Just Stop Oil are my heroes!

[incognit]

I have changed my name for this, but there is so much negativity and hate towards JSO, Insulate Britain, and ER on these boards, that I really want to risk putting my head above the parapet and saying "WOOOHOO! I AM RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!"

These are wonderful people sacrificing their own liberty and careers to bring attention to their cause - and it really works! There have been huge benefits, so many companies are aware of them, and taking steps to avoid being in the firing line by upping their investments in environmental mitigations.

And the huge amount of attention that insulation got- it is now high up on so many agendas! Why did it take protesters gluing themselves to the road to do it? It should have happened anyway, but it didn't. People had to make that sacrifice, but themselves in danger, lose jobs, careers, liberty, etc, to get results.

People moan about having their days disrupted, etc by JSO, without caring how much their days are going to be disrupted by the climate crisis running out of control.

I have cancer. I couldn't get to a chemo appointment once because of JSO. I 100% support their actions. I think their cause is so much bigger than one person. They are acting to protect millions.

No doubt people will come here and bitch and moan and I don't care really, at least anyone from JSO who is on MN will see my thread title.

Yes, I know some of them personally,

So more of a cohort than an admirer, then?

If you believed their actions were reducing support for the cause, would that change your view of them?

Because that's what survey data suggests to me:

XR: 75% fame, 17% popularity:
yougov.co.uk/topics/health/explore/not-for-profit/ExtinctionRebellion

Insulate Britain: 73% think their actions hinder their cause, 5% helps.
yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/38639-three-weeks-motorway-climate-change-protests-publi

JSO: 42% very unfavourable, 4% very favourable.
yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2023/07/06/57ab9/2

Do you have any data to suggest firms, people or governments have changed their behaviour for the better because of these groups' actions?



It's like coming out, but in a dodgy wig and filmed in silhouette.

@incognit JSO are actually damaging the cause. Popular support is going to be key if we want to turn this around. We're probably too late now TBH. It's all immensely depressing but we're probably doomed now so WTH.

It wasn’t Cressida’s first offence though, she had three previous convictions, so it wasn’t as if this talented, Oxbridge, musician had any warning that you could end up in court. Yes, she probably didn’t expect to end up in jail, but the possibility was always there (or at least, a suspended sentence).

I wonder if the university will let her return to her studies after she has been released.

@incognit

No one who would do that is someone it is worth anyone taking any time to reason with.

You switched off to the PP because you judged her actions to be extreme.

That's exactly the reason I believe JSO, XR, etc are harmful.

We either aim for a situation where the median is persuaded and real change happens.

Or we go for a situation where a small minority feel virtuous and nothing really changes.

The former is much better for the environment, but maybe not for you?

^^this.
Rent-a-gobs with absolutely no consideration for anyone else.

Phew, big oil companies are going to save the day

people who are prepared to deliberately sabotage the planet
Arrant arrogant nonsense @incognit
The planet is not sabotaged, the climate has gone through many forms in the past including being carbon dioxide dominant and oxygen being a poisonous gas: you mean it will be sabotaged for human use only. The planet does not care about us and frankly it is time another organism took the top spot.

Your OP prompted me to do some actual research into JSO.

Just Stop Oil was/is funded by the Climate Emergency Fund, which is based in Los Angeles and the founders include a bunch of famous, rich film makers and the well travelled activist and heiress granddaughter of Getty Oil Company, who last year bought Brad Pitts house for $33 million.

These people live the life that we could only ever dream of, in huge mansions in gloriously warm and beautiful places, so it confuses me as to why they have ploughed money into a group who want to disrupt life on a small Island (by comparison) 5000 miles away, especially when that small Island (the UK) is not even a huge contributor to the problem.

But are these rich Americans getting bored? One cofounder Trevor Neilson, a Californian businessman, has pulled his money from the campaign called JSO performative and saying their protests stopping people getting to school aren’t achieving anything.

So why didn’t these rich people put their money into American endeavours?

The Climate Emergency Fund also funded XR.

And JSO want us to take them seriously.

But, but, but lovely Cressy plays the cello, donchaknow??

She might have to play more than the cello to survive inside…

Poor wittle cwessida

I do worry about the future of our planet. I don't fly, I don't have children, I try and buy second hand where I can. I recycle but I try to reuse what I can first, because recycling isn't a zero-energy activity. I don't eat meat or dairy, I grow what I can, and I try to be mindful of the seasonality and origins of what I eat. What do you do?

I don't spare a thought for "poor" Cressida or her mother. She deliberately broke the law. If she was bright enough to get into Cambridge then I'd expect her to be switched on enough to realise that a criminal record was hardly an unexpected outcome. Her actions haven't achieved anything except more negative publicity for the "cause" she claims to care for - I've already said what bothers me about JSO and their approach.

But what really pisses me off, is that this type of protest activity is the preserve of the privileged. It's easy to sneer and accuse people of reverse snobbery, but this kind of protest is an edgy hobby for people who have retired and don't need to worry about losing their job, or for those who have grown up in a privileged little bubble (like Cressida) where money isn't a problem. It's not for the people living from payday to payday, just about keeping their heads above water. It's not for the people who don't get paid if they don't turn up to work.

JSO and organisations like them, are exclusionary by their very nature. Cressida and her ilk don't care about disrupting the lives of ordinary people. They sit in their earnest little echo chamber, all solemnly agreeing that they feel morally entitled to ignore the law because their cause matters and the end justifies the means.

Meanwhile people on hourly pay who only earn when they show up for work, don't have the luxury of being able to do this. JSO claim that they protest on behalf of people who cannot. But this is absolute nonsense. They know that gluing themselves to a road or a train won't hurt the CEO of Shell, or change the minds of Cabinet Ministers sitting in Downing Street - but that it will ruin the day of Sue who is trying to get to her second job, who is already in her overdraft and worrying about how she's going to afford the electric bill next week. If pointing out that privilege and hypocrisy is "classist" then so be it.

Yep, because stopping traffic and making people sit in huge motorway queues, or making them take really long detours to avoid them, is absolutely brilliant for the environment😤

The number of nhs appointments missed due to people being unable to get there on time, causing new appointments letters needing to be sent out. Extra paper and transport, yay that's also great for the environment. And also harms people.

How about the people who have died as ambulance or family couldn't get them to hospital in time. I'm sure you would say thst justifiable for 'the greater good'.

I don't disagree with their aims, but I do disagree with their methods. They don't have a right to speak for or say they are trying to protect others, they have not been elected, they have no mandate, they only speak for themselves, are doing what they want, which is pretty selfish. In no way are they heroes.

Excellent points, very well put!

i think continually getting off with fines and suspended sentences emboldened her and her peers - I don’t think for a second that back in 2022 they thought they’d get a custodial sentence, let alone ones for 4 to 5 years in length. They will obviously not serve that amount of time, but their lives are pretty effed up now. So many countries that they cannot fly to because of criminal records, careers they cannot have (DBS’s will show they have been convicted).

Re Cambridge - she won’t be allowed back. You are not allowed to bring the university into disrepute etc and having a criminal record does this. My husband graduated with his BA (in science!) decades ago; it is upgraded automatically to an MA with an additional graduation ceremony two years later - provided you have been an upstanding member of society. Being arrested/convicted of a crime is expressly listed in the things that will bar you from the upgrade.

The reason that their sentencing was so long was that they turned up at court intending to cause civil disruption. They tried to use the court as their own arena, repeatedly spouting facts about oil industry, they ignored the judges direction (to focus on the crime and the questions being asked), they encouraged and invited press to attend (because they were going to make the court case interesting”). The judge had to repeatedly send the jurors out to prevent the need for a retrial (well down Judge for saving the tax payer on this one).
They will be out on good behaviour (serving at most half of their sentences) before long but hopefully long enough to take a check on their choices).
If they care so much about oil, they should be focusing on finding alternatives, funding alternatives, working in payed or voluntary employment in companies that actively educate and seek alternative solutions.
They behaved in an ignorant, selfish, blinkered , privileged , cult like brain washed fashion and it back fired. The sentence lengths were justified.

No I didn't, does that mean I can't have an opinion on them? As I said in my post, unfortunately peaceful protest just does not work.

Tarquin, Cressida et Al are hardly risking their careers.

Their mummy's and daddy's all have connections, which is why they can afford to upset the lives of working class people who couldn't give a fuck about their cause and just need to get to work to pay for food to feed their kids.

Thank you for your well thought out and polite reply. I don't agree of course.

Did you see the peaceful march for nature the other week? What did you think of those people, and do you think they were successful in bringing the climate crisis to the attention of the British public? I may have missed it but I can't recall the BBC reporting on it. Peaceful protest just doesn't work.

Working for an oil company, what are you and your colleagues’ thoughts about the climate emergency and renewable energy? And what sort of conversation or demonstration would you think could have an impact?
And could you say a bit more about your environmental targets? Thanks

Cause is good and I support it. Protest targets lose me their support.

OK - what is the measure of success you're using?

If it's awareness then yes, they have been successful, because it's had widespread press attention.

But what is the point of them raising awareness? Is the aim of their protest purely to make people aware and that's it, we all go home - or are they trying to effect change?

I really hear and agree with what people are saying about the disruption to people’s lives who don’t have the privilege the take this sort of action or to risk a custodial action. The idea of being stuck in an enormous (avoidable) traffic jam taking a child to hospital (as just one example) is appalling.
As I’ve been reading the responses though, I have been thinking, “they’ve got us talking and debating!” I think there is a sense that we are in a state of collective denial as the climate breakdown is so catastrophic and our children and grandchildren’s lives are going to be significantly impacted by it. Denial is a coping strategy!
I also hear what people are saying about how JSO’s actions have actually put them off the cause! So does anyone have any ideas how we sensibly approach this issue; in a way that is backed by scientific evidence. How can we get together to make sure that our government, banks and industries are doing what they can to tackle this existential threat? (Rather than being driven by money making). (How the situation is tackled in other countries mentioned like China is probably beyond the scope of this thread).

Tell the women of Greenham Common peaceful protest doesn't work. We heard all about the women camping for YEARS. Now THAT'S sacrifice. It was also properly direct action, targeted. It wasn't hitting Joe Bloggs on a public highway doing what members of JSO also do. Driving a car to get somewhere.
There are definitely ways of staging peaceful, targeted protests that make a massive difference, that we do hear about. I don't know your age, but you might remember Swampy and the protest against a Bypass. Two years they spent, having dug themselves in, living in filthy conditions right at the source of the problem. Ultimately they didn't stop the bypass, but they certainly got people talking about it.
There's so many ways you can make a noise, especially in 2024. So many ways you can get yourself on TV. Considering what the women at Greenham Common and the group protesting against the bypass managed to do, in the pre-internet days, I'd say JSO lack imagination and commitment if they can't think of any better ways to get themselves noticed than chucking soup over artwork or unauthorised disruption of traffic.