7th July 2023:
In my feed a few days ago (27th June) was the recent JSO action against Total Energy over the Uganda pipeline. A group of Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists painted the offices of Total Energy and then sat outside waiting for arrest, while a larger group sat down nearby in protest. A nice action, but when the police arrived, they arrested all 27, which is not so nice, and an example of the new extreme policing environment.
As a result JSO sent out messages on their social media network. I picked it up an email that day and had a look at their twitter feed, where there was a video of JSO member Adil being arrested and talking to the camera while this was happening about what was going down (see here). I just wanted to hear what he had to say and learn a bit more about what was going on.
What shocked me though, were all the toxic comments. I mean , the JSO feed was totally spammed with them, to the point that they drowned out any meaningful comments from anyone else. It really made me sit up and take note. I mean, we talk about corporations and fossil fuel companies and governments as the climate criminals and of blocking climate action, but when you actually get a glimpse of the true state of the social body like this, you realise that in reality, it is ordinary people who are the problem.
Listening to a podcast recently I heard one seasoned activist talk about how you often start out on a campaign thinking that you need to raise awareness, and that if you just raised awareness, then people would take action. Eventually, this activist said, it dawned on her that people already knew, and were complicit, so that awareness raising was no longer effective. The comments on the JSO twitter feed show similar levels of complicity in this global ecological holocaust. The levels of hate, of piss taking, of ridiculing, indecency, were also sky high. On such an important issue on which hangs the future of life on earth, I found that hard to stomach, and it really brought home to me just how toxic the social body is.
Let me go through a few typical comments.
alan hendrix
@Siralanhe what a load of crap he talks
@bishttid
Excellent news! Long sentences for all.
Sydney Business Web - eCommerce Specialists
Wish I could have turned water-cannon and CS gas on the irritating pests!
tt b #VoteAnyoneButLibLabConGreen
@ttb_backagainLet Adil do that in Uganda. And see what treatment he gets there......
Shaun Train
I wouldn't listen to this fanatic for one second if I could help it.
JP
His soyboy tears sustain me
PonteJack
Great and Adil will think twice about being a prat next time.
Alfie Pupper Esq.
@littlegreydog3 Excellent. Glad to hear it. Let’s hope some nice long sentences and large fines are issued.
Mr brightside
@stevo1862 27 Criminals arrested
Richard Smith
@dcetg_smith EXCELLENT THROW AWAY THE KEY
Ricky P
@Rickyp1969666 Good now Jail them for 5 years each.
And so on. Literally, pages of such comments, with the few supportive comments totally drowned out. I mean, I get why if you're supportive of JSO you just wouldn't bother commenting - you're not going to get anywhere with people with mindsets like this and you'll just be inviting more poisonous comments your way.
So I didn't bother commenting either, but, at the same time, it all played on my mind for the last few days, and so I felt I had to make some comment, if only for my own sake, to address the complete mindlessness and spitefulness of it all, and to give voice to my own sanity.
So here goes my small dose of sanity, and my own token of appreciation and solidarity for the 27 arrested and for what JSO in general are doing.
Charlie Cox
@AVFCCharlie They were arrested for criminal damage. You threw paint on the walls. It’s vandalism. But I suppose that doesn’t suit your agenda and propaganda so it’s best to leave it out, right?
Er, no, definitely wrong. The point was they didn't throw paint on the walls. The four people who did were arrested, but that was not the point of the twitter post, which was protesting the fact that 23 other people who committed no crime were also arrested, simply for sitting down outside the offices. The Police just arrested them because they were JSO and because they want to harass people who are part of JSO. That is political policing of protest movements, and that equates to the police acting on behalf of an undemocratic economic regime dominated by the fossil fuel industrial complex. The other point is, because the police operate on behalf of this economic regime, they are not arresting the executive officers of Total Energies, where this protest is happening, despite the fact that they are committing real crimes on an epic scale. None of that is propaganda Charlie, and neither is it an agenda.
Herb Murrel Schaffler
@Fossil_Herb A Moody’s Analytics report in estimated that warmer temperatures and climate change would actually increase GDP growth in Canada to 2050, but even pessimistic forecasts show significantly lower costs from climate change than from net-zero policies.
The planetary climate is being destabilised, the biosphere destroyed, and species driven to extinction, and you are quoting Moody's Analytics and GDP growth projections to 2050 like that means something? I mean, what about what happens in 2150, with global temperatures at 4 degrees higher than today or more, what are Moody's growth projections like for then? And what are Moody's growth projections for the stability of the food system given the rate of ecosystem collapse? Are you getting any of this Murrel??
Simon Green
@47simonuk Well done police … good job
No, even if you support the police Simon, this is really bad policing. I mean, how does arresting 27 people sitting down outside an office committing no crime equate to good policing? Isn't it rather a total waste of public money and national resources? Shouldn't they just be left alone, and shouldn't the police focus instead on crimes that actually cause harm? I mean did all the crime in London just stop while the police wasted their time arresting 27 people needlessly, taking their details, holding them in cells, contacting solicitors and friends, cooking them food, providing them with blankets, and all the paperwork and human time and resources that requires? Or is it the case that this is a totally idiotic deployment of police resources? What would have happened if the police didn't bother to turn up at all, and instead did something else? The answer: nothing. Total Energy would have shut up shop, and opened the next day, washed the paint off, and that would be that. So no, this is the police showing themselves as incompetent at policing.
Ed
@NEDLClarets1973 It’s not our problem…..Go protest at the Ugandan embassy #
Who is the 'our'? Does that include me? You've decided this is not my problem on my behalf, and on everyone else who lives in the UK?
Richard Neilson
@RichardNeilso15 Again, why doesn't he go to Uganda to protest?
I'm sure you can work that out Richard. Try really hard, and actually think: hmmm, why didn't they go to Uganda? Could it be because… the offices of Total Energy are in London? Do you think? And maybe that going to London is a lot cheaper than Uganda? What do you reckon Richard?
Cranberry Pointy Toes Kazi54
@KarenJukes2 It’s a cult ! People that are lost and feel they want to belong or feel “important” have joined a cult!
No, it's a political protest movement. There is quite a big difference between the two, like, for example, members of a cult worship deities or a guru, whereas protest movements seek to create political change through taking political action. That does not involve worshipping deities or spreading religious propaganda or having a cult guru. Members of cults are often brainwashed and dumbed down, whereas people involved in political organising tend to be well informed and intelligent. Yes, there is a sense of belonging, but you can get that joining the local chess club, or any club. That's what comes with being part of a human community. A sense of belonging does not amount to a cult, and cults do not create a genuine sense of belonging. In a cult, you are owned and controlled and abused, which is not the same thing at all.
Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants
@BradleyJaxsun Well done, Plod. Did you have to shower the manky lot before booking them?
I mean, there is this section of society, a really toxic section of the white working class, who shout down all environmental protestors with terms like 'dirty hippies', 'get a job', and so on. It's bizarre. It is shouted out mindlessly, without any thought as to who they are talking to. Doesn't matter that they are talking to people who are all employed, as is generally the case. Doesn't matter that they are all squeaky clean and shower 5 times a day. Doesn't matter. This mindless subculture of the white working class continue to shout out their toxic garbage. If you've ever been involved in any kind of environmental protest you will have been on the receiving end. They are basically the germ of the UK equivalent of the Nazi jackboots. These are the people who will form the civil backbone of any potential future UK dictatorship. They are a serious and unrelenting problem, and a real danger to society. Thankfully their lack of intelligence renders them relatively impotent as long as their numbers do not grow beyond a critical mass.
Steve Wisdom
@Awoogatron It’s not just Total in that building and your antics have affected people from numerous other companies in the same building. Normal people just trying to work and feed their families.
Yeh, how truly dreadful. And to think: all the normal people wanted to do was to come to work so they can feed their starving families, and now, now… er, yeh, now what - what exactly is it that has happened to these normal people? Perhaps they got a little bit excited when they saw the police and the protesters, and in the excitement, they forgot to feed their starving families..? Really?
Marie
@MazP1976 Why do the police always always slow time with them to allow them to make their little speeches. could it be that they are complicit in this show? No that can’t be possible! All theatre folks.
Yeh, the police should gag everyone they arrest so that they can't speak. You're so sweet Marie, a real gentle soul.
Anh Ray
@RiccardoPelc I wonder if they even read their comment sections. There’s like one supporting comment per thousand.
Yeh, it's disgusting, isn't it Ray, that people who take direct action for the benefit of the greater good of life on earth receive countless derisive and derogatory comments. It really makes you realise just how bad the situation is out there, and how little real humanity remains.
A.Matthews
@Aston365 You keep sending them, we will keep arresting them.
Who's 'we' and who is 'you'? I mean, why not be clear - by ‘we’ you mean the assholes who seek to make profit regardless of the cost, and by ‘you’ you mean the good people who seek to stop them? You give voice to the arseholes. I'm just pointing it out mate.
John Maier
@cablejohn45 I bet they don't ask the Ugandans how they feel about the pipeline. Jobs, money, food.
They were acting in solidarity with Ugandans taking action in Uganda. So yes, they were aware of how at least some Ugandans felt. How many Ugandans have you consulted to arrive at your lofty opinion? People in Uganda already have money and food. That is why they are protesting against this pipeline. It will destroy their livelihoods and communities, and leave them without. This pipeline is not about helping the Ugandans, it is about power and making profit regardless of the cost. Really important to understand the difference.
Lewy
@Lewy9000 Criminal scum
You remind me of the imperials in Star Wars, always referring to the rebellion as 'rebel scum'. I'm guessing you'd probably be flattered at the comparison.
Olivia M Ⓥ
@OliviaMLondonWake up. Under the new anti protest laws anyone can get arrested for pretty much anything. Don’t understand the spiteful gloating. The protest didn’t bother folk going to work etc, no permanent damage to their (ugly) building. Shutting down dissent by any means. Dark days.
Glad to finish up with at least one positive comment, and to know that there are still sane people out there :-).