Extinction Rebellion America works to stop climate annihilation. We are not an environmental organization. The history of the United States is stained by the genocide of indigenous peoples, and the extinction and decimation of native species of birds, fish, insects, and animals. Without a rebellion, climate annihilation will be the final step of a 300 year-long ecological assault. The catastrophic impact of climate annihilation must be viewed through the lens of genocide, including generational genocide. We are changing the window of discourse about, and thereby stopping, the fossil fueled death machine.
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Extinction Rebellion America Structure
Extinction Rebellion America (aka “XR America” and “XRA”) is an independent grassroots movement composed of individuals and affinity groups. XR America is supported in part by XR Actions, Inc., an Oregon non-profit corporation exempt from Federal Income taxes per section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. We not only advocate for causes and propositions, but also engage in climate related political actions. Donations to XR Actions, Inc. are not tax deductible.
We are unapologetically a small, focused organization interested in active, relevant projects. Consistent with the primacy of action, XR America discourages bureaucracy, including oppressive hierarchies and unnecessary horizontal structures. We are organized into affinity groups, each of which operates with considerable independence.
We help climate activists organize; idea stage to execution, followed by independence. Two groups XR America helped establish in 2022, Declare Emergency and Rave Revolution, are now independent organizations. We will create more affinity groups in 2023.
EXTINCTION REBELLION AMERICA AFFINITY GROUPS
XR America’s Inclusive Vision of Mobilization
We work with new members regardless of race, religion, ethnic background, gender, age, sexual orientation, economic status, culture or creed. We oppose call-out culture, virtue signaling, and assertions of moral or political superiority. Instead, we stand on the frontlines with all humans concerned about the threat of climate annihilation; and sacrifice some personal opinions, agendas, and concerns to stay focused on our common goal of system change. We are generous in learning about the struggles of others to better understand how their well-being is intimately connected to our own. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Generational Genocide.
In 2021 the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies released a statement, published on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), urging scholars in their field to recognize the catastrophic impact of climate change through the lens of genocide. Statement. We agree with Rafael Lemkin, the dogged Polish prosecutor who first coined the term “genocide,” that genocide is a process, not an event.
Likewise, climate annihilation is a process. Heating the planet kills people. It is no accident. Overheating the Earth is maintained by the older generation, while those who will suffer are mostly younger people. Every young person, in one way or another, will suffer. Changing the climate is an act of violence against the young, an act of generational genocide. For more, see:
The Importance of XR Demands, Principles, and Values.
We support climate organizations which engage in nonviolent civil disobedience by focussing on a single action-oriented objective; for example, Just Stop Oil. We also believe that XR Demands, Principles and Values continue to be essential elements of the struggle against climate annihilation. The emphasis on Truth, acting now, deciding together concerning a shared vision of change, challenging ourselves, reflection, and decentralization are elements of the transformative changes to our culture and ourselves demanded by the crisis we face.
Recent academic research posits that polarization and related issues may be the reason that “[n]onviolent campaigns are seeing their lowest success rates in more than a century” and the years 2020 and 2021 “have been the worst years on record for people power.” Erica Chenoweth: Can nonviolent resistance survive COVID-19? https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14754835.2022.2077085?scroll=top&needAccess=true
We encourage people to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to effectuate change in our polarized society. XR America affinity groups such as the Global Climate Crimes Project, Pathways to Action, Mothers’ Rebellion Support Group, and Activism is Medicine work to move the window of discourse into the realm of Truth: we humans face extinction.
