Climate Pledge of Resistance
Moving beyond talk towards climate justice
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Organizing and Action Agreements
Building a movement for radical social change may require working with people that have different perspectives than ourselves. At the same time, we know that we are all united in our resistance against those who are driving the destruction of people and the planet.
Developing actions agreements allow people from many backgrounds, movements and beliefs to work together within a framework of respect, trust and accountability. Organizing and action agreements also help ensure that our actions fit within both the context of community struggles and our global resistance to the climate crisis.
We urge people to engage in nonviolent resistance and to embrace the following guidelines when taking action in the name of Beyond Talk: CPR for the Planet!
In order to build long term community resistance to the drivers of climate change, we agree that:
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Our actions will be nonviolent respecting the safety and long-term resilience of local activists, their families and communities.
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Our action strategies and tactics will respect, and be shaped in dialogue with local, community activists and organizations.
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Our action strategy will embody tactics that make space for a diversity of participation, enhance opportunities to organize in the years to come, and empower local community activists to embrace their leadership of the climate justice movement.
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Our actions will model and promote solutions to the climate crisis.
When we come together to take action, we agree to the following guidelines.
- We will use no violence, physical or verbal, towards any person.
- We will carry no weapons.
- We will not bring or use any alcohol or illegal drugs.
- We will not destroy property.
- We will not put people at risk who have not chosen to engage in collective action.
The Pledge
I pledge to engage in non-violent civil disobedience and risk arrest in order to get our leaders to make the right climate-change choices.
(You will receive an email with further instructions.)
Currently at 6121 and counting!
When at least 10,000 people have signed up on this list, we will be in a position to perform the largest civil disobedience action in the history of the climate-change movement.
And it will be worldwide — and especially in major cities. Our actions leading up to Copenhagen and beyond will challenge power and show our leaders the kind of change we want. It will give President Obama, for example, the excuse he needs to listen to people, not profits.
On November 30, on the 10th annniversary of the non-violent shut-down of the WTO meeting in Seattle, and one week before the beginning of the Copenhagen climate negotiations, we are calling for a full activation of the campaign. Are you getting ready?
As surely as Apartheid and Segregation were ended by non-violent civil disobedience, climate policy will change too.
It is a choice to exercise your power in a very effective way, but there are consequences that can be serious. We have provided you a variety of resources on this website to help you understand the history and practice of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience and how to exercise our power responsibly.
Some people have expressed the concern that they are interested in doing civil disobedience, but cannot do it all the time and are therefore confused about which pledge to sign. Not all pledge signers can do actions, which will definitely result in arrest every time there is a demonstration. Each time there is a national signal calling for civil disobedience, or the local CPR group decides that it is time to act and use civil disobedience, each affinity group decides on its participation, and each person in that affinity group decides on how to participate. Every person looks at her or his personal situation, commitment, and the urgency of what is happening to the climate and makes a decision. Those that cannot pledge to perform civil disobedience can still join the Climate Change Pledge of Resistance through legal protest and support.
I cannot risk arrest, but I will join others in acts of legal protest in order to get our leaders to make the right climate-change choices. I also pledge to demonstrate my support for those who risk arrest to halt climate change.
(You will receive an email with further instructions.)
For the purposes of Climate Change Pledge of Resistance actions, we ask all pledge signers to make a commitment to the Organizing and Action Agreements to the left.
