"Just stop oil"

[GreatAuk]

I have nothing against protesters, they are only doing something they believe in. What I don't get is why people like security, event staff, and even the public, think they have some sort of right to then assault them.

Why does believing in something give you the right to deliberately spoil things for other people and cause deliberate damage to property? This might be a type of 'activism', but it's not the kind of 'protest' that I would defend. It's more targeted vandalism than a protest.

What would you say if you were down the pub when a bunch of Mormons stormed in, upended your drink, and spread powder all over the place? Or maybe a bunch of EDL supporters turned up at a mosque and spread red and white powder around inside the mosque? (and both of those examples have a clearer logic than anti fossil fuel protesters going after a snooker tournament) Or if anti vaxers glued themselves to tube trains? That would be OK because it's what they believe in, right?

From the clip I saw I looked like the staff were quite restrained and all they did was drag the activist off the table and presumably out of the venue. If you've just made a scene, ruined an event and poured dirt everywhere then that's the very least you'd expect surely.

 

[200sols]

If they lose a bit of skin or are manhandled away from the scene, surely it is all for the cause?

Come on, standing at the side of the road with a placard does nothing, you just get ignored. They need to take direct action and disrupt people so they actually get noticed, their aim is to be in the news all the time and make people listen. Its not an invitation to be assaulted, but people bundled away is fair game.

 

[Hagar]

Come on, standing at the side of the road with a placard does nothing, you just get ignored. They need to take direct action and disrupt people so they actually get noticed, their aim is to be in the news all the time and make people listen. Its not an invitation to be assaulted, but people bundled away is fair game.

They  need to do nothing, their cause is misguided. Nothing that this country does will affect climate change one iota. Or rather we are doing a lot already to mitigate the effects that others have.
They should go after China and the USA, Russia is pumping rather a lot of fossil fuel. What about the UAE and the Kingdom of Saud. Germany and Poland extract and burn lots of dirty coal. Picket the embassies if they don't want to travel. Makes more sense.

 

[200sols]

They  need to do nothing, their cause is misguided. Nothing that this country does will affect climate change one iota. Or rather we are doing a lot already to mitigate the effects that others have.
They should go after China and the USA, Russia is pumping rather a lot of fossil fuel. What about the UAE and the Kingdom of Saud. Germany and Poland extract and burn lots of dirty coal. Picket the embassies if they don't want to travel. Makes more sense.

Ah so you're a 'but China' person, at least we know that now. The UK is still subsidising fossil fuels while doing woefully little to protect nature here. Lets not pretend we are some bastion of green wonderfulness.

 

[Tombstone]

their aim is to get paid for being in the news all the time.

Fixed for you

 

[Hagar]

Ah so you're a 'but China' person, at least we know that now. The UK is still subsidising fossil fuels while doing woefully little to protect nature here. Lets not pretend we are some bastion of green wonderfulness.

No, i am equal opportunities here.

 

[Tony Edwards]

Come on, standing at the side of the road with a placard does nothing, you just get ignored. They need to take direct action and disrupt people so they actually get noticed, their aim is to be in the news all the time and make people listen. Its not an invitation to be assaulted, but people bundled away is fair game.

Also

Extinction Rebellion activists and dozens of other environmental groups have vowed to "step up campaigns in new and inventive ways" unless the government agrees to enter talks on two new demands.

 

[200sols]

Fixed for you

Jumping onto snooker tables must be a real earner...

 

[Tombstone]

Jumping onto snooker tables must be a real earner...

You'd be surprised how much the rent a protestor crowd can make for what is very little effort. Its not going to make someone rich by any means but it sure helps when you're a university student with next to no income.

 

[labbby]

I do hope they go after some bowls championship somewhere to spice that up as well.

 

[Tombstone]

So Edred Whittingham is a fan (not really the right word but will suffice) of astronomy, space exploration and studies. I wonder how that fits within the context of being against the use of fossil fuels, given the amount needed and used in space endeavours.

 

[Stu999]

I do hope they go after some bowls championship somewhere to spice that up as well.

I would like to see them disrupt curling.

 

[Angilion]

Protest that doesn’t cause genuine disruption is a waste of time though so even if you don’t agree with them you have to admire the determination to actually do something while most of us sit by waiting for someone else to fix the problems.

But they're not doing anything other than being annoying and making things worse. They're certainly not doing anything to fix the problems.

 

[adidan]

I would like to see them disrupt curling.

Please, anything to disrupt curling.

 

[dowie]

Also

Extinction Rebellion activists and dozens of other environmental groups have vowed to "step up campaigns in new and inventive ways" unless the government agrees to enter talks on two new demands.

Why would the government want to hold talks with them? They're not really big enough or significant enough to warrant that.

They're free to lobby for certain things if they like or indeed to try and get elected but they're not really in much of a positon to start trying to dictate policy under threat of... erm.. throwing orange paint/chalk around and blocking a few roads.

 

[Diddums]

Ah so you're a 'but China' person, at least we know that now. The UK is still subsidising fossil fuels while doing woefully little to protect nature here. Lets not pretend we are some bastion of green wonderfulness.

The fact stands though, if they really wanted to make a difference, they'd start at the worst offenders, not a bloody snooker game. We, and they, know that they'll end up in prison camps or dead if they tried which is why they won't do it.

They didn't even have the balls to support their cause in winter, when we produce the most CO2 emmissions, absolutely hopeless losers, the lot of them.

I suspect we'll see a few cases of aggravated assault this year too, mark my words. When the inevitable Gofundme pops up for "sharon needs cosmetic dentistry because someone shoved her teeth down her throat" I'll chuck a penny in just so I can laugh at her.

Useless drains to society.

 

[GGizmo]

Why would the government want to hold talks with them? They're not really big enough or significant enough to warrant that.

They're free to lobby for certain things if they like or indeed to try and get elected but they're not really in much of a positon to start trying to dictate policy under threat of... erm.. throwing orange paint/chalk around and blocking a few roads.

The Tories will have a meeting because they like the distraction.

When the establishment want something, enforcing the law goes out of the window.

 

[Trusty]

They  need to do nothing, their cause is misguided. Nothing that this country does will affect climate change one iota. Or rather we are doing a lot already to mitigate the effects that others have.
They should go after China and the USA, Russia is pumping rather a lot of fossil fuel. What about the UAE and the Kingdom of Saud. Germany and Poland extract and burn lots of dirty coal. Picket the embassies if they don't want to travel. Makes more sense.

On a per capita basis, China has far less pollution. And ironically, they are making some big strides in renewables, centrally planned economy and whatnot, makes it a bit easier.

How China is Winning the Race for Clean Energy Technology – Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

fairbank.fas.harvard.edu

 

[jpaul]

we are buying the environmentally friendly **** from benevolent China - if the government introduce the appropriate carbon border tax, like the eu plan, that would reduce Chinese climate sins in our name.

coup would be if extinction rebellion can make a mess of the London streets again(the boat, actress et al) , at the coronation, it would create same public animosity on worldwide stage.
- aren't the laws now in place to prevent that, or the repeat of the likes of the statuegate.

 

[Tony Edwards]

I look forward to see if this hilariously backfires.

Extinction Rebellion pledges to help guard London Marathon from protests

Extinction Rebellion has agreed to help guard the London Marathon from protesters in a unique deal to protect one of the ‘crown jewels’ of British sport

www.theguardian.com

Extinction Rebellion has agreed to help guard the London Marathon from protesters on Sunday in a unique deal to protect one of the “crown jewels” of British sport.

The extraordinary arrangement was revealed by event director Hugh Brasher on Wednesday after a meeting with the environmental group, which is expected to attract thousands of people to The Big One festival in Parliament Square this weekend.

“I have just come from a meeting with Extinction Rebellion,” Brasher said. “They will be uniquely asking all their participants to help guard the London Marathon. To do something that is quite unique in their history – to protect what is one of the crown jewels of British sport.

“It is one of the crown jewels because the everyday person is competing and running those 26.2 miles at the time as Eilish McColgan, Sir Mo Farah, and when the greatest women’s endurance race in the history of our sport is taking place.

“The London Marathon is unique,” he added. “We run for clean air. That is so important in what we do. The environment is part of our DNA. And Extinction Rebellion has been very, very clear that they are in a new phase of wanting to engage the general public in a different way.”