Meeting notes -19th february

A devastated church in Roseau, Dominica.

I’m back safely after my trip to Dominica. Thank you for all your well wishes.

This weeks meeting started with a solemn intention, and then we focused on actions and working groups this week. There’s a lot going on. We met at the beacon this week as there were sound issues in the town hall venue.

Coach spaces still available for this Saturdays march

XR Stroud are going to London as a group on Saturday for the enough is enough march. We still have spaces left on our group coach for Stroud. It leaves Wallbridge at 9:30am and we should be back in Stroud at around 7pm. Please use this link to book your seat on the coach which costs £15.

Announcements

An outreach mobilisation plan is needed for the Stroud group. It’s a request from XR Southwest as they need our combined ideas for how to increase our local membership in February and March. As a result a mass mobilisation coordinator is needed for Stroud. Can you help with this role? Please contact us to let me know.

We’re also planning outreach actions as part of this. We’re doing rebel ringing (contacting new members) stalls in Stroud, and an outreach day in Nailsworth.

The Incinerator contract court days start in March. We’ve been asked to attend and support R4C. The first court day is on Monday 2nd March in Bristol. We’re going to try and organise some transport to encourage as many rebels from Stroud as possible to create a physical presence outside the court. We’ll have a more detailed announcement when transport is confirmed.

Stroud XR Samba are having a rehearsal on Friday to help prepare for London. It’s a perfect time for complete beginners to come along as we’ll be learning some new songs. Drums are also available to take to London as XR Stroud will be joining the rest of the UK Sambistas at the march. It’ll be a lot of fun. Our rehearsal is at Openhouse (near Star Anise) on Friday at 7pm to 9pm.

Nailsworth Earthday is on 28th March. This is a shared event for all our local green community groups. Volunteers are needed to help with event management, leafleting, speaking to the public and running stalls. Please contact us if you can do any of these roles.

There will be a funeral march and die in at Newent on 7th March. Forest of Dean XR are welcoming all XR Stroud and XR Gloucestershire members. Starting at approx 10:30am at Newent car park. More information to come.

Stroud is having two XR outreach stalls on 29th Feb and 14th March. These are likely to be in Merrywalks and possibly in the Stroud Farmers market. Both stalls will be run at 10am to 2pm, with some short deescalation training at 9am (which teaches you how to talk to the public, and particularly those who find what we do challenging).

There will also be a heading for extinction talk on 20th March at the Newent community school at 7:30pm. This will also be a Forest of Dean XR event, but all are welcome.

Save the date – 4th April as there will be a critical mass cycle ride in Cheltenham. Bring your bike for a slow and gentle take over of Cheltenham streets with bicycles. All are welcome to this gentle bike ride, but we also have leafleting and public support roles available if you prefer not to cycle. Please contact us if interested in these, otherwise just turn up with your bike.

There is NVDA training on Sunday 15th March for anyone that wants to train as a NVDA (Non Violent Direct Action) trainer. This will be Cirencester in the Cotswold sculpture park 2pm to 6pm.

Lastly, 7th March there is Finance Learn-In day for activists in Bristol. Free tickets are available for those who are interested here.

Working groups

We also had a really interesting group session on deescalation, and how to talk to members of the public with active listening. Then we shared objections that have been shouted at us at actions like;

  • What about the tube action?
  • Why don’t you get a job?
  • I’m just trying to get to work, why are you doing this?
  • We’re doing OK it’s China that needs to improve

Lastly we split into working groups for the following areas:

  • Fossil fuel divestment
  • Earth day Nailsworth
  • Market stalls

Please attend future meetings to find out more details about these areas.