Extinction Rebellion Washington DC is the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) radical environmentalist “direct action” demonstration campaign that was launched in the United Kingdom in 2018. The chapter participates in XR’s strategy of disrupting public life to coerce the public to adhere to the group’s policy demands. It participated in the Shut Down DC demonstrations that sought to stop traffic on September 23, 2019, to secure radical federal action against climate change.

History and Organization

The Extinction Rebellion movement was started in the UK in 2018 to demand radical action by governments to stop climate change. It has proposed radical demands such as net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2025. ¹

Extinction Rebellion has decentralized chapters around the world. The main organization gives permission for anyone who agrees with their 10 principles and values to act in the name of Extinction Rebellion. ² Local chapters are considered autonomous from the main organization in the US. ³

The US Extinction Rebellion desires to “bring the government to a grinding halt” in order to force lawmakers to meet their climate demands. ⁴

The group demands that the government change “inconsistent policies and work alongside the media to communicate with citizens,” implement policies to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2025, and that all of these changes be overseen by a “national people’s congress” that is “part of creating a democracy fit for purpose.” ⁵

Activities

Since its formation, people associated with Extinction Rebellion DC have glued themselves to the House of Representatives office building, hosted trainings on “direct action” demonstrations, called for Congress to declare a “climate emergency,” and hosted a training on blocking traffic. ^{6 7 8 9}

Extinction Rebellion DC participated in the Shut Down DC demonstrations that attempted to bring Washington, D.C. traffic to a halt on Monday September 2, 2019, to try to coerce action to ban conventional energy sources. ¹⁰

Leadership

Russell Gray is a cofounder of the US Extinction Rebellion and a leader of the DC chapter. Gray worked at the United States Department of the Treasury until he quit in order to organize for Extinction Rebellion full time. ^{4 11} In March 2019, Gray told a reporter that “we believe that the government has violated the social contract by willfully leading us towards destruction and extinction, and therefore we feel obligated to withdraw our consent to be governed, which also entails refusing to participate in the system.” ⁴

1. “Extinction Rebellion: The story behind the activist group.” BBC. December 21, 2018. Accessed September 20^th, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-46626582/extinction-rebellion-the-story-behind-the-activist-group ^
2. “Principles and Values.” Accessed September 20, 2019. https://extinctionrebellion.us/principles.
3. “Local Chapters.” Accessed September 20, 2019. https://extinctionrebellion.us/local-chapters
4. Raymond, Robert. “Striking at the End of the World.” The Baffler, March 25, 2019. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://thebaffler.com/latest/striking-at-the-end-of-the-world-raymond.
5. “XR DC Sign  Up.” ActionNetwork.org. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/xr-dc-signup-form.
6. Chavez, Aida. “Climate Activists From Extinction Rebellion Glued Themselves to The Capital to Disrupt House Votes.” The Intercept, July 23, 2019. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/07/23/extinction-rebellion-climate-change-capitol-hill/.
7. “Nonviolent Direct Action Training.” ActionNetwork.org. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://actionnetwork.org/events/nonviolent-direct-action-training-9.
8. “Tell Congress: Declare Climate Emergency!” ActionNetwork.org. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://actionnetwork.org/events/tell-congress-declare-climate-emergency.
9. “XRDC Road Block and Affinity Group Training.” ActionNetwork.org. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://actionnetwork.org/events/xrdc-road-block-training.
10. “Climate Groups to Shut Down Washington D.C. With Mass Nonviolent Acts of Civil Disobedience.” ExtinctionRebellion.us, September 11, 2019. https://extinctionrebellion.us/press-release-08-28-2019.
11. Raymond, Robert. “We Have 12 Years To Stop Climate Catastrophe. These Young Activists Have A Plan.” HuffPost, December 14, 2018. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sunrise-movement-climate-chnage-direct-action-fossil-fuels_n_5c122a7ae4b002a46c143f73.