Two Just Stop Oil supporters who glued onto the frame of a Turner masterpiece as part of a wave of actions targeting art galleries in 2022, were acquitted on Wednesday 2 October. They took action demanding that the UK government halts all licensing and consents for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction – a demand that is now government policy.
Just Stop Oil: not ‘turning’ the other cheek
Paul Bell, 24, who is studying for a Phd in Climate Impacts and Edred Whittingham, 27, an energy advisor, appeared at Manchester Magistrates court charged with criminal damage of less than £5,000 for the action taken in July 2022.
They had glued themselves to the frame Tomson’s Aeolian Harp (1809) by J.M.W. Turner at the Manchester Art Gallery, and sprayed “No New Oil” and the Just Stop Oil logo on the floor with chalk:
The magistrate found that the action was proportionate in view of the climate crisis. By contrast Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland received sentences of 24 months and 20 months respectively from Judge Hehir at Southwark Crown Court last week for throwing cans of soup on the glass cover of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in 2022.
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
This acquittal represents a chink of light in an otherwise very dark picture of state repression and judicial malice. We are grateful for the few within the legal system who understand that Just Stop Oil supporters are acting in self-defence and seeking to defend life on earth, while the law is protecting those who are committed to its destruction.
Speaking after the acquittal, Paul Bell said:
In the courtroom today I told the judge that my actions were not out of a hatred of art, but out of a love for art. The artists of tomorrow and many around the world right now are having their chance to create stolen by the climate crisis.
We have a right to art and a right to life. The expansion of fossil fuels directly opposes this. I am very pleased that in Manchester Magistrates Court the Judge found our actions to be proportionate.
Edred Whittingham said:
Paul and I are rightly at liberty, but last week Phoebe and Anna were sentenced to 2 years and 20 months respectively for a very similar action. Their sentence demonstrated that our justice system is broken, the law is failing us and the judiciary and courts are complicit in genocide.
One judge sees sense
There are 14 Just Stop Oil supporters currently serving prison sentences of up to five years for joining the resistance against the real criminals in government and the fossil fuel industry. In addition there are 10 supporters still being held in prison without trial after being pre-emptively arrested as part of the group’s summer of resistance at airports.
Just Stop Oil said:
We stand with our 24 supporters in prison, with the 1,800 victims of our broken criminal justice system imprisoned for over a year without trial and with the 1,700 murdered across the global south, for protecting all our lives.
Everyone knows that politics is broken and we cannot rely on politicians (or judges) to save us — not from poverty, not from the cost of living crisis, not from complete climate collapse. The Labour government doesn’t work for ordinary people, they work for corporations and billionaires. It’s time to put this right. That’s why we’re taking part in this day of action. Join us in Parliament Square on Saturday November 2nd at 2pm. Sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/politics-is-broken-the-umbrella-march
Featured image and additional images via Just Stop Oil
