Free Western Sahara port protest – targeting Fonterra

Monday 26 July, 3.30pm

Fishermans Wharf, Lyttelton

We protesting again fam! There’s another shipment of stolen ‘blood phosphate’ from Western Sahara on its way to Lyttelton – the first shipment to Lyt in over a year. Let’s give them a staunch kiwi unwelcome.

This action will be a reasonably quick one with time for whanaungatanga at the pub afterwards, lovely!

Meet in front of the Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant at Lyttelton on Monday 26 July at 3.30pm.

Please keep checking in on the event page, as this event’s date/time is subject to change. Ravensdown delays the ships arrival to try and avoid us. Little do they know, it just makes us more determined!

Goals of this action – to launch the campaign against Fonterra for buying blood phosphate from Ravensdown and Ballance, along with raising public awareness around this.

For background on the issue please see the website: https://www.westernsahara-nz.org/

For ship tracking click here (please note first port of call is Napier, then Lyt).

Chuuuuur

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR SAFE NITRATE LEVELS

Yay, suddenly it feels like nitrates and regenerative farming have catapulted into public awareness – the drama of tractors rolling through town has its upside!

Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, Environmental Defence Society and Choose Clean Water have called for the government to lower the level for nitrate water contamination from 11.3 to 0.87mg per litre of water- see Radio NZ article and Greenpeace petition.

Let’s get behind this campaign. XRŌ are meeting MP Duncan Webb next week about this, and we plan to meet other local Labour MPs. The first step in any civil disobedience is to talk with those whose actions you want to influence, to give them the chance to act.

Use your citizen power – go see your local MP and demand action on this. Contact us if you want support with this.

“No farming on a dead planet” – never think that a small band of people can’t change the world – Alenna in Ōtepoti single-handedly got her point onto prime time TV just by standing on the roadside as the angry tractors rolled by and one burly man pulled her sign from her.

XR’s Nonviolent Communication Series of 7 Sessions

7 Tuesdays, August 10th to September 21st, 12:30pm – 2:30pm

Quaker Meeting House, 217 Ferry Rd, Waltham

Following their recent successful ‘taster’ of Non Violent Communication for XRŌ, Jim and Valerie are inviting XR rebels to take part in a series of seven weekly 2-hour sessions. We’ll build our skills and capacity for connection as a group, to support the changes we want to be and see in the world.

All rebels welcome!

We’ll use skills from Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication and also explore principles of Kingian Nonviolence. Learning will be experiential through small group and larger group work. Facebook event here.

PLACES LIMITED! Please complete registration here by 1 August to ensure your place.

A donation to XRŌ of $50 to $120 for costs and venue is requested for these sessions.

Trainers are Jim Lovell-Smith and Valerie Wycoff. Jim and Valerie have been teaching Non Violent Communication for 6 years and are currently completing a Certification process with The Center for Nonviolent Communication.

DECOLONISATION WORKSHOP – mark the date!

Sunday 22 August, day-long workshop in Ōtautahi.

Date and venue to be confirmed.

We hope to hold a one-day workshop on decolonization, run by Suzanne Menzies-Culling, an experienced tauiwi educator based in Ōtepoti/Dunedin.

Sliding scale fee of $20-$50.

LIMITED PLACES – please REPLY on this email if you’d like to come.

All XR rebels welcome!! XR Ōtautahi rebels are predominantly tauiwi and many of us are keenly interested in understanding our own various heritages, and learning more about mana whenua and how we can be good allies to tangata whenua in the XR mahi. If you’d like to join us on this journey, do come along to this workshop!

REMINDER – GET YOUR SPRING ACTION ON

The Kōanga/Spring Rebellion 2021 will be held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington over 3 days 25-30 September . The exact dates will be confirmed soon – have an input through the rebel survey.

Fill in the survey and/or contact Rachael [email protected] if you can help with art/music, accommodation/kai, registration admin, fundraising/finance, regenerative culture/ wellbeing, arrestee support, de-escalation, creating posters and flyers and more…

CLIMATE AND ECO NEWS

As if you need any more reasons to come out and make a stand … these are worth a read.

“Theres no going back – what can be saved?” Pat Basket (of Our Climate Declaration)’s articulate Newsroom article on the Canadian heat dome and how things have changed.

Our Climate Declaration is running regular 6-weekly webinars featuring people who are thinking and writing about how we can create the Economy of Enough – Jeanette Fitzsimon’s phrase for the circular economy, degrowth, energy descent… Find the webinars on Facebook here and join the convo.

The latest, leaked IPCC report as reported by the Guardian and Al Jazeera.

“Devastating climate effects from unliveable heat to more widespread disease are accelerating and will become obvious within 30 years, draft UN report says.” (Al Jazeera)

REGULAR XRO MEETUPS

Heartbeat – Friday 23 July, 7pm – 9pm at Te Whare Roimata, 274 Gloucester St. Note new temporary venue. Held on 2nd and 4th Friday of each month, Heartbeat is where you can meet up with other rebels, find out what’s happening and get involved. All welcome! Facebook event here.

Christchurch City Council vigil – every Friday 12 noon – 1pm on the Worcester St side of CCC building. Meet other rebels, plan potential CCC actions, talk to passing councillors, staff & public. Contact David G (027 222 5701) if you’d like to get his text reminders.

ECan vigil – every Thursday 12.30 – 1.30pm outside ECan, 200 Tuam St, Otautahi. Meet other rebels, plan potential ECan actions, talk to passing councillors, staff & public. Contact David G (027 222 5701) if you’d like to get his text reminders.

Action circle – meets Wednesday nights, open to anyone who’s been on an XRŌ action – contact Michael for more info – 021 0264 7594.

Singing for our Lives – activist choir meeting monthly. Next rehearsal Saturday 7 August 2pm to 4pm, Phillipstown Community Hub, 39 Nursery Rd. New members welcome – contact Valerie [email protected], 027 568 5515. Follow us on Facebook. Become an XRŌ Song Carrier!

In love and rage
Torfrida, Dave and Rachel for XR Ōtautahi Christchurch

Anyone who’d like to donate to our XR Ōtautahi Christchurch group can do so at Kiwibank: XROtautahiChristchurch, ac. number 38-9002-0331592-07