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Movement Assembly #1

The Question for Discussion was...
"How might we effectively engage and activate more people in the climate and nature crises?"

Speakers giving input to the assembly were from the following XRUK teams: Media & Messaging, Outreach, Action Planners Circle, Community Building, Allies and UK Assemblies and Strategy.

Did you miss the assembly and would you like to catch-up now?

  1. You can watch the recording (46mins) of the first part of the assembly and then take part by voting on the ideas generated from the small breakout room discussions.


  1. Vote on the ideas via Polis - open from 12pm (midday) on Tuesday 29th July until 12pm (midday) on Tuesday 5th August.

Feedback Survey

This was the first of what we hope to be many more Movement Assemblies to help us all to 'walk the talk' and learn more about each other, hear more voices and share ideas across the whole of XR.

Please help the UK Assemblies team improve how the assemblies are run by giving your feedback. The form takes approx. 1-10 minutes, depending on your answers.

Click here to complete the feedback survey.

Q&A

Various questions were asked during the assembly - these will all be curated and posted here asap.

Links shared during the assembly

During the first part of the assembly we heard from a variety of XRUK teams and they shared a number of links to help you learn more about their work:

How the question was chosen by the movement

  • Week 1 - You submitted your ideas for assembly topics via Polis.
  • Week 2 - You voted on everyone's ideas.
  • Week 3 - Results processed.
Details of the three week process to choose the question
In Week One ...

Sat 28 June - Fri 4 July
Over 600 ideas were gathered from almost 480 people throughout the week.

Duplicated ideas for topics were edited out by Moderators to minimise overwhelm and frustration of participants. However, the breadth of issues people want to discuss means everyone will see many possible ideas to vote on. See Moderation info

In Week Two...

Sat 5 - Fri 11 July
Everyone voted on the topics that were submitted in the first week.

Some duplications were merged and some sentences rephrased to statements which left 588 ideas to vote on. You didn't need to vote on every idea. Polis worked its magic even if you only voted on 20 ideas.

You can read the Guide: Polis for Participants, so you understand the process followed so far and to make the most out of taking part in the next stage of deciding the topic for our first Movement Assembly by voting on everyone's submissions.

In Week Three...
  • Polis identified the most popular ideas for topics which to be the basis for our first Movement Assembly.
  • UK Assemblies [the Assembly Organisers on this occasion] then supported, coordinated and publicised this assembly.
  • Results are shared on the Rebel Toolkit and publicised on the Rebellion Broadcast.
Data from the Polis used for choosing the question

Polis Report

Explainer: How Polis Works | Groups and Their Opinions

Polis takes the data and breaks the participants down into groups of people whose opinions differ significantly. This does not mean that they don’t agree on anything, but more that their priorities lie in different places.

In this case, it found three distinct groups (A, B and C).

Their opinions can be broadly defined as:

  • A (43 people; 3%) – in general voted negatively on most issues and passed little, but showed support for discussing XR internal strategy, actions and reform.
  • B (135 people; 11%) – in general voted positively on most issues and passed little; showed strongest support for discussing questions around structural and political change and engaging the public in the climate movement.
  • C (1068 people; 86%) – in general voted positively on most issues, but passed regularly. They showed strongest support for discussing how to engage large numbers of people in the climate movement.

At the bottom of the report under the All Statements section, the results are displayed for all participants OVERALL and broken down by group for every statement.

You can select the drop-down arrow next to Sort by: and choose different options to display the info. Two of the most useful are Number of votes and % Agreed.

Overall Results

The Overall results are most closely aligned to those of Group C - which makes up 86% of respondents; those in Group B actually felt more strongly positive about the Top 10 statements, and Group A felt more negative/mixed.

The aim of Polis is to allow the statements upon which most people are likely to agree ‘rise to the top’. In this case, the themes that most closely align with the majority of those participating are around engaging the wider public in the climate fight.

Summary

Screenshot 2025-07-13 122420.png

  • Based on these results, the UK Assemblies team have involved relevant teams to co-create the question for our first Movement Assembly.
  • We will all then deliberate on that question at this first movement assembly.

How we prepared for the assembly

Details of how we prepared for the Assembly included:

  • compiling descriptions of each step of the assembly
  • explaining how Polis will be used post assembly
  • volunteering as a Facilitator or Note-taker
  • attending pre-assembly drop-in sessions for a chat
Optional Pre-Reading

This was a list of things that we thought people would find helpful before joining the assembly.

The schedule of the assembly was as follows:

  • 18:00 - Intro and input - Assembly Host and Speakers + Q&A, then a short break
  • 19:15 - Discussion - Break-out Rooms Deliberation
  • 20:30 - Prioritise - Identify the three key ideas from your discussion. Group Note-takers will enter these into Polis, then checkout in the main room

Any questions? Contact the UK Assemblies Team.

If you find any of these processes confusing or overwhelming, need adaptations, a buddy or have other access needs, please do contact wellbeing@extinctionrebellion.uk or contact 07773 193704.

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