Who are the Just Stop Oil Protesters & Why Do They Attack Art?
14:02 GMT 29.10.2022 (Updated: 14:20 GMT 15.11.2022)
© AFP 2023 / CARLOS JASSO
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Launched in February, Just Stop Oil is an environmental activist group in the United Kingdom that opposes new fossil fuel projects in the country and advocates a transition to renewable energy. This is a brief summary of what this group claims to stand for and of how its members strive to achieve these goals.
While ordinary Britons have been struggling to deal with soaring fuel prices in recent months, UK-based environmental activists have continued to demand the curbing of fossil fuel use. One such activist movement, which made headlines this year thanks to the tactics employed by its members, is known simply as Just Stop Oil.
'We Have no Future, Just Stop Oil'
Just Stop Oil presents itself as an entity which aims to steer the government away from oil & gas “exploration, development and production” in Britain.
With global energy markets in turmoil amid the veritable economic war being waged by Western powers against Russian energy imports, the movement advocates switching to renewable energy sources instead of using fossil fuel.
Insisting on the necessity to stop relying on fossil fuels within eight years, the group claims that such move would require significant investment into “clean technology” and “renewables”, adding that this transition will be impossible with the current energy consumption level.
Therefore, Just Stop Oil pushes for lowering energy consumption and changing the approach to transportation by providing free public transit.
Just Stop Oil Activists Rally in London on October 1, 2022
Protesters stand behind banners at a protest by Just Stop Oil climate activists in London on October 1, 2022.
© AFP 2023 / NIKLAS HALLE'N
To kickstart this transition, government subsidies should be redirected to “clean energy, transport and insulation,” the group postulates.
Insisting that the alternative to this transition to “low carbon world” they promote would be societal collapse and bashing the government for spending money on fossil fuel extraction, Just Stop oil also takes a dim view of the people who simply don’t support the movement’s cause.
The movement claims that “climate collapse” would lead to the end of “all human rights”, so not opposing it effectively means “appeasing evil”, and that simply standing idly by means betraying the struggle and sacrifice of one’s forefathers.
What is Just Stop Oil Protest?
Since its launch in February this year, Just Stop Oil perpetrated enough protests to attract media attention and to earn themselves the ire of British authorities.
Through the use of civil resistance tactics, the group apparently seeks to strike a blow against the oil industry in the United Kingdom and to raise awareness of the group’s goals.
In April, Just Stop Oil members blockaded several oil facilities in England, with the movement apparently trying to disrupt oil supply to London.
The movement’s targets included oil terminals in Midlands and in Essex, with activists trying to restrict access to these facilities and demanding the government to halt future oil and gas projects.
In May, the activists performed a similar stunt at an oil terminal in Glasgow.
Just Stop Oil Activists Block Entrance to the Nustar Clydebank oil terminal in Glasgow
Just Stop Oil climate activists block the entrance to the Nustar Clydebank oil terminal in Glasgow on May 3, 2022
© AFP 2023 / ANDY BUCHANAN
In August, the group members also disrupted several gas stations in the British capital, vandalizing fuel pumps and blocking entrances to these facilities.
Aside from hitting sites directly related to the oil & gas industry, Just Stop Oil also targeted a number of high profile events, with the movement’s activists disrupting the BAFTA awards ceremony in March.
Just Stop Oil Activists Protest After Arrivals for BAFTA Awards Ceremony
Activists from the Just Stop Oil campaign group protest against the use of oil after the arrivals for the BAFTA British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, on March 13, 2022.
© AFP 2023 / TOLGA AKMEN
That same month, Just Stop Oil activists attempted disrupting football matches in London and Liverpool, and in July, they sought to throw a wrench into the works of the 2022 British Grand Prix.
The group, apparently for publicity’s sake, also targeted artworks on display in London galleries, such as a painting by John Constable exhibited at the National Gallery and to a copy of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s works at the Royal Academy of Arts.
This month, Just Stop Oil launched a wave of protests across London, disrupting traffic across the city.
Just Stop Activists Block Park Lane in London on October 16, 2022
Members of the environmental activist group Just Stop Oil hold a banner as they block Park Lane, in central London, on October 16, 2022 as part of a series of actions.
© AFP 2023 / ISABEL INFANTES
What Did Just Stop Oil Activists Do to Van Gogh's Sunflowers?
On October 14, the Vincent Van Gogh painting “Sunflowers” displayed at the National Gallery in London got cans of soup thrown at it by two Just Stop Oil protesters who then glued themselves to the artwork. The group did point out on their website, however, that no harm came to the painting during this stunt thanks to the protective glass covering it.
The video showing Just Stop Oil activists attacking Van Gogh's masterpiece did rounds on social media
'Let Them Eat Cake': Just Stop Oil Activists Smear King Charles III Waxwork
The wax effigy of Britain’s new monarch displayed at Madam Tussauds museum in London also got some not-so-royal treatment from Just Stop Oil protesters, who smeared a cake on it.
Who Funds Just Stop Oil?
Drawing its funding from donations, Just Stop Oil has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF) whose executive director, Margaret Klein Salamon, suggested that they may be the movement’s “exclusive institutional funder at this point”.
Based in Los Angeles, the CEF was started with a half a million dollar donation by Aileen Getty, granddaughter of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty – a fact that did not elude the attention of the media.
