Just stop oil may think that acting like a righteous doomsday cult will prevent some ill-defined apocalypse and draw together the public for the good the environment. But instead, their bizarre and attention seeking tactics prevent the rest of the country from having a reasonable conversation about the effects of pollution on the climate and further the deepening divisions within political discourse. Imagine you are a plumber or a bricklayer driving your van in outer London, already harassed by ULEZ cameras, you find a procession of middle-class fanatics blocking the road demanding an end to oil. The very thing that allows you to earn money and feed your family. You try to reason with them but to no avail, they are utterly wedded to their cause and see no reason to move and let you pass, and the resulting delay cripples your income for that day. I imagine that most ordinary people would come away with a decidedly negative opinion of whoever was blocking the road. As this situation plays out over and over again across the country the cause of tackling climate change becomes an ever more fringe issue in the public conscience. Apparently, this was not always the chosen modus operandi of Just Stop Oil. In April 2022 they began actions against oil giants such as ExxonMobil and Valero, blocking distribution centres and attacking infrastructure. For one month they lived up to their name. It is interesting how quick this chapter of the movement’s history came to an end.
For one month they lived up to their name. It is interesting how quick this chapter of the movement’s history came to an end.
Court injunctions were placed upon them and they moved on to their current tactics of disrupting the lives of normal people. Herein is where they lost credibility as a good cause and it is interesting how quickly they submitted to the courts when faced with the legal might of global corporations. Surely the thought of a little prison time is nothing compared to the end of the world? It would seem not and since the middle of 2022 they have moved to more divisive tactics, turning the streets into another front of the culture wars. Just Stop Oils tactics are completely ineffectual in creating any meaningful discussions around climate change, and I struggle to understand the reasoning behind them. What do they think is going to happen if they sit in the middle of busy junctions or the M25? Will this really cause the kind of public enlightenment on climate issues they say they want? Indeed, the aggressively antisocial nature of some of the group’s actions make me think that they are motivated by a supercharged sense of righteousness, as if they are the apostles of environmentalism, rather than any rational alarm for the climate. This sense of righteousness has always been a feature of middle-class activism, but this latest manifestation has a slightly disturbing ferocity which should not be taken lightly. For just about anything can be justified when you believe yourself to among the elect, warning of imminent doom.