Urgent: Extinction Rebellion LA Legal Support!

"Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries increasing the production of fossil fuels." - U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, April 2022

 

Greetings from Extinction Rebellion Los Angeles!  

 

I'm Steven from XRLA; this GoFundMe is to support XRLA's nonviolent climate activism. Los Angeles is the largest urban oil field in the country. Thousands of active oil wells, embedded in our L.A. population of 10 million humans, bring devastating health consequences to frontline communities. We're now in the midst of the biggest drought in 1200 years, the wildfires are coming again this summer, yesterday it was 100˚ at the Griffith Observatory. One hundred degrees. In April. We are asking for your help. 

I'm a dad, the father of a teenager, one of the folks who started XRLA in early 2019. Since then, we've marched on consulates, shut down banks, confronted L.A. politicos and corporate titans, blockaded fossil fuel infrastructure sites, and media companies that refuse to tell the truth.   We've supported frontline, Indigenous, BIPOC, Climate Youth, and other communities all over Los Angeles. We are your neighbors, on the front lines of climate activism, and we risk arrest with strategic nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience.  


On Wednesday,  April 6th, XRLA partnered with Scientist Rebellion -- 1200 scientists worldwide -- to sound the alarm on our Climate Emergency. Our target was Chase Bank, the world's largest, most predatory funder of the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Accords.   This was not XRLA's first time confronting Chase Bank with nonviolent direct action. This time, four courageous scientists chained themselves to the bank, risking their careers and safety to let you know that our collective future is on the line. But the financial forces against us are deep-pocketed and ruthless. Here's a good look from XRLA filmmaker Zachary Marlow (IG @zacharycmarlow): 

 

The Los Angeles Police Department responded with close to 100 cops and four fire trucks. To arrest four scientists in lab coats. But who, exactly, are they protecting? These banks and other financial institutions that fund fossil fuel infrastructure? These banks who put greed and short-term profit ahead of our children's future? Chase Bank, the mercenary bank that called for the arrest of these four scientists, is trying to break us. Yet these banks must be stopped if we have any chance to protect our children's future.

 

Extinction Rebellion Los Angeles will not back down until they do. Every dollar we raise will be used ONLY to fund our legal defense, the essential support that allows us to do our critical work. With your help, we will succeed. Because LAPD cops, like all other cops, have kids and families.   And they know we speak the truth.

 

 

Why are people joining us? Because we are ALL feeling climate grief now, it is rampant worldwide. At XRLA, we're of all ages and backgrounds, and we're growing fast.  Because here at Extinction Rebellion, we are more than protestors; we are protectors, risking our freedom to wake humanity up. The number of us willing to risk arrest to be protectors is growing quickly.  

Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, and other nonviolent activists have proven throughout history that direct action and civil disobedience are powerful tools. But funding this type of activism is truly challenging -- the machine is totally rigged against us -- 501c3/c4 nonprofits cannot help us without risking their charters.

If you believe in the science, that the survival of our species is at stake, we URGENTLY need your help to continue our work.  So, in the name of your children and your grandchildren, we ask you to support us now.  We turn to you, our Los Angelino family, to help fund us.  All of our shared futures are at stake; we ask that you please participate in any way you can.

 

"We need a billion climate activists.  I encourage everyone to consider where we're heading as a species and engage in civil disobedience and other actions. The time is  now." - Peter Kalmus, Scientist Rebellion

 

He's exactly right, and XRLA was born to help activate and inspire humanity out of despair and into action.  We ARE nature, and our work at Extinction Rebellion Los Angeles is simply nature defending herself.  

Please, please support us, and please share this with your friends.  We are a great crew of artists, writers, moms, dads, nurses, teachers, high-schoolers, and so much more.  If you feel called to join us, there are lots of ways to be a part of XRLA without risking arrest.  We welcome you.  

With love and maximum respect from all of us, for all of you,

 

Steven/Extinction Rebellion Los Angeles