British Labour Government Pressured to Release Just Stop Oil “Truth Tellers” – Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

If they release Just Stop Oil, they’ll upset the voters. If they keep JSO activists incarcerated, they’ll upset the donors.

You may find Just Stop Oil annoying. You may dislike their tactics. But they do not belong in prison

Chris Packham and Dale Vince
Sat 20 Jul 2024 01.23 AEST

These protesters are shouting ‘fire’ while the world burns. A society that locks them up cannot be called democratic

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These people might be annoying. They might give you an earache. We might wish they would tone it down. But in a democratic society, they do not belong in prison. We need to be listening to them, not locking them up.

And we’re not just talking here about the courageous Whole Truth Five (WTF), the Just Stop Oil protesters who were jailed yesterday for 21 years between them, each locked up for longer than some people are for committing serious sexual assaults. People who took direct action to try to end the former government’s insane and deadly policy of “maxing out” on oil and gas reserves.

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In February and March 2023, three people were jailed after saying the words “climate change” and “fuel poverty” in court, contrary to the judge’s direction that they should not use these words. And in April the same year, two people, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker, were jailed for three years and two years and seven months respectively, for dropping a banner saying “Just Stop Oil” from the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at the Dartford crossing, causing delays to traffic. Decker, who is a German national, now faces deportation, even though his family life is here.

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We have a new government, and a new attorney general, Richard Hermer KC, a highly regarded human rights barrister with a deep respect for international law. We suspect he will be as disturbed personally as we are by the events at the crown court yesterday.

That is why we are calling for an urgent meeting with him, to be recorded so it is transparent to the public, to discuss not just Cressie’s case, but the jailing of all our truth tellers and their silencing in court.

 Chris Packham is a naturalist, environmental and animal welfare campaigner, author and television presenter on BBC Two’s Springwatch

 Dale Vince is a green energy industrialist and campaigner and a Labour party donor

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/19/just-stop-oil-tactics-prison-chris-packham

If the government could be certain the protesters would just retire quietly, or switch to less disruptive tactics, it would be a no-brainer. But if the protestors are released, in my opinion they would take it as a license to cause massive disruption, and the government would have to face public fury at their weak handling of the situation.

If Labour doesn’t release them, activists and donors will stir up trouble and disunity, which would increase the chances of the new Labour administration becoming a one hit wonder.

I don’t have an answer to this, to what the green socialist Starmer administration could to do resolve this dilemma, but it sure is fun to watch.

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