Three health workers unfurled a huge banner in front of the Van Gogh sunflower paintings today to demand the release of Phoebe and Anna, the young Just Stop Oil supporters recently imprisoned for throwing soup on one of the paintings in 2022. [1].
The three medical professionals, Mary Light, Karen Rock and Dr Alice Clack unfurled a banner reading “For Health Sake Just Stop Oil” and “Free Phoebe and Anna Now” at the National Gallery. In addition to demanding the release of Phoebe and Anna, the health workers, all supporters of Health for Extinction Rebellion are aiming to bring attention to the impact of the Climate and Nature crisis on health.[2]
Security guards cleared the public from the room, before taking their own photos of the banner and confiscating the health workers’ scrubs. The three were then escorted from the Gallery.
Mary Light, 80, a retired nurse said:
“Those complicit in destroying our beautiful world, including lawyers and oil execs, are free to continue to do so, and are even respected members of society. Meanwhile our young people feel compelled to raise the alarm and are being silenced by those in positions of power. Through our action today we hope to send our support and love to all these courageous young people, some of whom, like Anna and Phoebe, have been imprisoned for their nonviolent actions”.
Karen Rock, 62, a community mental health nurse said:
“Our youngsters know the current trajectory for climate breakdown means they face a dystopian future and yet our leaders are prioritising silencing them over addressing the issues being raised. Our young people deserve better. Our government needs to take decisive action based on the science and stop enabling the persecution of peaceful protestors. Phoebe and Anna should not be in jail for highlighting government failure”.
Dr Alice Clack, 48, a consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist said:
“It is unbelievable to me that young people like Phoebe and Anna should be locked up for trying to emphasise what is most important. As wonderful as Van Gogh’s painting is, it is in the end, still a painting. Van Gogh himself recognised that nature and reality are more important than the feelings we have for paintings. Our health, and our planet’s health are all more important than any picture. As a doctor who practises evidence-based medicine it is clear to me that officials who fail to grasp the enormity of the climate crisis are not fit for public service”.
Phoebe Plummer (23) and Anna Holland (22) were imprisoned for 2 years, and 20 months, respectively last month following their conviction for throwing tomato soup over the glass protection covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in October 2022. A conviction which has been criticised heavily by legal professionals. They are among 24 Just Stop Oil supporters imprisoned for actions taken to demand an end to all UK fossil fuel extraction and use by 2030. [3][4][5]
Health for Extinction Rebellion highlights that the climate and ecological emergency is recognised globally by health leaders, such as the UK medical colleges, as a health emergency , with over 200 international medical journals releasing a joint editorial in 2021 to urge world leaders to tackle the “catastrophic harm” . Moreover, direct action is being increasingly recognised internationally among the medical community as a necessary medical intervention to protect patients.[6][7][8]
Over six in ten young people in the UK are very or extremely worried about the climate and ecological emergency, with government inaction increasing their sense of anxiety and betrayal Yet, even as our government was itself being found guilty in court for failing in its legally binding commitments to achieve net zero, it was also forcing through legislation to criminalise and silence the voices of young people, like Phoebe and Anna, who acted in defence of their futures. [9]
Everyone knows that politics is broken and we cannot rely on politicians (or judges) to save us — not from poverty, not from the crisis in our health service, not from complete climate collapse. The Labour government doesn’t work for ordinary people, they work for corporations and billionaires. It’s time to put this right. That’s why we’re taking part in this day of action. Join us in Parliament Square on Saturday November 2nd at 2pm. Sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/politics-is-broken-the-umbrella-march
ENDS
Health for Extinction Rebellion Press Contacts:
Ali Rowe – 07901 916489
Alice Clack – 07919 882 601
Health for XR Press Release: https://healthforxr.com/health-workers-stand-in-solidarity-with-just-stop-oil-activists-to-highlight-the-escalating-climate-and-health-crisis/
Media files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1li2VMSfo_sr4XnPLpSmevKt06yCuz80T?usp=sharing
Photo Credit: Zoe Broughton, Twitter: @cameraZoe, FB: Zoe Broughton https://www.facebook.com/zoe.broughton.16, Insta: @camerazoe, TikTok: zoefilmedit
Just Stop Oil Press contacts
Press contact: 07762 987334
Press email: juststopoilpress@protonmail.com
High quality images & video here: https://juststopoil.org/press-media
Website: https://juststopoil.org/
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Notes to Editors
[1] Just Stop Oil is a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects.
Critical seed funding for Just Stop Oil was provided by Climate Emergency Fund and Adam McKay in 2022 and 2023. Just Stop Oil is now largely backed by small donations from the public, although the Climate Emergency Fund continues to contribute.
Just Stop Oil ‘Blue Lights’ policy: our policy is, and has always been, to move out of the way for emergency vehicles with siren sounding and ‘blue lights’ on.
We take all possible steps to ensure that no-one’s safety is compromised by our actions.
Our Demand: An end to oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Our governments must work together to establish a legally binding treaty to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 as well as supporting and financing poorer countries to make a fast, fair, and just transition.
This can be accomplished by endorsing the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and seeking a negotiating mandate to establish the treaty.
[2] Health for Extinction Rebellion is a collective of doctors, nurses and other health professionals who are deeply concerned about the climate and ecological crisis and its devastating impact on the health and well-being of our patients, the public and people across the world.
[3] Sent down for throwing soup? Judge Hehir turns state suppression into an art form: https://juststopoil.org/2024/09/27/sent-down-for-throwing-soup-judge-hehir-turns-state-repression-into-an-art-form/
[4] Five legal missteps in the sentencing of Plummer and Holland. https://juststopoil.org/2024/10/16/five-legal-missteps-in-judge-hehirs-sentencing-of-plummer-and-holland/
[5] Write to our 24 political prisoners: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GUa6RdJMsFN-uDa03jfleJTVFL86DIfBilVVF6f3E4U/edit?usp=sharing
[6] Treat the climate and nature crisis as one indivisible global health emergency: https://ukhealthalliance.org/news-item/time-to-treat-the-climate-and-nature-crisis-as-one-indivisible-global-health-emergency/
[7] Climate crisis: Over 200 health journals urge world leaders to tackle “catastrophic harm”. https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2177
[8] Duty of care in a changing climate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnJj7XwxlYk&t=86s
[9] Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3/fulltext
