The Women of XRNYC Demand the 'Naked Truth' at NBC HQ
BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion women staged ‘Naked Truth’ action at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to demand NBC Universal report on the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis
New York, NY – On Friday, August 6 at 1.30pm a group of 10 women from Extinction Rebellion staged an action in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, home to the headquarters of NBC Universal with a banner reading ‘Tell the Naked Truth About the Climate Crisis’. The women were naked from the waist up to symbolise the vulnerability of all species—humans included—in the face of climate breakdown, and had the words ‘Violence,’ ‘War,’ ‘Displacement,’ ‘Famine’ and ‘Desertification’ written across their chests. Four women were arrested after an hour glued in place.
“We’re all vulnerable. We’re all naked in the face of this imminent and deadly threat. What do we stand to lose from inaction? Everything.” said Ana Paula Cordeiro, Extinction Rebellion activist.
Extinction Rebellion is calling on NBC Universal, one of the largest US news networks, to tell the truth about the climate crisis and communicate to its audiences the real risk of civilization collapse, as world governments and corporations continue to fail at reducing the effects of climate change in the scale and timeframe required to avoid catastrophic outcomes.
The action comes after Extinction Rebellion disrupted NBC’s Today while it aired live last April to highlight the appalling, persistent climate silence amongst America’s largest broadcasters. [1] Climate coverage as a whole made up only 0.4% of overall coverage on corporate broadcast morning, nightly and Sunday morning news shows in 2020, according to a Media Matters’ report. [2] After his joyride in space, Jeff Bezos got almost as much coverage on the morning news shows in one day as climate change as a topic received on those same shows in all of 2020. [3]
Felix Boehme, Extinction Rebellion activist said “The media, essentially the fourth branch of government, has the moral duty to inform the public on the whole truth about this crisis. It needs to be the top headline daily, and not be buried in the bottom of homepages and broadcasts. Unfortunately, NBC newsrooms are more inclined to cover the few minutes of billionaires in space than the fate of the planet. Enough is enough, we need journalists to do their job!”
Top climate scientists have admitted that the deadly extreme weather this summer is proving that climate models have actually been too conservative and have failed to predict the intensity of the German floods and the North American heat dome. [4] A recent leaked draft report from the United Nations has painted a distressing picture of how climate change will fundamentally reshape life on Earth in the coming decades, even if humans can tame planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. [5]
This action was inspired by Marianne, the symbol of the post-revolution French Republic. In the famous painting “Liberty Leading the People” by Eugène Delacroix, Marianne is depicted bearing her chest as she looked after the wounded revolutionaries and inspired them to continue to fight for liberty, fraternity and equality. The women who took part in the action hope their message will inspire other women—grandmothers, mothers, daughters and granddaughters—to take bold action on the climate.
Extinction Rebellion is calling on the public to take part in a mass rally in New York City on September 17 to highlight that 2021 is a critical year for climate action, especially in the run up to COP26 which is taking place in November in Glasgow. [6]
Extinction Rebellion activists regularly make sacrifices and take risks through nonviolent civil disobedience. Extinction Rebellion follows in line with non-violent movements, including the Suffragettes and the Civil Rights movement, to raise awareness and demand the government take the drastic, necessary action to stop further climate and ecological breakdown.
Extinction Rebellion calls for NBC and the rest of the corporate media to declare a climate emergency and report accordingly:
Climate headlines daily
Climate everywhere: every beat, every story
Suggest real solutions
Use climate emergency language
Enact climate standards for political endorsements
Remove financial conflicts of interest
A set of photos of this action can be found here.