Last Word: Young People and Climate Protest
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058231198587 |
| Author | Sarah Pickard |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
40POLITICAL INSIGHT•SEPTEMBER 2023
Last Word
April 2023, Parliament, Square,
London. A young person in an
orange high-visibility jacket is
asking if I’d like to sign up to
become a supporter of Just Stop Oil (JSO).
Around us, tens of thousands of people
are taking part in a peaceful four-day
event organised by Extinction Rebellion
(XR) to coincide with Earth Day. In front of
Big Ben, I’m interviewing young climate
and environmental activists about XR’s
announcement at the beginning of the year
to shift away from disruptive tactics. Ed, one
of the JSO activists continues, ‘You could join
us on a slow march – they’re not illegal – we
are starting them in London next week.’
Fast-forward to mid-July 2023. Just Stop Oil
is holding ‘Everyone Week.’ Activists are ‘slow
marching’ through London to get ‘ordinary
people doing extraordinary things’ – to force
an immediate end to fossil fuel extraction.
Timed to put pressure on MPs just before the
start of the parliamentary summer recess, the
action is the climax of three months of smaller-
scale slow marches around the country,
drawing much mainstream and social media
attention. Even more coverage was given to
Just Stop Oil’s high prole protest actions:
photographs and video clips of activists
disrupting the World Snooker Championships,
the Premiership Rugby nal, the Ashes Test
cricket, Wimbledon tennis matches, the BBC
Proms and more, made front pages and went
viral.
Launched in February 2022, Just Stop
Oil was created by founders of Extinction
Rebellion and Insulate Britain, which had
also carried out trac obstruction and road
blockade protests. Just Stop Oil rst hit the
headlines the following month, when activists
blockaded oil terminals. But it became known
worldwide after Phoebe Plummer (21) and
Anna Holland (20) were lmed throwing
tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s (glass-
covered) ‘Sunowers’ at the National Portrait
Gallery in London, in April 2022. They are still
awaiting trial on charges of criminal damage
to the picture frame.
Standing in Parliament Square, in April 2023,
Anna told me that she had signed petitions,
written to her MP, gone on school strikes to no
avail, so she joined Just Stop Oil. Before her Van
Gogh action, she had already been arrested
three times for blocking an oil tanker and
roads. Anna underlined that causing disruption
is the most eective protest method:
We do lots of disruptive actions like the
soup action, like the snooker action,
because those are the only ways we
can break through into mainstream
conversations. That's when we get into
the news on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4,
and it's then that we can start helping
the UK public understand.
While much mainstream media coverage
is not sympathetic to Just Stop Oil and
public opinion is divided, the movement has
undoubtedly raised awareness about fossil fuel
extraction. Most people agree with the group’s
aims, if not its methods. But, as Alex De Koning,
a young Just Stop Oil spokesperson, has said,
‘We are not trying to make friends here, we are
trying to make a change, and unfortunately,
this is the way that change happens.’
There are signs that British politicians are
moving in the same direction. All opposition
political parties have committed to oppose
new oil and gas licences. Indeed, Rishi Sunak
has accused Labour leader Keir Starmer of
being in league with ‘eco-zealots at Just
Stop Oil’. ‘Not content with disrupting our
summer and cherished sporting events, they
Young People and
Climate Protest
Sarah Pickard reflects on how young people have become engaged
by Just Stop Oil and the climate emergency.
are essentially leading us into an energy
surrender,’ the Conservative Prime Minister
said in June, before announcing the following
month more than a hundred new oil and gas
drilling licenses.
Sunak and his government have cited
disruptive protests to make the case for new
laws to reduce the right to protest. The Police,
Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
introduced new restrictions on protest. During
the Bill’s second reading, in May 2022, then
Home Secretary Priti Patel referred specically
to Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just
Stop Oil.
The Public Order Act 2023 gives greater
powers to police in England and Wales to
block disruptive protest tactics. The legislation
includes new oences around locking on,
tunnelling and obstructing, as well as police
powers to ‘stop and search without suspicion.’
The act also lowers the threshold for what kind
of protests constitute ‘serious disruption’ and
introduces the possibility for courts to impose
a Serious Disruption Prevention Orders (SDPO)
lasting between a week and two years, with
a breach constituting a criminal oence. The
government’s introduction of all this legislation
has led to much criticism, including from
several United Nations special rapporteurs,
about attempts to repress the right to protest.
Back in April, as I looked over from Parliament
towards the memorial to the Suragette
Emmeline Pankhurst, famous for her disruptive
civil obedience to win women’s right to vote,
I couldn’t help but wonder how history will
judge the disruption caused by Just Stop Oil
activists, political reactions to it and young
people’s views of institutional politics. As Anna
put it, ‘I support Just Stop Oil as a young person
because my future is being destroyed by
people in power.’
Sarah Pickard is a Professor at Université
Sorbonne Nouvelle and a co-convenor of the
PSA Young People’s Politics specialist group.
Political Insight September 2023.indd 40Political Insight September 2023.indd 4014/08/2023 12:2414/08/2023 12:24
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