Recruiting for your Action

Roles in the Action team

All rebels participating in actions should have agreed to the Rebel Agreement beforehand

It is advised to have these designated roles covered and a back-up for each role in case of someone being unable to attend at short notice. This is not an extensive list of roles for larger actions.

POLICE LIAISON – Ready to speak to police before/during actions, more info below
STEWARDS – help guide people where to go and speak to the public/ hand out flyers.
DE-ESCALATION – person who has good skills at calming a situation, e.g. speaking to a rowdy member of the public or speaking to a crowd to calm an undesired atmosphere.
WELLBEING – Wear blue high-vis or sash or green for first aiders. Looking after everyone’s well-being: making sure everyone is calm and grounded. Preferably also a First-Aider. Should carry essentials e.g. water, emergency snacks, sun-cream, umbrella, heat pads, sanitary items, first- aid kit, basic toiletries, other good stuff!
ANCHOR – is a point of stability during the tumult of an action and offers check-ins as needed by rebels on the ground. They might be someone who can’t come to the action or wants to support from a distance, thus conserving their energies especially for pre- and post-action support.
MEDIA TEAM – live-streaming, taking footage to edit, interviewing etc.
SPOKESPERSON – ready to speak to any press, well-versed on the narrative of your action and core values and Demands of XR
LOGISTICS – person to lead on gathering equipment required and taking it away again.
ARRESTEE SUPPORT – Willing to go and wait at police stations to welcome brave rebels back to the free world: making sure they can get transport home, that they are ok, giving them massive love. Preferably go in pairs. This could be waiting long through the night so designate shifts. This person needs to communicate with the back office about where arrestees have gone. Must be sober. ACTION CO-ORDINATOR (Not the same as an ‘organiser’ in legal terms) An excellent communicator, verbally and electronically. Making sure everyone is in the loop and giving the action go- ahead in the moment. Need to think on their feet and be strategically responsive. Advised to not risk arrest and have a back-up co-ordinator. Could have one co-ordinator’s phone that is passed on if switching roles. On the ground it is use- ful to have 3 people in this role, to make quick decisions via consensus together, or individually if the need arises. But ahead of time important to have one person bottom-lining the project.
LEGAL OBSERVERS (external to XR) Wear orange high-vis. On the ground at an action. Legal observers are trained volunteers who support the legal rights of activists. Legal observers are independent from the protest and do not participate. They monitor arrests, collect witnesses and help connect arrestees with support at the police station.

These roles are designated as low-risk of arrest, however there is never any guarantee how the police will respond to an action and we are all responsible for ourselves and our actions: more on Legal stuff here.

Attracting attendees

Both rebels and public need to be able to find out about your action. The Media and Messaging guides can help you to promote your action

Remember to add the event to the Movement Calendar and hence the Actions Map including specific meeting point details and a way of contact you for further details or even better, registering via Action Network so we capture potential new rebels.

It is a very good idea to check that your action is displaying correctly on the map and that the links work.

Think especially about [how to welcome new people to actions]https://rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk/link/1312#bkmrk-page-title) this impacts communications beforehand as well as things that need to be in place on the day.

Comunicating with the team

You will need to decide which tools to use for your coordination group and which tools for the wider attendees. Needs link to guidance on tool selection and use