In case you’re wondering about today’s clustercluck, here is some more information about the protests going on. If you can, plan accordingly. From a press release:
WHAT: Activists across social justice movements will blockade key entry pointsto downtown DC in order to shut down the city.
WHO: 198 Methods, 350 DC, Backbone Campaign, Beyond Extreme Energy, Black Lives Matter DMV, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, Code Pink, Extinction Rebellion DC, Friends of the Earth Action, Friends Meeting in Washington Social Concerns Committee, Labor Network for Sustainability, Metro DMV Democratic Socialists of America, Movement for a People’s Party, Rising Tide North America, Sunrise Movement DC, Werk for Peace and World Beyond War.
WHERE:Northwest cluster meeting spot:
Farragut Square @ 7 AM – Extinction Rebellion
Northeast cluster meeting spot:
Columbus Circle @ 7 AM – 350.org
Southwest cluster meeting spot:
Hancock Park/L’Enfant Metro Station @ 6:30 AM – Rising Tide North America
Southeast cluster meeting spot:
Folger Park @ 6:30 AM – Black Lives Matter
WHY: #ShutDownDC is a response to the youth call for a Global Climate Strike to demand climate justice. The Global Climate Strike is holding over 5,800 actions in 161 countries with over 600 events taking place in the US alone. Parents, students, workers, health professionals, migrant justice advocates, people of faith, trans people, college groups and peace activists will bring Washington D.C. to a standstill while Greta Thunberg and youth climate leaders speak at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York City.
And from another release:
The groups behind #ShutDownDC are responding to the youth call for a Global Climate Strike on September 20th, inspired by Greta Thunberg and the decades of action from Black and Brown and Indigenous communities. On the 20th, four million people around the world walked out of their workplaces and joined young climate strikers in the streets to demand an end to the age of fossil fuels.
Youth have led the way so far, but now they are calling on everyone to take action alongside them. The movement to #ShutDownDC is an answer to this call. While countries deliberate the fate of the world at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York City, a coalition of climate groups and allies are bringing traffic and business as usual to a standstill in the nation’s capital. Parents, workers, students and everyone who is concerned about global heating are invited to skip work and school and put off their other responsibilities to take action on the climate crisis.
The multi-site blockade is shutting down key intersections all across the city and demanding sweeping action from the U.S. government to address the climate emergency.
The blockades are being organized by a coalition of activists from different climate and social justice organizations including 198 Methods, 350 DC, Backbone Campaign, Beyond Extreme Energy, Black Lives Matter DMV, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, Code Pink, Extinction Rebellion DC, Friends of the Earth Action, Friends Meeting in Washington Social Concerns Committee, Labor Network for Sustainability, Metro DMV Democratic Socialists of America, Movement for a People’s Party, Rising Tide North America, Sunrise Movement DC, and Werk for Peace. The event is part of the Global Climate Strike, which has over 1400 events taking place globally from September 20-27.
Learn more at www.strikedc.org
No word on the irony of protesting climate change while all the stalled cars produce loads of carbon emissions, but maybe that’s the point?