Just Stop Protests
Given the scale of the climate crisis as outlined on this page, KENT BARKER asks what we can and what we should do to combat it.
Let’s be quite clear, this government has an absolutely appalling record on combating climate change. Even before Sunak effectively washed his hands of Net Zero, the Tories had given £20bn more in support to fossil fuel producers than those of renewables over the past eight years – a fifth of that money given directly to the fossil fuel industry to support new extraction and mining. It’s given the go-ahead for a new deep coal mine in Cumbria. It’s extending licences for dozens of new North Sea oil and gas fields. It’s slashed subsidies and grants for domestic solar panels. Onshore wind farms have been on hold since David Cameron, in 2015 as a former minister, accused the PM of effectively blocking any chance of their reintroduction. Now his government appears to be reneging on commitments for gas boilers to be phased out.
It’s no wonder that groups like Just Stop Oil have resorted to direct action to protest and publicise the situation. The question is, do you approve of their methods? If you are an arts-lover you may be angry that activists have glued themselves to paintings or thrown tomato soup at old masters. If you are a sports fan you may be irritated that your snooker, rugby, tennis, golf or cricket has been disputed by clouds of orange powder. If you are a motorist you might fume at delays caused by protesters climbing motorway gantries.
On the other hand, you have to admire their dedication. Since April last year, more than 2,000 people have been arrested and 138 have spent time in prison according to Just Stop Oil. Many more face harsh retribution as the government’s Public Order Act begins to bite. It gives the state widespread new powers to prevent protests, extends suspicionless stop and search, makes ‘locking on’ a new criminal offence, introduces ‘protest banning orders’ against citizens, and lowers the threshold defining disruptive protesting.
So who here are the heroes and who the villains? Or in the words of the 17th century rhyme: “The law locks up the man or woman/Who steals the goose off the common/But leaves the greater villain loose/Who steals the common from the goose.”
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I belong to the Independent Network group of local Councillors. Our group includes the founder of the Climate Party and many of us are environmentalists. The reports from the recent by-elections were that the actions of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion were turning people away from the greens and reducing the environmental vote. We’re doing our tenth protest this weekend. It’s important to respect the community not to attack it.