Just Stop Oil interrupted a Tekken 7 tournament at EGX London by running onstage during the final match and dumping paint all over the competitors and equipment. Unsurprisingly, everyone involved was immediately arrested.
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Here's their official post on this matter. I want to go through this.
Three Just Stop Oil supporters coated a giant screen with orange paint at major games expo EGX 2023. They are demanding the UK Government halts all new oil and gas projects, and are calling on gamers to march with Just Stop Oil in London this November. [1]
For some reason they believe spraying people in paint and interrupting a one-in-a-lifetime moment for these competitors and audiences alike gets them on their side. I'm aware of the accusations Just Stop Oil is a false flag by oil companies, but the people engaging in these protests still have to be convinced to do this.
Today at 15:48pm, cosplaying as ‘Ghostbusters’ characters, the three used adapted water pistols to target a viewing screen for the Tekken 7 tournament winner’s final being held at ‘The Arena’ stage in London’s Excel conference centre. They were escorted out by venue security, before being arrested for Criminal Damage by the Metropolitan Police.
Yeah, these aren't ghostbuster costumes. If you ask me, they look like people rich enough to have the spare money to waste their time on this nonsense.
A Just stop Oil spokesperson said:
“Video games let us escape into new and exciting dimensions, but real world physics are about to deliver the deaths of billions. Put more carbon into the atmosphere at this point and it’s game over. Gamers co-operate to win, and we need these skills to survive. Everyone must step up and join in civil resistance against new oil and gas, because this isn’t a game. Let’s unite to make this world safe, so that we can get back to exploring cyber worlds. Join Just Stop Oil on a slow march through London from 29th October”
This is the crux of this idea. "Gamers cooperate to win," they say when interrupting a fighting game tournament where the only format is a 1-v-1. "This isn't a game and you shouldn't treat it as an escape from real world issues," they say while turning
themselves into the real world issue the players want to escape from.
Idris, a 20 year old artist from London, was one of those taking action today. They said:
“It is vital that we draw as much attention as possible to the genocidal decisions the government is making. I won’t stand aside while billions are sentenced to death and neither should you.”
This statement isn't what catches my eye. It's the guy's occupation as an "artist." This immediately tells me this is another useless tumor with rich parents who decided to join some stupid cause which makes everyone around them miserable.
EGX 2023 is sponsored by Barclays Bank, who have been described at the “Europe’s number 1 financier of the climate crisis”. They have financed around $167 billion in fossil fuels. Moreover, Shell sponsors popular game Fortnite as well as gaming influencers. Children and teen players are directed to fuel up at digital Shell stations, in a promotion for a new petrol product. Shell’s planned emissions from 2018 to 2030 are estimated to account for close to 1.6% of the global carbon budget. [2] [3] [4]
The problem with this logic is
these players aren't being sponsored by EGX, they are just competing there. Tekken's developers have nothing to do with this either. And if you have a problem with Shell sponsoring Fortnite, why don't you host a protest at a Shell station or an Epic Games building? Why attack random people who have nothing to do with this? Why Tekken? Because it was convenient?
Just Stop Oil supporters are not prepared to stand by and watch while the government plans for millions to die and destroys everything we care about. It’s up to all of us now to come together and resist. We cannot let them divide us. Together we can be the real opposition this country needs and we will win. We will stop new oil and gas. People are coming together from all over the UK to march day after day in London from 29th October. It’s People vs Oil!
Nobody likes Just Stop Oil, and it's because of exactly what happens in this video. I've seen them interrupt racing events for
electric vehicles, try to salt the earth
at a flower garden, and now attack people at a video game tournament
that is only related to an oil company by three degrees of separation, which is ironically more distant than Just Stop Oil's very own connection to oil company funding.
Since it isn't legal for victims of their "protests" to do this:
All I can do is beg these protestors to please stop attacking random people who have nothing to do with anything to prove a point about a major conglomerate corporation which most likely isn't even based on the same continent as the individuals you are covering in paint and obstructing. You're all just being used, you've got to learn sooner or later before somebody decides to throw you into a volcano.
