A statue of Emmeline Pankhust, the suffragette leader, in Manchester got the Just Stop Oil treatment today with a speech bubble and high viz vest. Just Stop Oil is demanding that the UK government work with others to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.[1]
At 11am today, Just Stop Oil supporters dressed the figure in a high viz vest and added a speech bubble reading “Deeds not words: Just Stop Oil”. These props were later removed by Highway Maintenance workers.
Emmeline Pankhurst, a leading British women’s rights activist, founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), an all-women suffrage advocacy organisation dedicated to “deeds, not words”.[2][3]
The statue, ‘Rise up, women’ (Emmeline Pankhurst, 1858–1928), was created by award-winning sculptor Hazel Reeves and shows Emmeline standing on a chair addressing a mass demonstration. It is only the second ever statue of a woman in Manchester and was installed in St Peter’s Square in 2018 after the Moss Side-born suffragette was selected by public vote to be immortalised in bronze. [4]
In 2022, Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of Emmeline, wrote “My suffragette grandmothers are now seen as heroes. Today’s climate protesters will be too…Environmentalists of all forms have the moral high ground. I have absolutely no doubt that in 100 years’ time they will be seen as the real heroes. Those who ignored the warning bells will be – nay, already are – on the wrong side of history” [5].
The action follows the publication of the UN emissions gap report which confirmed that the continuation of current policies will lead to a catastrophic temperature rise of up to 3.1°C. Launching the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said “There is a direct link between increasing emissions and increasingly frequent and intense climate disasters. Around the world, people are paying a terrible price.” Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP said. “I urge every nation: no more hot air, please. Use the upcoming COP29 talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, to increase action now” [6]
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
“Emmeline Pankhurst once said: ‘we are showing them that government does not rest upon force at all: it rests upon consent’ . Well we do not consent to government plans to continue burning more oil and gas for decades to come. We do not consent to plans that will lead to 3C of global warming destroying our ability to grow food and meet basic needs for our families. We do not consent to enriching the few at the expense of the many. It is long past time for deeds not words. If governments won’t stop oil we need to replace them or we all die.
“Politics is broken and we cannot rely on politicians to save us — not from poverty, not from the cost of living crisis, not from complete climate collapse. The Labour government doesn’t work for ordinary people, they work for corporations and billionaires, while supporting genocide in Gaza. It’s time to put this right. That’s why we’re calling on everyone to join us for a day of action on November 2nd.”
Join us in Parliament Square on Saturday November 2nd at 11:30am to take part in the Politics is Broken bloc at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s National Palestine March. As a prefigurative day of action we will be actively inviting and welcoming a large number of groups to come together – including the climate and nature movements, palestine solidarity, inequality and democracy movements to join forces and march on Parliament and join us after at the Umbrella Rally, Supper, Peoples Assembly and After Party. Sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/politics-is-broken-the-umbrella-march
Book tickets for the Assembly, Food and After Party here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/politics-is-broken-peoples-assembly-after-party-tickets-1037794269597
We stand with our 24 supporters in prison, with the 1,800 victims of our broken criminal justice system imprisoned for over a year without trial and with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives. [7]
ENDS
Press contact: 07762 987334
Press email: juststopoilpress@protonmail.com
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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] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmeline_Pankhurst
[7] Serving sentences: Larch Maxey, Joe Howlett, Christopher Bennet, Samuel Johnson, George Simonson, Gaie Delap, Theresa Higginson, Cressida Gethin, Roger Hallam, Lou Lancaster, Daniel Shaw, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, Phoebe Plummer, Anna Holland.
On remand: Daniel Knorr, Noah Crane, Ella Ward, Margaret Reid, Indigo Rumbelow, Rosa Hicks, Rory Wilson, Adam Beard, Luke Watson, Luke Elson.
How to write to Just Stop Oil supporters in prison: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GUa6RdJMsFN-uDa03jfleJTVFL86DIfBilVVF6f3E4U/edit
