Activism and protest

*July 2024

Long jail terms for Just Stop Oil protesters

Four and five year jail terms handed out to five Just Stop Oil activists who planned a protest to block the M25 in November 2022 have been condemned as excessive.  The five, who were hoping to force the UK government to abandon its policy of issuing new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, were accused by the judge of having 'crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic'.

The Guardian reported a statement by issued after the trial by Michel Forst, the UN’s special rapporteur on environmental defenders

“Today is a dark day for peaceful environmental protest” in the UK, he said. “This sentence should shock the conscience of any member of the public. It should also put all of us on high alert on the state of civic rights and freedoms in the United Kingdom.

“Rulings like today’s set a very dangerous precedent, not just for environmental protest but any form of peaceful protest that may, at one point or another, not align with the interests of the government of the day.”

Read the Guardian article

George Monbiot condemned the sentences, and the arrest of people protesting outside the court, as 'a blight on British democracy'.

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October 2023

Experts warn against crackdown on climate protesters

UK has led the way, with countries across the continent making mass arrests, passing draconian new laws and labelling activists as eco-terrorists

The Guardian  12 October 2023
                      Damien Gayle, Matthew Taylor and Ajit Niranjan

Human rights experts and campaigners have warned against an intensifying crackdown on climate protests across Europe, as Guardian research found countries across the continent using repressive measures to silence activists.

In Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK, authorities have responded to climate protests with mass arrests, the passing of draconian new laws, the imposing of severe sentences for non-violent protests and the labelling of activists as hooligans, saboteurs or eco-terrorists.

Read more

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October 2023

'No more playing nice...'

Where now for front line climate activism?

The Ecologist   October 2023              Jan Goodey

The need to bring more groups together in a broader coalition as the climate emergency hits ever harder means that younger activists are becoming even more intent on sweeping away the ineptitude and double-dealing of profiteering governance that seeks to pacify people using the divide-and-rule politics of yesteryear, writes Jan Goodey.

Just Stop Oil (JSO), This is Rigged and other actors are bringing accountable and non-accountable nonviolent direct action to counter this.

Just Stop Oil began its relentless campaign in April 2022 with a series of oil refinery shutdowns that dried up the forecourts of many of South East England’s petrol stations.

Marching

It then moved on to closing down the M25 for a week, coinciding with the opening of the COP26 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh in November of that year. Then came slow marching through London, day after day after day.

The group’s demands are: no new oil, gas or coal licensing; free public transport; and retrofit insulation of all social housing. Following Insulate Britain’s campaign a year earlier, there are now a number of small insulation co-ops forming around the country.

Read the full article

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