Letter Writing Action Pack
Dear Rebels, XRUK would like you to write a personal letter to King Charles. Send one copy to him and bring the other with you to Windsor, where we will deliver the letters to our head of state on Sat 31st August.
Write to the King
Our political system is broken. Life and death decisions are made behind closed doors and government policy is written by oligarchs and fossil fuel executives. Their secretive think-tanks and client media control our so-called democracy. Our main chance of political involvement is an election once every five years, with very limited choices. We demand better.
Our head of state has been a passionate supporter of the environment for many years. But he is also an unelected, hereditary king. Whatever we think of Charles Windsor as an individual, our monarchy embodies the colonial system that has exploited nature and enslaved people right across our world. We cannot create a just system until we recognise that our democracy has utterly failed us. We demand better.
Our globalised, monetised, digitised world is run by oligarchs for their own benefit. We are cogs in their machines and entries in their databases. Increasingly cut off from human contact and divorced from nature we are sold to the highest bidder. We need to restore power to our communities and reconnect with nature. We demand an upgrade to our democracy.
As we re-imagine our democracy, we need your help to shape our message. In a true democracy your voice would be heard. What better way to start than by writing to your head of state?
What should your letter say?
Letters work best when they are personal. Write from your whole self, to the man who is the head of state in the country that you probably call home. Make your letter personal. Tell him how you feel about our country and your life here, explain what is wrong and broken.
This is a time for creativity, passion and energy. We want your ideas. Imagine really having the power to make life better, the chance to be involved and to work in your community for a better future. What should be done better? How would it feel to genuinely reset and reconnect? Write with the joy of possibility.
Children's voices can be even more powerful than ours - they're the future and they will suffer the effects of inaction for longer than we will. We'd love to have letters written by children to send along as well. You could ask them to write them from the point of view of their favourite animal, how the world is changing and making life hard for them.
Your letter could be long or short, on foolscap or a postcard, the format doesn't matter. What we really need is you: your opinions, your feelings, your ideas.
Practicalities
Please make a copy of your letter, you could photocopy it or write it out twice.
- Send your letter to: His Majesty the King, Buckingham Palace, London SW1 1AA
- Bring a copy of your letter along with your to Windsor! But if you can't, then please pass it to someone else who is going to Windor or send your second copy to us to deliver on your behalf: Extinction Rebellion, PO Box 1559, Cambridge, CB1 0AP
For an overview of key info for the Upgrade Democracy event - click here