Extinction Rebellion will disrupt Wellington on Monday 7 October, starting an international wave of climate and environmental civil disobedience.

Participants will meet at Midlands Park, Wellington at 7 am before moving to undisclosed locations.

National media spokesperson, Dr Sea Rotmann, says the non-violent action is the first of more than 60 in cities around the world.

The group plans to shut down a number of cities including Paris, New York, Buenos Aires, Delhi and London, she says.

In April Extinction Rebellion brought London to a stand-still for two weeks with 1,000 arrests.

Dr Rotmann, an Environmental Scientist, says the New Zealand branch will disrupt Wellington traffic with a street party and expects arrests.

“We want a planet where all life thrives, and all children can flourish,” she says. “Yet business as usual is pushing us towards mass extinction.”

“The lack of meaningful action around climate and ecological breakdown is pushing ordinary people to risk arrest,” she says.

Rotmann says we have a simple choice to “make history or be history”.

“It is time to draw the line and to take whatever non-violent action is necessary to prevent irreversible damage and widespread human misery,” she says.

Dr Rotmann says the event is open to the public with a family-friendly space for people to take part without risking arrest.

Representatives from the group’s twenty branches, from Whangarei to Invercargill, will join the action, she says.

 

Extinction Rebellion has three demands of Government:

1. Tell the truth and declare a climate and ecological emergency,
2. Act Now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse emissions to net-zero by 2025, and
3. Go beyond politics and set up a Citizen’s Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

 

More information

  • Media can attend a non-violent civil disobedience training on Sunday 6 October between 10 am and 12 noon by prior arrangement.
  • We will post the event location, and updates throughout the day on our ​Facebook​, Instagram ​and ​Twitter
  • Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa NZ started in late 2018 and has over ​20 branches nationwide​ from Whangarei to Invercargill.
  • As New Zealanders and members of the Pacific, Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa New Zealand acknowledge climate injustice is colonial injustice, and Māori and Pacific peoples bear its brunt. Their voices and leadership must guide the way forward.

 

What is a Citizens’ Assembly?

A citizens’ assembly brings people together to learn, deliberate and make recommendations on an issue of public concern. Similar to jury service, members are randomly selected from the population by a process called sortition. Quotas are used to ensure that the assembly is representative in terms of key characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity, education level and geography. Assembly members learn about critical thinking before they hear balanced information from experts and stakeholders. The members spend time deliberating in small, facilitated groups, and then they draft and vote on recommendations. Non-partisan organisations conduct Citizens’ assemblies under independent oversight. They are transparent, inclusive and effective.

 

Contacts

  • Extinction Rebellion national media liaison Simon Oosterman is available on 027 526 8704
  • Local media contacts can be organised through Simon Oosterman.
  • Extinction Rebellion national media spokesperson Dr Sea Rotmann is available for interview on 021 246 9438