Video: My World was Blown Apart and Brought Together at The Same Time

October 05, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Ele Waters, 46, from Liskeard Cornwall runs a natural burial site and is building her own off-grid home in a permaculture community. She is pleading not guilty after being arrested in April. “I’ve been a permaculturist now for 26 years, and we’ve planted 21,000 trees, we set up a natural burial site, we live off-grid, built our own house. Feeling really good about it. But then the IPCC report came out and I realised that what we were doing was great, but it was not enough to make the change needed in the time we have left. So I…

April Rebellion Cornwall Section 14 Video

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Cecily Bedner: This Was An Act of Self Defence

October 05, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Cecily Bedner, 20, a film and digital arts student from Plymouth, told the court she broke the law for her sister, aged five. This is the mitigation statement she read out in court. “I’m not here to tell you that I wasn’t there or I didn’t break the law. What I will tell you is that I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t find it fun or exciting or empowering especially. And I know that my actions contributed to inconveniencing many other valid, important lives, and for that I am truly sorry. But the reason I had to be there was,…

April Rebellion Cornwall Mitigation statements Section 14 Students

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Janet Young: How Could I Stand By and Do Nothing

October 05, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Janet Young, a 72-year old retired social worker and grandmother from Devon read out this statement at her plea hearing in August. She was arrested on Waterloo Bridge on the first Tuesday, 16 April. “I am pleading guilty for financial and emotional reasons. I accept that I did not comply with a regulation, imposed in order to control and limit climate change action. But morally and ethically I am guilty of nothing. Having heard the scientific evidence and seen the terrible devastation already occurring in Africa and Asia and knowing that many species are already extinct, I felt there was…

April Rebellion Devon Grandparents Mitigation statements Section 14

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Andrew Peel: I Told the Truth and Acted As Though the Truth is Real

October 05, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Andrew Peel, 59, a delivery driver from Norwich, read out this statement at his plea hearing on Friday. His tipping point, he says, was watching the action on the London bridges in November and seeing a banner that said “For My Children”. “Following a serious health issue in 2014 in which I almost lost my life, I looked deeply into myself and asked the most important question i have ever asked…where is love?My answer was simple. I love my children, I love our earth and all her beings.I won’t go over the ground with a long statement about the sixth…

April Rebellion Mitigation statements Norfolk Parents Parliament Square Section 14 XR Norwich

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Video: Phil Kingston, the 83-Year Old Rebel

October 04, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Yesterday, 83-year old grandfather Phil Kingston was part of the group that used a fire engine to spray fake blood over the Treasury Building. In April he was arrested for climbing on top of a Docklands Light Railway train: he’ll be on trial in Crown Court next year. This beautiful film profiles Phil from his early involvement in activism to his first arrest with Extinction Rebellion and his growing sense of urgency as time is running out, he says, for both him and the planet.

Crown Court Grandparents Video

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Mark Øvland: What my Heart Was Asking of Me

October 03, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

This morning, Mark Øvland (pictured far right) was one of six activists who used a fire engine to spray fake blood over the front of the Treasury Building in London. Mark is already awaiting a Crown Court trial for an action on the Docklands Light Railway during the April Rebellion. Last week, after appearing in Magistrates Court on yet another charge, for a protest in February against International Petroleum Week, Mark wrote this post on his Facebook page. “Hello friends, I have a funny feeling this will be my last post for a while.

Crown Court DLR Petroleum 9

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Video: Ruth Jarman’s Day in Court

October 02, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Ruth Jarman, 56, a mother of three from Hampshire who works for a small Christian charity, was found guilty last week after standing trial at Hendon Magistrates Court. She was given a 12 months conditional discharge and a total of £640 costs. Film-maker Peter Armstrong recorded this video of Ruth’s day in court. The mitigation statement she delivered before Deputy Chief Magistrate Judge Ikram is published below. You can also read Ruth’s own account of the trial here. “I am a Christian and a mother. My faith requires me to ‘serve and preserve’ the earth; it requires…

April Rebellion Christian Climate Action Mitigation statements Section 14 Video

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Court Report: Ruth Jarman finds the law at odds with morality

October 02, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Extinction Rebellion’s Ruth Jarman was on trial last Monday at Hendon Magistrates Court. The 56-year old mother of three from Hampshire, and member of Christian Climate Action (CCA), gives her account of the trial – from cross-examining a policeman to breaking down in tears. Watch Peter Armstrong’s video of the day here. Finally I’m here in court, wishing I’d dressed less like I was going to a wedding, with three CCA supporters. One, Christine, is forcing oranges, cereal bars and smiles at every opportunity. Peter, who I met for the first time, had maybe spent more time…

April Rebellion Christian Climate Action Court report Hampshire Section 14

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A Message From the Heart to All Our Arrestees

October 02, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

Because we wanted to say THANK YOU to all our amazing arrestees, the Extinction Rebellion art blockers printed up this special edition pink patch which we’ll be handing out at court. If you’d like to claim yours, please get in touch via zoe.blackler@protonmail.com and we’ll find a way to get it to you. Photographs by Helena Smith. Cecily Bedner, 20, a film and digital arts student from Plymouth James Ryle, 53, university project manager from Bristol Roman Paluch-Machnik, 26, admin assistant from London Philippa Tomlinson, bearing acorns Bee Ivanova, 25, a research assistant in linguistics, originally from Bulgaria…

April Rebellion Portraits Section 14

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Louis, 25, from Sheffield: One of Five Arrestees Featured in Today’s Guardian

October 01, 2019 By Zoe Blackler

The Guardian published a couple of pieces today: A news piece about all the trials that have started along with a series of mini-profiles of five of our defendants. Among those featured is 25-year old PHD student Louis Brijmohun, pictured above left at his plea hearing last week with fellow XR Sheffield member Heather Hunt, also a defendant. Louis told the Guardian: “I thought I knew what climate change was – it was one of the things alongside, say, homelessness and poverty that we needed to tackle urgently. But as I began to read these academic papers,…

April Rebellion Media Watch Section 14 Sheffield XR Students

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