The fact that the comment sections of these posts are always the same just shows how much oil propaganda has affected the situation.
That and people thinking protesting isn’t deliberately meant to disrupt the daily lives of people in an attempt to force them to acknowledge there’s a problem and do something about it.
By nature protests are supposed to be disruptive to the average person because it’s the average person that decides what policies and laws we have.
The problem is the average person is too stupid/ignorant/tired/lazy to realize this and just sees it as a personal attack and reacts with pure emotion.
No. Protests are supposed to change the mind of the average person, or at least bring their attention to a given cause.
Holding someone’s time to ransom doesn’t help your cause, it just makes people resent you.
Has the UK become more environmentally aware since Just Stop Oil kicked off?
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.
You posted this twice.
It’s relevant twice. Did you read it?
Yes, only once though.
@Ilovethebomb @ThatWeirdGuy1001 Some protests are instead designed to raise the cost of an abusive behavior so the rich ruling class will buy less of it.
Don’t waste time trying to speak truth to this kind of power, speak power to oppressors instead. Make sure they understand that we can match ANY level of escalation on their part.
This is how we killed Huntingdon “Life” Sciences: the public already opposed vivisection, but vivisection was on both sides of the ballot.
How is any of that related to blocking roads? How is that “speaking power to oppressors”?
The UK is truly becoming a fascist hellhole.
“You’re allowed to protest, but only between 5PM and 6PM and you must get a permit and also don’t bother anyone or make too much noise and also you must walk at the right speed otherwise you’re just being a meanie and we’re going to arrest you >:(”
While I think some of Just Stop Oil’s previous antics are counterproductive to the public image of climate activists, arresting someone because they didn’t protest “at the right speed” is ridiculous. The whole point of protests is to be disruptive and bring attention to the protesters and their cause, and this is an incredibly mild way of doing it.
Also did the British government forget about the troubles? When folks cant peacefully protest shit tends to explode both metaphorically and sometimes literally. Oh wbo am I kidding the British government is full of dipshits. Give it to the inbred english aristocracy and oligarchy to repeatedly smash their dicks with a hammer.
Also did the British government forget about the troubles?
Damn right they forgot about Northern Ireland. They barely care about anywhere outside of London.
People have a right to go about their day, you can’t have everyone with a gripe going around blocking roads all the time.
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.
This has “if you’re not for us, you’re against us” vibes.
They’re literally against them.
You are an awful status quo, please don’t rock my boat it’s working for me and I don’t care about anybody or anything else person.
This. I don’t care how righteous your cause is. Get the fuck out of my way and go stab an oil exec if you actually want change.
You would have volunteered to guard the concentration camps because if the Jews got out they’d make a ruckus.
They probably wouldn’t have taken me because I’m a Jew, dipshit.
There were Nazi Jews. There were even Jews who guarded concentration camps. Hitler didn’t spare them.
Go do a slow march against the next Hitler and see how much they care. Then enjoy 6 months in jail.
Nice attempt to change the subject, but you failed.
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’.
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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.
Do EVERYONE a favor and pick up a history book at least ONCE in your sad little life.
Hey at least you’re unarmed and can’t fight back against your fascist government when they take your rights.
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.
Yes, it’s the people who are protesting the thing that are wrong, down with them. Jail is too good for them, I saw on the news that five people were a little bit late to work that day, so obviously, we can’t stand them.
Maybe you should stomach some of this contempt for the oil companies.
Just so you are aware, there are people who believe Just Stop Oil is intentionally trying to make climate activists look bad because some of their funds come from a member of the Getty family. I first became aware of the conspiracy theory when they threw soup on that painting. I do not have the opinion that they demonstrate behavior that is significantly worse than any other group.
I fund climate activism – and I applaud the Van Gogh protest
Aileen GettyThe Just Stop Oil protest shocked the world, but we must take disruptive action on the climate crisis before it’s too late
…
I am the daughter of a famous family who built their fortune on fossil fuels – but we now know that the extraction and use of fossil fuels is killing life on our planet. Our family sold that company four decades ago, and I instead vowed to use my resources to take every means to protect life on Earth.People often come up with theories about my motivation to engage in the climate movement. My motivation is clear: I am fighting for a livable planet for my family and yours. I am not dwelling on the past. I am looking to build a better future.
A valid protest targets the perpetrators of the offending acts, not the victims of those acts.
Harassing people for having been victimized by a bad actor is not a protest. It’s a temper tantrum.
So protesting is only ever acceptable if the only people impacted by the protests are precisely the offenders being protested. If anyone else is affected, protestors should go to jail for their heinous crime of protest. If the very people the protest target make themselves inaccessible to protesters, then protest is not allowed.
“The quarterback stole our lunch money, so we’re going to beat up the chess club.”
That’s you. That’s what you sound like.
This protest targeted the perpetrators of the offending acts.
So… anyone driving a car?
Not saying they are the worst perpetrators, but if you’re saying it should only target offending acts then “just stopping oil” should be righteous in grinding pretty much every vehicle to a halt.
The further up the chain you go, the more respect I will have for your cause. Target fuel stations instead of the general public, and we can talk.
Why are the poor petrol station workers the ones who should be bothered instead of people driving cars? It’s not going to annoy Shell, as a global mega corp, any more impactfully by blockading one of their stations. Its just the same annoyance with less impact and visibility.
The objective is to “stop oil”, is it not? With oil gone, those “poor petrol station workers” are going to be out of a job anyway. They’re part of the problem: they make their living selling oil. As employees working in the industry, they are legitimate targets for protest action.
You don’t need to confine yourself to annoyance. Once you’re actually targeting someone profiting from the sale of oil, you can escalate your protest.
Go dismantle their fuel hoses. They all have breakaway fittings to avoid causing serious damage if someone drives off with one. Go pull down some fuel hoses and put some pumps out of commission. Jam card readers. Hit E-Stop buttons. All are simple (albeit illegal) nuisances that don’t actually cause property damage, but will disrupt operations and gain attention.
Want to go further? Target car dealers that sell only or mostly ICE vehicles. Go spray paint a red line separating the front and back halves of their lot. Tell them the front half of their lot is for electrics and plug-in hybrids only. Find an ICE vehicle in front of the red line, and their dealership will be targeted for protest actions. Again, because these are legitimate targets working against your cause, you can escalate well beyond simple annoyance.
What you’ve laid out there are a few ideas for much less legal and much less exposure rich disruption. Annoying small businesses profiting from the sale of oil vehicles and fuel isn’t going to make them pack up and start a new business and it’s certainly not going to get more exposure to the cause. Sure it’s an escalation, but you only want it so you don’t have to sit in a traffic jam.
The article is about someone getting jail tome for a peaceful protest which is quite outrageous. Getting jail time for actual vandalism would be less outrageous.
A valid protest draws attention… Past that, were talking effectiveness.
I tend to agree that inconveniencing workers isn’t a good strategy in general… But we’re talking about it
The only “talking” being done is a demand for more police action to be taken against such disruption. The general public has identified its “hero” as the tribal cop who shut down a similar protest in Nevada by driving his cruiser through a group of protesters, and arresting them at gunpoint.
If your actions are so egregious as to make the public broadly yearn for American-style policing, you’be fucked up.
Or you could say these protestors are regularly getting in headlines, showing that there’s an escalating culture of absolute rejection of social mores so long as major, vital changes don’t happen. Creating serious problems for bureaucrats and elected officials that forces a response that often makes those officials and bureaucrats look like assholes.
The protests are factually inconveniencing and causing problems for people that have the influence to get policy changed, at least so long as democracy is functional. You aren’t going to be able to protest an oil magnate. They are not accessible for protest.
Your thesis is that people will vote against climate protestors just because they were late getting to work one day. If that’s correct, we may as well get out the Flavor-Aid because this world’s beyond saving. Everyone needs to be reminded and thinking about this crisis. Every day. It needs to be front and center. Time is running out. We have the solutions needed to avoid catastrophe, but too many are simply not aware and thinking about how terrible the danger is and need daily reminding.
We seem to be forgetting that protests once involved burning down neighborhoods and executing rulers. Which really is what we should be doing, given the enormity of the problem. This is a more civil compromise. Don’t buy into the media powers that want to turn you against anyone expressing discontent.
If the Earth Day protests happened today, the media narrative around them would be “Look at all these fuckers, on the streets, stopping me from getting to the gas station to buy a Slim Jim!” It’s fucked. The attitude is fucked.
They’re not specifically targeting their protests to inconvenience the influencers, politicians or industries supporting the licensing of Big Oil. The majority targets making a large spectacle, with a significant amounts of criminal damage - something to become news-worthy.
Not once have I seen them promote alternative policy changes for oil & gas use. They’re also not promoting projects dealing with climate change.
They’re certainly getting exposure, but they’re not winning the public vote. I agree with their cause, but I despise their methods.
Ah, more ways you aren’t allowed to protest to add to the list.
- You aren’t allowed to protest unless the protest only affects the Officially Designated List (ODL) of “influencers”, politicians, or industries. Other people affected by protests is unacceptable.
- Democratic action cannot be a goal of protest. Protest must only be targeted to inconvenience bad guys (see ODL) and nothing else.
- Protests must not cause spectacle. The must be subdued, quiet, and easily ignored.
- Protestors must always be of a positive nature; only protests that have specific solutions and plans of actions are allowed. Protesting against things is unacceptable, you must only protest FOR things.
- Protest that involves property crime must be entirely shut down, permanently, with the entire organization tarred and feathered. ESPECIALLY if the property crime was throwing soup at a museum painting that was fully-sealed behind glass and totally protected. Protecting fine art matters more than keeping our civilization running.
Let me know if you’ve got more Unacceptable Protest Options (UPOs). I’ll maintain the list for you.
Agreed they should show up to the oil executives houses drag their families out in the street and hang them from the streetlights from shortest to tallest.
What are they going to do put them in prison? The same thing they do for a slow walking.
…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 cannot agree with your methods of direct action‘ …
Do you realize they blocked the road in front of an oil refinery before this?
They are bankrolled by fossil fuel groups, right ?
No, that’s basically misinformation.
There’s a major donor who’s the daughter of a family who’s previous generation made money on fossil fuels and has since divested and wants to distance themselves. Based on the fact that it is now clear how utterly destructive fossil fuels are.
Conservatives / climate deniers use some parts of this fact as part of a campaign to discredit the organization and keep the media narrative around these protests on “oh, this style of protest does not match my aesthetics so it must be bad” instead of “the climate is on fire and the perpetrators are getting rich doing it and we should ALL be in the streets making noise and inconveniencing people until something is done.”
Go picket gas stations. Same technique, similar level of disruption, but now the affected parties are actually part of the oil industry, and not just random people going about their lives.
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!
The only people who fall for this propaganda from upholders of the status quo 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.
Every-time this is said I always think of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gje3HiouzvQ
