After a week-long hunger strike, Extinction Rebellion activist Filippo Guerrini has suspended his protest action. The municipality of Bologna received him, committing to begin the process of adopting a climate emergency declaration.
After seven days of a hunger strike for the climate, Filippo Guerrini, 26, decided to bring it to an end. The protest action, promoted by the Bologna branch of the Extinction Rebellion network, was intended to draw the attention of the municipality of Bologna, so that the administration would declare a state of climate and environmental emergency. On Monday 26 August, Filippo's strike ended after the councillor for the environment, Valentina Orioli, officially invited a delegation from Extinction Rebellion to come to her office to discuss together the points contained in the movement's proposal.
The climate crisis is a reality, it is science. Guerrini knows this well: after years of studying agriculture and natural systems, he found himself powerless in the face of political inaction in managing the ongoing emergency. Farmers are reporting falling harvests, environmental associations are denouncing the lack of political action, and citizens are forming committees to raise awareness. But far too often such demands go unheard. For this reason, Guerrini, as a citizen concerned about the future, had decided to launch an open-ended hunger strike beginning on 20 August.
"The choice of a hunger strike is no coincidence," the activists explain. "It is a vivid representation of what could happen to all of us in just a few years if we do not act quickly: suffering from hunger." The movement sent the Bologna administration a series of demands aimed at reducing the city's environmental impact. These include communicating the CO2 equivalent emissions value of the metropolitan city of Bologna, promoting emissions reduction initiatives among citizens, and establishing a road map of necessary measures in terms of sustainable mobility, energy retrofitting and reforestation plans.
"The meeting took place in a calm atmosphere, with active listening and open collaboration," the delegation explains at the end of the meeting. "In two hours of discussion on the draft motion, which we submitted on 29 July, we engaged with the administration, highlighting a clear problem of clarity regarding the CO2 emissions figures for the city and, more broadly, we pointed out that although statistics and databases are available — not always up to date — these are extremely difficult for citizens to understand." In general, the activists are calling for zero emissions by 2025, but above all for citizens' assemblies to be convened, bringing together institutions and scientists to propose new environmental policies from the ground up.
For its part, the city council said it was in favour of discussing the document and of beginning the process of adopting a state of climate and environmental emergency. The process in the council involves an exploratory hearing within the environment committee, followed by a meeting of group leaders to schedule discussion of the proposal. The proposal is then debated and — it is hoped — approved. The Bologna branch of Extinction Rebellion has made it known that it will keep watch over the process, hoping that the discussion will take place by the month of September.