‘Sex strike’ calling for East Sussex County Council action on climate change

A protest is planned outside County Hall in Lewes next Monday (March 16), encouraging people to refrain from sex with the 50 county councillors until they ‘agree to stop funding climate change’.

Divest East Sussex is organising the unorthodox protest, which will be accompanied by a performance of an extract from the ancient Greek play Lysistrata – in which women use a sex strike to end the war between Athens and Sparta.

It is part of a direct action campaign calling for the county council to stop investing in fossil fuels – which it claims the authority invests £175 million of the East Sussex Pension Fund in.

A spokesperson for the campaigners said, “Though it has declared a climate emergency, East Sussex County Council continues to invest £175m of local people’s pensions in the giant oil and gas companies that are driving our current climate crisis – companies like Exxon and BP.

“This is pure hypocrisy. From Liberia to the Philippines, sex strikes have helped to win campaigns for peace and justice.

“So next Monday we will be issuing a call for all people of goodwill to refrain from sex with East Sussex County Councillors until the Council agrees to stop funding climate change.

“We urge all those concerned about climate change to join this strike.”

The protest will take place from 9am-10am outside the building in St Anne’s Crescent.

A spokesperson from the East Sussex Pension Committee said more than 74,000 present and future pensioners from more than 130 organisations rely on the East Sussex Pension Fund.

They said, “Divesting from fossil fuels without proper planning could put their financial security at risk and result in the fund being unable to meet its legal duty.

“However, the committee always takes environmental and social factors extremely seriously and only four per cent of the fund is directly involved in fossil fuel investment.

“The pension fund committee has agreed to appoint a consultant to investigate the implication of environmental issues on the pension fund, particularly with regard to the long term risks of climate change.”