Yesterday was indeed “a dark day for peaceful environmental protest in the UK”, as the UN’s Special Rapporteur on environmental defence, Michel Forst, put it. A very dark day.
The outrage has been widespread. The disproportionality of the sentences (five years for Roger Hallam, four years for Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Cressida Gethin, Louise Lancaster and Daniel Shaw) has really shocked people. The fact that the judge (Christopher Hehir) had not allowed the defendants to give a proper account of the motivation is seen by all and sundry as an outrageous assault on free speech – and on the right of jurors to hear the whole truth in coming to a verdict.
We have to move beyond that shock. Two things:
First, JUST STOP OIL NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT. https://juststopoil.org/
Yes, we need both “a moderate flank” and a “radical flank” in our climate campaigning – but all those involved in the moderate flank (including almost every environmental NGO) need that radical flank to confront the status quo. And JSO has done a huge amount of the heavy lifting on behalf of ALL OF US.
Second, we should all now come together to secure the repeal of the draconian new laws that the Tories brought in – the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act and the 2023 Public Order Act.
The right to protest is indeed “the wellspring of democracy “and no country in the western world has seen that right so comprehensively crushed as here in the UK.
So, which of the environmental NGOs (representing that moderate flank) is now going to step up and commit to organising such a campaign?
