this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Because that doesn't make the headlines.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Because when a child wants the attention that you're not giving, it shits on your kitchen floor so that you have to pay attention.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What would you have them deface?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago

refinery malfunctions truck/ship breakdowns

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

Would be a shame if the refineries were to suffer malfunctions… or the trucks/ships to suffer constant breakdowns…

I am surprised that people haven't taken How to Blow Up a Pipeline (book or film) as more of a guide. I presume, as the climate apocalypse intensifies, protestors might escalate.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

well, at least nothing is reliable and free.