Declare Emergency Throw Red Paint on the National Archives

   

   The Rotunda of the National Archives in Washington DC was evacuated after two climate activists with Declare Emergency dumped red powder on themselves and the case holding the United States Constitution. 

   This is the second arrest this week of Declare Emergency activists. Earlier this week, both Donald and Kroger, who took action today, blocked a highway in DC along with another Declare Emergency supporter.

   Declare Emergency is asking for President Biden to declare a climate emergency.

   Donald, who took action today, said, “We are determined to foment a rebellion. We will not be held to laws in which we have no voice or representation. ”

   Kroguer, who also took action, said, “This country is founded on the conditions that all men are created equally and endowed with unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We’re calling for all people to have these rights. Not just wealthy white men. We all deserve clean air, water, food, and a livable climate.”

   Declare Emergency is part of the A22 Network for Civil Resistance. These same activists have been trying to raise the alarm for the past year. Although they have achieved 90% name recognition for Just Stop Oil and Last Generation in Germany and UK respectively, the same can not be said for the US, yet.

   Both Donald and Kroguer were banned from the National Archives, with Green accumulating an additional ban from the entirety of DC due to his past action, where he scrawled “Honor Them” at a 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regimen civil war monument at the National Gallery of Art

They were released after spending 24 hours in jail, with pending charges of defacing public property. 

Declare Emergency later released this statement to the press, "Yesterday's US constitutional right to life, nonviolent civil disobedience, love in action, climate protest for Valentine's Day was intended as a wake up gift to our fellow citizens who are all suffering from a society repressed by a captured government system and public narrative which is very unhealthy and not what our founding fathers had in mind, and no one voted for social and ecological breakdown.

We have collective problems such as our constitutional right to life (i.e. fresh air, clean water, healthy food and livable planet) is being stolen by a few corporate bad actors whose long-term broad and deep power have infiltrated our better human nature. Our better stories have been repressed by six centuries of separation from ourselves and the rest of the living world. From the 550 year-old Doctrine of Discovery, which granted European nations the right to claim the new lands they discovered on behalf of Christendom (recently denounced by Pope Francis) to free market capitalism, our current economy is very unhealthy and driving Earth’s climate breakdown mainly because it’s organized around the delusion of endless growth on a finite planet.

WE THE PEOPLE are calling for a new constitution that gives rights to nature so that we can have an economy organized around socially valuable sectors that work to give everyone a dignified life, and that stays within Earth's carrying capacity. We share collective complex problems, but we believe our better stories are waiting for us if we act together to reach for them. And maybe we can truly learn how to balance our relationship with ourselves and with the rest of the living world if given a chance before it's too late. If not already… starting with President Biden telling us the truth and declaring a climate emergency and then using his executive powers to lead us into our better stories."

After spending 24 hours in jail, Donald and Kroguer posed with the "Declaration of Rebellion." If you'd like to sign the declaration, go here

 

In Solidarity, Will Regan

 

 

 

Will Regan

About

Will Regan has been a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion in the US and Declare Emergency. He's editor in chief for the Daily Rebellion and has been arrested 4 times since taking that role.