Shropshire activists join Parliament sit-down protest against fossil fuels
Activists from Shropshire were involved in a sit-down protest in Parliament, calling for fossil fuels to be left in the ground and for a green transition.
Extinction Rebellion members from Shrewsbury and Oswestry locked arms with protestors from across the country, unfurling a banner saying: "G7: Pay your climate debt".
They were supporting Debt for Climate, a Global South-led campaign calling for the cancellation of all Global South debt as a means of paying to leave fossil fuels and finance a green future.
The Global South is a term often used to identify regions within Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
Cathy Allen of Debt for Climate and Extinction Rebellion Global Support said: “As the world's biggest economic powers converge at the G7 summit, the people with most at stake in the G7’s decisions are denied a seat at the table. People of the Global South are choking beneath reinforcing crises of climate and debt, and we are here in solidarity to bring their message to the heart of British power.”
Mike Bastow, of Extinction Rebellion Oswestry, said: “Three Shropshire residents from Oswestry and Shrewsbury joined the protest to highlight the corrupt system that has spread around the globe.
"While nations in the Global South – from Africa to Asia to South America – are forced into debt poverty, fossil fuel companies like Shell exploit their misery, drilling for oil in gas in these nations and making record profits at their expense. Meanwhile, here in Shropshire, we’re seeing growing fuel poverty as lower income families are forced to choose between heating and eating.
"The cost of living crisis, the climate crisis, and the global debt crisis are all part of the same rotten system that is letting the richest one per cent grow their insane wealth at the expense of the rest of us. Cancelling the debt is the first step towards a fairer world for everyone.”
The action was part of a global mobilisation during the G7 Summit in Germany which saw over 40 protests from groups in various countries over the three days of the summit.
