XRUK 2023-24 Strategy

Here Comes Everyone

Foreward

Original google doc version here

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Writing and designing the 2023-24 strategy for Extinction Rebellion UK has been a collaborative and iterative process, fueled by the passion, expertise, and dedication of countless rebels. It is the result of extensive discussions, consultations, and collective decision-making within our movement. We have drawn inspiration from past experiences, successes, and challenges, as well as the evolving global context of the climate and ecological emergency.

Through respectful dialogue and deep listening, we have fostered an environment where different opinions have been valued and incorporated into our approach. It reflects collective wisdom and insights from diverse backgrounds, communities, and regions. We have carved the building blocks of this strategy through constant feedback, monitoring social ecology, and engaging with external perspectives.

As we embark on this next period, we do so with humility and a recognition that the path ahead will not be easy. We acknowledge the challenges and risks involved in pursuing nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience. We also acknowledge the need to constantly learn, adapt, and grow as a movement.

Together, we share purpose, focus and direction as we embark on a transformative journey, to challenge the status quo and demand urgent action on the climate and ecological emergency. This strategy is our blueprint, but it is the collective power and determination of rebels like you that will ultimately build the change we seek.

Summary

In the last four years, Extinction Rebellion has shifted public opinion on the climate and ecological emergency in a way that no other organisation or movement had managed before. Yet we remain locked in a dangerous and destructive status quo.

We realise that to achieve our vision of a genuinely sustainable and equitable future for people and the planet, a transformation of our political system, of our social culture, and of our economy is urgently needed. It is a view increasingly shared by parts of the establishment itself.

Our Theory of Change has long outlined how change can be achieved by mobilising people to take action on streets, day after day. But the climate and ecological crisis is unlike a traditional single issue, and presents us with a unique set of circumstances. The transformation needed will affect everyone, in all corners of the earth, in all aspects of their lives. Unlike a single issue campaign, to be successful we have to achieve not just sufficient numbers but also a wider spectrum of support across society.

So our attention, after the culmination of the first part of the strategy in April, is now also turning to who is being mobilised. Over the course of 2023-24, Extinction Rebellion UK will foster a new era of cooperation with other organisations, along with empowered local communities. This is the work that will build the social, political and cultural capital we need for this scale of change. We do not exist to build armies; instead, taking advantage of our unique strengths, we will work collaboratively with others to build a community of civil resistance. Following on from the success of ‘The Big One’, Extinction Rebellion UK will play a central role in convening and mobilising that community. We invite everyone. We will respect other views and approaches.

We recognise that the conditions for transformative change are more favourable now than at any time since XR’s inception. The moment has come.

Here comes everyone.

What we've achieved so far

Latest reaction and reaction to the Big One

Media insider: “don’t underestimate how much has changed and is changing in newsrooms because of XR. Journalists are waking up and it’s not comfortable, but change is happening.”

MPs re The Big One: “LOTO (Leader’s Office) were really caught out. They didn’t see you as capable of switching up your tactics and they definitely didn’t think any mainstream groups would ever be caught dead with you”

“You’re supposed to be extremists. Much harder to argue that with some of these groups backing you.”

“Tearfund??!!”

Civil service: “Helpful to have a feeling of, this is not ok and we all know it, so what are we going to do? We felt that we were brought into that conversation”

“Really useful that XR shows a willingness to re-evaluate and shift direction. It’s acting as a proposition, that we do all need to be involved in this, it’s not about the usual agendas”

“Something quite unnerving about XR being unpredictable. We had looked at you and thought, we get it, interesting, useful. But we get it and we can figure out a response. Now it’s more, we don’t know what you’ll do next. We can’t plan for that.”

Extraordinary Efficacy

Since its creation in 2018, Extinction Rebellion has become the largest and most impactful movement in the UK fighting for climate justice, ecological repair and genuine democracy. It has played a crucial role in transforming the awareness of, and conversation around the reality of the climate and ecological crisis.

And we are effective: “Extinction Rebellion… played an outsize role in increasing awareness and driving climate policy. In terms of cost effectiveness, the protest groups often bested traditional ‘Big Green’ nonprofit environmental groups.” (New York Times)

Internally, Extinction Rebellion UK has successfully built a body of extraordinarily dedicated activists. It has community footprints around the country, a robust set of organisational systems, and an advanced internal system of care and support for our rebels.

The movement is maturing yet remains agile, and ready to take the leap to a much higher level of ambition.

Our ambition for 2023-2024

Extinction Rebellion UK have launched this strategic period by meeting this moment head-on, with the audacious 100 Days Campaign, culminating in The Big One - the biggest action yet. Incredibly, over 100,000 people attended over the four days, and a broad spectrum of other groups, from radical to mainstream, not only supported us but turned up and mobilised with us.

We now have the opportunity to kick off a new era of community and coalition building, along with clear and practical pathways set out for people from all different backgrounds to empower themselves through activation. The spectrum of resistance is a spectrum of activation: our work is to bring huge numbers into active participation, protest and nonviolent direct action (NVDA).

Bridging from the status quo to a healthier society and planet requires a practical, realistic plan. The Big One marked the beginning of the construction of a new path forward in co-creation with other groups.

Guiding Principles

We will be representative of the population at large: we cannot claim the mantle of ‘the people’, or drive true cultural tipping points, without the widest possible representation.

In working with other groups, we will be open to different opinions on how to achieve our vision: we will not be prescriptive, but instead work to foster regenerative, collective processes to determine how our vision will be achieved.

We will form true partnerships: the community of civil resistance will not be led by Extinction Rebellion UK; instead XR UK will, where necessary, play a facilitation role, where key decisions can be taken jointly.

Local XR UK groups will be empowered to decide themselves how best to meet the strategic objectives according to their circumstances.

How Extinction Rebellion UK will achieve our goals

We will shift to building Community Bases of Power, using The Big One as a springboard for relationship building with other groups and communities. This work will enable us to fulfil the criteria for a much higher level of impact with mass mobilisation. The three key ingredients needed to drive the level of change XR aims for are:

  1. Higher numbers
  2. Wider spectrum of support
  3. A mobilisation that can be sustained

We will only trigger the next mass event in London when we have these three ingredients.

This means using the period after The Big One to take stock, onboard, train, and further develop the work of both coalition building and community organising.

XR UK will not plan for the next movement-wide mobilisation in a single location until we are ready for it. If the conditions are met, we will work locally and nationally to build towards the mother of all mass mobilisations in 2024.

Until we are ready to return to the capital, the focus will be on campaigns and actions in regions, nations and local groups, as well as UK-wide. Action strategy will provide guidance to ensure alignment, and the Hive will facilitate the sharing of best practice in using these to advance our objectives.

Community and Local Groups need to be empowered to choose what they foresee will best achieve the movement’s strategic objectives in their communities. To maximise their resources, they should be offered options that carry as much support as possible from XR UK teams. They can then decide: 1. which of the options will suit their circumstances best, 2. will resonate across the widest possible spectrum, and 3. how to execute in a way that starts the new joiner journeys.

We will reinforce the structures that help XR groups self-empower. This means facilitating better inter-group communications, forums to help local groups self-resource or access central resources, or share best practices and toolkits. Key to this work will be local action planners working with XR UK’s Action circle.

In inviting the public to step into their power, we are inviting those who are new to the work to step up. We recommend that there are local groups to join, including XR but also many other groups, where you can put your shoulder to the wheel by helping with campaigning, mobilisation, supporting people who have been arrested or face trials and the possibility of harsh, unjust sentences. The important focus is to help more people to take action and support others to do the same. There are many opportunities to show up, carry a placard, go on a march, sit on the pavement or the road, occupy, strike, boycott, etc

There are many more roles needed behind the scenes - meeting facilitators, minute takers, budget holders, admin roles, and more. It takes a whole community to do the work - everyone is important.

This summer we will take the time to help people go from passive to active: starting with participating actively but moving towards a recognition of the need for non-cooperation and NVDA.

Storytelling: It Doesn’t Have to Be Their Way

Our April mass mobilisation, ‘The Big One’, the largest ever UK Climate protest, amplified these specific demands:

The Fossil Fuel Era must end
An end to all new licences, approvals, and funding for fossil fuel projects, to begin a transition to a fair society centred on reparatory justice for all life on earth.

Change decided by us, not for us
The UK Government must create emergency citizens' assemblies to lead on fair, long-term solutions to the most urgent issues of our time.

The unfolding catastrophe of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss is now the umbrella under which all of our life in society takes place. It's deeply related to the cost of living crisis today and the injustices from our historic legacy of global inequality and colonialism. Many more now know this, and are ready to create real change. Most people, however, feel they have little or no agency politically, and see that UK politics is out of touch and out of date. We are ready for an upgrade. As the majority realise that systemic change is needed, we know our work is to help people see that they can be part of the decision-making process, building a strong and sustained popular effort. This is the work we will continue after coming together in Westminster.

There is a place for us all in the work to create a new world.

While many more people are waking up to the level of transformation needed, few believe it could be achieved painlessly. The story that the public is told - that there are dangers in ending the fossil fuel era- is based on furthering the status quo through political choices. The public have forgotten how much power they have to make different choices, and to drive real change.

Here in the UK, a huge cultural shift is needed, more than in many other countries. Disempowerment has been actively encouraged, with silence being treated as a virtue. A social culture of deference and even servility is still the norm, while resistance is discouraged by being painted as necessarily violent or destructive. The Public Order Act, now passed into law, is an attempt to pull our culture toward support for suppression of resistance.

This is the moment to force the country to confront what is being lost. The prospect of collapse is not abstract, it is beginning now, in the erosion of values we had all thought universal. Now the Public Order Act has passed, we can use the legal overreach to create jeopardy and a new found common cause, with the right action design in the new conditions. This is an opportunity to show the power of many in unity. The state becomes impotent in the face of ordinary people standing together in big numbers.

But we must acknowledge the dangers, particularly for BIPOC rebels and allies. Not everyone is able to risk these confrontations with police, and we should respect that every rebel’s personal circumstances are different.

Operations and Action Circles will include the Public Order Act’s implications in their design of action strategy and guidance for the movement.

The Roles of Participatory and Deliberative Democracy

In line with our Third Demand, revised last year, we demand not just a Citizens’ Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice, but a culture of participation, fairness and transparency. Politicians, even those willing to act on fair solutions to the biggest crisis of our time, are simply unable to do so within the current institutional framework. Only an answer on the scale of the question can meet the moment: a wholesale update to our system of politics.

Like NVDA, these principles need a national conversation in order to drive a cultural shift culminating in a cultural tipping point.

As a movement, we will share a dialogue process in which we increase our understanding of the power of deliberative democracy and the importance of the Third Demand. XR’s most powerful and radical demand recognises the transformative potential of a single UK wide Citizens’ Assembly. In this process of collective discussion and learning, we will also consider supporting the Sortition Foundation’s proposal for a House of Citizens. This permanent Citizens’ Assembly would be a home for inclusive decision making where people are selected, like a jury, to serve the interests of the UK as a whole. To receive expert guidance and be empowered to initiate citizens’ assemblies on issues of urgent national interest.

This proposal addresses the need for our government to act independently of big money, fossil fuel interests and personal political prospects. Adding a conduit for active involvement of the public voice would be a decisive step toward a true balance of power with a counteracting effect on distorted incentives.

We will support democratic innovation and well researched projects, or approaches in other countries, that advance a cultural conversation on the options that are available for upgrading our public governance, and making it fit for purpose in a modern world.

Transforming public governance to serve the common good has become critical to the very survival of all species, including our own. Without it, we will continue along the course toward total system collapse. Participatory and deliberative democracy, including sortition-chosen Citizens’ Assemblies, create a culture of transparency, trust, participation and genuine representation.

Deciding together means power together.

The Approach

Of all the ways the public encounters the crisis – whether it’s through news stories or nature documentaries, political attention or extreme weather events – nothing but sustained mass protest was found to leave a long-lasting impact on people’s will for politicians to act.

But it’s important not to measure long term success by numbers mobilised or increased awareness.

We exist to drive genuine and radical change, and will settle for nothing less.

We’ve identified that, catalysed by protest, change comes from cultural tipping points, a moment when it becomes clear to the powerful that cultural momentum is on our side. This means not just more people coming into resistance, but a wider variety of people.

And how do we ensure we can attract that genuinely wider spectrum?
With a strategy of resonance, and invitation.

We aim to make XR inviting by delivering or supporting actions both locally and nationally that prioritise resonance. Resonance isn’t just about the issue chosen to highlight, it’s also about tone. It means adopting messaging and comms that show us beyond the stereotypes or social labels. It means bringing forward a sense of humour, care for family, struggles of daily life. Things that are universal, and touch a nerve in all of us.

The issues matter too. Locally, communities are threatened by sewage dumping, incinerators or new mining projects proposed, HS2, airport expansions, and all the other examples of unnecessary destruction or degradation of nature, water and air.

Choosing targets like these helps to activate communities to build the local coalitions we need. Using resonance and invitation enhances our chances of a wider spectrum of support. Local groups will know best which issues will resonate most in their communities, and which will provide opportunities to illustrate to new groups the increased power accorded by NVDA.

This does not mean making a beeline for small ‘c’ Conservatives and the organisations they belong to. Equally it doesn’t involve simply expanding out to include other progressive campaigns. The ultimate target audience is the silent majority, those who don’t consider themselves political at all. Ordinary people, who don’t identify with politics, and are not involved in campaigning. When we begin to build support beyond the world of activism, we will be on the verge of a critical turning point.

The common thread is disempowerment; the political system being unable to serve our needs or the common good. The political system forcing its distorted and corrupted priorities onto our communities. We see it everywhere, in all aspects of our lives. A culture of activation means we will no longer accept it.

The Big One's target, Westminster, was ultimately to achieve these aims: we did not expect change from this government, it is the public we were speaking to, by using a universal symbol of everything that is wrong and that is failing.

XR’s place in a wider ecology of movements is to demonstrate the necessity for radical action and civil disobedience. In January we said, “As we ring in the new year, we make a controversial resolution to temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic”, since then we have welcomed a wide coalition of groups and a healthy dose of new rebels. Bringing new people into active participation does not mean we move away from a willingness to face arrest. Indeed many of our rebels are still facing court cases and possible prison sentences.

Prioritising those actions with targets and tactics that resonate with the public, allows us and them to experience a feeling of common ground, bridging the artificial separation (and othering) the media seek to maintain. But this does not mean no disruption or even no public disruption. It simply means we should aim for the main impact of our actions to fall squarely on chosen targets as much as possible. We aim first and foremost to swell numbers, taking new people on the journey into empowerment and direct action, and knit the new, much wider movement together, from those on bail through to those taking their first step on their first ever march.

National-scale actions for local groups will be offered and supported by UK central circles, including guidance, resources, advice, training and an action strategy to build power in local groups and communities.

The wider ecosystem of nonviolent resistance involves multiple strategic approaches. XR has proven our potential to act as a conduit for convening collective action. We now have a responsibility to take people along a journey of NVDA.

Some will go all the way to civil disobedience, many won’t. But together, we will build the power to break the status quo.

The Moment

We find ourselves in a once-in-a-generation moment: a public awakening to the climate and ecological emergency coalescing with widespread social rage and a profound crisis of democracy.

“Come as you are, not as XR”

The Big One brought a wide variety of groups together; communities of all types and sizes, both local and national. The basis for these alliances must be an exercise in trust-building. These should not be coalitions of convenience, but sustainable relationships that reach across all divides, to drive change at a socially and culturally embedded level.

We are stronger together.

In addressing the climate and ecological emergency, a UK-wide Citizens’ Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice must determine a plan for the exit from fossil fuels, and for repairing the harm to communities and to nature. We envisage other UK-wide citizens' assemblies will follow on more climate, nature, social, and economic issues. If the government does not establish a citizens’ assembly, there is a proposal for one to be created by a coalition of movements. Should this be required, a specific cross-organisational project group will be established, of which XR could be a member.

Community

Building the Community

From May 2023, Extinction Rebellion will build on the momentum of The Big One, doubling down on the coalition building work, building both power and resilience. This will be achieved by: Growing the movement through coalition-building: continued coalition building through deepening and strengthening relationships nationally and locally Growing XR UK: through invitation and resonance, recruiting not just more rebels, but a wider spectrum of supporters Growing Stronger: strengthening Extinction Rebellions underlying systems, with a new focus on data capture, analysis and use for growth, and strengthening the internal ‘Self-Organising System’

XR UK will aim to return to the seat of power in Westminster only when it has the ingredients required to confront Parliament and return day after day. Until then action targets should be chosen by how much they will resonate with, not alienate, the public. XR UK's current strategic objective of direct action is to widen the spectrum of support. This will gain us the social and political capital we need to build momentum towards a pivotal moment in history. Ongoing NVDA remains critical and central to our Theory of Change.

Growing the Community: Coalition building

Collaboration with other groups achieved through the clear asks of The Big One will be used to catalyse a much deeper focus on coalition building. A mass community of civil resistance will need to be grown, strengthened, and coordinated. Joint decision-making will be needed to ensure the community is strong, representative and agile. The methods Extinction Rebellion develops for coordination will be based on the 10 Characteristics of a Healthy Community (see page 10).

Community Bases of Power

More focus on coalition building on both the national and local level will allow all groups to develop sources of political power to be drawn on when needed. This means our groups turning out to support other movements and communities, across the social spectrum. We can be clearly identified as XR but respectful of the collective, and supportive of wider aims than our own. Taking our place at the heart of communities will enable us to be a more effective resistance as well as prepare for transitions and adaptation.

Growing the Community: Most affected diasporas

Our leading BIPOC-mobilisation project, UNIFY, is coordinated by extraordinary individuals, who have a deep understanding of identity-based communities, as well as diaspora and asylum seekers from climate affected areas in the Global South. In order for these communities to be empowered to join and to participate in Extinction Rebellion, the organising must be led from within them. This project is critical to enabling greater numbers of rebels from these communities to join us. Extinction Rebellion will ramp-up diaspora mobilising, but led by those communities, and empowering their groups with support for their activities. Two projects focusing on embedding justice will be expanded in 2023. Justice Dialogues is a project creating open spaces for dialogue and enquiry into the topics of decolonisation and climate justice. It has been designed (in conjunction with an expert facilitator from the Global South and a Black British academic specialising in international justice) to be rolled out to local groups. In addition a Race Allyship Agreement is currently being agreed with several leading Black community activist organisations which will define and guide proactive interaction between XR and the BIPOC community.

Growing Stronger: Extinction Rebellion UK’s systems

There are three priority areas of focus in terms of growing stronger and improving XR UK’s internal systems, our SOS, data strategy, and fundraising.

Extinction Rebellion has implemented a decentralised decision making system in the ‘SOS’ (Self-Organising System) which is resilient and effective. However, with many new rebels joining and many more expected to join the Extinction Rebellion fold over the next two years, there is a need to double down on its full use throughout the organisation. The Big One was a testament to the power of this way of working, it involved many dedicated activists working together in well coordinated central teams using our SOS.

Our Constitution and Self-Organising System, based on Holacracy, is not well enough understood within the movement or outside it. But it has proven to be a source of resilience and a way of ensuring transparency and fairness in how XR operates. Having a recognised framework, in which no one can be above the rules, enables us to be efficient without resorting to traditional hierarchy. It is a responsible approach to managing the needs of a mass movement. But these outcomes are only achieved when we use the system properly and fully. We are learning and iterating as we go, just as communities and societies are bound to.

The historical evidence is clear: successful civil disobedience movements are highly disciplined with robust organisational infrastructures. Achieving our demands is arguably attempting to do something more difficult than any movement in history. If we are serious about achieving our demands we need to get a lot more serious about how we organise.

Our Principles & Values commit us to using rule-based self-organising rather than hierarchical power structures or consensus. Our Constitution gives us this set of rules. In this emergency, we need to prioritise using our system to create the highly disciplined and robust organisational infrastructure we need to succeed.

To this end Extinction Rebellion will:

Using our SOS means we all play by the same rules (explained in the XR UK Constitution) and no one is above those rules. To mitigate power it is required that all coordinators are elected. Local Groups in XR UK are represented through their regional or national coordinators who attend the Hive, and represent the voices of the movement in the centre. These Local Group coordinators should be elected at least every 6 months (people can be re-elected) to ensure transparency and accountability.

This structure gives the voices of the movement a place in the centre of the work we do. The logistical challenges of feedback exchange and consultation are managed through this way of working. Strong connections should be made between local groups and their coordinators to ensure that the voices of all rebels are heard.

The Hive should create a plan to create a dialogue with local groups in a sustained and meaningful way. The purpose of this should be to ensure rebels understand why having a disciplined structure is vital to our success, how and why decisions are delegated, how local groups are represented in the Hive, why it is important that local groups connect to their region or nation and how SOS serves the movement in all areas of our work.

Significant new work has been done in the movement in creating teams and resources to support those engaged in this challenging work and give them the skills they need, such as the Healthy Teams and Justice Dialogues projects.

A further important resource for all rebels is Rebel Support, held by the Hive, a robust, fair and confidential process for managing harmful behaviours.

The range of required training for coordinators of all XRUK circles, and UK regions and nations will be expanded to ensure everyone holding a coordination position has an understanding not just of how our movement works, but what makes it what it is. This will include implementation of SOS, our DNA and the understanding of XR's Third Demand, citizens’ assemblies and deliberative democracy.

A strong, sustainable and unified structure, based on consent of the movement as represented in role and Circle mandates, is as critical to success as our Theory of Change and civil disobedience. XR UK will do more work in the areas of data capture, analysis and usage for growth. Data processes will be improved to better recruit, integrate and onboard new rebels.

The movement needs to be able to easily understand how many rebels are fully mobilised, how that number is growing in line with different activities undertaken, as well as ensure we have good data around our partner organisations as we build the community of civil resistance.

These types of data are essential to understanding how well we are doing against our strategy, and learning and adapting as we go. This type of information needs to be readily available to everyone in Extinction Rebellion and embedded into our organisational learning processes.

The 100 Days Campaign road-tested XR UK's new revitalised approach to data, with digital mobilisation key to reaching the big numbers we are aiming for. To make XR a mass movement we need to reach a much larger audience - and while not compromising on our theory of change, we need to speak to this new audience in a way that is relatable to them.

Not all new rebels can be recruited or integrated via local groups. For many the more effective way to achieve this is digitally - via social media, via email, and with smooth digital onboarding pathways. It is not good enough to have a more inclusive message but no marketing strategy or onboarding pathway. We need all of it, with detailed analytics for constant learning and iterating.

The last movement system that must be implemented more widely is our fundraising function. Currently fundraising is not sufficiently integrated across our platforms, nor with all groups. This essential function must be understood and undertaken by all XR UK groups, and woven throughout all of our work, at an early stages of planning.

The Fundraising Circle will be circulating their strategy soon, and will be working to develop advice, guidance and a training video to ensure all rebels have the tools they need.

Gearing up for a changed world: The Bridge

Healthy societies are based on the value of caring not only for yourself or protecting your own, but caring about everyone.

Fear and scarcity based beliefs are perpetuated within the current system of governance, which is widely recognised to be too easily corrupted. Weaving a fabric of collectivity through society means resisting but also building; building communities and rebuilding common values.

A culture of Community: XR sees community empowerment and resilience as the best available long term solution to political failure in meeting the challenge of the crises we face. But community as a foundational principle needs to become an embedded culture, and requires building not just shared experiences but practices purpose-designed to bridge divides.

Building the bridge to a new culture at the community level means identifying what underlies the type of culture we aspire to, and developing practices within XR that can be brought to groups outside it.

Basic human connection has a power and a magic all its own, and is able to do incredible things like bridge divides, lessen loneliness, build empowerment. In our world real connection has become hard to come by. Social media and a tendency to find ‘tribes’ are now standing in for the deeper community relationships that are being lost. The approach of normalising activation needs to start with humanising it; just as no one should be expected to face the impacts of crises alone, no one should be expected to confront their causes alone.

Learning from successful community experiments and from Indigenous culture teachings, common characteristics emerge, that can be used as the basis for process and practice design.

10 Characteristics of a healthy and resilient community

Proximity

Collective recognition that simply being together will bridge many divides, that opportunities to experience genuine togetherness must be created if they are not inherent in daily life.

Shared values and Prized values

Value is now taught as attributed to achievement or status. A healthy culture would mean a community that assigns the highest value to the exercise of kindness, empathy and care.

The Community consists of all living beings, we are all part of the natural world

Treating all life as worthy of care and respect, and inseparable from each other.

Community Belonging

Recognising everyone belongs or no one does. In a community, all members are not just valued, but given voice.

Active and Direct Participation in Decision-making

Recognising the dangers of not participating or participating through remote proxies.

Sharing and Connection

The need for continuous checking in with each other must extend beyond proximity into practices that actively facilitate connection and sharing.

Trust building over time

Commiting to processes and practices that takes time.

Practices and Tools to deal with disagreement and conflict

Accepting conflict will occur, but being accountable for our own part in it.

Resource sharing

Hoarding of resources is commonly deterred through cultural norms and peer pressure.

Circular production and consumption where possible

Understanding where all resources and goods start, not just end.

As XR groups shift focus to coalition building and community bases of power, the objective is to build empowerment together, but it must be built on a foundation of genuinely bridging divides.

XR will face two key challenges in this work:

The new approach of coalition building will not be successful if other groups are not brought into a culture of resistance and closer to NVDA. We must design pathways that are premised on empowerment and community connection. Building strong foundations means ensuring sustained relationships but also the strength to face the coming transitions.

Conclusion

Extinction Rebellion’s bridge building and collaboration with an ever-widening cohort of change movements and demographics will see the climate and democracy space transform.

We will spearhead a complete sea-change. Our work thus far has been largely characterised by raising the alarm, and while we will not cease from highlighting the catastrophe facing us, we will move into a crucial new phase.

Society increasingly understands what it wants to run away from – our task now is to set in motion a future we can run towards.

XR has not simply moved, but smashed the Overton Window; we must now seize the window of opportunity. Here comes everyone!

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