Mothers* Rebellion for Climate Justice is a growing global community of women comprising mothers, daughters, sisters, nieces, aunts, grandmothers, and all allies. As a grassroots network across six continents, it fights for a sustainable present and future using a simple non-violent protest technique known as ‘The Circle’ (simply a circle of Mothers* sitting in a circle in public places, often holding signs with the names of their children or other climate messages).
Over the past week, there have been co-ordinated actions in Sweden, Zimbabwe, London, Seattle, Poland, France, India, Zambia and many other countries, as well as towns and cities across the UK. Our guest reporter Pasqueline Agostinho joined a Mothers* Circle at the Science Museum in London last Sunday, where a small circle sat in the ‘Making The Modern World’ exhibition hall, giving speeches to museum visitors, before joining a larger circle outside the museum.
According to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment report, children are already amongst those suffering the most from the effects of climate change, and in the UK the Government’s own reports outline the effect of air pollution on children’s health, causing asthma, poor lung development, and inhibiting development generally.
The London action also highlighted the shame of the Science Museum’s continued relationship with fossil fuel sponsors. The museum will soon open an Energy Revolution gallery sponsored by the Adani Group, a huge trans-national coal conglomerate. It also has ongoing partnerships with BP, Equinor and Shell.
In an open letter outlining this week of action, Mothers* Rebellion wrote:
We already know what to do: Stop burning fossil fuels! Stop destroying essential ecosystems! And we know how to do it: Keep the oil, gas and coal in the ground! Protect and restore nature!
To the children of the world: We are sorry that it took us so long to start raising our voices. We are sorry that we got stuck in our everyday lives, thinking someone else would deal with the problems, or that we were too powerless to make a difference. You have shown us otherwise, and we will now continue to fight until the world’s leaders take action.
Film by Pasqueline Agostinho
[Main photo courtesy of Andrea Domeniconi]
