Ben
So we're making this video to help show the perspectives that have shaped the messaging
position for XR UK and the recommendations that we're making
with regards to how we want to relate to COP 26 this year in Glasgow
We've got a political circle who think deeply about these things and they've listened to perspectives of young people
whose hopes often get raised and then dashed by these panels of so-called leaders, right
We've listened to our reparations experts
and those with direct relationships with those communities most affected in the majority world
And we've also had legal professionals
Professionals with long term experience and knowledge of this COP process
And those folks have seen that this is a long-term failed attempt to address the climate and ecological emergency
And that's not to say that there aren't great people that go to some of these COP processes and try their best
We're one family and we're not trying to divide from everybody here
There's a document linked below this Youtube which will give you more information and references
Where I'm coming from is what we do in the run-up to COP, and during, and afterwards
It's more about building our movement, the scale and the strength of the movement
the connections across the world
This emergency is getting worse
It's going to escalate as the years go by
We're heading in the direction of Authoritarianism, food shortages and so on
We need to strategise together and plan for post-COP
And get stronger and stronger as a movement as things are naturally going to unravel
So I'm listening to these experts to speak about the COP
My name is Adelota Stephanie Onamade
And I'm a part of the Global Majority Versus the UK Government Campaign
I've been involved with some youth groups such as XR Youth, Solidarity
So this year the UK Government will be hosting the Conference of Parties or COP26 in Glasgow
As a member of the Global Majority who's part of a diaspora
So the majority of my family being in the Global South
In the Caribbean and on the continent of Africa
Where the UK has historically played a large role in the extractivism
and, in the extractivism and corruption that takes place in these countries
In this process of COP26 there is very little faith in those who have been elected to set out this process
because they have met in private, the Conservative Party have met in private with fossil fuel companies
and they have given millions of pounds, they have given millions of pounds to the Conservative Party in the last 10 years
They have met 9 times more with fossil fuel companies than with renewable energy companies
And they have spent over £1 Billion misleading the public on climate-related issues
And the UK Government is aware of this yet it calls itself a 'Climate Leader'
When the real climate leader's are in the Global Majority in the Global South where they are resisting extractivism
And this process, it does not allow people to resist further
it leads to more climate inaction from the Global North and those most responsible for these issues
Hi I'm Tim Crosland, I was previously a government lawyer
I now spend most of my time either suing the Government or being prosecuted by the Government
with the climate litigation charity Plan B
So the main purpose of the COP process is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees
It's COP26 now because we've had 25 years of COPs before it
The reason the objective is to limit warming to 1.5 degrees
Well we've seen that partly over the summer even in the Global North
The heat dome in North America and Canada
Those rows of prostrate people in cooling centres
The infernos around the Mediterranean
Whole villages being decimated in Germany and France just with 1.2 degrees
The sort of impacts we've seen in the Global South for decades and decades
The science predicts that beyond 1.5 degrees whole regions of the world will become uninhabitable
because the wet bulb temperature will pass 35 degrees celsius
beyond the capacity of the human body to cool itself down
The risks of multiple serial breadbasket failure will rise very substantially
jeopardising food security meaning people may not be able to put food on the table
so that's why that figure was agreed on
My name is Chris, I'm a youth activist in Newcastle and I'm 20 years old
Decades of denial, inaction and exponential increases in our carbon emissions have lead us to this point
In the face of the existential threat of our generation the best our governments can offer us is lies and betrayal
Despite the greenwashed climate accords and conferences
we've emitted more carbon since governments have been meeting to address the climate crisis
than in the entirety of human history before-hand
Our governments committed to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees 6 years ago
Rich countries promised to provide $100 Billion a year by 2020 to support decarbonised, sustainable development in poor countries
These were just bare-faced lies
Since then governments across the world have spent more subsidising fossil fuels
than they have on policies to meet their commitments
using tax-payer's money to fund the destruction of our very future
Our governments are not just failing to protect our future, they are actively decimating it
COP26 marks the moment of a terrible political failure
The greatest political failure in our history
It's now clear that limit will not be maintained
that limit that governments set themselves and according to their own evidence
What the IPCC had said was for a fair chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees
global emissions would have to go down by 45% by 2030
In fact, the latest analysis is they are going to go up 16% by 2030
It's important to be honest about that
not to be depressed about it but as James Baldwin says:
Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced
It's only when we face up to this failure
Hi, my name is George. I'm from the XR UK political circle
One of the most powerful industries the world has ever known has been capturing governments across the world
for decades, and it's been capturing the media stories that we get told about climate change
It's been responsible for thousands of articles saying that the lights will go off if we don't keep burning fossil fuels
So where are we now 26 years into the COP process?
We're at a stage of catastrophic Greenwashing
All the governments have signed up to the rhetoric that says we need to keep to 1.5 degrees
And quite simply, at current rates of emissions the world has 6 to 13 years before we hit 1.5 degrees
And the UK, because we are one of the countries that have caused the problem need to cut faster than poor countries
So we have between 2 and 6 years of our current emission to meet 1.5 degrees
And meanwhile, the world is being told 2050, keep in 1.5 this time
It is quite simply a lie
and it's a lie perpetrated by putting so-called 'negative emissions' onto future generations
So we've literally just put... carrying on planning to burn oil and gas for decades to come
and we're just saying that in the future we're going to somehow suck this stuff out of the atmosphere
Meanwhile hundreds of millions of people are suffering
Over 5 million people are dying because of the carbon economy every single year
And in any other circumstance where powerful actors are making decisions
which knowingly cause the death of millions of people a year
We would call that mass murder
This is why we are calling it a crime against humanity
This collective failure is a crime against humanity
It's a crime against youth, it's a crime against future generations
and it's a crime against those already feeling the effects of climate breakdown
The governments all meet at COP under the guise of inspiring climate action
Their words, not mine
are the biggest threat that humanity faces
We have the science, we have the tools and we have the motivation
to prevent further environmental and ecological collapse
But instead we are sleepwalking off a cliff accelerating towards oblivion
Instead, it is young people who will pay the price
It is us who will have to live with the lack of decision making by our so-called leaders
The lack of decision making at Greenwashing summits like COP 26
If these are the leaders that took us into this crisis, how can we put out trust in them to see us out of it?
We quite simply need a fair global conference of the people
and not a corrupted conference of the parties
We need people from across the world to come to the table and come up with sensible decisions
about how we address this in a way that will help everybody reach a decent flourishing future
and prevent the destruction of life as we know it
And this is mainly about rich countries, they're responsible for 92% of the excess emissions in the atmosphere
So when we're told 'what about China?' It is the UK, the US
the countries that have been burning fossil fuels for hundreds of years that need to fund the transformation across the world
That means paying for the leap-frogging of poor countries from brown energy to green
We have a $90 Trillion a year global economy
We need to stump up a few trillion to actually pay for that transformation so it gives our kids a chance for a future
We've stumped up trillions for the financial crisis, for COVID
We can do it for a decent future
And quite simply an adequate response to this crisis
given that, at current rates, we are likely to hit 1.5 by 2030
We should be doing everything we can to hit global net zero by 2030
With the rich countries paying for the damage that they have caused
And that would mean like a wartime style mobilisation
The IPCC said we need rapid, far-reaching, unprecedented changes to every aspect of society
and despite the rhetoric, nothing like that is on the table in the UK that calls itself a 'climate leader' or anywhere else
and this is why COP is set to be a catastrophic failure
But not because we couldn't do it otherwise
The human race has the capacity like never before to transform the way the world does business
to create a beautiful flourishing future for all
but it is not happening and the less it happens now, things are only going to get worse and worse
Quite simply nothing like what is required is on the table at COP
and instead, we have a narrative of success which is really clear
They're going to call it a success if they get lots more countries to sign a bit of paper
essentially saying we're going to be Net-0 by 2050
and it means nothing in terms of what is actually happening to the planet
They're also going to say that we're going to get $100 Billion dollars into an account
A) That is a fraction of what is required to pay for the damage and the transformation
But B) it can even be loans, so we're talking about countries getting hammered by climate change and then going into more debt
We must stand up against this process
XR Scotland has called for as many people as possible to come and support their actions there
And we have to disrupt this COP
This crazy illusion and tell an inspiring story about what our situation actually is
I am Esther Stanford Xosei
And I am a Co-Founder of Extinction Rebellion Internationalist Solidarity Network
We share the widespread viewpoint common within Global South communities of resistance
that such top-down processes like the COP only result in Greenwashing
that facilitates the growing threat of Eco-Fascism
by not seeking to resolve the crux of the matter
of the worldwide climate and ecological crisis
and the genocide and ecocide of extractivism
For this reason, we are not prepared as peoples to wait any longer on change from the top
and are already creating alternatives from the ground up
True to our own XRISM mandate
We need to truthfully amplify voices of the Global Majority
that are creating the alternatives to failed processes like COP
There is the imperative for us to do so because of our XRISM strategy
which tries to actualise the principles enshrined in what internationalist solidarity means
That is connecting the liberation efforts of peoples and not encouraging the paternalistic attitude of savourism
which ends up being the coloniality of white savourism
Our XRISM strategy is about Glocalisation
to interconnect communities of resistance in both the Global South and the Global North
To work closer together as the Global Majority on unifying their people's power
and strengthening it in multicultural and intercultural engagements
of co-liberation actions of planet repairs rebellion
So this rebellion is not just about rebellion against extractivism and its perpetrators
but rather, change-making actions that seek to stop the harm being done
through the genocide and ecocide crimes of the worldwide climate and ecological crisis
And galvanise internationalist solidarity in shutting down ecocide crimes of extractivist plunder
in order to effect and secure holistic societal and ecological repairs
for transformative adaptation that will allow all life forms to thrive in balance with our Mother Earth