Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the incident as a “disgraceful act of vandalism”.
Not as disgraceful as awarding oil drilling licenses to companies your family is invested in.
Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer said the damage
There is no damage: ‘Just Stop Oil said the orange powder paint was cornflour and it would “wash away with rain”.’
was “outrageous”
Not as outrageous as forcefully replacing local Labour candidates with your own choices.
and described Just Stop Oil as “pathetic”
Not as pathetic as Labour’s climate policies.
Did any of them comment on the reason for the protest, or just the act itself? I don’t want to see things like stonehenge or priceless art getting fucked up, but I am OK with more things being fucked up if that is what it takes… I’m fully expecting environmental extremism to become a thing in the next few years, as the situation will get worse and these sort of protests haven’t achieved anything.
Did any of them comment on the reason for the protest, or just the act itself?
Pro-tip: if you have questions raised by an article’s headlines, read the article.
“Just Stop Oil said the motivation behind the incident was to demand the next UK government end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.”
In what way does that quote answer their question?
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Reddit
Uhh…
Pro Tip: Don’t be a cunt. Perhaps my wording was ambiguous, I am aware of the reason for the protest and the content of the article, my point is that the politicians have not commented on the reasons and deflected the topic to the protest itself.
It’s not what it takes. It turns people against the cause.
How many people do you know that were pro actual environment saving acts before and are now against?
None, but that’s also true in the other direction and those people are now more resolute.
They were never gonna do anything that doesn’t directly and immediately benefit themselves anyways.
The Tories want to destroy Stonehenge to build a motorway so let’s not pretend it’s sacrosanct now
You might have to state your sources there.
I’m aware of the tunnel and at no point would it “destroy Stonehenge”. There are concerns that construction might harm as yet undiscovered parts of the wider ritual landscape.
"They are sensitive and they are completely covered in prehistoric markings which remain to be fully studied and any surface damage to the stones is hugely concerning.
“A rich garden of life has grow on the megaliths, an exceptional lichen garden has grown. So it’s potentially quite concerning.”
This is important - they aren’t just a bunch of old rocks, they develop a “varnish” and an ecosystem that can protect them.
They say it’s just cornflour and will wash off in the rain but people tend not to coat ancient monuments in cornflour, so we don’t really know what the effect might be.
"They are sensitive and they are completely covered in prehistoric markings which remain to be fully studied and any surface damage to the stones is hugely concerning.
Bullshit. There is next to no other historic site that has been studied in greater detail. If no scientist up until now has created a detailed map of what is to find on those stones, then frankly, it’s their own fault.
If anything, they should be concerned about acidic rain caused by air pollution. But you don’t hear much about that, now do you?
they should be concerned about acidic rain caused by air pollution. But you don’t hear much about that, now do you?
+10 billion Internet points to this man
A collection of reactions from the oil industry…
Almost like the protest isn’t aimed at oil industry shills and instead at politicians.
Wait wait wait, hold your horses. Do you mean to tell me, that the oil industry doesn’t care for this protest, or any protest for that matter? I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you. It’s almost as if this protest wasn’t meant to impress the oil exec-types…
Cunts
This group undermine and delegitimise other climate activist groups by association
Hard disagree. As far as I’m aware, everything they’ve done so far is attention-grabbing and harmless. All the paintings were behind glass, and the stuff here is water soluble.
Disruptive protests help activists causes:
How? Is your support for not going extinct really contingent on your personal feelings about a particular activist group?
I disagree with their evaluation of the magnitude of climate change catastrophe affecting our lives. There isn’t going to be a Day After Tomorrow “extinction event”. Instead climate change is more insidious and will initially affect people who do not live in the West (as it is already doing). We are going to have global crises due to climate change but it’s not going to be on the same level as, say, a Mutually Assured Destruction scenario with nuclear weapons.
They have also failed to convince the majority of the rest of the public that it will be an ‘extinction event’. Since democracy has not got the result they want they are pursuing anti-democratic means of forcing their agenda onto news segments with stunts that poison the well for other - less extreme - climate change activists.
anti-democratic means
Protest is democratic.
Disagree with their assessment all you like, but it’s ridiculous to say a protest, especially a non-violent one, is anti-democratic. Democracy does not end at the ballot box, especially in a representative one.
other climate activist groups
What other climate activist groups?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t it come out a while back that Just Stop Oil is actually bankrolled by some oil company and is essentially meant to create a false narrative against actual climate protestors? Am I misremembering?
Some rich person who doesn’t like her family getting their money from oil and is trying to do something good instead is one if the people funding them afaik
They are funded by an organisation called Climate Organisation Fund of which is funded by someone called Aileen Getty who’s family own Getty Oil.
Whether or not they are wanting to create a false narrative is questionable. I personally don’t think so, but who knows…
Maybe running them over isn’t so bad if it means keeping the country together
They’re mostly toffs. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a conservative movement to make climate change protesters look bad
They’re going to be fucking annoyed when they’re told there’s no oil there.
Because defacing an ancient site has a clear connection to the environment… bunch of fucking self-centered attention-whores.
It’s either this or ineffectual protests that get swept under the rug and ignored. You should be happy that their protest is purely cosmetic too.
Just Stop Oil said the orange powder paint was cornflour and it would “wash away with rain”.
These dang protesters and their… *flips script* attention seeking! Can’t they just do nothin like the rest of us?
Were I the “protest type”, I’d be getting awfully creative with what can be done to the infrastructure of the things I was protesting. Big Oil? Would be a shame if the refineries were to suffer malfunctions… or the trucks/ships to suffer constant breakdowns…
But yeah, instead let’s go fuck with something that has no relation and only serves to piss people off - but not in the way you want them pissed off.
refinery malfunctions truck/ship breakdowns
sounds like “how to get prescribed as a terrorist organisation 101”
But why Stonehenge? Why not oil company buildings? I believe oil companies generally have buildings. Large buildings. With their names on them.
Because that doesn’t make the headlines.
Maybe we need to come up with a way to deface oil company buildings that does make headlines
Do what the French farmers do - back a muck-spreader up to the main doors and turn it on.
Out of interest. As I’m not a farmer. Do you know how I would go about buying and filling a muck spreader.
Plus Rishi Sunaks home address would be a totally unrelated useful fact to share.
Do you know how I would go about buying and filling a muck spreader.
You can hire one from any number of places, like here. I quite like the side discharge spreader for drive-bys as long as you knew the range.
To fill it try a pig farmer as they usually have large ponds of the stuff they want rid of - chicken shit or bull shit are also available for symbolic reasons.
Plus Rishi Sunaks home address would be a totally unrelated useful fact to share.
His home has already been vandalised as I assume the address is in the electoral register. I was quite surprised they got through security and I assume it’s been tightened up since. Driving a large farm vehicle at the house seems quite a good way to get shot.
Defacing random things that don’t have any connect at all to what you’re protesting only makes you look bad.
Yeah, it got attention. Bad attention.
Let’s be real here. What could climate protesters do that wouldn’t get them bad attention? History has shown: Nothing. There is nothing they could do that wouldn’t get them bad attention. In Germany, they even got cussed out for blocking private jets.
Face it: The powerful do not fear retaliation from the masses if they vilify climate protesters. The protesters cannot win the PR battle. So all they have left is publicity stunts. And as far as publicity stunts go, plastering stones with water-soluble paint is about as tame as it gets.
They are rocks my friend. Rocks. Birds shit on them daily and have for thoudands of years. But go ahead and be mad about the rocks getting cornflower on them. Very good little reactionary Brit.
Ever play a Civilization game where Stone Henge ends up underwater because of the sea rising? Yeah. Thats all our art. All our society.
One thousand shits on Mona Lisa for one saved human life. But we will choose to protect the symbols of capital and status quo.
Enjoying the Gulf Stream collapsing further this summer?
