Just Stop Oil was a British environmental activist group focused on the issue of climate change. They used civil resistance, nonviolent direct action, traffic obstruction, and vandalism to try and push the British government into ending new fossil fuel licensing.
The group became infamous for the theatrics they performed in order to get attention. They disrupted the academy awards, glued themselves to famous paintings, blocked traffic in order to become more visible and to promote their cause.
They garnered controversy on multiple occasions. Once after they painted Stonehenge with orange cornflour paint, Rishi Sunak, then Prime Minister, called it a "disgraceful act of vandalism". Leader of the opposition, now Prime Minister Keir Starmer, branded the defacement as “outrageous” and the protesters as “pathetic.”
On another occasion three protesters, including Ludi Simpson, threw a can of soup over the Sunflowers painting by Vincent Van Gogh. With Ludi Simpson being reported as saying, “We will be held accountable for our actions today, and we will face the full force of the law. When will the fossil fuel executives and the politicians they’ve bought be held accountable for the criminal damage that they are imposing on every living thing?”
A judge would tell them during sentencing, “You two simply had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers, and your arrogance in thinking otherwise deserves the strongest condemnation.”
This statement holds an element of the truth for many people. A YouGov poll showed that most Britons had a negative view of Just Stop Oil, with over 40% having a very unfavourable view.
While they have raised awareness over the looming threat of climate change, they can also be seen as making it harder to have a unified approach to tackling the issue as they are ultimately divisive.
It is not surprising to understand why it would divide people. For those who view Just Stop Oil negatively, they are nothing but a daily nuisance, with few of their activities being directed at oil companies and instead focused on disrupting the lives of ordinary people. People who want to get to work on time only for the M5 to be blocked, people who want to be able to wander through a gallery in peace, only for a protest to disturb their day.
In many ways this all seems rather convenient for the oil companies. An environmental group disrupts the lives of ordinary individuals making the individuals spiteful against climate change activists.
This is a sentiment that has been shared rather frequently. First reported by Evie magazine, the seed fund used to start Just Stop Oil had links to oil heiress Aileen Getty, and that they had also received regular donations from a climate fund she founded. This news would later reach the national press with the Telegraph, Guardian and BBC writing articles on it.
The idea that oil companies would use ‘psyops’ in order to sway the public is not unprecedented, with CNBC reporting that a presenter at an oil conference had said he had “several former military psychological operations, or ‘psy ops’ specialists on staff”.
When asked on his opinion on the matter, Ludi Simpson said while personally unaware of that matter, that the funding for Just stop Oil was incredibly diverse. Funding came from a number of sources including small individual donations. He also stated that if traces of funding did come from the Getty family that it in no way discredited the movement.
At the heart of this matter there is a conflict of two rational forces. People who want to get on with their day and people who are deeply concerned about the growing climate crisis.
Climate scientists are giving us urgent warnings that the world is on track to breach the 1.5°C global warming limit within the next three years, likely triggering irreversible, catastrophic tipping points.
It’s easy to get distracted by the theatrics of the matter, the orange paint, and the conspiracies of pysops. Perhaps this is because it is easier to confront these matters, than the growing crisis we have on our hands.
While fantastical and interesting the accusations of psyops are most likely unfounded. The Getty family, while still rich, are no longer connected with the oil industry with the Getty oil company going bankrupt fourteen years ago and the family’s main source of wealth being in art and the Getty Images company.
When the fluff and conspiracy and orange paint is stripped away, all we can see is two similar groups of people. Often working, normal, everyday people scared of what’s to come. Two groups of people stuck in flight or fright due to the enormous problem ahead of us.
What should be taken from this story is that we should look beyond our differences to find unity, because only unity can solve the crisis we are facing.
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