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• Today at 4pm, Extinction Rebellion will come together in creative resistance with Greenpeace and Wisdom Keepers to stage an Extinction Procession through the Glastonbury Festival site
• The procession will end with festival goers being invited to form the largest ever human Extinction Symbol 
• The procession will be played out with a set from folk musician Nick Mulvey on Extinction Rebellion’s iconic pink boat

Extinction Procession at Glastonbury

Today, Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace UK will come together to stage an Extinction Procession through Glastonbury Festival. Festival goers will gather at the Park Stage at 4pm, where they will hear speeches from Extinction Rebellion activist Dr Gail Bradbrook, Greenpeace activist Rosie Rogers, Ecuadorian shaman Kurikindi, and rapper and poet Dizraeli. The crowds will then process together through Glastonbury Festival, led by Extinction Rebellion’s iconic pink boat.

At the end of the procession, festival goers will be invited to create the largest ever human Extinction Symbol and a helicopter will fly overhead to capture the scene. Folk musician Nick Mulvey will then play a song on top of Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Tell The Truth’ boat.  

Joining the procession will be models of insects and other extinct species. The Arcadia bug will walk alongside them and there will be music from a big brass band. People will carry flags and banners through the festival. 

Representatives from Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and the Wisdom Keepers are coming together in order to highlight the importance of international solidarity and the indigenous wisdom so essential in the ongoing struggle for climate justice. Everyone at the festival is invited to take part and show their support for Extinction Rebellion and all the people standing up for the future of our species.

Kurukindi, a Kichwa Amazonian Shaman, activist and part of the Wisdom Keepers, said: “It’s very important that we try to connect with Nature; and that connection has to be with love. It has to be honest and authentic. Money is the big distraction. It is the biggest threat in the world.”

Dr Gail Bradbrook, from Extinction Rebellion, said: “The climate emergency is the most dangerous threat currently facing all life on earth. It will require everyone, no matter who you are or where you come from to stand up and take action. But it is also important to acknowledge the people who have been standing up for us and for our planet for years. Tomorrow, we are honouring the work of indigenous activists and teaming up with Greenpeace to form a movement of movements. People are dying. We must listen to them. We must take action now.”  

Rosie Rogers, an activist from Greenpeace said, “Greenpeace has been fighting for a greener, peaceful world for nearly 50 years. But, as I look at the global climate movement today I am filled with hope. A hope that together, we can really face up to the challenge ahead of us in what is literally the fight of our lives. Each one of us can help win the fight and as they say, united we stand, divided we fall. We know the challenge is huge but with everyone pulling in the same direction, we can win.”

On Sunday at 12pm, Extinction Rebellion and the Wisdom Keepers will hold a minute silence on the Pyramid Stage, in memory of activist and environmental lawyer Polly Higgins, who founded ‘Make Ecocide Law’.

The Extinction Rebellion ‘Rebel Rebel’ tent will be in the Green Futures field all weekend at the festival, with a program of talks on the climate emergency and what to do about it, internationalist solidarity and nonviolent direct action training. 

They will be speaking on The Truth stage and holding screen printing workshops all weekend. 

For the full schedule of activity with timings, click here 

About Wisdom Keepers

The Wisdom Keepers is a global initiative that acts to catalyse festival culture for climate awareness. They provide a platform for Elders and spiritual leaders from indigenous communities and Wisdom traditions around the world to share their wisdom at an experiential level with audiences at festivals and to collectively bring about a more conscious, peaceful and sustainable world.

This collective facilitates spontaneous and profound shifts by enabling global audiences to appreciate and understand traditional wisdom ways as holistic, comprehensive and practical worldviews with immediate and relevant application in their own lives and societies.