Geelong school students and climate activists will mobilise on Friday 25 September 2020 at 11:00am under the banner ‘Fund Our Future – Not Gas’ in the first major protest since lock-down.
The online protest rally will be held on Zoom and then live-streamed on Facebook. It will include interactive chanting and singing, a virtual march and guest speakers from among Geelong’s leading youth climate activists.
→ You can sign up to participate in the virtual Geelong strike by sending an email to strike@climatesafety.info
Join with a Virtual Climatestrike Background
HOW TO GET A VIRTUAL BACKGROUND
- Download this image by right-clicking on it
(It will most likely land in your ‘Download’ folder, or on your ‘Desktop’) - In the bottom left corner of your zoom-window, click on the little arrow next to the “Stop video” button.
- Select: “Choose Virtual Background”
- Click on the little “Plus” button (+) at the right, above the backgrounds
- Select: “Add image”
- Go to the appropiate folder and double-click on the image which you just downloaded. The filename is ‘GeelongClimateStrike1.jpg’
- Yeah!! You’ve arrived
Also: Have a handwritten sign ready for our ‘photo shoot’ towards the end of the virtual strike session
PROGRAM
MC: Alex Marshall
Speeches by:
• Neo Williams
• Ben Pocock
• SCEAT
• Zoe Brittain
• Kate Griffin
… and possibly more
Songs by:
• Abigail Grace: ‘Society has closed the door’
• Red Rebels Brigade, Extinction Rebellion
Global school strike map on www.fridaysforfuture.org
The live-streamed event would coincide with Covid-safe demonstrations and actions at various locations in Geelong as well as in 300 other cities and towns around Australia, and over 3,000 events world-wide.
“Faced with a perfect opportunity to invest in a green recovery during COVID-19, the Morrison government has chosen an un-just gas expansion instead. We’re tired of profit being put before people in a time of climate crisis,” said Ms Caitlin Ramsay from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, who is one of the Geelong School Strike organisers.
“We are in a climate emergency and the last thing we need is increased gas production and consumption, as our federal government proposed last week. We need an end to corruption: No more political donations from fossil fuel corporations,” said Ms Ramsay.
The youth-led event is organised globally by Fridays for Future, nationally by SchoolStrike4Climate Australia, and locally in the Geelong region by Australian Youth Climate Coalition Geelong, Fridays For Future Geelong, Surf Coast Environmental Action Team, Gas Free Geelong, Extinction Rebellion Geelong, Transition Streets Geelong, Geelong Sustainability, Laudato Si’ Circle Geelong, Queenscliffe Climate Action, Ocean At Apollo Bay, and Colac Climate Action.
Click on photo to download it in higher resolution for print
Don’t want to be left behind
Student and climate activist Ms Alex Marshall said Geelong people wanted politicians at all levels of government to tell the truth and face up to the reality of what our climate scientists are telling us.
“Gas is not the path to economic recovery. Investment in the postcarbon infrastructure and the many thousands of new jobs that will come from this is the only answer. Even conservative governments outside of Australia know this. The world is now quickly transitioning to a post-carbon clean energy economy. People in the Geelong region don’t want to be left behind,” said Ms Marshall.
The world is already experiencing the first dramatic impacts of catastrophic climate breakdown according to the Geelong School Strike for Climate spokespersons.
“Scientists tell us the devastating fires and storms we are seeing now will get rapidly worse in years to come unless we quickly reduce carbon emissions to zero,” Ms Marshall said. “Our federal government is essentially engaged in crimes against humanity, by seeking to ramp up fossil fuel production under cover of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is not a road to recovery, it is a road to climate and economic catastrophe.”
“The so-called gas-led recovery is a cynical hoax perpetrated by governments which get themselves elected using donations from big coal and gas corporations. Gas is a fossil fuel, pure and simple. It produces as much carbon dioxide as any other fossil fuel. The concept of gas as a clean alternative or a so-called transition fuel is a lie,” she said.
watched over by the empathic Extinction Rebellion Red Rebel Brigade. 19 September 2020
Photos by Fridays For Future Geelong. May be reproduced under Creative Commons license.
UPDATE: 500 actions endorsed by 24 unions
Shoi from School Strike 4 Climate wrote in a newsletter on 24 September 2020:
“With over 500 actions being organised across the nation, the school strike on 25 September is definitely going to be a BIG day!
Not only are there 500 actions, but 24 union bodies have also endorsed the Sept 25th day of action. Unions such as the Electrical Trade Union, the teachers, nurses, public servants, wharfies, fast food workers, and more! [1]
Students, workers, and First Nations communities are standing side-by-side to tell Morrison to spend Covid-19 recovery funds on creating thousands of jobs that will help tackle climate change – NOT giving billions to the filthy rich gas industry.
Our day of action is already being noticed by the media! This is from Newcastle. It’s a photo from our strike last year – but tomorrow we’re striking (in a Covidsafe way) again!
Ready to join the excitement? Here are 5 things you can do to make tomorrow:
- Put pressure on Morrison: On Sept 25th we will be jamming Morrison’s phone and flooding his social media – Check out Step 1 the ‘On The Day Pack’.
- Build the Movement – Make sure everyone from your action texts-in so we can help them continue to be involved – Check out Step 2 of the ‘On The Dy Pack‘.
- Send us your pictures – If an action happens and no one sees it does it really happen? Well, yes. BUT the more we amplify the more powerful we are, so don’t forget to send your pictures to us early! Check out our ‘Photo/Video Guide’!
- Send out a media release – Local media is always looking for local stories. We have created template media releases you can use. Change a few words, attach a photo, send it out, and you’re done! Check out our ‘Local Media Guide’ & template release.
- Tune into action – Throughout all of Sept 25th we’ll be live streaming from some of the incredible actions taking place, then at 6pm AEST, we will be gathering nationally for a huge digital wrap up rally. Join the online rally here!
Most importantly don’t forget to tell us you are having your action – Register your Action here so we know just how big tomorrow is!
I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow, watch this all unfold, and make it clear to Morrison and all politicians that we want them to #FundOurFutureNotGas!
In solidarity,
Shoi – 17, Striker from Melbourne
[1] You can find a full list of the unions on the Sept 25th webpage here.”
Eight steps to organising an action on 25 Sept
This week, while PM Morrison was announcing plans to give billions in Covid-19 recovery funds to polluting gas, hundreds of students were getting organised for a tidal wave of actions on 25 September 2020 to say #FundOurFutureNotGas
Chloe from School Strike 4 Climate wrote in a newsletter on 18 September 2020:
We’ve just tipped over 250 actions being organised in towns and suburbs across Australia. And there’s still a week to go! Don’t miss out, there’s still time!
We crunched the numbers (yes, we have been doing our math homework in between organising a wave of actions) and things are getting exponential!
Organising an action is easy and powerful! Because we’re living in a pandemic, it’s not about turning out big numbers. Instead it’s about the sheer number of actions of 10-20 people in small Covidsafe actions in every town, suburb, and community.
There are eight simple steps to organising an action
- Register on the map: So politicians see how many actions are happening! Visit the Sept 25th webpage to register.
- Recruit your mates or colleagues: Recruit 10-20 of your mates to be a part of your action on September 25th.
- Ideally organise it for the morning: We want to get photos as early as possible to use them throughout the day.
- Choose somewhere eye-catching: Help your photo stand out by being at a local icon or somewhere interesting.
- Make a banner or placard: Fund Our Future Not Gas!
- Ideally wear yellow: To help show that we’re acting together.
- Send us your photo: We’ll flood social media with beautiful pictures. Visit the Sept 25th webpage to find our Photo/Video Guide.
- Ideally contact local media: We’ll flood local media with local stories. Visit the Sept 25th webpage to find our Local Media Guide.
For folks that are in lockdown, we are encouraging organising online actions and still following as many of the steps above as possible.
Here’s an awesome early action organised by nurses at a hospital in Sydney, standing in the emergency ward with a printed banner – your banner can be handmade!
PM Morrison’s gas plan is already being slammed in the media by people from all walks of life. But now we need to make sure that Morrison sees community members across the nation rejecting his plan and calling on him to #FundOurFutureNotGas!
Join us to make sure the government has to sit up, and pay attention.
See you on the streets on September 25th!
~ Chloe, 16
School Striker From Hawkesbury NSW
350.org wrote in a newsletter on 21 September 2020:
“As the government cooks up its plans to push unnecessary and dangerous gas on us funded by public money, we’re fighting back with a vision for a cleaner, kinder, safer future.
Across the world, the school strikers are back again making sure that we don’t fuel one crisis while trying to solve another.
In our own backyard, school strikers, in collaboration with First Nations communities, are holding over 300 actions across the continent for the #FundOurFutureNotGas National Day of Action – check out the website and RSVP to a Covid-safe action near you, or find out how to take part online.
The government’s plans come straight from the gas lobby’s list of demands. Morrison’s hand-picked, gas-stacked Covid-19 Commission had their eyes set on propping up their failing industry with the public dollar, and Scott Morrison is gearing up to hand it to them. We have to stop this from happening.
There’s $10 billion on the table for gas and manufacturing, and 5 mega gas basins they want to fast track. If this went ahead, we’d blow our shot at keeping global warming below 1.5 or even 2 degrees.
And we’d still have record unemployment, underfunded services and the fossil fuel lobby running our government.
Not on our watch. Together we can use our collective power to show how outrageous these cooked gas bailouts are by taking part in the #FundOurFutureNotGas National Day of action.
It’s sizing up to be the biggest distributed day of action against gas this country has ever seen, so you’re going to want to be part of it. There are over 300 Covid-safe actions for you to take part in, and if you can’t leave home, there’s plenty of ways to join online.
I’m in Melbourne, and I’ll get getting my textas out to make a sign to post on social media with the #FundOurFutureNotGas hashtag and my message to Scott Morrison.
Let’s make sure that Morrison knows thousands of people across the country have better plans for the future and want him to #FundOurFutureNotGas!
Are you in?
Kelly, for the whole 350 Australia team
P.S. If there’s not an action near you on the map and you’re not in Victoria, you could organise a small action in your community – we’ll help you out and make sure it gets online and support you to pull it off. Just click here to fill in the details of your planned action, and download a resource guide to help you out.
We are building a grassroots movement to stand up to the fossil fuel industry, and support a just transition from coal, oil and gas to a renewable-energy future for all.
Keep 350 Australia strong by chipping in right now:
350 Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to the land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures; and to their Elders past, present and emerging. There can be no climate justice without justice for First Nations people across the globe.“