Thread by @XRebellionAus

💥BREAKING💥

Pedal Rebels are swarming Naarm / Melbourne with a scramble of skeletons and a message for @SantosLtd, sponsor of @TourDownUnder, and @ANZ_au, sponsor of @AustralianOpen:

It’s time to kick fossil fuel sponsorship out of Aussie sport! 🖕

🧵⬇️

@ANZ sponsors the @AustralianOpen and is one of the big four banks funding @SantosLtd, responsible for desecrating sacred Gomeroi Country and cooking the planet.

Santos sponsors the @TourDownUnder. Rebels have protested Santos’ sportswashing all week:

ausrebellion.earth/news/xr-sa-cha…

As rebels swarm the streets of Naarm, deathly fingers of @ANZ and @SantosLtd Business Execs are clutching briefcases stuffed with worthless dollars because business-as-usual = death.

@ANZ_au: We 👀 through your greenwashing!

@SantosLtd: We 👀 through your sportswashing!

Fossil fuel corporations like @SantosLtd use sponsorships to buy social licence for their climate-wrecking activities.

Coal, gas and oil companies spend $14 to $18 million every year greenwashing their public image by sponsoring sport in Australia 🤮

acf.org.au/new-research-f…

LIVE: fb.watch/iaW9Y8Z8a8/?mi…

Rebels are booing in response to @TourDownUnder sponsor @SantosLtd’s plans for 850 gas wells on sacred Gomeroi Country.

In solidarity with Gomeroi, XR’s message for the #TourDownUnder: Dump Santos!

@ANZ_au: Stop funding fossil fuels!

ICYMI: @Santosltd’s Narrabri Gas Project will pump 120 million tonnes of toxic carbon into the atmosphere.

They’ve tried to pay off Gomeroi people for their $3.5bn death project.

There are tales of cash in briefcases and tickets to sporting events for a select few 🤑🤮

But Gomeroi choose Country over profits.

You can’t put a price on culture!

#GamilMeansNo

“The destruction that will occur at the hands of @SantosLtd will impact peoples’ access to clean air and water. Whether underground, above or falling from the sky, water is the key to all life and nobody must upset the balance,” said sovereign Gomeroi yinaar Linda Whitten.

“We reiterate the fact that @Santosltd is not welcome on the sacred lands of the Gomeroi. The fight and stance against them, and those like them, will continue,” said sovereign Gomeroi yinaar Linda Whitten.

“Santos, get off our sacred lands!”

#GamilMeansNo

“The Gomeroi fight for Country is our fight for life on this planet,” said rebel Viola.

“See this shirt? He is the Hairy Man who protects the Pilliga forest. Aunty Polly said that Pilliga belongs to him and Gomeroi will fight for him! He needs our help to stop @Santosltd!”

“Extinction Rebellion is appalled that fossil fuel companies are allowed to sponsor anything at all, let alone big sporting events like the @TourDownUnder and @AustralianOpen while they destroy our future and sacred cultures and lands,” said rebel Viola.

“Banks and corporations like @ANZ_au and @Santosltd are investing in environmental destruction and fuelling climate collapse, despite the @UN Secretary @AntonioGuterres labelling Australia a ‘holdout’ for refusing to do more on climate change,” said @ScientistRebel1 rebel Brenda.

“We are here today to call out this attempt to greenwash the image of fossil fuels,” said @ScientistRebel1 rebel Brenda.

“It’s time to #TellTheTruth about sports sponsorship in Australia. Sports and the companies that sponsor them have a choice: planet or profits.”

#ActNow

GREENWASHING SPORT?
WHAT A RORT! 🙅🏿‍♂️🙅🏼‍♀️🙅🏽

Coal, gas and oil companies spend $14 to $18 million a year greenwashing their public image by sponsoring sport in Australia, according to a new report by the @ClimateCouncil.

#ClimateEmergency

climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/upl…

“By 2040 heatwaves in Sydney and Melbourne could reach highs of 50°C, threatening the viability of summer sport as it is currently played,” said @ClimateCouncil.

“No athlete is immune to increasingly hot summers which are a health hazard for those playing and watching sport.”

CLIMATE CRISIS = ATHLETES AT RISK

Extreme heat, exacerbated by climate change, is already a major health hazard for cyclists and the viability of the @Santosltd #TourDownUnder.

Code Red temps forced TDU to reduce the length of the of the race in 2019:

cyclist.co.uk/news/5859/extr…

Temperatures at the @AustralianOpen have repeatedly hit +40°C with games suspended and players taken to hospital.

In 2014, almost 1,000 spectators were treated for heat exhaustion.

Yet @ANZ_au who fund fossil-fuelled heat sponsor the event! 🤪🙃

nytimes.com/2014/01/18/spo…

WE 🫶 CYCLING + TENNIS!
WE HATE FOSSIL FUELS!

Extinction Rebellion Australia begs the @TourDownUnder and the @AustralianOpen to dump @SantosLtd and @ANZ_au as sponsors.

No sport or culture on a dead planet!

WE WANNA LIVE 🌏🐨🌿

#ClimateEmergency

This action takes place on the stolen land of Wurundjeri, Woiwurrung people.
⁣
We pay respect to Elders past and present. We acknowledge their sovereignty and ongoing resistance against the forces of capitalism and colonialism which fuel the climate and ecological emergency.⁣

Join us: ausrebellion.earth

#ClimateEmergency
#TellTheTruth
#ActNow