"#UniversalSuicide": An imprisoned #ClimateActivist on why the fight for the planet still matters

#JustStopOil cofounder Roger Hallam spoke with Salon about overcoming climate despair and taking action

By Matthew Rozsa
Staff Writer
October 24, 2024

"Many people don’t need something as dramatic as #HurricaneMilton to tell them our climate is spiraling out of control. It’s evident everywhere, from the U.K. recently reporting its second worst #harvest on record to #Antarctica turning green to the U.S. spending $150 billion a year on climate change-related #ExtremeWeather events.

"But this isn’t some mysterious crisis. We know #FossilFuel companies are responsible for the emissions heating the globe. But instead of fixing it, these corporations have lied to the public, bribed politicians and sowed distrust in science. Meanwhile, governments are giving more money than ever to fossil fuel companies via subsidies, with a record $7 trillion cashed out to #BigOil in 2022.

"Some climate activist groups would like to bring your attention to this issue. But they are often arrested and get the book thrown at them when they demonstrate. Climate activist Roger Hallam knows this all too well, as he serves a five-year prison sentence for #BlockingTraffic — and, as he explained to Salon, his plight is a warning to Americans who vote for politicians that deny climate science.

"Hallam, who described himself as a #PoliticalPrisoner, was incarcerated for his role in leading and participating in an anti-climate change demonstration in November 2022. For four days, Hallam and more than three dozen other activists climbed a gantry and thereby blocked traffic in London’s critically important #M25 motorway."

Read more:
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/24/universal-suicide-an-imprisoned-climate-activist-on-why-the-fight-for-the-planet-still-matters/

#ExxonKnew #BigOilAndGas #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis #BigOilAndGas #SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #EarthDefenders
#Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #HumanRights #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #ClimateCrisis

Youth Arrested Demanding #VPDebate Question on #ClimateEmergency

The #SunriseMovement wants CBS moderator Norah O'Donnell to ask Republican JD Vance "if his prayers outweigh the millions he takes from Big Oil to deny the climate crisis."

Jessica Corbett
Oct 01, 2024

"Just hours away from the U.S. vice presidential debate on Tuesday, six members of the youth-led Sunrise Movement were arrested for blocking the street outside #CBSNews headquarters in New York City to demand moderator Norah O'Donnell ask both candidates what they would do to take on the #FossilFuel-driven #ClimateEmergency.

'The sit-in and blockade came as the death toll from #HurricaneHelene, which left a path of destruction across several southeastern states, hit at least 137. Sunrise has responded to the Category 4 storm with renewed calls to hold #FossilFuel giants accountable.

"'In #NorthCarolina, I have watched buildings in my hometown be submerged in water, have seen entire towns washed away, trees and power lines covering the streets, people asking for help finding their loved ones, and friends reaching out for aid after losing their homes and livelihoods," #TaliaWilson of #Asheville said in a Sunrise statement. "

https://www.commondreams.org/news/jd-vance-climate

#ClimateCrisis #BigOilAndGas #SilencingDissent #BigOilAndGas #ClimateActivists #ClimateProtest #SLAPPs #CorporateColonialism #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #HumanRights #ClimateNecessityDefense #Corporatocracy #CorporateFascism #ClimateCrisis

“On Thin Ice”: Western Nations Crack Down on #ClimateActivists with Arrests & Jail Terms

Story by #DemocracyNow
September 12, 2024

"As the #ClimateCrisis continues to accelerate, #wealthy governments in the West are clamping down on #ClimateProtest. According to a new report from #ClimateRightsInternational, #demonstrators around the world are being arrested, charged, prosecuted and silenced, simply for using their rights to free expression. One of those prosecuted is activist #JoannaSmith, who last year applied washable school finger paint on the exterior glass case enclosing Edgar Degas’s renowned wax sculpture, Little Dancer, at the National Gallery of Art to draw attention to the urgency of the climate crisis. She was charged and later sentenced to two months in federal prison for her #CivilDisobedience. We speak to Smith just a week after her release, and to #LindaLakhdir, the legal director of Climate Rights International. 'Countries who have held themselves up as beacons of rule of law are essentially repressing peaceful protest,' says Lakhdir. Smith says the nonviolent action she took was intended to highlight the disparity between a sculpture of a child protected from the elements with a strong plexiglass case and the billions of children around the world left unsafe and vulnerable by #ClimateChange's effects. 'The crisis is here now, it’s unfolding in front of us, and our governments are failing us,' she explains.

Read more:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/12/climate_rights_international

#WaterDefenders
#ClimateDefenders
#EnvironmentalActivists
#SilencingDissent #SLAPPs #ClimateActivists #CorporateColonialism
#EarthDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #BiodiversityNecessityDefense
#EarthDefenders
#SLAPPs #Fascism #CivilDisobedience
#Activism #ClimateStrike
#ClimateActivists
#HumanRights #Corporatocracy
#Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct
#ClimateNecessityDefense

TY to @RadicalAnthro for making me aware of this!

Five #JustStopOil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25

Campaigners receive longest ever sentences for #nonviolent #protest after being convicted of conspiracy to cause #PublicNuisance

Damien Gayle
Thu 18 Jul 2024 12.47 EDT

"Gethin, who offered her own comments in mitigation, said: 'I want to remind the court once more that my reasons for taking action were not beliefs or opinions. Earth’s life-support systems are breaking down due to human activities, whether we believe it or not.

"'These are not beliefs or opinions and feeling strongly that this is wrong is greatly understandable, I would argue. I deeply regret that this action was necessary … I maintain that it was necessary and I stand by my actions as the most effective option available to me.'

"Supporters of the defendants expressed outrage at the sentences, which came after a two-week trial in which the judge denied them any of the defences in law for causing a public nuisance.

"Hehir ruled that the jury should not take into account evidence about #ClimateBreakdown, which the defendants wanted to point to as the key motivation behind their actions, and which they said provided them with a #ReasonableExcuse for them."

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/18/five-just-stop-oil-supporters-jailed-over-protest-that-blocked-m25

The #ClimateNecessityDefense : How activists are using #CivilDisobedience to fight #ClimateChange

by Delan Li
June 21, 2023

"As climate change threatens our planet, the climate necessity defense is gaining traction among #EnvironmentalActivists and attorneys practicing #ClimateJustice. This defense argues that acts of civil disobedience, such as blocking #pipelines or occupying coal #mines, are justified when done to prevent or mitigate the catastrophic effects of climate change. The climate necessity defense asserts that in the face of an urgent and imminent threat to the #environment and human health, the defendants had no choice but to take #DirectAction."

Read more:
https://planetforward.org/story/climate-necessity-defense/

#ClimateActivists #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #EarthDefenders #WaterProtectors #IndigenousActivism