When rebels meet at 7am and don’t stop fighting for climate justice until 4pm, you know you’re doing something right. On September 7th, XR Toronto members gathered at Bloor and Adelaide. With the sun barely out, they proceeded into the Path, where they slowly “died of heat.” the same impactful script was read as at the Kensington die-in the week before. While the rebels were quickly kicked out by disgruntled security guards, they simply picked up and walked to Union, where they “died” again, and once booted out of there, they ran into a group of flexible, yoga-performing activists and “died” alongside them. All this before 9am!
While the die-ins were a great kick-start to the day, they were more of an icing for the activist cake later that day. It was the global climate strike, too. At 11am, the grass in front of Queen’s Park began filling with people of all ages, taking time off work or school to fight for our future. Rousing speeches and beautiful musical performances were enjoyed by all, and then we started marching. People began streaming out of the park around 12, and there was about an hour of marching altogether. Estimates on numbers range from a conservative 50,000 to 100,000! XR proudly marched alongside our Climate-Conscious Comrades.
The Strike was amazing, mobilizing 6 million people all around the world. But we can’t fizzle out. We must keep the momentum going, and continue pressuring governments for change. Join XR Toronto on October 7th to disrupt business as usual right here in the biggest city in the country. Sign up here.
Photos thanks to JP H, Yana Sery, and Prashant Tripathi.