This topic is to take feedback on parameters for setting a ālaunch dateā for Wave 1 of the Australian Mass Mobilisation. Hereās a quote from the AusMM Manual draft describing Wave 1:
So the question is,
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Key Dates to Consider
| Date | Why |
|---|---|
| September 25 | Exclude at request of allied groups due to major anti-gas action this day. |
| 28th August | Preliminary actions for XR UK / Europe Mobilisation |
| 1st September | Main event for XR UK / Europe Mobilisation |
| November | COP Mobilisation |
This post is in wiki-editable mode. Anyone with Trust Level 2 or above can edit it to add in other dates.
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In this post Iāll put my own opinion.
Wave 1 Launches Immediately (Or Very Soon), with a climax in the first week of September
Rationale:
There are already many local groups and affinity groups primed to carry out small actions across the country. The Pledge Action in Victoria was an activation and introduction to many rebels to the idea of decentralized actions with rebels working in groups that carry out different functions that build a greater and more complex action. It can be seen as a very sophisticated version of a wave 1 action done in large numbers - showing that there is quite a capacity for carrying out actions. However, the groups that were formed were formed via a central coordination function - with rebels being allocated to groups that they did not know and only certain roles being given.
Wave 1 can therefore be used as time to integrate rebels into resilient and self-sufficient affinity groups that can autonomously carry out actions and build group identity and self-organizing practices in the leadup to Wave 2. We can encourage groups to start forming now, with action organiser within the AusMM, state and local groups helping the process along, with an aspirational goal that affinity groups will be formed and carry out these basic actions in order to build our collective power.
By launching immediately or within the next few weeks, we are essentially saying that we are encouraging groups to start the process of forming and planning their actions. We could set dates in the end of August or early September to encourage rebels to plan their wave 1 actions to coincide with the September UK rebellion. We could even plan some large decentralised actions similar to the Pledge action, using the new affinity groups to make a big splash one day.
Furthermore, with the resurgence of coronavirus in Victoria, itās likely that public gathering limits of 10 will be here for the coming weeks - this means that rebels in Victoria are likely to need to stick to affinity group style organizing for now, with any large actions being carried out in a decentralized or swarming way - that is, as many separate small gatherings, like the Pledge action. How this situation effects wave 2 preparations will need to be monitored and developed.
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In this post Iāll include feedback that has been collected so far (that Iām aware of)
The AusMM Actions Working Group had consensus at the last meeting that we could launch wave 1 soon with no real problems - but we should get feedback from the Mobilisation WG and other Working Groups.
The initial response of @ageorge, the External Coordinator of the Mobilisation WG, had no initial objections to any dates coming up but would get feedback from the rest of the Mobilisation WG.
Roger Hallam gave some feedback on this question, saying that action creates mobilisation and encouraging us to set dates that are not too far away so that groups have a target to mobilize for.
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Iāve got a question about having the wave 1 happening in September: will this mean we are beginning the AusMM plan, waves 1-3, before there are any active mobilizers or AusMM - focused Local Groups? I thought the plan was to try and set up thousands of Local Groups over a number of months and then quick off the series of waves once the critical mass was building up?
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My personal opinion is that we consider timing our launch of Wave 1 on August 28 in solidarity with Europe & UK and ride the wave of attention they will create, and from that day the wave 1 begins, and so too this may coincide roughly (?) with launching the initial group of mobilisers working around the country?.. Letās leverage the initial re-focus of XR globally being thrust back into the spotlight to our advantage. I think we can use paint-the-streets as an action in the lead up to this date (starting now, PTS is rocking already) as wave-0, a prelude to wave-1, focusing on promoting the Mass Mobilisation starting date and associated starting actions, so paint the streets is like an on-the-ground grass-roots advertising campaign for wave 1 beginning, and perhaps asking if the digital rebellion crew can use digital rebellion allies/resources to promote this as well online. I think we ask groups who have already formed and already have the capacity to carry out actions around the country (in regions and/or cities if thatās where they are from) to undertake actions to co-incide with the UK & Europe rebellion, at the START of wave 1, hopefully encouraging and/or motivating others to get active, and showing the latent capacity we already have from previous rebellions and all the amazing work that has been done up to now by all the existing XR groups around the country . I think If we have messaging promoting the idea that interested groups/individuals/organisations who may be open to joining a new Mass Mobilisation project can request a mobiliser to come and mobilise their group/region/organisations, we could use the publicity of all actions around that time, plus the paint the streets activities, plus the digital rebellion presence to spread the world that AusMM exists and have trained and resourced mobilisers ready to come to your venue,and train and resource you to take action with XR and our powerful tactics of civil disobedienceā¦ This would mean that if we started wave1 around the end of August (28), if it goes for 3 months(Sept/Oct/Nov) (time for a regenerative action cycle), We MAY be ready (depending on capacity) to transition to wave 2 before Xmas which would be Rad. I know this sounds to some a bit sluggish, and I know that everywhere around this vast country is in different stages of mobilisation currently, but I have noticed that momentum has been lost in many areas around the country following on from the fires / droughts / corona and groups will and do need time to re-form and acknowledge this. Wave-1 may be just as useful for existing groups as newly mobilised groups, as a time to re-acquaint, re-skill, re-structure their groups and roles within groups after the momentum guzzling pause we have been through. And hopefully other groups s will come out blazing with all their previous momentum and then someā¦ Existing groups can perform actions early that will encourage courage in others to step forward and mobilise, and so the disparity in current levels of mobilisation around the country can be used to our advantage instead of being seen as a drawback, action creates mobilisation, creates action, creates mobilisationā¦ Thatās my 2 centsā¦Great we are discussing this hereā¦
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This is a fair point.
I was talking to Andy about this last week and he was going to seek further feedback from the AusMM Mobilisation working group to inform the decision.
My impression was that the mobilisation WG was planning to get mobilising, at least in prototypical form, before the end of July, recruiting existing local groups and starting to put together new ones. Obviously it remains to be seen how effective that process is, but I know theyāre hoping to aim for setting up 10 local groups a week at some point in the near-to-mid future. At the same time, there are various existing local and affinity groups that can likely be recruited straight into the AusMM actions plan while mobilisation is ramping up.
This means, if they do an exceptionally awesome job, that we could have 40 new local groups by mid-august, on top of a bunch of existing local groups (the XR Aus website lists 66 local groups, some of which may be inactive, and there may be some active unlisted local groups). So if Mobilisation get cracking quickly and Actions prepare them for Wave 1 well we could have 100 local groups enlisted for a Wave 1 launch by september 1st.
Of course, things often go wrong, unexpected delays arise, and I suspect that we wonāt achieve the above - but we could still have over 50 groups carry out wave 1 launch actions if we organize decently, and thatās not to be scoffed at. The spectacle of 50+ groups carrying out wave 1 launch actions could be used to mobilise more groups who could continue to carry out wave 1 actions afterwards in the leadup to wave 2.
Now, my thoughts are, with the Melbourne lockdown, that thinking about a tentative launch time that coincides with the XR UK rebellion would be a good way to go - but that we should be watching the COVID situation carefully and be prepared to make a decision to postpone if we have to.
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Yep, Iām on more or less the same page as you Peter. I was thinking that a wave 2 might be possible in late november or early december also.
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I think that regardless of āmobilisersā being on the ground , we can probably use the Wave 1 of actions as the āinā to the first kind of AusMM meeting that we are aiming to have with existing LGās across the board anyway. Action leading to recruitment makes sense.
But I am still unclear what the start of wave 1 will look like? Simultaneous local mini-roadblocks across the nation?
If so I suggest we confirm the date ASAP and have resources ready to share with LGās so that they can do this (and a plan to contact all known LGās/AGās across the nation - which I believe the AUsMM project could do (coz we have members everywhere).
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Also: On Wave 1. The idea has been raised that Wave 1 could be used to target Local Councils to declare Climate Emergency.
The idea being that
a) Australia has many levels of govt so all of them to a degree need to meet our demands and in doing so build momentum towards federal legitimacy of all the demands
b) it gives local groups a way to target their mini-road block or ādie-inā etc actions. two birds with one stone
c) It is also quite a lot more likely to succeed, and we all know that building momentum through successes is really important for morale.
THoughts? @JaneM
Also, Question 2:
What is the plan regarding transitioning from Wave 1 to wave 2 etc?
And how does it relate to other āspring rebellionā more, wave 2 level plans, that states may also be ready for?
Conceptually could a big state capital wave 2 style action be like a tidal wave amidst the general wave 1 build up ?
From my perspective, wave 1 is the general, slow and steady and systematic and rigorous method we use to grow the movement across the nation, which occurs simultaneous to bigger actions that may happen in capital cities prior to wave 2.
I guess it is a question of not stifling energy, but also being focused on building that massive base of LG formation and courage momentum so that waves 2 and 3 can be effective.
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Thank you @ageorge . I agree and support this approach to wave one actions. Focusing on local councils also opens a way forward to discussing citizens assemblies as a way to move forward on the ādeclared climate emergencyā.
I also think wave one provides an excellent opportunity to focus on collaborative actions organised with other groups - e.g. the September 25 national day of action provides a perfect example. it is only through collaborative efforts that we will gain the momentum for mass mobilisation
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Our Local Group XRMidcoast had success kinda here, with getting a CED, the council declared a climate emergency last year (likely helped by the Mayor having to shoot his animals in the head from the drought), then the fires hit and burned the crap out of the place, then floods happened, then Covid hitā¦ Long end of that depressing story is that, I suspect, they made the declaration and thenā¦ nothing happened. In circumstances like ours, (sure this has happened elsewhere) this also gives an opportunity to keep pursuing the follow-on activities that councils making such declarations should then pursue. Tracking data from https://www.cedamia.org/news/latest-climate-emergency-declaration-statistics/ Shows that 96 Councils have made CEDās, covering 8,911,974 citizens, or 35.4% of the population now!!! (But still we get fed a gas-led recovery!)
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Hi @Mad_Mattho, @ageorge, @Mad_Mattho @karenj_briswest @carillo-vic
Could we move this discussion over to AusMM Actions Visioning so the discussion is happening in one place?