Dear all,

Recently Extinction Rebellion in Switzerland were accused of being conspiracy theorists, a doomsday cult, and unworthy of calling themselves climate activists, based on a misleading screenshot from a video that we had shared. We have had to remove the original post after some people were forced to leave fb because of the horrible messages they were receiving as a result of the accusations. (More on this below).

We’d like to reassure you that Extinction Rebellion’s demands are rooted in solid science. Our first demand is that the government should tell the truth about the climate and environmental emergency. We do not support or encourage conspiracy theories. If anyone has doubts or questions about this, we encourage them to visit our website or attend one of the climate and environment talks that we give. Some of our speakers are scientists themselves.

Neither are we a doomsday cult. Our slogan is “rebel for life”. We love this earth, the people and all living beings in it, and we want it not to be destroyed. We are not heading for the hills with guns and tinned food, but rather heading for the streets (after the lockdown is finished!) to demand that our governments act to ensure that we have a future, not just in the West but everywhere on earth. We demand climate and ecological justice. We do not understand how anyone can claim that we are not committed to this cause when nearly 300 of our members have so far been arrested and/or given fines for protesting for that very reason.

The video concerned showed a demonstration for democracy, involving people from various backgrounds, including some Climate Strikers. As we clearly stated at the time, XR was not involved in this demonstration. In posting the video, we wanted to show solidarity with friendly movements, and our support for the desire for more democracy, which is our third demand. We as XR Switzerland do not support every sign or demand made by the demonstration, just as other movements do not necessarily support every sign that is visible on footage of their protests. The video is reposted below so that you can see the whole thing for yourself.

We are sad that a few people have been making false statements about us based on one person’s misleading screenshot, and we are grateful to those who have asked us for clarification directly rather than spreading unfounded accusations. We are also distressed at the fact that these accusations come from people in friendly movements. If we in the climate movement fight among ourselves like this, how can we ever achieve our shared goals?

We recognise that everyone makes mistakes sometimes. This way of interacting is a sad result of the society we live in, where individual perspectives, separation and violent communication are the norm. We invite everyone with doubts about our intentions or way of working to reach out to XR Switzerland directly. This way we can address your concerns.

Extinction Rebellion Switzerland is decentralised and open to anyone who cares about the climate crisis. The emergency affects us all. The only prerequisite is acceptance of our ten principles, which can be found here: https://xrebellion.ch/en/about/

We believe that all climate movements should be allied in resisting climate change, and work together to tell the truth and convince our politicians to act now. We will continue to support other climate groups and we look forward to continuing this vital task with you, for as long as it takes to get results.

Let’s rebel for life!

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