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BBC News - Stonehenge covered in powder paint by Just Stop Oil (www.bbc.com)
submitted 5 months ago by Flax_vert@feddit.uk to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
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[-] rah@feddit.uk 50 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the incident as a “disgraceful act of vandalism”.

Not as disgraceful as awarding oil drilling licenses to companies your family is invested in.

Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer said the damage

There is no damage: 'Just Stop Oil said the orange powder paint was cornflour and it would "wash away with rain".'

was "outrageous"

Not as outrageous as forcefully replacing local Labour candidates with your own choices.

and described Just Stop Oil as "pathetic"

Not as pathetic as Labour's climate policies.

[-] Luvs2Spuj@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

Did any of them comment on the reason for the protest, or just the act itself? I don't want to see things like stonehenge or priceless art getting fucked up, but I am OK with more things being fucked up if that is what it takes... I'm fully expecting environmental extremism to become a thing in the next few years, as the situation will get worse and these sort of protests haven't achieved anything.

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[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

A collection of reactions from the oil industry...

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 23 points 5 months ago

Wait wait wait, hold your horses. Do you mean to tell me, that the oil industry doesn't care for this protest, or any protest for that matter? I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you. It's almost as if this protest wasn't meant to impress the oil exec-types...

[-] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.de 8 points 5 months ago

Almost like the protest isn't aimed at oil industry shills and instead at politicians.

[-] blackluster117@possumpat.io 5 points 5 months ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't it come out a while back that Just Stop Oil is actually bankrolled by some oil company and is essentially meant to create a false narrative against actual climate protestors? Am I misremembering?

[-] theo@lemmy.world 19 points 5 months ago

They are funded by an organisation called Climate Organisation Fund of which is funded by someone called Aileen Getty who's family own Getty Oil.

Whether or not they are wanting to create a false narrative is questionable. I personally don't think so, but who knows...

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[-] Zip2@feddit.uk 5 points 5 months ago

They’re going to be fucking annoyed when they’re told there’s no oil there.

[-] Emperor@feddit.uk 5 points 5 months ago

"They are sensitive and they are completely covered in prehistoric markings which remain to be fully studied and any surface damage to the stones is hugely concerning.

“A rich garden of life has grow on the megaliths, an exceptional lichen garden has grown. So it’s potentially quite concerning.”

This is important - they aren't just a bunch of old rocks, they develop a "varnish" and an ecosystem that can protect them.

They say it's just cornflour and will wash off in the rain but people tend not to coat ancient monuments in cornflour, so we don't really know what the effect might be.

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 18 points 5 months ago

"They are sensitive and they are completely covered in prehistoric markings which remain to be fully studied and any surface damage to the stones is hugely concerning.

Bullshit. There is next to no other historic site that has been studied in greater detail. If no scientist up until now has created a detailed map of what is to find on those stones, then frankly, it's their own fault.

If anything, they should be concerned about acidic rain caused by air pollution. But you don't hear much about that, now do you?

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[-] kralk@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

The Tories want to destroy Stonehenge to build a motorway so let's not pretend it's sacrosanct now

[-] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 5 points 5 months ago

Is this hyperbole or literally true?

[-] Emperor@feddit.uk 4 points 5 months ago

You might have to state your sources there.

[-] kralk@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago
[-] Emperor@feddit.uk 3 points 5 months ago

I'm aware of the tunnel and at no point would it "destroy Stonehenge". There are concerns that construction might harm as yet undiscovered parts of the wider ritual landscape.

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[-] Iceblade02@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

So you mean the Tories are also assholes? Tell me something I didn't know

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[-] steeznson@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

This group undermine and delegitimise other climate activist groups by association

[-] Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 5 months ago

Hard disagree. As far as I'm aware, everything they've done so far is attention-grabbing and harmless. All the paintings were behind glass, and the stuff here is water soluble.

[-] flamingos@feddit.uk 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

How? Is your support for not going extinct really contingent on your personal feelings about a particular activist group?

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[-] Dendr0@fedia.io 2 points 5 months ago

Because defacing an ancient site has a clear connection to the environment... bunch of fucking self-centered attention-whores.

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 32 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's either this or ineffectual protests that get swept under the rug and ignored. You should be happy that their protest is purely cosmetic too.

Just Stop Oil said the orange powder paint was cornflour and it would "wash away with rain".

These dang protesters and their... *flips script* attention seeking! Can't they just do nothin like the rest of us?

[-] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 20 points 5 months ago

But why Stonehenge? Why not oil company buildings? I believe oil companies generally have buildings. Large buildings. With their names on them.

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 23 points 5 months ago

Because that doesn't make the headlines.

[-] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 13 points 5 months ago

Maybe we need to come up with a way to deface oil company buildings that does make headlines

[-] Emperor@feddit.uk 8 points 5 months ago

Do what the French farmers do - back a muck-spreader up to the main doors and turn it on.

[-] HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 2 points 5 months ago

Out of interest. As I'm not a farmer. Do you know how I would go about buying and filling a muck spreader.

Plus Rishi Sunaks home address would be a totally unrelated useful fact to share.

[-] Emperor@feddit.uk 3 points 5 months ago

Do you know how I would go about buying and filling a muck spreader.

You can hire one from any number of places, like here. I quite like the side discharge spreader for drive-bys as long as you knew the range.

To fill it try a pig farmer as they usually have large ponds of the stuff they want rid of - chicken shit or bull shit are also available for symbolic reasons.

Plus Rishi Sunaks home address would be a totally unrelated useful fact to share.

His home has already been vandalised as I assume the address is in the electoral register. I was quite surprised they got through security and I assume it's been tightened up since. Driving a large farm vehicle at the house seems quite a good way to get shot.

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[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 13 points 5 months ago

Defacing random things that don't have any connect at all to what you're protesting only makes you look bad.

Yeah, it got attention. Bad attention.

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Let's be real here. What could climate protesters do that wouldn't get them bad attention? History has shown: Nothing. There is nothing they could do that wouldn't get them bad attention. In Germany, they even got cussed out for blocking private jets.
Face it: The powerful do not fear retaliation from the masses if they vilify climate protesters. The protesters cannot win the PR battle. So all they have left is publicity stunts. And as far as publicity stunts go, plastering stones with water-soluble paint is about as tame as it gets.

[-] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 3 points 5 months ago

The protesterscannot win the PR battle. So all they have left is publicity stunts.

Some will likely turn towards eco terrorism within the next years of continued inaction.

[-] rah@feddit.uk 2 points 5 months ago

What would you have them deface?

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 9 points 5 months ago

Oh I don't know... Something that has anything to do with oil production

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[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 5 points 5 months ago

False choice. Those aren't the only options. We're in a election season. Get out there and help convince the public to vote for people who will actually make a difference.

Making noise and demanding things is what children do.

[-] Dendr0@fedia.io 4 points 5 months ago

Were I the "protest type", I'd be getting awfully creative with what can be done to the infrastructure of the things I was protesting. Big Oil? Would be a shame if the refineries were to suffer malfunctions... or the trucks/ships to suffer constant breakdowns...

But yeah, instead let's go fuck with something that has no relation and only serves to piss people off - but not in the way you want them pissed off.

[-] thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 14 points 5 months ago

refinery malfunctions truck/ship breakdowns

sounds like “how to get prescribed as a terrorist organisation 101”

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 months ago

Ah yes, let's commit industrial sabotage. That'll go swimmingly!

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[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 2 points 5 months ago

I'm generally supportive of any and all forms of non-violent protest (by which I mean not harming human life), including these, but let's not pretend the choice is between "standing around with placards" and "vandalise random artwork & monuments". Blockading ports exporting coal is an excellent direct protest, or vandalising actual fossil fuel companies' property in such a way that disrupts their ability to do business. Heck, even the classic "block roads in peak hour" is better than this (just for the love of the gods, don't disrupt passenger trains or busways).

Don't get me wrong, this is still ok, and it's better than nothing at all, but there are more effective ways to protest.

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[-] ianovic69@feddit.uk 7 points 5 months ago

And that response right there, that's why we are all fucked.

I read today that major banks are starting to move investments away from fossil fuels. Your mentality has about as much foresight.

"Self-centred," the fucking irony.

[-] VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

Just because you support a cause doesn't mean you need to support every attention seeking brainrot idiot that uses the cause as an excuse to flaunt their stupidity.

These people are not helping the environment, they're playing a silly game for attention without caring about the consequences.

[-] rah@feddit.uk 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

they're playing a silly game for attention without caring about the consequences

They're playing a silly but very serious game for attention, the same silly game that politicians and corporate PR departments play. And the protesters seem to care a very great deal about the consequences.

[-] araneae@beehaw.org 5 points 5 months ago

They are rocks my friend. Rocks. Birds shit on them daily and have for thoudands of years. But go ahead and be mad about the rocks getting cornflower on them. Very good little reactionary Brit.

Ever play a Civilization game where Stone Henge ends up underwater because of the sea rising? Yeah. Thats all our art. All our society.

One thousand shits on Mona Lisa for one saved human life. But we will choose to protect the symbols of capital and status quo.

Enjoying the Gulf Stream collapsing further this summer?

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this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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