Activists of ‘Just Stop Oil‘ glue their hands to the wall after throwing soup at a Van Gogh painting at the National Gallery in London, October 14, 2022.
Imagine the thought process that has led dozens upon dozens of activists over the years to conclude that defacing priceless cultural artifacts was a great way to win friends and influence people. It is a conclusion adjacent to the notion that blocking traffic, disrupting athletic events and theater productions, or screaming while semi-nude into the faces of passersby are the sorts of behaviors that turn the wheels of history.
In other words, the most visible form that radical environmental activism has taken in recent years is a product of a hopelessly delusional mindset. Indeed, “delusional” is too kind. John Hinckley had sounder motives.
And yet a ray of sanity seems to have punctured the impenetrable cognitive fog in which the radical environmentalist Left operates. In a statement this week, the activist organization Just Stop Oil declared victory in order to pursue an orderly retreat away from the tactic that made the outfit famous: throwing soup onto precious works of art.
“We’ve kept over 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the ground, and the courts have ruled new oil and gas licenses unlawful,” the group declared. Accordingly, they conceded, “it is the end of soup on Van Goghs, cornstarch on Stonehenge, and slow marching in the streets.” That doesn’t mean, however, that the activists’ “trials” are over. There will still be “surveillance,” “fines,” “probation, and years in prison.” What a deal.
Indeed, the group remains committed to bringing about “nothing short of a revolution,” which is all that might “protect us from the coming storms.” That admission that the organization remains as crazy as ever should lead prudent observers to expect that it will continue to innovate new ways to offend and alienate potential supporters.
Indeed, they’re already at it. “In the last few months, its activists have poured liquid latex over a robot at a Tesla store, sprayed orange powder on Stonehenge, and painted over the grave of British naturalist Charles Darwin at London’s Westminster Abbey,” as reported by Deutsche Welle. The organization plans one last hysterical sendoff for itself next month with a final display of irritating, self-destructive performance art outside Parliament in April. After that, Just Stop Oil will pursue “civil resistance” in other ways.
Given the organization’s jealous stewardship of its own psychosis, we shouldn’t expect that those other forms will be peaceful. It’s reasonable to surmise that the outfit has concluded that clownish activism won’t get the job done, and these dire times call for stronger measures. Still, that conclusion is at least predicated on a rational assessment of their incompetence. Small blessings.