A UK Just Stop Oil activist has said the group will continue hammering home its message – even if some people find it alienating.
Over the past month, the group has been protesting across London in a bid to get the British Government to end all new oil and gas licences.
Over the weekend, the group blocked traffic in the city by sitting in the middle of the road until police came and removed them.
The campaign hit headlines around the world last month when activists threw canned soup over Vincent van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers painting at London’s National Gallery.
Activists have also sprayed orange paint over several London institutional headquarters – including New Scotland Yard, the Home Office, the MI5 Building and the Bank of England.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Just Stop Oil activist Lora Johnson said the group’s actions are based upon the civil resistance movements of the past.
“Our aim is very clear actually,” she said. “We’re trying to get the [British] government say no to any new licensing for fossil fuels.”
Asked whether the group risked angering people rather than recruiting them to the cause she said: “It’s really sad that we don’t have any time left”.
“Whether or not we alienate people, we are getting the message out there.”
listen to her explain the Van Gogh soup protest.
she’s got a point, no? pic.twitter.com/cObcWNx8aP
— michael mezz (@michaelmezz) October 18, 2022
We make this #Monet the stage and the public the audience.
If it takes a painting – with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it – to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all:
Then we'll give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting! pic.twitter.com/HBeZL69QTZ
— Letzte Generation (@AufstandLastGen) October 23, 2022
Ms Johnson said the Van Gogh protest made a very clear point: “what is worth more, art or life?”
“Currently, in the UK, 100,000 people die every year because of air pollution,” she said.
“That is 11 people every hour dying because of air pollution and our government are pushing through with new oil licensing.”
She said renewables are nine times cheaper than new fossil fuel exploration.
“The biggest solar farms in the UK took six weeks to build and because they are nine times cheaper, an energy bill which is now £3,500 could be £400,” she said.
“So, we’re saying that the best thing for us to do is to move over the renewables.”
🎨 BREAKING: LORA JOHNSON THROWS PAINT ON MET POLICE HQ 🎨
⚖️ New oil and gas will lead to crop failure, food shortages and the collapse of law and order. Human civilisation as we know it is on the verge of collapse.#FreeLouis #FreeJosh #CivilResistance pic.twitter.com/EjeBaI8UcD
— Just Stop Oil ⚖️💀🛢 (@JustStop_Oil) October 14, 2022
Ms Johnson said the British Government is also failing to act on a looming food crisis.
“We have already got a huge food crisis which is not even being addressed,” she said.
“This year, in the UK, we lost one-third of our wheat harvest, half of our potato harvest and if the droughts continue, we are going to lose all of our fruit harvest next year.
“So, unless the government do something very quickly, we are going to have a huge fruit harvest next year as well.”
👩🏻🦰 Lora Johnson, aka viral flying woman, aka New Scotland Yard’s newly-hired painter/decorator, is amongst the 25 blocking Cromwell Road this morning.
💷 https://t.co/HBHsudWj6v#FreeLouis #FreeJosh #CivilResistance #A22Network #JustStopOil #NoNewOil #EnoughIsEnough pic.twitter.com/gg42bcqpDM
— Just Stop Oil ⚖️💀🛢 (@JustStop_Oil) October 19, 2022
Asked whether people had a right to expect a transition period as the world moves towards renewables, Ms Johnson said: “That’s exactly what we’re asking for”.
“We currently have eight years of oil licensing left, which is about eight years of oil, or about 14 years if we have a just transition,” she said.
“Like I said before, the biggest solar farm was built in just six weeks and it is nine times cheaper. So, we’re asking the government to do that now.
“Every single week in the UK, £236m of taxpayer money goes to the fossil fuel industry and they don’t even pay any tax.
“What we are asking is really simple and fair and we are not asking people to give up their cars. We’re asking government to move that money - that £236m every week of taxpayer money - and put that into insulating our homes and helping old and vulnerable people not die because of the cold.”
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