They white wash history so we believe labor reforms were won solely by waving signs around and going home by the evening. Make no mistake, your rights were paid for in blood.
I grew up with a few old time union people who fought in picket lines and strike action in the 1940s and 1950s in northern Ontario .. mining and forestry towns.
One old Irish friend of mine looked like Popeye (the cartoon sailor man), short tough Irish guy with a squint, old hunt cap and always ready to curl his fists for a fight ... and the guy was tough as nails with forearms that could crush any man's hands. He said he was the front of the line in lots of strikes with his brother ... during the war, they were too young to join the army so they switched over to the Merchant Marine. When they returned, they joined unions and strike actions on the west coast of Canada in the 1950s ..... and it was an ugly period for unions ... they literally fought a war where people died on a regular basis to get what they wanted ... beatings, stabbings, out right murder and assassinations of labour people. My old Irish friend lost his brother to murder one night during a period when they were striking on the docks and fighting against scab labour and anti union thugs ... he said things were getting heated and for the companies, murdering people to get the unions to stop was not uncommon.
He always reminded me and so many young people working in big companies and businesses ... never be afraid to stand up and fight for your rights ... no one ... not the government ... no one will stand up for you except yourself. If something is not right ... the only person that will stand up for you is you.
Blood on both sides, but mostly the innocent.
Perhaps we could change that this time.
Truer words have never been written.
In Comic Sans.
I do think Just Stop Oil would be looked upon more fondly if they actually stopped oil, rather than people going about their day though.
They did manage to block access to an oil refinery a while ago though.
Edit:
$27,000 per day, for three weeks two people cost a coal mine. And no traffic was disrupted.
They would be looked upon more fondly if oil companies didn't pay for a massive media campaign against them.
I'm all for bringing back eco terrorism though, but for now it looks like the best we get is stopping traffic for a few hours and throwing paint on glass covers. Better then nothing in any case.
Buddy, they're funded by big oil.
One of their biggest backers is an oil heiress, who has supposedly had a change of heart about fossil fuels.
And their solution seems to be to fund an organisation that does a whole bunch of performative BS that doesn't actually do anything to stop our use of fossil fuels.
They're controlled opposition, make no mistake.
They would be looked upon more fondly if oil companies didn’t pay for a massive media campaign against them.
THEY are making the campaign against them, mate.
Them gluing themselves to roads blocks ambulances from reaching people in need. There's already been one case where a person died because the ambulance didn't get there in time.
How exactly am I, a random dude who enjoys looking at art, supposed to feel about them when they throw paint on art in galleries?
And, most importantly, what does that accomplish?
They piss off regular people, they attempt damaging art. And for what?
A couple of years ago I did some maths - if a 40 million European country went zero emissions for a year - not reduced, not "net zero", just null CO2 emissions - they'd have "saved" enough CO2 for fifteen minutes of what global industry is spewing into the atmosphere.
You won't stop oil by making a dude get late to work, and I fail to see Stop Oil activists in factories. So, fuck them.
Blocking roads is a popular and effective protest means. Would you say the same about black lives matter or the current anti trump protests? You are being hyper selective.
The message with the art is that it won't exist if big oil isn't stopped. It's also an easy way to get in the papers without actually damaging the actual artwork.
And now we find ourselves in a situation where common people think protesters are the enemy and countries are powerless and can't help the situation because it's all the fault of global industry. Guess we could just give up and forget about it if those pesky villains weren't constantly throwing paint on bullet proof glass.
What a joke. You are a mouthpiece for the oil industry and part of the problem.
Would you say the same about black lives matter or the current anti trump protests?
If it was a couple of dudes every single time? Yeah, of course I'd say the same, because it'd be the same!
But it wasn't, was it? Both BLM and the anti-Trump protests where properly organised, MASS protests, so it was very different.
You are being hyper selective
And you're very judgemental of the person you imagine I am. Maybe wait until I respond to your questions before doing that in the future?
The message with the art is that it won’t exist if big oil isn’t stopped. It’s also an easy way to get in the papers without actually damaging the actual artwork
Yeah. It also just so happens to be considered a minor infraction every time, so they mostly get off with a slap on their wrists or a fine. No biggie. If they tried doing something that actually mattered, they'd also face more consequences.
Most of the ordinary people don't need to be convinced any more. We're already using the damn paper straws. It's the big industry that needs to be stopped.
And now we find ourselves in a situation where common people think protesters are the enemy and countries are powerless and can’t help the situation because it’s all the fault of global industry.
That's an insane take, my dude.
People think the protesters who go against ordinary people are the enemy, because the ordinary people are already doing whatever they can - voluntarily or not - to limit emissions. Recycling, LED bulbs, paper straws, paid bags, all that shit.
And yeah, everybody feels powerless because big business is to blame and nobody seems to be going after big business - including the Stop Oil idiots.
Guess we could just give up and forget about it if those pesky villains weren’t constantly throwing paint on bullet proof glass
The people who understand the issue don't want to give up and want governments to finally do something about the industry. The people who don't understand the issue don't give a fuck and are just annoyed about the paper straws, etc. Stop Oil annoys both those groups while simultaneously doing nothing to stop the actual problem.
You are a mouthpiece for the oil industry and part of the problem.
Again talking to your imaginary friend and not me, mate?
Ukraine is doing some great climate activism, as russian oil refining capacity is down quite a bit ^^
Right, if your life is inconvenienced, fuck it. Sigh.
You've spectacularly missed my point, so let me explain.
Actual environmental organisations that aren't funded by oil money directly disrupt what they're protesting against.
Sea Shepherd board and scuttle vessels. Greenpeace tie themselves to ships or infrastructure, preventing it's use. Others set up a home in a tree so it cannot be shut down.
These people cost a coal mine tens of thousands of dollars per day, for three weeks.
Serious environmental organisations directly disrupt what they're trying to stop, Just Stop Oil piss and moan, and glue themselves to roads.
The whole point of notifying the authorities is so they can plan emergency services around a disruption that would otherwise impede that service and have plans in place for a mass gathering.
It's obviously not used for that, I wonder if we'll see new forms of guerilla protesting before things get violent. Definitely ways to cause huge economic damage without massing or hurting people.
The British police can impose "conditions" on protests. When people protesting Israel's starvation in Gaza wanted to bang pots and pans outside the Zionist embassy, the police said you can't bang pots and pans. So the whole point of the protest was muted.
It's just low key authoritarianism.
Damn I haven't heard the term "po po" since 2019 (Hong Kong Protests). Hearing that term again reminds me of another era. Covid wasn't even a thing yet.
Wait wtf, its been SIX FUCKING YEARS?!? And now the world got more autocratic? 🥲
Edit: Also, I remember in school (in the US) when they said that you need a permit to protest, I was just like wtf?!? at the time, and at that moment, I knew "freedom" was just another lie.
The government will always find a protest to turn into a riot. Always. The cops do that, not the people. So fuck it, might as well gather when you wanna gather,
The Great Unwashed Masses have ONLY ever been able to protest at the patience of their government.
If any form of government decides they are too bothered by a protest, they WILL crack down and either jail you, (if you are lucky), or outright kill you to make the protests go away.
And this is why we arm ourselves and organize.
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