BBC:
Just Stop Oil: What is it and what are its goals?
Just Stop Oil has hit the headlines in recent months after a series of protests.
The group is campaigning for more action on climate change but their tactics, which include blocking busy motorways, have faced criticism.
What is Just Stop Oil?
Just Stop Oil is an environmental activist group founded after
Extinction Rebellion and
Insulate Britain with organisers from both at the helm.
The movement first came to attention following a series of protests in March. This included pitch invasions at several Premier League football grounds, with one activist
tying himself to a goalpost.
After the protest during the Everton home game, presenter Gary Lineker said in a tweet whether "you approve of this young man's methods or not, he's right, his future is perilous".
There have been other notable protests since then, including disruption at oil terminals and on some of the country's busiest motorways.
What does Just Stop Oil want?
The group wants the government to halt new licences for the exploration of oil and other fossil fuels in the UK.
It describes itself as "a coalition of groups working together to ensure the government commits to halting new fossil fuel licensing and production."
The government plans to licence more than 100 new oil and gas projects by 2025.
Unlike Extinction Rebellion, which campaigns on the single big issue of climate change, Just Stop Oil's protests have a more specific focus.
As well as calling for an end to fossil fuels, the group also wants renewable energy investment and for better building insulation to avoid energy waste.
What are Just Stop Oil's tactics?
In the past few months, protesters from Just Stop Oil have
thrown soup at Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery, attempted to disrupt the British Grand Prix and
caused the closure of the M25 with a series of demonstrations.
Like Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, Just Stop Oil activists claim to be willing to use "non-violent civil resistance" to make their point in public spaces.
According to Just Stop Oil, its supporters have been arrested nearly 2,000 times since April, with five of their supporters currently in prison.
Who funds Just Stop Oil?
According to its website, most of the funding for Just Stop Oil comes from the
Climate Emergency Fund - a US network set up in 2019 to fund climate activism.
The Climate Emergency Fund, is in turn part-funded by Aileen Getty, a US philanthropist whose grandfather was petroleum tycoon J Paul Getty.
Is it legal to block roads?
Put simply - no.
The maximum penalty for the wilful obstruction of a highway is 51 weeks in prison, under an amendment to the Highways Act of 1980. Offenders can also receive a fine.
The government is also trying to put through new legislation to crack down on these types of protest.
The Public Order Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, would grant new powers to prosecute someone who interferes with the operation or use of key national infrastructure in England and Wales - whether on the roads, railways, or air transport infrastructure.
High Court injunctions have been sought by several transport bodies, including National Highways and Transport for London, to prevent protesters disrupting major roads.
Those in breach of an injunction can be held in contempt of court and could face imprisonment, an unlimited fine and seizure of assets.
But activists point to a Supreme Court ruling in 2021 which found there should be a "certain degree of tolerance to disruption to ordinary life, including the disruption of traffic" caused by non-violent protest.
Dealing with these protests is proving very difficult for the authorities, despite arrests and court action. Just Stop Oil has said it will demonstrate "every day" until the group's demand for no new oil and gas in the UK is met.
What have critics said about Just Stop Oil?
Their activism has been welcomed by some, but others have objected to the group's tactics, including those directly affected.
Videos on social media over the past few months have shown irate motorists stopped from driving by Just Stop Oil activists sitting in the road.
Recent
disruption at several points along the M25 motorway was described as "completely outrageous" by Business Secretary Grant Shapps.
"Don't go disrupting other people's lives," he said during an interview with LBC.
The Metropolitan Police said it had dedicated more than 10,000 officer shifts to policing Just Stop Oil protests since the start of October.
"These are officers who would otherwise be dealing with issues that matter to local communities, such as knife crime, safeguarding and responding to burglaries," Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said.
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The Guardian:
Just Stop Oil protesters bring parts of M25 to halt for second day
Police say 16 arrests made after activists scale gantries in Kent, Essex, Surrey and Hertfordshire
Protesters have caused widespread disruption on the M25
for a second day after several junctions were blocked.
Just Stop Oil said “approximately 15” of its supporters climbed on to overhead gantries in “multiple locations” on the UK’s busiest motorway from 7am on Tuesday, causing police to halt traffic.
The Metropolitan police said 16 protesters were arrested in a joint operation with neighbouring forces, including Essex police, Surrey police and Kent police.
Essex police said officers were on the northbound carriageway of the M25 near Dartford Crossing, where a demonstrator, believed to be from Just Stop Oil, had climbed the gantry at junction 31, closing the northbound tunnels.
National Highways said there were delays of 60 minutes, with congestion for five miles.
Hertfordshire constabulary said they were responding to a protest at junction 20 of the M25 near Kings Langley and urged motorists to seek alternative routes.
Surrey police said two protesters had climbed gantries between junctions 8 and 9 and junctions 12 and 13, stopping traffic in both directions.
The Metropolitan police arrested seven people before Monday’s protest on suspicion of “conspiracy to intentionally or recklessly cause public nuisance”, a new offence under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The protest went ahead, with forces including Kent, Essex, Surrey and Hertfordshire facing demonstrators in 13 locations.
As well as the arrests, police believe some of those involved in the demonstrations could have breached a high court injunction obtained by National Highways.
Just Stop Oil said in a statement: “We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence peaceful people. Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities.”
The Met is conducting an operation to foil the protests in conjunction with the National Police Coordination Centre.
Just Stop Oil staged 32 days of disruption from the end of September and throughout October, which the Met said resulted in 677 arrests with 111 people charged, and required officers to work 9,438 additional shifts.
According to the group, since its campaign began on 1 April, Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested nearly 2,000 times, with five activists in prison.
It added that the government’s refusal to halt North Sea oil and gas extraction would contribute to global warming, which “will result in the collapse of ordered civil society, the loss of our rights and freedoms and the death of countless millions of people”.
The work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, said Just Stop Oil protesters did have a point, “in [a] sense”.
He told Sky News: “I do think there’s a major issue when individuals can go on to motorways or even just outside parliament, in fact, periodically, at will, just sit down in the middle of the road and disrupt the traffic – sometimes, indeed, emergency services get caught up in that as well.”
But when it was put to him that the environmental activists had a point, he said: “Well, they do in [a] sense. Couple of points … one is, absolutely, we are all determined, and this government above all else is absolutely determined, to bear down on the use of fossil fuels.
“Second point I would make is that we do have to strike the right balance between the right of individuals to express their opinion and protest, which is absolutely fundamental to a civilised democracy – which is what we have in our country – and, at the other time, making sure that we don’t inconvenience the public or indeed endanger the public in some circumstances.”
Article
The Independent:
You don’t have to glue yourself to anything to help Just Stop Oil
If you have any connection to a charity – whether you are a volunteer or a donor – there is something you can do
There is a great way we can help the brave climate protectors at
Just Stop Oil, even if gluing ourselves to the street is too much for us. If you have any connection to a charity – whether you are a volunteer or a donor – there is something you can do.
Our global banks keep pouring billions into new
fossil fuels, despite the fact that we already have enough existing fossil fuels to destroy ourselves many times over.
If we cannot stop investing in new fossil fuels immediately, we have no hope of ever weaning ourselves off existing fossil fuel stocks. This is why Just Stop Oil’s sole and simple demand is to say no to new oil and gas.
Since Extinction Rebellion started their first rebellion in 2018, many national and international institutions now back this demand. They
include the International Energy Agency, UN Secretary General, Labour Party, SNP and the European Investment Bank. And of course, it’s why
The Independent launched our
Stop Fuelling the Climate Crisis Campaign.
Unfortunately, the few remaining supporters of new fossil fuel investments are the UK’s right-wing tabloids and the latest Tory PM Rishi Sunak.
And crucially so are most of the UK’s largest banks. Barclays is the worst at 7th in the global 2022 RAN list of fossil-fuel funding banks. HSBC is the UK’s second worst coming in at 13th on the global list. Natwest is 45th and Santander 32nd. Combined, the UK major banks have poured over $366bn into new fossil fuels
since the Paris Agreement was signed. So, what has all this got to do with UK charities, I hear you ask?
Well, the UK’s charity sector is
worth over a whopping £146bn to the UK’s banks, with an annual turnover of £83bn and over £63bn in
reserves.
But examination of half-a-dozen random charities’ accounts reveals that many bank with some of the worst fossil-fuel funding banks.
We asked Unicef: “With the climate crisis being the largest threat to child welfare globally, how do you justify being with HSBC and have you any plans to move to a less climate damaging bank?” I was very impressed with their
reply: “We are taking concerns seriously and we plan to look at this at our next banking review.”
We asked the
Donkey Sanctuary: “With the climate crisis being the largest threat to animal welfare globally, how do you justify being with Barclays and do you plan to move banks?”
They replied that they were adopting a new strategy that would introduce new sustainability policies, in line with recognised good practice and said, “We will be considering our supplier relationships as part of this.”
Save the Children International accounts
list JP Morgan (globally the worst fossil fuel funding bank), Barclays and Standard Chartered (36th worst) as their principal bankers.
We asked them “Why is Save the Children banking with the world’s worst funders of fossil fuels, which are the greatest threat to children across the world and a major contributor to the extreme weather causing a hunger crisis in the horn of Africa?”
A spokesperson for the charity said that while its UK operation did not use those banks, there weren’t many banking services that worked with NGOs in high risk environments. They said: “Save the Children International relies on ones that do to reach children in some of the world’s toughest places, like Syria and Afghanistan.”
They added: “The Save the Children movement is committed to tackling the impact of the climate crisis on children now and in the future, as well as reducing our own environmental impact. We have pledged to halve our carbon emissions by 2030, compared to 2019. Save the Children’s UK arm has committed to reaching this target by 2024 and has cut flights by 70 per cent.”
We asked the British Council: “As you state that climate change is a human rights, equality, health and survival issue, how do you justify being with HSBC and do you have any plan to move banks?” Whilst they
acknowledged the press query, they failed to supply any response.
The British Heart Foundation
bank with Barclays. We asked them in light of the climate crisis, being the largest threat to human health globally, how do you justify being with this bank and do you have any plans to move banks?”
They disappointingly said:
“The British Heart Foundation (BHF) ensures any organisation we work with or whose service we use best meets our needs to help us fund lifesaving heart and circulatory disease research.”
The
Nuffield Health Charity banks include Barclays, HSBC and Santander. We asked: “As the BMJ stated the climate crisis is "the greatest public health threat of the century", how with your commitment to "maintain and prevent sickness of any kind", justify being with these banks and do you have any plans to move banks?” We got no reply.
So dear readers, please Google the annual accounts of whatever major charity you are involved with or support, to check if they are banking with a major fossil fuel funding bank.
If they are, ask them if they will move to a more ethical bank, such as Triodos or the Charities Bank. Activists are already demanding that the National Trust acts on the fact that they bank with Barclays. The
Trust has asked its 5.7 million members
to vote on whether it should cease to bank with Barclays because of its record – an online poll closed on 28 October, and the Trust is due to announce the result at its AGM on 5 November.
Use the comment section below to keep us updated and to alert other supporters of your favourite charity.
Getting the entire charitable sector to adopt ethical banking would send a huge £146bn message to these banks – stop funding climate destruction or your profits will pay the price.
Now that would put a great smile on the Just Stop Oil heroes sadly being assaulted on our streets as they act to stop climate destruction.
This article was amended on November 5 to include a statement from Save The Children.
Article
The Independent:
Just Stop Oil and striking nurses are making one terrible mistake
They’ve forgotten that we are far more interested in complaining about the impact of direct action than considering the issues at stake
This week, the Royal College of Nursing voted to hold
the biggest strike in NHS history over pay and conditions, while activists from
Just Stop Oil have blocked part of the M25
for the second day running in ongoing climate protests.
The reason I’m putting these two examples together – striking
nurses and climate protesters – is because the reaction to both of these events has a common thread running through it.
How selfish! How utterly, completely, eye-poppingly self-centred of nurses to want to be able to look after you and your sick and dying relatives in safe conditions! And to be remunerated fairly, so they don’t have to leave the
NHS for a
better paid job in a supermarket or get by
using food banks. And to have safe levels of staffing, so that patients don’t suffer, and to be protected from abuse at work. Outrageous!
As for
Just Stop Oil, can’t they just nudge powerful decision-makers into
tackling the climate crisis that will – if left unchecked – probably wipe out all life on Earth by doing something just a bit... quieter and easier to ignore?
What the cries of “selfishness” directed at both nurses (heroes of the pandemic, clap on your doorstep, remember that?) – and climate activists (deadly floods and heatwaves,
the planet on a “highway to hell”, remember that?) – reveal is that this country has lost sight of what direct action is actually
for.
Protests and strikes are supposed to be disruptive. They’re meant to inconvenience people. If you want to draw attention to an ongoing existential issue that those in power would rather not deal with, you need to go big – or go home.
There’s far too much debate about “acceptable” protest; about demonstrating in the “right way” – which overshadows the issues at hand (just look at the
Van Gogh soup debacle). This plays right into the hands of those who didn’t want to address what activists are protesting about in the first place.
Grant Shapps, once transport secretary, now business secretary (whose career trajectory is, in my opinion, evidence that the Conservative Party’s well of talent has run dry), told LBC on Tuesday that
he hoped protesters would spend Christmas in prison.
Rewind to the early 20th century, put Shapps in a Rees-Mogg style top hat and he’d be scribbling pamphlets about how the suffragettes should shush or be force-fed harder in jail. Until the outbreak of the First World War, more than 1,000 women fighting for the right to vote were imprisoned in Britain.
Think of it this way: if industrial action doesn’t put anyone out – if no one is affected, no one notices, everything runs as normal – then what, exactly, is the point of it? Strikes occur when negotiations fail. Making them convenient renders them toothless, and workers completely powerless.
Who benefits from that? And in whose interest is it that working people can no longer effectively withhold their labour in a last ditch bargaining attempt for fair pay and working conditions? I find it truly disturbing that both major parties in Britain are seemingly engaged in a game of one-upmanship over who can betray working people most completely – either by out-and-out smearing tactics (
those who strike are “shirkers”) or refusing to stand with them on the picket lines. Sir Keir Starmer should be
reminded of the name of his party every now and then.
Grant Shapps has opined that nurses’ strikes “won’t help anyone” – well, what about nurses, their families and everyone who is looked after by them? And Starmer
“understands” why strike action is happening, but won’t back nurses. Sorry, what?
The same sort of criticism on social media gets rehashed every time: motorway protests could inconvenience those who don’t “deserve” it. This is how the argument goes: “What about my friend the cancer doctor who needs to get to their patients urgently?” “What about my friend who needs a life-saving operation?”
Yet an accident (or a closure due to adverse weather conditions) would have a similar impact. And that’s exactly what is happening, right now, thanks to the climate crisis. We will continue to see more and more of these adverse weather conditions. And when our planet burns and boils and floods overwhelm us, there will be no Junction 31 for Lakeside in Essex left to drive down. Sorry.
The argument that “nurses striking will endanger patients” doesn’t hold, either. Patient safety is being put at risk in the NHS every single day by understaffing, underfunding and poor pay and working conditions.
But don’t worry! Both Labour and the Tories are falling over themselves to condemn the people who are striking because they can’t pay their bills despite working full-time. That’s a relief. Not to mention the new Public Order Bill that will see
protests increasingly criminalised and those who take part
slapped with electronic tags. Phew. We
finally have law and order.
Unfortunately, nurses who have voted to strike and climate activists have made one terrible mistake – they’ve forgotten that we, in Britain, are more interested in complaining about the impact of direct action (either on ourselves or hypothetically) than considering the issues at stake.
Thinking nurses should be paid fairly and the climate crisis addressed – but not liking the way those people are going about it, and so showering them with scorn instead of support – doesn’t wash.
If you think citizens shouldn’t have the right to protest and workers shouldn’t strike, you might just as well come out and say you don’t think NHS staff deserve to live with dignity; and you don’t care about the planet. Say it like you mean it.
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Indy100:
Everything that Just Stop Oil have targeted since their protests began
Throughout October, the climate activist group Just Stop Oil has been making headlines with a number of protests across the capital against the UK government’s new oil and gas licences after vowing to take action every day of the month.
From throwing tomato soup over an art masterpiece to causing traffic chaos by blocking a major route in and out of London, the group has certainly made their presence and cause known.
Here is a round-up of all the things the group has targeted.
Van Gogh painting
In this
high-profile stunt, two members of the activist group went to London’s National Gallery and threw cans of tomato soup on Vincent Van Gough’s world-famous Sunflowers painting, before gluing themselves to the wall.
Dartford crossing bridge
Causing traffic chaos, two activists
scaled the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at the Dartford Crossing, leading to the crossing being closed for 42 hours ago. The protestors were eventually brought down by a cherry-picker and arrested.
Harrods
The luxury retailer also found itself a target of Just Stop Oil, as activists from the group
sprayed the exterior of the department store with orange paint, while others glued themselves to the tarmac outside.
55 Tufton Street
The London address which is home to a controversial climate denial group and other right-wing think tanks was also a target of the group, who again covered the exterior of the building with orange paint in a protest.
Luxury car dealerships
The central London showrooms belonging to luxury vehicle brands Ferrari and Bentley were also
sprayed with orange paint. Two were arrested for criminal damage.
King Charles III waxwork
Four protestors were arrested after they
smeared chocolate cake over the waxwork of King Charles III at the tourist attraction Madame Tussauds.
Abbey Road
Just Stop Oil protestors blocked traffic at the famous Abbey Road crossing, leading to the arrest of four for “wilful obstruction”.
The Mall
Another stunt saw protestors
superglue themselves to The Mall, blocking the road towards Buckingham Palace. 25 people had to be removed by specialist police officers, with some of them having to use debonding liquid in plastic syringes to free the protestors before detaining them.
Met Police
The headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police service was targeted by orange paint, covering the
New Scotland Yard sign.
Central London roads
Blocking roads in London is one of the most disruptive forms of protest and Just Stop Oil has been using it to get its point across. The group
blocked a key junction between High Holborn and Kingsway in London and some glued themselves to the road. The group also sat in the middle of the A4, blocking traffic near Baron’s Court tube station.
Downing Street gates
Although unsuccessful, a handful of Just Stop Oil protestors attempted to scale the gates of Downing Street, which leads to the PM's residence, Number 10. Others glued themselves to the tarmac outside and sat on the road blocking the entrance.
M25 Motorway
For two days running, Just Stop Oil protestors brought the M25 motorway to a standstill during rush hour traffic by climbing onto motorway gantries, forcing road closures in both directions. The motorway which circles Greater London was targeted as part of the group's call to end all new oil and gas licenses.
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