The sentences are believed to be the longest in the UK’s history for non-violent protest and were delivered under two new controversial laws that supercharged policing powers.
In the Netherlands, since 2023, there have been quite a lot of road blockades by XR (with hundreds to thousands of demonstrators) with no such penalties at all. From what I’ve read the activists in the UK were (rightfully so) determined to have their say in the court room while the judge sounded like a climate crisis denial person and got impatient. If I were a lawyer I would have made an attempt to get this judge dismissed on the case for not being objective and before they were ready for their verdict.
The process I described unfortunately does take longer than the initial lashing outs of the establisment. A couple of “martyrs” may not be the worst thing either.
YungOnions already provided you with some good articles about why and how nonviolent disruption works. I suggest you read them.
JSO “martyrs” are for the cause of free speech, not against oil. JSO is distracting people from oil. JSO is diverting legislative attention away from oil.
I suggest you stop reading articles, and start looking at reality. The reality is that JSO has demonstrated they are as effective at “disrupting” the oil industry as the Westboro Baptist Church has been at “disrupting” homosexuality: not the fuck at all.
So close, yet so far away…
FTFY.
The only thing they have actually achieved is enhanced enforcement and penalties for impeding traffic.
In the Netherlands, since 2023, there have been quite a lot of road blockades by XR (with hundreds to thousands of demonstrators) with no such penalties at all. From what I’ve read the activists in the UK were (rightfully so) determined to have their say in the court room while the judge sounded like a climate crisis denial person and got impatient. If I were a lawyer I would have made an attempt to get this judge dismissed on the case for not being objective and before they were ready for their verdict.
The process I described unfortunately does take longer than the initial lashing outs of the establisment. A couple of “martyrs” may not be the worst thing either.
YungOnions already provided you with some good articles about why and how nonviolent disruption works. I suggest you read them.
JSO “martyrs” are for the cause of free speech, not against oil. JSO is distracting people from oil. JSO is diverting legislative attention away from oil.
I suggest you stop reading articles, and start looking at reality. The reality is that JSO has demonstrated they are as effective at “disrupting” the oil industry as the Westboro Baptist Church has been at “disrupting” homosexuality: not the fuck at all.