Why XR Demands A Citizens' Assembly On Climate And Ecological Justice | Extinction Rebellion

[@robertpoen5383]

In the 1990s in Chiapas, Mexico, Zapatista communities set up parallel government composed of ordinary people to enact programs wanted by the majority of the population. The idea was to bypass the "mal gobierno" (bad government) and allow people to take control of their own lives. It worked and is still is use today. I applaud XR for following this prescription-- "business as usual" government is dead and is aiding and abetting in our extinction, long live the people's assembly!

[@NotAnAngryLesbian]

Your comment is fascinating. Thank you.

[@mitchio86]

What concerns me is the politics behind making the assembly "representative". It makes more sense to pick 100 randomly than to cherry pick to fit one's agenda.

[@albertoscatto5796]

This is a brilliant resumé thank you for sum it up.

[@PhilipNessel4121]

What, no questions? I have one. How are the experts to be selected?

[@abyssmanur3965]

The same way we select jury's?

[@PhilipNessel4121]

@@abyssmanur3965 I was hoping for an answer not another question.

[@abyssmanur3965]

@@PhilipNessel4121 It's a legit suggestion, not a definitive answer, nor question.

[@PhilipNessel4121]

@@abyssmanur3965 Ok. Jurys are selected by lottery from the general population then subject to a process of challenges by a prosecutor and defense council overseen by a judge. So who will be acting in these roles? And for the record: may I ask are you an xr member? I'm genuinely interested because I've never seen this matter discussed.

[@abyssmanur3965]

@@PhilipNessel4121 No not an XR member, just an older man who's seen enough exponential change to have come to some of the same conclusions as XR. Here in Australia, jury service is a lottery, though there will be a selection process on the day. I've only ever had jury service once many year ago but I thought at the time about how running a country that way would eliminate corruption.

[@armageddonouttahere1090]

The other factor about the Irish climate change Citizens Assembly is that it was in 2017, before the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. I think the science is much clearer and more urgent now.

[@JK-mi4ku]

What science are you referring to?

[@dannynewton3988]

40 out of 650 MPs is 6.15% of the total, nearly twice the ratio that you think will run the citizens assembly. Is this social justice theory embracing approximately 68 million people in UK or is it global?

[@doncrownover2519]

The USA could fall back on the Iroquois Constitution and start over!

[@MistiClectiCisM]

I´ve been studying the subject of Democracy and how to make it better for a long time and this makes all the sense in the world to me. I feel relieved and exhilarated to be a part of this movement. Thank you all for your courage and your action.

[@jonathandnicholson]

How does this being nice (“the CEO sitting with the single mother”) lead to zero carbon emissions by 2025? What’s the point of a citizen's assembly about climate change when you've already decided that carbon emissions are to be cut to zero by 2025? Finally, how does XR understand politics to make the claim that XR is an a-political organisation?

[@heraleschynr9020]

Hi Jonathan, i'm not very familiar with XR having discovered them only two days ago; but my thoughts about your questions are: Being a-political doesn't mean having no political knowledge, i think it means not being affiliated to a political side. Actually i don't know if one can trully be a-political nowadays... The point of a citizen's assembly is not about the goal (suppressing carbon emissions by 2025), it's about concerting on how we are going to achieve it, finding the painless way and reducing collateral damages. As for being nice, it seems that acting in a more humany-way, listening/caring for people and less like a machine whose goals are profits and peer satisfaction would lead to care for the environement. At least it's what XR seems to believe. Take care

[@jonathandnicholson]

Heralès Chynr Well, XR are a political group. They participate in politics. Being a-political does mean not being on one side, but as this video demonstrates XR are on one side and have deeper political objectives than just the environment. How is advocating a citizen’s assembly (or Parliament), a definitive policy, not coming down on one side or another? Fundamentally, change causes some to gain and some to lose. An XR slogan is “System change not climate change.” What is the system, not the sentiment with which you’re doing this, you want to change to? How is the zero emissions going to be achieved with this system change? This isn’t about “let us be nice” but: “How are you going to achieve what you want?” We know when XR want to achieve this by, 2025. I personally don’t blame all companies for climate change and I don’t really think there’s a capitalist conspiracy leading to climate change. For a conspiracy to exist there has to be active collusion (in a negative way) not just operating individually towards similar goals. Some businesses already invest in renewable energy. Things are already been done to stop climate change. Legislation coming from international treaties, before XR existed. I’ve seen wind farms, solar farms and nuclear power stations, (urban light) railways, electric cars and buses. Hydroelectric Power has been with us since the 19th Century. On a mass level since the building of the Grand Coolie and Hoover Damns in the 1930s. The biggest hydroelectric damn, in 2019, is the Three Gorges Damn in China. I even remember reading, from The Financial Times, that renewable power sources were responsible for the majority of energy production in the UK during the first half of 2019. Coal fired power stations, in the UK are to be closed down. Cottam power station was closed on Monday. Aberthaw Power Station is to be closed early next year. Keeping the human population stable (and by that I mean not growing) would also help, but how is that achieved? Perhaps it’s then not about what goals and how those goals are achieved, but about how much is enough? We know how much XR want, so we come back to how we achieve this? I mean that in terms of policy. I personally don’t blame all companies for climate change and I don’t really think there’s a capitalist conspiracy leading to climate change. For a conspiracy to exist there has to be active collusion (in a negative way) not just operating individually towards similar goals. Some businesses already invest in renewable energy. Things are already been done to stop climate change. Legislation coming from international treaties, before XR existed. I’ve seen wind farms, solar farms and nuclear power stations, (urban light) railways, electric cars and buses. Hydroelectric Power has been with us since the 19th Century. On a mass level since to climate change and ecological extinction due to the building of them. I don’t believe climate change is all about so-called evil corporations causing climate change. I think climate change is a product of cities and people - inclusive of and not limited to ‘the single mother’, myself and ‘the CEO’. What happens if the citizen’s assembly concludes that the change advocated by XR is not required? I don’t think it’s fair that XR advocates system change and then washes its hands of responsibility as to the new system and policies of that change. It’s easy holding the meeting or holding the placard and not giving policy detail.

[@gw7754]

XR's demand of getting to carbon neutral by 2025 is totally unrealistic. I do like and respect the organization, though. Totally agree with their first and third demands but they should change the second demand to more like 20 years from the moment we seriously address the climate crisis and work to get to carbon neutral. This presentation contains a lot of wishful thinking, which is OK with me.

[@heraleschynr9020]

@@jonathandnicholson XR is oriented towards politic, we agree on that. They want us to "connect emotionaly" (as Roger Hallam is explaining a lot) and i'm not sure that's a good way of achieving durable changes. Nonetheless i don't think enough is being made to stop climate change. (I am not familiar with the exemples you gave but one, the three gorge damn which is an ecological and humanitarian disaster; at least it was when i went there between 2008 and 2012). I don't think enough is being made maybe because we don't need to stop climate change but we need to stop the activities that are badly affecting climate and our planet. We can't repeatedly damage the foundation and the wall of a house, fixing the main door, and being satisfied that the ruins are left with a functionning entrance door I neither believe in a capitalist conspiracy, but i trust companies - and people- to ignore the after-effects of their action, and they - we - need to be reminded of them, we need to discuss about them on a large scale and everyone has to take their responsabilities. Citizen's assembly would allow the CEO to listen to people he will not find in his social surrounding and for the mother to understand the motives of the CEO. It would take time and a lot of honesty, but is it not how crisis are resolved?

[@jonathandnicholson]

Heralès Chynr We can discuss this, but you’ll have to answer my questions... Although, I would like to ask, how much is ‘enough’? You’ve said not enough is being done, so like I say, how much is enough?

[@FiddlerNick]

I like the idea of Citizens Assemblies and applaud XR for holding governments backs to the fire on the climate issue, but I can't see how it would lead to UK carbon neutrality by 2024? I totally get that a "war footing" is needed but in a war what the government usually does is suspend many citizens rights and requisitions people's assets and resources, drafts people in to fight/work for the country and takes almost absolute power. How would that actually be done in the UK ? If you look at an issue like funding social care and integrating it with health care , almost everyone agrees it needs to be done... yet govt after govt fails to enact it. Even when they try, the opposition always opposes it on principle! I can't see how that amount of radical restructuring and that speed of change could be achieved without a revolutionary/ "year zero" approach and absolute power being handed over to a dictatorship? I'm not saying that's what I want, just wondering how on earth it could be practically achieved that fast and on our own, without economic chaos and unrest? The argument "what we've got now isn't working so something else must be better" sadly doesn't necessarily result in something better.

[@TheWalrusWasDanny]

The concept is kinda beautiful...I would quite like my entire life to be run like this..like a citizens assembly on...well...everything..was it a bad or god idea to chuck Pauline in 1997...Let's have a Citizen's Assembly!! (Just kidding!)..Rock and roll!! Danny

[@leskuzyk2425]

Fantastic, highly informative, XR has huge climate crisis solution potential

[@ttmallard]

The 'Last Hurrah' to me for what people need to do asap is planetary heat‐transfer at Bering Strait affecting global weather. Install a weir dam at St. Lawrence Is. and polder north the entire Chukchi Sea to prevent wave damage & stratify the water to refreeze the bottom at -2C/28.4F, creating a year-round sea-ice refugia. This is a global cold-forcing in the right spot to alter jetstream flow. All shipping is confined within 3-4km of shore, zero cross-ocean traffic, this by levees and shoals. The shoreline system for shipping confines the freshwater runoff, and most of all limits early melting from shore out to sea in spring. This cuts down the 5-Amazons of warmer, fresher water melting seaice from below, it freezes at a higher temp so true seaice isn't formed at the surface on freezeup, it needs -2C/28.4F for seaice to last over one season. This will restrict the times the Siberian jetstream turns north & warms the Arctic, the N.Pacific is too warm, so, it brings rain in Anchorage in December and frozen oranges in Florida as that air cools and gets to low latitudes ONLY over land to balance equatorial overheating. The concept has 36,000 views on the ARCUS seaice forum and zero actions upon it, www.uarctic.org.] It's the only geographic location on Earth with the ability to alter the Anthropocene jetstream paths back into N.America instead of going north. The people in the poop deck party think everything's fine with lifeboats already in the water ... But, it's the ONLY sane try, aka geoengineering, to alter things not dependent upon emissions to overcome those effects enough to give midwest farmers a break, else, expect a repeat of this past year. And, it can be torn out if it doesn't work vs shading sunlight, lowering crop yields and it does nothing about ocean acidification, ymmv.

[@t1776d]

why use the term 'migrants' and not 'refugees'?

[@d6wave]

Bc is somehow accurate . To migrate . Search it .

[@d6wave]

" Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another with the intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily at a new location. The movement is often over long distances and from one country to another, but internal migration is also possible; indeed, this is the dominant form globally. Wikipedia "

[@emiliabogdacenco5674]

Please detail the process of 'sortition' as I would like to get rid of my doubts regarding this process. I would like to know how is that different from elections, if they are not elected then who chooses these citisens and last but not leasy, how is that part of the paticipatory democracy as the decision is delegated to one member of a representative group. What is expected of you is to explain loud and clear how this is not just another attempt at highjacking power.

[@noizydan]

Can we have more info on sortition and safeguards please? Thanks.

[@harryjordan3870]

noizydan as she said Xr wouldn’t be involved in the setup as it would need to be entirely independent. One place that is already working in this space is the Sortition Foundation. They have great docs: www.sortitionfoundation.org/what_is_sortition.

[@JK-mi4ku]

As long as they all agree that the world is about to end.

[@claudearchibald]

There never ever was a commitment to a fossil fuel phase out. NetZero is absolutely not about a phase out. Just ask the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative who are funding the Humber NetZero CCS industrial cluster which will be very much like the clusters planned for Teesside, Ghent and Rotterdam.

[@CoolBeanz12thr33]

How can we create deliberative democracy at a local level? Missing Q&A?

[@rmleighton1]

Your sincerity brings me comfort. You seem uneasy, not of what you promote but being outside of your comfortable place. This is courage.

[@TheWalrusWasDanny]

Genius...thank you. Danny

[@vthilton]

Save Our Planet.

[@careynazyeustt8760]

Thank You for your wisdom. We are getting there, however some people seem to be finding it difficult to find the answers in themselves. A bit more prayerful patience while protecting our self eh?☯️🗺️🎶👌🏼🤘 kind regards

[@DR0WNINGSVN]

I made a global EAS Scenario on what could happen if we didn't do anything called 'exploding earth'.

[@kevinguyan522]

I would include a parallel neighborocracy case study, as with the Childrens Parliaments in India.

[@jcjensenllc]

Cyou can't complete Brexit, how you going to get a citizens assembly? I suggest you work on doable goals. Get the ranchers, farmers, land managers to implement regenerative systems. According to one renowned climatologist Walter Jehne, CO2 is only contributing 10% of greenhouse effect. About 80% of global climate warming is caused by water vapour in our atmosphere. This happens because our soils, the carbon sponge, has been severely disrupted. Watch video lectures by Walter Jehne to find out how we can reverse global warming within 10 years. His lectures are long and detailed but have to be.

[@WakingUpToday213]

this is HOW to get the land people to implement regenerative systems, by creating a public mandate for it.

[@TheWalrusWasDanny]

Brexit is irrelevant...you can't have a brexit if we don't have a planet to live on. Danny

[@natashaveganov8r]

A Convincing Argument .... for a Citizen's Assembly 👥👥👥👥📜📃📄📝

[@AcidProphet]

beutyfull irony

[@GuyCruls]

if they're randomly selected, are they necessarily representative?

[@harryjordan3870]

Linda describes the process in the video of creating ‘buckets’ of people so that it is a randomly selected but also a true representation of the countries population. She described it for based on gender (yes, it’s not a binary), but that principle is that you do that for every grouping of people

[@theendoftheline]

No, this is like running nielsen ratings.

[@JK-mi4ku]

You can be sure that they will be diverse in terms of ethnicity and skin colour, but they will be persuaded to have no diversity of thought.

[@chrismullin8304]

That was one tough crowd! Well done Linda!!

[@goatamongsheep4296]

Carbon is NOT THE PROBLEM. Trees eat carbon. Plant more trees, but before, STOP THE PLANES SPRAYING CHEMICALS. Then you can say you did something helpful.

[@andreinedelcu2005]

The only way I see the zero carbon emissions happening by 2025 or ever for that matter if this lady holds her breath until then. This way she does not emit any "polluting" CO2 in the atmosphere.

[@KillTheDeadMonkey]

Demand number 3 seems unlikely... Not sure if led by is the right term.

[@michaelgraham8018]

what would you suggest?