Our Story

Extinction Rebellion NYC was born in December of 2018, inspired by Extinction Rebellion UK and the movement that began on October 31, 2018: 1500 people in Parliament Square in London announced a Declaration of Rebellion against the UK Government. Over the next few weeks, Extinction Rebellion UK blocked five major bridges across the Thames River, planted trees in the middle of Parliament Square, dug a hole there to bury a coffin representing the future, and super-glued themselves to the gates of Buckingham Palace as they read a letter to the Queen. In response to those acts of peaceful civil disobedience, new groups sprang up around the world from the Solomon Islands to Australia, from Spain to South Africa, from India to the US.

 

About the movement: origins, principles and call to action (7:50)

The Emergency and the need for something NEW (2:16)

Extinction Rebellion NYC believes this is the chance for us to rise up and fight for our lives. We declared a rebellion by marching down Fifth Avenue, disrupting business as usual in the busy Rockefeller Plaza by blocking the avenue, staging die-ins along the plaza and on the ice, and hanging a banner declaring "climate change = mass murder." Since then, we have taken action outside City Hall, joined the youth marching for their future, created a huge disruption in front of The New York Times, and helped propel the first international rebellion in the fall of 2019.

What’s next? We’re working relentlessly, building our movement. Come and join us. Rebel for life. For the planet. For our children’s children’s futures. There is so much work to be done.

 

Our Strategy

At the core of Extinction Rebellion’s philosophy is nonviolent civil disobedience. We promote civil disobedience and rebellion because we think it is necessary—we are asking people to find their courage and to collectively do what is necessary to bring about change.

  • We aren’t focused on traditional systems like petitions or writing to our representatives, and are more likely to take risks (e.g. arrest/jail time). We don’t want or need everyone to get arrested—for some this is not a good idea—but we do want everyone involved to support civil disobedience as a tool.

  • We are promoting mass “above the ground”, or in other words—in full public view, civil disobedience. This means economic disruption—to shake the current political system and civil disruption to raise awareness. We are deeply sorry for any inconvenience that this causes.

  • We are about political change, not personal change (though we welcome the latter).

  • We are completely nonviolent, our actions are done in full public view and we take responsibility for them.

  • We have an Action Consensus which outlines how we work together on actions.

Read more about why protest works.

 

Revisit our week of “Love & Rage” in NYC (3:54)

Nonviolent Direct Action: view from the streets (3:05)

 

Our Structure

We organize in small groups. These groups are connected in a complex web that is constantly evolving as we grow and learn. We are working to build a movement that is participatory, decentralized, and inclusive.

The structure aims to empower anybody to act as part of XR, so long as they agree to follow our ten core principles. You can read our Self-Organizing System (our XR Constitution) for more information. We are seeking a balance between being able to act quickly in response to fast-changing situations and being able to integrate the collective wisdom of multiple perspectives when needed.