I thought I recognised this guy's photo and realised I'd seen him protesting at the #UniversityOfExeter for which he was sentenced to six weeks in prison

https://social.coop/@afewbugs/111210781149302732

I'm still not sure of the effectiveness of these tactics in tackling climate change, but I'm beginning to suspect giving people with a lot of educational and social capital prison experience may end up doing a surprising amount for prison reform

#JustStopOil #GeorgeSimonson

‘The prison system is insanely broken’: a climate activist on his experience in jail

"The entire apparatus is executed with maximum emphasis on punishment and a superficial mention of rehabilitation. Many people resort to smashing the contents of their cells or self-harming as a way to access ... help... It is absolutely no wonder that re-offending rates are so high when those leaving prison are in a worse way than when they came in."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/19/climate-activist-experience-jail-prison-uk

#PrisonReform #JustStopOil

“Britain's two-tier justice system”

by Another Angry Voice on Substack

“There's a huge disparity between the lengthy sentences for the Zoom call environmental activists and greedy landowners repeatedly descending on London to demand inheritance tax breaks for themselves”

https://open.substack.com/pub/anotherangryvoice/p/britains-two-tier-justice-system?r=27oltk&utm_medium=ios

#Press #UK #Britain #TwoTier #Justice #JusticeSystem #JustStopOil #Zoom #ThoughtCrime #LandOwners #InheritanceTax #Jail

“Historic sentencing appeal at Royal Courts of Justice for 16 Just Stop Oil prisoners”

by Kate Bermingham in The Canary @thecanaryuk

“The prisoners include the ‘Whole Truth Five’, sentenced for four to five years each for participating in a zoom call about temporarily blocking the M25. These are the longest prison sentences ever handed down for nonviolent civil disobedience in the UK”

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/01/31/just-stop-oil-appeal-protest/?__s=pw3ygmyxve9etudpqdrh

#Press #UK #JustStopOil #WholeTruthFive #Nonviolent #Civil #Disobedience #Sentencing

It seems unlikely that the sentences handed out to Just Stop Oil protestors will be reduced after the High Court appeal yesterday, but what the demonstrations outside the Court suggested was that rather than just punishing these protesters, the judges may have produced an emerging narrative of sacrifice & martyrdom that may actually prove a helpful organising device for JSO.

Much will depend on how the Appeal plays out (we'll likely know in March).

#JustStopOil

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/30/protest-london-high-court-jailed-climate-activists-appeal-just-stop-oil

“Met Police already threatening peaceful protesters at the ‘Lord Walney’ 16 appeal hearing”

by The Canary @thecanaryuk @UKLabour

“The mass appeal concerns 16 political prisoners with combined sentences of 41 years handed down between July and September 2024. They are known as the Lord Walney 16”

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025/01/29/just-stop-oil-lord-walney-16-appeal/?__s=1toyfummtp6bhspv4akg

#Press #UK #JustStopOil #Walney16 #Appeal #MassAppeal #Walney #Defend #Juries #Labour #Starmer #MetPolice #Thugs #PoliticalPolicing #Peaceful #Protest

"Thought is free." The Tempest

#juststopoil demonstrate on a West End stage

Many in the audience applauded them

“The Lord Walney 16’s appeal is a battle for justice – for all of us”

by The Canary @thecanaryuk @UKLabour

“Known collectively as the ‘Lord’ Walney 16, all received shocking prison sentences only months after the disgraced John ‘Lord Walney’ Woodcock, paid oil and arms industry lobbyist, called for groups who oppose his clients’ interests, to be silenced and jailed”

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/01/23/lord-walney-16-appeal/?__s=pw3ygmyxve9etudpqdrh

#Press #Labour #Starmer #Walney #JustStopOil #FarRight #Authoritarian #Injustice #LabourFriendsOfBigOil

This is simply a disgrace

"77-year-old activist sent back to prison due to issues fitting tag"

#ukpolitics #ukpol #HumanRights #juststopoil #climate #green

https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/77-year-old-activist-sent-back-to-prison-due-to-issues-fitting-tag/

Forty protestors, aged from 22 to 58, will be behind bars on Christmas Day for peaceful protests.
#juststopoil #ClimateCrisis #gaza

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/20/record-number-of-protesters-will-be-in-uk-prisons-this-christmas?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

“Thanks to Keir Starmer, the Just Stop Oil ‘Stonehenge Three’ were in court today”

by The Canary @thecanaryuk

@UKLabour

“[..] on 19 June the now-prime minister, Starmer, then leader of the opposition, posted on Twitter that ‘the damage done to Stonehenge is outrageous. Just Stop Oil are pathetic. Those responsible must face the full force of the law’.”

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/12/13/stonehenge-just-stop-oil-trial/?__s=pw3ygmyxve9etudpqdrh

#Press #UK #Labour #Starmer #Climate #Crisis #Stonehenge #JustStopOil #Darrragh #Storm #PowerCuts

Just Stop Oil activist jailed for six months for taking part in slow march

Stephen Gingell, 57, thought to be first to receive prison sentence under new Public Order Act

by Damien Gayle
Fri 15 Dec 2023

"A #ClimateActivist has been jailed for six months after pleading guilty to taking part in a peaceful #SlowMarch protest on a London road.

"The sentence handed to Stephen Gingell, 57, is thought to be the first jailing under a new law that critics say makes anyone walking in a road liable for prosecution for 'interference with key national infrastructure'.

"#Section7 of the #PublicOrderAct2023 bans any act that prevents newspaper printing presses, power plants, #oil and #gas extraction or distribution sites, #harbours, #airports, #railways or #roads 'from being used or operated to any extent', with a potential penalty of 12 months in jail.

"Gingell, a father of three from #Manchester, was one of about 40 supporters of #JustStopOil who spent about 30 minutes marching on #HollowayRoad in north #London at about 4pm on 12 November, the climate campaign group said.

"He pleaded guilty to breach of section 7 at a hearing that same month at Wimbledon magistrates court. On Thursday, his case was transferred to Manchester magistrates court, where he was sentenced to six months.

"Just Stop Oil has been campaigning since 2022 for the UK government to stop all new fossil fuel production. The campaign’s 'guerrilla tactics' were cited by the Home Office when it introduced the Public Order Act’s tough new #AntiProtest measures to parliament.

"Police began using section 7 to tackle Just Stop Oil’s protests at the end of October, arresting 60 people taking part in a march in Parliament Square. In a campaign of slow march protests carried out by the group between then and 4 December, 470 of the group’s supporters were arrested 630 times, with about half of those arrests under the new law.

"A spokesperson for the campaign said: 'Section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023, a law drafted by the #FossilFuel lobby, was introduced in April by Priti Patel, and covers ‘interference with the use or operation of key national infrastructure’. It seems this government has now made walking down the road, walking on the public highway an illegal act that is worthy of imprisonment.

"'How many fathers will be imprisoned before those planning to kill us are stopped? New oil and gas will see millions upon millions lose their homes, livelihoods and lives. Protected by the government, by failed politicians, by the police, those committing genocide continue to walk free, those protesting the killings are banged up. Whose side are you on?'

"The human rights organisation Liberty criticised Gingell’s sentencing. Katy Watts, a lawyer at Liberty, said: “It is shocking to see such harsh sentences handed down to protesters. This is yet another unnecessary and draconian law introduced by a government that is hell-bent on discouraging people from standing up for what they believe in. It is a clear attempt to silence people and for the government to hide from all accountability.

"Protest is a fundamental right, not a gift from the state. Government should be protecting our right to protest, not criminalising it.'"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/15/just-stop-oil-activist-is-first-to-be-jailed-under-new-uk-protest-law?share=jetpack-whatsapp

#BigOilAndGas #WaterProtectors #DirectAction #CriminalizingDissent #DefendTheForest #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #ACAB #Fascism #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #AbolishTheMonarchy #RightToProtest

Just to add to the injustice of locking up Just Stop Oil protesters now one of them is being recalled to prison because despite being eligible to serve her sentence while be monitored, the private company is unable to provide a suitable electronic tag.... & have notified authorities that she needs to be rearrested.

It is a case study in disproportionate 'justice' & reflects badly on all those who've not agreed a doorstep probation that was fine on remand!

#JustStopOil
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/07/just-stop-oil-activist-gaie-delap-facing-jail-recall-as-wrists-too-small-for-electronic-tag

Causing absolutely no damage whatsoever #juststopoil throw orange powder paint over #Stonehenge

Guess how the Daily Mail, Express, and Telegraph will report this.

Xx

And how much economic damage is from climate change and pollution from #FossilFuels? #BigOil is the real criminal here!

#ClimateProtesters are taking action against Big Oil. UK courts are handing them prison terms akin to rapists and thieves

By Kara Fox, CNN
September 14, 2024

London CNN — "As #RightWing rioters attacked communities with #racist violence across parts of the UK last month, 22-year-old #ClimateActivist #CressieGethin sat in a prison cell.

"Her crime? Organizing a disruptive protest against new government-granted licenses to drill for oil — a planet-heating #FossilFuel — in the #NorthSea.

"In late July, a London court found #Gethin and four other members of the #JustStopOil activist group guilty of 'conspiring intentionally to cause a #PublicNuisance,' after recruiting protesters to climb structures along the M25 — a major ring road around London — bringing traffic to a standstill in parts over four days in November 2022.

"Prosecutors alleged that the protests, organized over a #ZoomCall, disrupted more than 700,000 drivers, caused economic damage of over £760,000 ($980,000) and racked up £1 million ($1.3m) in policing costs.

"Now Gethin and three others — Louise Lancaster, #DanielShaw and #LuciaWhittakerDeAbreu, who planned the disruption on the call — are serving four-year jail terms, while Just Stop Oil co-founder #RogerHallam was given five years. All are appealing.

"The sentences are believed to be the longest in the UK’s history for #nonviolent protest and were delivered under two new controversial laws that supercharged #policing powers to crack down on disruptive protests, even when they are peaceful.

"They place the act of planning a 'public nuisance' event, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, on a similar footing as #ViolentCrimes like robbery, for which punishments range from community service to 12 years’ jail, or rape, which is four to 19 years.

"The judge — who in court referred to the activists as '#extremists' — justified the long jail terms because all five activists had previously been convicted of one or more offenses in relation to direct action protest. Each were on bail for another set of proceedings when the Zoom call took place. He also noted people missed important doctor’s visits and funerals because of the protest.

"But activists like Gethin say their demonstrations are proportionate to the problem at hand — a rapidly warming world that threatens to transform life as we know it, through deadly #ExtremeWeather events and by pushing #ecosystems to their brinks. They are now battling the bolstered powers of the #police and courts to get their point across.

“'A very harsh sentence like this doesn’t make sense morally or legally — but it does make sense politically,' Gethin told CNN in a handwritten letter from HMP Bronzefield, a women’s prison just south of London’s Heathrow Airport.

"The laws have drawn criticism from the UN’s special rapporteur on #EnvironmentalDefenders, #MichaelForst, who said not only do they criminalize peaceful protest, but they are being enforced in 'punitive and repressive' ways."

Read more:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/14/climate/uk-climate-protests-policing-laws-prison-intl/index.html

#BigOilAndGas #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#HumanRights #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe

I'm not knocking the Grecians here, but I do find it fascinating that a crowd of football fans can block a road with a #SlowMarch on the way to a match and get indulgent nods and smiles, but if they were calling for clean air, better insulation in a time of #FuelPoverty and #ClimateCrisis or an end to the bombing of Gaza there would be immediate calls to lock them up for the disruption they're causing.

#RightToProtest #UKPol #JustStopOil #InsulateBritain #ExeterCity

They are the worst, scariest monsters you can possibly imagine. And they’re real.

#Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #JustStopOil

Innovation makes useful things smaller - overconsumption makes them bigger and more meaningless

stops combustion engine production as quickly as possible
#ENDFOSSILFUELS
#juststopoil