Some of us will be arrested. Some of us can’t afford to be arrested. But all of us are committed to some kind of direct action on 1st April, Fossil Fools Day 2009.
We are going to shake things up.
We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our children, our neighbours, the dirt-poor drought-ridden farmers in the Global South. Even the wretched polar bears.
The “free trade” financial system has created more inequality and more environmental destruction than any other social organisation in human history.
It has created fake wealth and fake progress, but the last bubble has imploded, and it has all started to collapse around our ears.
What we need is a peaceful re-ordering of priorities, a show of true democracy.
We need de-Carbonisation. We need fair shares. And we’re willing to do something to show that.
Some are going to stage carnivals and camps. Some of us are going to shout in the streets. Some of us are going to write and film independent media. Some are going to cut off income streams to businesses in various ingenious ways.
My appeal to you is to be direct.
Be clear about what is wrong, and what you are going to do about it.
Don’t be swayed by what anyone else says – and that includes me.
The system of “free trade” relies on consumption of goods in ever-increasing quantities, by you, the consumers.
Whatever it is you’re buying, stop it on 1st April.
If you have a car, don’t drive it and don’t fill up the tank.
If you have a bank account, don’t deposit any money, and don’t withdraw any.
If you have a television, don’t watch it, especially not the News.
If you have electrical appliances, don’t switch them on.
Turn out the lights and shut off the natural gas.
Don’t buy food from supermarkets, even if you have to starve.
Don’t read magazines and newspapers, to avoid the advertising.
Don’t browse the Internet, to avoid the advertising.
If you can, take time off work.
Don’t take medicine unless you absolutely need to.
Don’t drink alcohol unless you brewed it yourself.
Don’t smoke anything unless you grew it yourself.
Don’t watch any “adult films”.
Don’t support the businesses that are lobbying for their own interests. Don’t buy their products and don’t use their services.
If you’re in the armed forces or the Police, refuse to bear weapons.
Don’t buy the scare stories being told to you by the Media about the G20 direct action.
When the Government says they are doing the right thing, don’t buy it.
We want more than “green jobs”. We want socially owned green enterprises.
We want more than token Renewable Energy projects. We want a total de-Carbonisation of the Energy supply.
We want more than a negotiated pay settlement. We want social equality.
We don’t want to pay to save failing businesses or prop up corrupt banks. We want economic justice.
We don’t want Carbon Trading. It won’t work and the wrong parties will benefit. We want a fixed global Carbon Budget with fair Carbon Shares for all. We want Contraction and Convergence.
“How did they find the uncommon
moral courage to rise above politics
and redeem the promise of American
democracy and do what some said
was impossible…shake things up… ?”
Al Gore, 21st March 2007
https://current.com/e/88891617/en_US
https://current.com/e/89640870/en_US