Hanging up the hi vis

This is how the environmental protest movement, Just Stop Oil (JSO), flagged up to followers its surprise decision to cease its three-year campaign of civil resistance to the actions of the oil and fossil fuel industry.

In an upbeat email to followers, circulated yesterday, JSO stated, "Just Stop Oil’s initial demand to end new oil and gas is now government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history." This signals the end of large-scale street protests (although there will be a valedictory rally in Westminster on Saturday 26 April) and what it describes as "soup on Van Goghs [and] cornstarch on Stonehenge".

The claim that its demands have been met by the incoming Labour government, though true as far as it goes, feels rather like whistling to keep the spirits up while crossing fingers. The UK Supreme Court has ruled that emissions caused by extraction and burning should be included in an environmental impact assessment and the government has opted not to contest the judicial review of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields. It has ruled out issuing new oil and gas licenses for the North Sea while withdrawing development and production consents for Rosebank and Jackdaw and up to thirteen more projects in the consenting process could also be halted. 

I suppose a lot depends on whether, and how far, we feel this government can be trusted not to renege or backslide on its pledges. Its track-record since coming to power last July has not been encouraging but, after three gruelling and bitter years of protest, in response to which the previous Conservative government consistently clamped down on civil liberties by introducing a series of Draconian new laws limiting and punishing resistance, one understands why JSO has decided to pause and take stock. 

Sustaining a national campaign on this scale for three years must have been utterly exhausting, for organisers and supporters alike, who have not thrown in the towel entirely. The email promises to "...continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners and call out the UK’s oppressive anti-protest laws". One has to question, though, how far this victory, partial and conditional as it is, may have been Pyrrhic.

We have lost so many civil liberties as a result of sustained government crackdowns on the campaigns mounted by JSO and its sister organisation, Extinction Rebellion (XR), that the landscape is now scarcely recognisable. We must lay the blame for this squarely where it belongs, on the Tories not the protesters, whilst continuing to pressurise Labour to reverse Tory policies - something which it seems stubbornly reluctant to contemplate. Governments, of any stripe, rarely surrender powers willingly so a new battlefront opens up.

We'll have to gauge our new strategy after marching on 26th April.

Popular posts from this blog

A knight's tale - creative non-fiction

England - 1088 'What's a king without a kingdom?' 'A man, sire. And a man fights for what's his.' The king had been thinking aloud and the thirteen year-old lad's unexpected reply to his rhetorical question caught him off-guard. It was a bold response but, rather than being angered, he felt chastened by it. It was profound coming from one so young and junior in his service though prompted, he knew, by genuine love and loyalty rather than impertinence.  At a moment of grave peril so early in his new reign he valued candour, a commodity in short supply at court. He had followed his father, the Conqueror, as King William II less than a year earlier and now faced widespread rebellion. At such a time he could ill afford self-pity, much less self-doubt. He blamed himself for allowing a brief moment of self-indulgence in front of his page.  Since receiving the devastating news at Eastertide of his brother Robert's challenge the lad had been his closest companio...
Read more

Looking to Africa - long read

As I sit here on an island just off the coast of North-West Africa I can't help pondering the future of that vast and seemingly unknowable continent, so near and yet so far. I'm writing this in Tenerife, one of the eight Canary Islands forming an archipelago off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara - tantilisingly close and yet a world away from the 'mainland' of continental Africa. As an Autonomous Community of Spain, the Canaries form an outpost of the European Union (EU). Yet, despite their proximity to Africa, their outlook, politically, culturally and economically, is resolutely European. Africa may as well be Mars, though only a narrow gulf of the Atlantic Ocean separates these offshore islands from their continent. I say resolutely European but that resolve may, little by little, be weakening. There is a growing sentiment, especially, though not exclusively, amongst young Canarians, that they have been sold a pup. True, the economy is superficially buoyant, du...
Read more

Singin' in the rain

Olympic opening ceremonies, what's not to like? Quite a lot, actually. They are usually overblown, overlong and at their best when, well, over. The Paris Games opening ceremony last night was no exception. It may have been a tour de force of the genre but, boy, did I want it to finish. In fact about halfway through would have been just fine. Obviously no one dared tell Thomas Jolly, the director, that less really can be more. I felt for my namesake, Jane Austen's Mr Bennett, "you have delighted us long enough". Still, with a backdrop as stunning as the City of Lights (sadly looking rather drab in the teeming rain - though better than a wet weekend in Wigan I suppose) why wouldn't you want to make the most of it? It was a bold decision but must have been a logistical and security nightmare to pull off.  It sort of worked but severely outstayed its welcome - the showman's motto is 'always leave 'em wanting more'. If only! It began well enough with a...
Read more