SAL/UER participation in the March to End Fossil Fuels, September 17 (Sept 9 update)
Our SAL/UER delegation will march in the March to End Fossil Fuels, from 1 – 4:30 pm. The march will gather at 56th Street and Broadway between 12 and 1pm. Because we are marching as part of the “Global South Diaspora and Allies (GSDA) Contingent,” we will meet first with them at 12 pm at Urban Plaza at World Wide Plaza (50th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues). The march will go down Broadway to 52nd Street, then head east on 52nd to 1st Ave. This route is about 1.5 miles. It will close with a rally at 1st Ave and 50th Street, near UN headquarters. The rally will end around 4:30pm.
The agreements we made to be part of the GSDA Contingent follow:
1) Keep Global South Diaspora front and center
2) Messaging focusing on "No False Solutions," the "People's Climate Demands," "Climate Reparations and Repair," and "End Fossil Fuels"
3) March in formation with the contingent and security guidelines
We may not stay with the big march to the very end… if it seems it will bottleneck we will pull off and head to Bryant Park and regroup there. Stay tuned.
If you will be marching with us, we need you to fill out this form. https://www.rc.org/workshop/salnycmarch2023
SAL/UER plan for that day:
- Meet at 12 East 41st at 9:00 am to do introductions, land acknowledgement, discharge, organize ourselves, and rehearse with the “hands;” or individuals can meet us at Urban Plaza at World Wide Plaza (50th between 8th and 9th Avenues) at 12 pm. (There are bathrooms there in the shopping mall and there will be porta-potties at the beginning and end of the march.) Wear a SAL or UER t-shirt and carry a SAL bag. Bring lunch, snacks, water, snacks with you or pick it up on the way but before 12 pm.
- At these meetings we will distribute SAL t-shirts, bags, and metro cards to people who need them (your credit card will work instead of a metro card); the hands, signs, and banners we will be displaying as we march; and a packet of SAL materials and flyers to give away (carry in SAL bag or your backpack).
- We will march as a SAL/UER group. Those people carrying the hands will be identified in advance, and that will be their only march role. The rest of us will rotate carrying the banners and circulating in the crowd and talking to people as is possible. Some of us will carry large posters announcing our events, with QR codes for more information. Others will have SAL posters or lists of our handouts, with QR codes, in English and Spanish.
- We may be asked to provide our own security/marshalls; if you are trained and willing to play that role for our group that please let us know.
- Please have a buddy that you stick with throughout the march.
- If things go well, the march and rally will be good outreach opportunities for us. We ask each event to have a team who is marching that will carry a sign about your event and be prepared to engage people about the sign and your event along the march. That team need not be part of our delegation (some of you will not be here yet); if you can find others who will do this for your event under your leader’s/lead organizer’s supervision, that is fine.
- If we go to the rally after the march, we will have many listening projects focused on SAL event themes. We will also have “pop-up” workshops with listening circles on these topics: climate anxiety, burnout. We would like pairs of people ready to lead these (preferable Global Majority paired with a white person). They will be short, we have outlines we can share with the leaders.
- We may do the same at Bryant Park if we pull out of the march early.
- Many of us will end our day at the final rally near the UN or at Bryant Park, but return to pick up things left at 12 East 41st as needed. We have to be out of that space by 5 pm.
- We will use Signal to communicate, but sometimes large crowds jam cell reception and we may lose cell communication. Stick with your buddy and try to stay with us. If you can’t find us and can’t get into the rally, we will meet back at Bryant Park or at 12 East 41st Street by 4:30 pm. Or you may want to go home or back to the BnB. Stay tuned for further plans.
THE HANDS PROJECT
During the march, we want 40 co-counselors and friends marching with three-foot-tall Hands in all different skin colors. The hands will have five movements:
- STOP (pushing the hand forward)
- HELLO (waving the hand side to side)
- SHAKE (shaking the hand)
- VICTORY (slapping high five with other hands)
- Flip the hands to show the backs
We are currently looking for drummers. There will be one drum beat for each hand movement. When you hear the beat you’ll know which hand movement is being signaled. The backs of the Hands are 40 different hues of green, with slogans. Carrying a Hand requires a short rehearsal, just enough to learn the five different drum beats.
We have scheduled a series of art builds at the Extinction Rebellion NYC studio, and we
are looking for co-counselors and their friends to join us in creating artwork. The Hands are finished but we have plenty of other art to make. No RC or artmaking experience is necessary to join the art builds! Please sign up before you come. The signup sheet with all of the information you need is at this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Bb0tU_3ZzoXSZr6zDY2-q0u4HKfiEKy8Hr4l8-ynA4/edit
We hope this will be a vibrant SAL contingent at the march that reflects the liberation
work we have done as RCers. We hope that Global Majority RCers will take their visible, rightful place in ending racism, oppression, and the climate emergency. We hope GMs create and march with these Hands and invite friends and loved ones. We want to make visible our relationships across constituencies and march alongside each other. We hope white RCers who can attend the march will discharge and reach for your beloved Global Majority people in your life, offer this idea, and use the opportunity to back their leadership. We have also shared this idea with other groups, and at least one other organization will join with us in this multi-media/multi-racial art event. Hopefully we will fill the streets with close to 100 Hands marching together.
We would love to have as many Global Majority RCers as possible carry a hand in the march (and some of our white delegates as well). If you or a friend (Global Majority?) want to carry a hand in the march, but can’t attend an art build, please fill out this form to tell us the name of the person carrying the sign, their email, the skin tone of the person carrying the hand (see the photo on the form, choices are 1 - 4). The person who will carry the sign must meet us either at 9 am 12 East 41st or at 12 pm at Urban Plaza at World Wide Plaza (50th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues). Please indicate where you will meet us by filling out the form here:https://www.rc.org/workshop/salnycmarch2023