The sentences are 5 years in one case and 4 in the others.
Seems like a bit much to me.
Our prisons are designed for revenge and punishment not just to those going to prison, but to have a terrifying affect on others.
So ironically, the use of 5 years prison time is the real terrorism, in the literal sense of trying to make people terrified of protesting and of putting someone in a cage for 5 years.
Yeah 4-5 years too much.
“I acknowledge that at least some of the concerns are shared by many, but the plain fact is that each of you has some time ago crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic.”
Don't you get it? There's no more fucking time to fuck around. Earth will be uninhabitable for humans if we continue the course.
Earth will be uninhabitable for humans if we continue the course.
Lol, that'll show us!
Ah shit.
Wait, for planning? Is this pre-crime?
Get your sick sticks ready
Passing sentence on each of the defendants at Southwark crown court, the judge Christopher Hehir said: “The offending of all five of you is very serious indeed and lengthy custodial sentences must follow.”
Hehir admitted there was a scientific and social consensus that human-made climate breakdown was happening and action should be taken to avert it. “I acknowledge that at least some of the concerns motivating you are, at least to some extent, shared by many,” he said.
“But the plain fact is that each of you has some time ago crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic. You have appointed yourselves as the sole arbiters of what should be done about climate change, bound neither by the principles of democracy nor the rule of law.
“And your fanaticism makes you entirely heedless of the rights of your fellow citizens. You have taken it upon yourselves to decide that your fellow citizens must suffer disruption and harm, and how much disruption and harm they must suffer, simply so that you may parade your views.”
Fuck everything about this judge.
How are they harming their fellow citizens? They planned a peaceful protest. Maybe someone else can find where they caused an issue bc I can't.
They planned a peaceful protest
No they didn't. They planned to shut the M25, one of the busiest motorways in the UK. Shutting that would force traffic onto all the roads around it, progressively gridlocking the entire south-east and causing misery for at least tens of thousands of people, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ran into six figures.
There's nothing peaceful about a massive DoS attack on the nation's infrastructure.
BTW before you bleat about protest being banned in the UK, no it isn't. Peaceful non-disruptive protest is enshrined in law and everyone has the right to protest about anything they want. What protesters don't have the right to do is disrupt the lives of those around them or to try to force the nation to capitulate to their demands by holding the country to hostage, which is exactly what those JSO wankers are trying to do, and is why they are so hated by so many people in this country.
JSO's message may well be 100% correct. It's not the message that's the problem, it's trying to force it down everyone's throats. You know how much you hate vegans and evangelical Christians? Well JSO is both of them put together on steroids.
Peaceful non-disruptive protest is enshrined in law and everyone has the right to protest about anything they want.
Name a protest that is non-disruptive and worked. Also giving someone a jail term bc they might cause a problem with a protest is not a valid point.
The planning part makes this suspect for sure.
But there are ways to peacefully protest without blocking a fuckin highway. People that do this should be slapped. I think they do more harm to their movement than a myriad of other options that don’t involve them pissing off everyone just trying to go about their lives.
There are people who would otherwise support their cause that are negatively affected by dumb decisions like this. While I don’t agree with the sentencing for planning a dipshit move like this, these people should consider better ways to make a statement.
Protesting is meant to be disrupting. Also, planning is greatly required to ensure a PEACEFUL PROTEST.
Disruptive for whom? Normal people with the same power as the protesters to change something? People who simply need to go to work to make ends meet?
Yeah, not the best tactic. It is however a great way to piss people off who otherwise would have supported the cause.
Saying anything different about the prospect of blocking a major highway is just downright naive.
Then join them. Disrupt the elites that created this problem and is sentencing them to 5 years. Or you can vote for people that will hold the elites accountable. Instead you are mad at people trying to help save your house.
This kind of disruption is exactly what climate change is doing - negativity affecting people just trying to go about their lives and make ends meet. Dumb decisions are being made which causes people with no choice in the matter to suffer.
The question is - why are you angry when poor people do it (on a limited scale, for a few hours) but not angry when rich & powerful people do it (to everyone, forever)?
That's the genius of this kind of protest. Clearly too genius for some, tho.
As dismissive your response is…Wishing away the practical aspects of what I said, by looking at everything from an ideal perspective, doesn’t change real world application and results.
I could likely solve many world problems if human nature wasn’t a factor.
The media and people in general ignore non-disruptive protest. When protesting pollution, bringing motor vehicles to a halt is arguably a pretty good choice compared to, say, the stone henge (which I don't have a problem with either). Whether the optics are good is debatable. The media is mostly corporate owned, and they'll try to make any protest that goes against their interests look bad anyways. Which is probably why they only cover disruptive protests.
True. So the most appropriate solution would be for JSO to perform a LIMITED disruptive protest. This would - and we know because it did - hit the papers and everyone would know about it, spreading the message, and aside from those directly affected would gain them a lot of support.
But then you stop. You've done what you needed to. The message is out there, people are talking and thinking about it. And writing to their MPs to express support. And changing the nation's direction via legitimate democratic process.
This is where JSO went so badly wrong. They didn't/wouldn't stop. They kept on disrupting the lives of those around them. They kept ignoring complaints from the public and warnings from the police. They went on to chuck paint at artwork, snooker tables and Stonehenge*. By becoming a bunch of complete and utter wankmuppets they have destroyed any public support they might have had and are now little more than environmental terrorists.
*Yeah I know the details, decomposable powder blah blah. The point is: NOBODY CARES. The only response they get now is "oh no not fucking JSO again".
Does King Charles have pardon powers?
The thing about the UK system is that the King might nominally do something, but what he does is entirely decided by the cabinet. There are a handful of residual powers (eg: interfering with the timing of Canadian elections) but that's pretty much it.
You should not get a prison sentence for "planning" something unless it's terrorism or another act of extreme violence. I.e. the guy who was just jailed for planning to kidnap, rape, and murder Holly Willoughby.
Arresting people for planning a nonviolent protest is authoritarian behaviour.
In these difficult times this is awful and depressing news :(
longest ever sentences for non-violent protest
For planning non-violent protest. They didn't even fucking commit "public nuisance."
Outrageous!
Facing the end of the world is neither here or there
Said the judge. I wonder if he’ll remember his words in a few decades when it’s the end of the world?
How do appeals work in the UK?
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.