News – Page 2 – Extinction Rebellion: XR Buddhists

The Rebellion is coming

XR Buddhists will be there!

Latest rebellion plans

See this GoogleDoc for the latest timetable of actions etc.

When is it?

The next Rebellion has been announced. Local groups will take actions in their own areas from the 28th August, and from the 1st September the rebellion will concentrate on Cardiff, Manchester and London.

Where is it?

If you are in the South West or Wales and would like to get involved please get in touch with Amber at Amber.reeve7@gmail.com or check out the Cardiff vigil here and if you are in the North of England or Scotland see this invitation from XR Buddhists North. If you think you will be coming to London then you can keep in touch with what we are doing by joining our Broadcast Telegram group. Many of us are planning to stay in London for at least the first week (starting from the 1st September). If you have any questions about how to get involved or queries about what that will look like then you can contact us at info@xrbuddhists.com.

What is it?

Usually at the Rebellions XR Buddhists take part in a mixture of walking and sitting meditations. These are an opportunity to bear witness to the climate and ecological crisis. A Sangha on the streets. There is no need to get arrested as part of this practise. XR Buddhists who have been involved in previous rebellions find that it’s a very powerful experience to meditate on the earth in such public spaces as part of a group.

We are very conscious of mitigating the risk of Covid transmission during the Rebellion. We will be practising social distancing, wearing masks and sanitising.

Details of actions and daily check-ins are on the XR Buddhists event page.

What can I do now?

Let people know that the Rebellion is happening, and reach out to your Buddhist friends to see if they would like to be involved in some of the events.
Help us out with spreading the word by looking at these activities we require help for (both at home activities and on the street activities) and let us know if you can help!
Ask your Sangha if they can put something in their newsletter about the Rebellion. You could send them one of the letters we have written to prepare the community for the Rebellion.
Ask your Buddhist group if they would like someone from XR Buddhists to join a meeting and talk for 5-10 minutes about what XR Buddhists are and that’s happening with the Rebellion.
If you are thinking of coming to London then think about accommodation. You can either book a hotel, hostel or airbnb, or use XR’s accommodation finding service to link you with other Rebels who may have a spare couch or garden you can camp in.
If you are going to take part in an action (or even if you aren’t planning to) you then make sure you have done your NVDA training. You can do it online if you sign up to the Rebel Academy.
Come to a planning meeting

What happens next?

We will keep updating this page and our events page with more details of what XR Buddhists will be doing. Joining our Telegram Broadcast and Telegram Chat channel is the best way of getting the latest updates.

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Buddhist Action Month: For The Earth

Connecting across borders

by Brighton XR Meditators

During the enforced isolation of the Coronavirus pandemic Brighton Extinction Rebellion Meditators reached out across borders to rebels in Bogota and sat together in an online vigil to commemorate those killed in defending the earth in Colombia.

XR Meditators are drawn from all faiths and non. We were struck by our privilege and the safety of our activism when a young Colombian who joined us and asked us, with tears in her eyes, to commemorate the Colombians activists murdered.

Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the word to be an environmental activist; 50 have been killed this year. The second most biologically diverse country on Earth is vital to the earth’s biosystem. To our economic system, it is an untapped resource with a voracious land grab between mining, Palm Oil, Beef, and Cocao production, while local peoples fight for their lives and livelihoods, we in the UK safely profit from this exploitation.( UK is 2nd largest investor in Colombia.))

Bogata XR rebels were surprised and curious about how meditation might fit with civil disobedience and non-violent direct-action. Perhaps the radially quiet approach would attract interest in the usual noise of many strikes and demonstrations in Bogota?

A creative on-line collaboration emerged with a short video. 100 UK and Colombians sat together over zoom, while 100s more watched it live on Facebook . Reaching out across the earth we shared our opposition to the destructive and exploitative systems that kills and dominates the earth, we sat together in grief and love and a deepening awareness of our interconnection and ‘interbeing’

Using the power of social media and meditation to share our presence and our stories across the global XR community at this time of isolation felt important and significant.

Reaching out across the earth we shared our opposition to the destructive and exploitative systems that kills and dominates the earth, we sat together in grief and love and a deepening awareness of our interconnection and ‘interbeing’

Using the power of social media and meditation to share our presence and our stories across the global XR community at this time of isolation felt important and significant, and we hope just the beginning of more connecting across borders.

XR Brighton Meditators is a group from across denominations that come together and share courageous silent sitting and walking practices in support of our planet and to raise awareness of the climate emergency and mass extinction that is already upon us. We have been involved in actions such as silent vigils in road blockades and public mass meditations. If you’d like to make contact with the group and join us in future activities, email us: BrightonXRMeditation@protonmail.com

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