate-related causes—lack of food, water, or shelter. Countless species are going extinct. Hundreds of millions of human lives are in jeopardy. Human extinction driven by our own social and economic processes of exploitation and extraction stands as a stark possibility on our horizon.

These realities are difficult and shocking to behold—the extent of suffering is difficult to comprehend. It is important to hold this suffering and to hold the possibility of our own extinction in our consciousness. We know that all is impermanent, our lives, even our own species. However, the reality of this suffering—painful loss of life, the deaths of millions of children—can remain abstract unless we allow ourselves to feel an emotional response. It can be valuable to allow ourselves to feel fear, grief, anger, or even despair—if these emotions are held carefully and mindfully. From a place of care and deep looking, insight and compassion can arise. To do this requires that we not turn away in denial, false hope, or distraction. Many of you are aware that this is far preferable to bearing the heavy weight of this burden left unacknowledged. If we are mindful and stay present, we will awaken—energy and courage will arrive.

We have a choice. Through our natural wish to protect life, we have the chance to forge the possibility of a different future for humanity. We have a chance to see deeply into the beauty and the wonder of all life, and of human life and human expression. We have a chance to see into the extraordinary journey that our ancestors, both human and non-human, have been tracing through time, and to acknowledge all they have transmitted to us over the eons. We have a chance to see the daring, magnificent, and fragile web that holds all life together—and to witness its power and resilience, its capacity to respond and reweave. We have a choice because we have the power to respond.

Dear friends, being awake means knowing fully what is at stake. It also means knowing our responsibility and our capacity to act—to participate in reweaving and protecting. Life calls to us, asking us to look deeply and find the courage to respond to the sweeping ecological destruction and climate devastation that all life is experiencing. Those who see, who are awake, know the moral pull: the voice in the night calling to us, pushing us to travel, even to places of great suffering and pain. We feel the powerful urge to respond with love and courage, to help others to awaken and to act.

Being awake means knowing that without personal sacrifice, without life on the line, without organized resistance and disruption grounded in love and community, things will not change. This principle is at the core of all movements for justice, whether religious or otherwise. On Black Friday—November 29, 2019—people from all walks of life, coordinated by Extinction Rebellion, will join together to take action as a continuation of the student climate strike in September, as a continuation of the mass movement for civil rights.

Our time to act in response is confined to the narrow space of just a few years.
Climate and ecological data show that we are fast approaching multiple tipping points that can lead to irreversible and runaway climate destabilization, taking Earth out of a habitable zone and leading to massive global extinction. The geologic record shows previous mass extinctions caused by carbon dioxide driven climatic change. With massive species extinction, the web of life we are a part of can collapse, taking us with it. Already, people in the global south are experiencing some of the worst effects of climate chaos, and the increasingly destructive effects are expected to impact predominantly people of color and poor, oppressed, and fragile communities all over the world. The scale of injustice we face is staggering and continues to worsen.

This is the moral imperative of our time. Please join us on Black Friday—November 29, 2019—to tell the truth about the reality of the social and ecological collapse that we face. Please join us to sit in silence and stillness, in love and connection, in the center of busyness, disrupting destruction, ending confusion, and sending a clear message: We have stopped. We are saying no to business as usual. We are calling for truth to be told. We will not allow all we hold dear to be destroyed. We demand governmental action to halt ecosystem destruction and climate degradation. We demand that people be heard and empowered through citizens’ assemblies. We demand justice for all. We will do everything in our power to join together in strength and connection to protect ourselves and all beings, our future, and all we hold dear. We declare open rebellion—a rebellion led by wisdom and compassion, without blame—against the status quo and the forces in motion driving us towards extinction.

If you are in the New York City area, please join us in nonviolent direct action on Friday during the day. It will be a mass sit in a public space. The location will only be disclosed to confirmed participants in order to maximize everyone’s safety. Some of us will risk arrest. It will be possible to participate without risk of arrest.

If you are not in the NYC area please sit with friends in solidarity in a public space near you. Please do not risk arrest unless you have appropriate support.

Please act only in the spirit of love and nonviolence.

With fierce compassion,
XR NYC Mindful Rebels