Yesterday (Tuesday 7 June) the Home Secretary said that “this country will not be held to ransom by so-called activists unconcerned about putting the lives of others in danger”, as she announced that “dangerous tunnelling by protesters will be banned under a new law”.
This is classic misdirection by Priti Patel, focussing on people engaged in peaceful civil resistance, painting their activities as dangerous, while her government is engaged in the most dangerous game of all – stoking climate collapse by drilling for more oil.
The reality is that the country is being held to ransom by dangerous radicals like Priti Patel. Not our words, those of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres who said earlier this year that “the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”
While Priti postures, claiming that “so-called activists” are “ unconcerned about putting the lives of others in danger” she is ignoring the rights and needs of today’s young people for a liveable future and the needs of the millions of households that have been tipped into fuel poverty by the current fossil fueled energy crisis.
To blindly pursue new fossil fuel extraction when the IEA, the UN and 99% of the world’s scientists have said that to do so would be inconsistent with maintaining a habitable planet is the action of a greedy deluded clique of fanaticals.
To delay acting for another decade, when the science suggests that if we don’t end drastically scale down use of fossil fuels by 2030 we will cause many millions more deaths from extreme heat, drought, crop failure and starvation, is genocidal.
The very idea that the people who have been desperately fighting to preserve life to ensure a future for humanity could be charged with being “unconcerned about putting the lives of others in danger” is laughable and just shows how out of touch the government really is.
Whether occupying tunnels or locked onto pipework, these young people are truly awe inspiring. Oh and by the way, they are not activists. These people are in resistance and they are doing what the Suffragettes did and what the Civil Rights movements did. It’s what everyone does when the inalienable right to life and a livelihood are violated – they engage in direct action. It is an act of self respect, an act of solidarity, an act of necessity.
Weekly national zoom calls happen on Tuesday’s at 7.00pm. Register here https://juststopoil.org/. Come and join us Priti, it’s never too late to do the right thing.
