Dear Rebels,

Even as reactionary neoliberal rage consumes Washington, accelerating social and climate catastrophe, XR chapters around the country are in motion, playing their part in the growing ecosystem of resistance. And while the onslaught of bad news might at times feel overwhelming, we can find camaraderie and purpose in our shared struggle.

At XR, our vision of rebellion is rooted in regenerative culture and relationships of mutual uplift. Read on to find out how rebels around the country are fighting back and building the future we want to see, in solidarity with a broad spectrum of partners.

In light of the ongoing chaos, we hope you can take inspiration from these examples of social justice work happening around the US!

XR DC and XR Philly

Rebels from XR DC and XR Philly — in solidarity with Debt for Climate, a Global South-led movement demanding forgiveness of the illegitimate and odious debt held by Western countries over developing nations — protested in front of delegates and civil society attendees at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, which happened to take place during Earth Week. The protesters blocked Traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue as their massive banners were deployed. In a rarity for such events, many delegates entering the meetings showed their support by giving thumbs up and taking photos.

The US holds inordinate veto power over all decisions made by multinational financial organizations, allowing them to prevent meaningful action. Forgiveness of debt would have an enormous impact on the extraction of fossil fuels and other resources from Global South nations. Learn more at debtforclimate.org.

XR New York City

On Earth Day, rebels in New York City staged a series of high-profile disruptive actions.

In the morning, activists temporarily defaced Wall Street’s iconic bull statue with spray chalk while climbing on top of the statue and waving XR flags. The action was a reminder that ecological collapse is made possible through the financial backing of elite institutions and investors.

Elsewhere, a small group of rebels tagged the windows of a Manhattan Tesla dealership (also with spray chalk) to call out the connections between oligarchy and the escalating climate crisis.

Inside Trump Tower, a rebel spray-chalked a decorative presidential seal that hangs on a wall in the lobby, then knelt down and held up a banner reading “4 degrees = death.” In a statement, the protestor wrote, “Donald Trump and the regime of private interests he works for—who donate equally to each party—are destructive of your inalienable right to Life. All American political parties are equally complicit in inaction which has brought us to this point.”

Later, at the David H. Koch Theater, rebels called attention to the ecological crisis — partially fueled by the theater’s billionaire namesake — by giving impassioned testimony outside the entrance to the New York City Ballet’s performance. Inside, they disrupted the performance for ten minutes as they unfurled a massive banner and warned concertgoers about the dual threats of climate breakdown and authoritarianism. “It is Earth Day and we are in a climate emergency,” a rebel can be heard shouting over the orchestra’s opening notes.

XR Eugene

On April 19, XR Eugene held a Spring Rebellion rally at the Nike store in Eugene to protest Oregon’s only billionaire, Phil Knight, and the oligarchy he represents, as well as Nike’s greenwashing and child exploitation practices. Security placed ropes all around the store to keep protesters away, and many demonstrators from an impromptu “Hands Off” rally nearby joined rebels at the Nike store.

“We are here in the town where the Nike corporation was founded to protest the power of the ultra-wealthy to consolidate political power that will ultimately ensure a continued future of climate collapse, chaos, and the extinctions that happen every hour on our planet,” an XR organizer told the crowd. “We are here because later is too late.”

One of the speakers at the event was 11-year-old boy who has organized a resistance group at his middle school. He held a large flag he made symbolizing “democracy, nature, and socialism.”

A rebel dressed as the late Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine, a local hero, led chants that played on Nike’s well-known advertising slogan: “Rebel against oligarchy (Just do it!)… Rebel against extinction (Just do it!)... Tax billionaires out of existence (Just do it!)… End fossil fuel emissions (Just do it!)… ”

XR Portland

On Saturday, April 19, nearly 300 people from over a dozen organizations gathered for an Earth Day rally at Elizabeth Caruthers Park to resist the Trump administration’s escalating actions against climate justice and environmental protections. Attendees included climate justice advocates, migrant organizers, labor activists, and concerned citizens.

“Right now, our climate work is being derailed by the agendas of short sighted, foolish, greedy billionaires who would rather feed the future into a coal fire than acknowledge reality,” Blue Tippett-Hunt from Sunrise PDX said.

A representative from Kalikasan Solidarity Organization (KSO), formed in support of land defenders in the Philippines, spoke about the six severe typhoons that hit the island nation last year and the ongoing human rights abuses driven by US interests in Southeast Asia. KSO’s chairperson, Saoirse Cox, described how foreign corporations, backed by US military dollars and the authoritarian Marcos administration, throw farmers and peasants off of their land to extract the country’s rich natural resources. Cox’s speech drew connections between Elon Musks’ dismantling of environmental agencies here in the US and the environmentally destructive nickel mining in the biodiverse Palawan region of the Philippines, on which Tesla relies for its electric car batteries.

After the rally, participants marched to a nearby Tesla showroom where they voiced their demand that the Oregon Treasury divest not only from fossil fuels, but from companies that profit from environmental human rights abuses — including Tesla.

XR Seattle

Rebels in Seattle collaborated with the Troublemakers to engage in some disruptive street theater as part of the ongoing Tesla Takedown campaign. Activists and performers — dressed as dogs, judges, Trump, and the Statue of Liberty — shut down the street outside a Tesla dealership as they parodied the rampant corruption of the American political system. The Tesla Takedown campaign aims to push back against corporate influence by pressuring investors to dump their Tesla stocks, pressuring Tesla owners to sell their cars, and encouraging people of conscience to engage in protest and direct action against Elon Musk’s company. At the end of the performance, the crowd erupted into a hearty chant: “The people united will never be defeated!”

XR Boston and XR Vermont

On April 20, twenty-one courageous members of XR Boston and XR Vermont were arrested for protesting the proposed expansion of Hanscom Field, an airfield outside of Boston that primarily supports private jet travel for the ultra-wealthy. As a result of this protest, scheduled during the public comment period for the developers' Draft Environmental Impact Report, the report was rejected and developers were required to submit a supplemental report, which has already bought activists almost a year of time to fight the project.

In a legal process of unprecedented length for XR Boston, defendants are still participating in court dates for this action, and some of them are preparing for trial dates this summer. One defendant, Miranda Dotson, recently wrote and published an op-ed article for Buzzfeed, a national publication.

"I don’t have a trust fund, nor do I have unlimited trust that billionaires and wannabes will do their part to halt this climate from careening off a cliff,” Dotson writes in the article. “But I will invest my faith in the courageous people who disrupt business as usual and run toward this burning house to pull as many species, including ours, from the flames."

In early May, XR activists disrupted an address by governor Maura Healey at the Environmental League of Massachusetts, calling our her complicity in the project. Rather than engage with the activists, who asked her to publicly oppose the expansion, Healey fled the stage.

US Environmental News

With so much happening at the federal level in recent weeks, we wanted to highlight a few recent headlines related to environmental policy in the US (spoiler alert — no good news here!):

Last week, the Senate passed a rollback of pollution control on seven key environmental toxins.
The House passed a bill to crush California’s car pollution rules and electric vehicle mandate.
The Trump administration has cancelled existing clean energy grants, stopped wind projects, set outrageous tariffs on imported solar panels, and set out to undermine science-based policies.
The administration is also attempting to sue individual states over policies put in place to combat the climate crisis.

Support the Movement!

Financial contributions are a crucial part of sustaining our movement. XR US supports climate actions by chapters around the country and has a set-aside for Global South actions around the world. Help us keep fighting to protect people and planet by donating today!

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May we root in community and collective action to sustain ourselves in the months ahead.

Love and rage,

XR US Newsletter Team

XR US May Newsletter: Springing into Action