- cross-posted to:
- climate@slrpnk.net
- cross-posted to:
- climate@slrpnk.net
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As much as I loathe the civil disobedience tactics of movements like Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion; I feel like attacking our freedom to protest like this is going to backfire.
This may push such groups into radicalism because “we’re going to prison anyway, may as well go all the way.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A climate activist has been jailed for six months after pleading guilty to taking part in a peaceful slow march protest on a London road.
The sentence handed to Stephen Gingell, 57, is thought to be the first jailing under a new law that critics say makes anyone walking in a road liable for prosecution for “interference with key national infrastructure”.
Gingell, a father of three from Manchester, was one of about 40 supporters of Just Stop Oil who spent about 30 minutes marching on Holloway Road in north London at about 4pm on 12 November, the climate campaign group said.
The campaign’s “guerrilla tactics” were cited by the Home Office when it introduced the Public Order Act’s tough new anti-protest measures to parliament.
Police began using section 7 to tackle Just Stop Oil’s protests at the end of October, arresting 60 people taking part in a march in Parliament Square.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “Section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023, a law drafted by the fossil fuel lobby, was introduced in April by Priti Patel, and covers ‘interference with the use or operation of key national infrastructure’.
The original article contains 503 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
These people keep causing problems and inconveniencing everyone except the people that actually have the influence to do what they want.
The only thing they have accomplished is making “Just Stop” people look like clowns, and making everyone else dislike them and their message.
Just Stop Oil activists are among the worlds ultimate clowns.
The time and effort you put into typing this comment, would have been better spent discussing the more important, relevant and dangerous issues you can find simply in the headline. 1- big oil has our politicians in their pockets. 2- The UK government is putting people in jail for protesting, not rioting. And so what if you’re late for work? Are you so overpaid that you prioritize getting to the office on time over a protest to avoid planetary genocide? Turn off your car and join the march!!
The time and effort you put into typing this comment would have been better spent overthrowing your corrupt government and replacing it with an incorruptible one. Or at least a less corrupt one.
Ah, but why do that when you can scold random people on the internet for not joining a protest you admit is pointless?And is it not pointless to protest when the government is corrupt? They will not care after all since they’re in someone’s pocket…
Look around the world and say how many protests against corrupt, tyrannical governments actually work instead of being squashed into silent submission?Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t do something about it, but to do something that actually works instead of just walking down the street with a sign and then calling it a day once you’ve pissed off enough people.
I did achieve something through protest: pushing out an invading army. Beirut 2005. But please tell me more about your inconveniences.
mic drop
Bravo, friend!
How have we forgotten that an oil heiress is behind just stop oil ??
What? Who? And why ?
It’s not really true, see: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/22/just-stop-oil-van-gogh-national-gallery-aileen-getty
This is one donor, not “the person behind”. The family made a lot of money on oil and has since entirely divested. The “heiress” in question is on the record saying she believes climate change threatens all of civilization and so she wants to put her fortune – especially given that a lot of it came from oil – to use stopping fossil fuels.
It’s basically EXACTLY what a sane person with a functional moral compass should do in that position, but it’s used as attack and slander regardless. Threads like this you ALWAYS see the right-wing talking points parroted faithfully by people who are either too gullible to do basic fact-checking or else are flatly disingenuous and manipulative.
Reminds me of vegans stopping and harassing people going to like a restaurant or fastfood chain.
There is a right way to do and wrong way to do it. Making people mad isn’t going to help the cause, but push them in the wrong direction.
The suffragettes put acid in postboxes, chained themselves to railings, and bombed the Chancellor of the Exchecquer’s house.
A few years ago, I read about how Mary Molony was an Irish Suffragette who disrupted a speech Winston Churchill was giving in Dundee by ringing a bell every time he tried to speak. She wanted him to apologise for remarks he had made about the women’s suffrage movement.
I remember when I read this, it reeked of something awesome that you find online that’s actually false (the story was shared on social media via a captioned photo with no sources), so I went digging for a proper source to check. I found some newspaper articles from 1908 and I learned that this event did happen, but also that people fucking hated Molony for this. There was a lot of “see, this is why everyone hates the Suffragettes”. (Sorry for saying this and then not sourcing)
It makes sense that people would be salty - Churchill was an asshole, but also a great orator, so I can see why one might be disappointed in missing the chance to see him speak, but I was shocked at the level of vitriol aimed at Molony and other Suffragettes from the time. Until this I hadn’t realised just how unpopular they were at the time. It’s drastically changed my perspective on protests and public perception.
And what’s interesting is that the suffragists (Millicent Fawcett chief among them) were at the same time working to peacefully lobby for suffrage, and yet they are not remembered remotely as much as the suffragettes.
What I personally believe is that the more militant wings of movements work best when they are bringing into focus something that the public already broadly believes. When people say ‘I agree with their point, but not their methods’, they’re doing a whole lot of discussion of your issue, and agreeing with your message.
At the same time I think you do need the quiet lobbying to be done to effectively push for specific legislation. Both a carrot to offer government an easy path, and a stick to keep it in the public spotlight.
Do EVERYONE a favor and pick up a history book at least ONCE in your sad little life.
The only people who say this are people who are ignorant of history. Here’s a quote from Martin Luther King that I think is very relevant:
First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.”
Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Good
Hey at least you’re unarmed and can’t fight back against your fascist government when they take your rights.
