Harriet Hobbs
“Irritating.” “Disgraceful”. “Pathetic”. Just a few of the colourful adjectives used to describe the controversial climate-change activist organisation. Despite only having been founded in February 2022, ‘JustStopOil’ has captured the nation’s fullest attention; but for better or worse? Harriet Hobbs delves into the controversy of the group that is capturing the media’s attention through messy means.
Donning their distinctive orange garb, JustStopOil (JSO) has thrust itself under the spotlight due to its maverick acts of protest. Notable instances include the famed ‘Soup-Gate’ wherein members Phoebe Plummer (23) and Anna Holland (22) launched tomato soup across Van Gough’s ‘Sunflowers’ in The National Gallery, London. This sparked outrage amongst the British public, as did the smashing of the case of the Magna Carta at the British Library and most recently, throwing orange powder paint across the UNESCO heritage site, Stonehenge.
These stunts, among countless others, seem to have cemented JSO as public enemy number one
These stunts, among countless others, seem to have cemented JSO as public enemy number one in the eyes of a staggering number of Brits. My question is: what exactly is so deplorable? This hatred interests me as YouGov polls have calculated that 74% of UK adults reported feeling “very or somewhat worried” regarding climate change and even placed rising temperatures as their second biggest concern facing adults in Britain, just slightly behind the cost of living crisis.
Given the clear passion for environmental action, the disdain for JustStopOil protesters interests me; the question may be posed as to whether this sense of dislike is felt towards all protesters in general. I raise this as the sole purpose of a protest is disruption, the disruption that harbours attention, because, to put it brusquely, if a protest doesn’t get attention, it has essentially failed. If the people you are protesting against don’t notice you are protesting, then said protest may as well have not taken place. The entire point is to be loud and noteworthy, adjectives I doubt anyone would deny JustStopOil members given their domination of British discourse over recent years. One cannot help but wonder whether history is repeating itself here as it often does, and in this case, my mind does reach back to the suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th century. The women protesting restlessly for voting rights were met with immense hostility not entirely dissimilar to that of JSO. In fact, the term “suffragette” actually originated as a mocking insult hurled by a Daily Mail journalist in 1906; it was meant as a derogatory label, to belittle the movement by adding the suffix –ette, meaning small – think, kitchenette or novelette. My point is that nowadays, women such as Emily Davidson are, at least in the UK, heralded by most as valiantly brave for their maverick acts and protests.
taking axes to beloved artworks [is] generally viewed as a necessary means to an end, so why is the same not true for climate protesters?
Setting buildings and post-boxes alight, smashing up windows and yes, taking axes to beloved artworks are generally viewed as a necessary means to an end, so why is the same not true for climate protesters? The resemblance to me feels glaringly apparent however this is clearly not the case for most of the British public who are at the same time expressing deep concerns regarding the environment. “Women didn’t get the vote by voting”, reply JSO members when confronted by masses who suggest their plea would be taken more seriously if they expressed themselves without harmful stunts. On November 6th, 2023, two JSO members smashed the glass cover of ‘The Rokeby Venus’, a painting famously slashed seven times by suffragette Mary Richardson in 1914. “The suffragettes are proof these methods work to achieve social change. That is why we have taken this action today. New oil will destroy everything we love. I do not want to be here, but I cannot continue to see this government fail all of us”, says 20-year-old Harrison Donnelly.
“Deeds not words”, as the infamous slogan goes, fiercely heralds the idea that to achieve drastic social change, to wrench the status quo one hundred and eighty degrees, whether that be giving an oppressed population a seat at the table of political discourse, a right to be heard and have a tangible say in how her nation is governed, or changing the basis of how we power our homes, cars, industry and lives, it requires action, real action. In the words of esteemed advocate and congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair”.
Harriet Hobbs
Featured image courtesy of Denin Lawley via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of Ian Betley via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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