The environmental extremist group Just Stop Oil has been repeatedly pushing the boundaries of political protest since it was founded in 2022—blocking roads, including for emergency services, and vandalising priceless (and, of course, precious) pieces of art. But some commentators reckon that its latest attack—on Stonehenge—will be the final straw, even for former supporters of the group.
🚨 BREAKING: Just Stop Oil Spray Stonehenge Orange
🔥 2 people took action the day before Summer Solstice, demanding the incoming government sign up to a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030.
🧯 Help us take megalithic action — https://t.co/R20S8YQD1j pic.twitter.com/ufzO8ZiDWu
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) June 19, 2024
Some, including Express journalist Christian Calgie, have highlighted that had establishment figures reacted more seriously to earlier instances of environmental activists overstepping the mark, the 4,000-year-old ancient Neolithic monument might have been left untouched:
Now the liberal metropols realise[s] that excusing Just Stop Oil over the past two years was maybe not a good idea and the slippery slope argument is actually correct.
But the fact that even eco zealot Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described “the damage done to Stonehenge” as “outrageous,” and Just Stop Oil more broadly as “pathetic,” might suggest that the tables are turning. (Although Starmer is still facing criticism over the fact his party has accepted millions of pounds from a former Just Stop Oil donor.)
The damage done to Stonehenge is outrageous. Just Stop Oil are pathetic. Those responsible must face the full force of the law.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 19, 2024
Spiked deputy editor Fraser Myers wrote in a powerful commentary that “just about everyone now agrees that Just Stop Oil has got to stop.” Myers added that it’s not enough to simply attack Just Stop Oil’s tactics; that “you cannot separate what JSO thinks and wants from this destructive, nihilistic vandalism.”
After all, these eco-irritants are not merely ‘concerned’ about climate change—they are gripped with apocalyptic terror by climate change. …
This is how JSO tries to justify its ever-escalating vandalism. Nothing on this Earth, the cultists say, is as important as halting the coming armageddon. … Nothing that normal human beings value matters as much as JSO’s mission to prevent the alleged end of the world. You can’t enjoy Stonehenge on a dead planet, as the activists themselves might [indeed, do] say.
Sebastian Milbank also wrote in The Critic that, like other radical climate groups (think Extinction Rebellion), Just Stop Oil deserves to be treated as a “criminal outfit.”
The reason they are not, the reason that so many of their foot soldiers escape prison, the reason their websites and social media accounts operate openly, is because they are supported by the rich, famous and powerful, including individuals within our political and legal establishment, who consider themselves to be above the law. It is time to say enough—and ban them all.
Such action is, of course, unlikely to be taken under the likely incoming Labour government. But it is inevitable that similar demands continue to gain traction as activists target more and more ‘untouchable’ icons.