this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024
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Three individuals targeted National Gallery paintings an hour after Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were jailed for similar attack in 2022

Climate activists have thrown tomato soup over two Sunflowers paintings by Vincent van Gogh, just an hour after two others were jailed for a similar protest action in 2022.

Three supporters of Just Stop Oil walked into the National Gallery in London, where an exhibition of Van Gogh’s collected works is on display, at 2.30pm on Friday afternoon, and threw Heinz soup over Sunflowers 1889 and Sunflowers 1888.

The latter was the same work targeted by Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland in 2022. That pair are now among 25 supporters of Just Stop Oil in jail for climate protests.

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[–] PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world 119 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (49 children)

So if throwing paint at a entierly replaceable cover for a dusty old painting is too far gone to be acceptable, what action can we take to stop oil production? Like. It needs to stop. To continue producing fossil fuels is a death cult. It needs to stop, like, a decade ago. I ask genuinely, how is this too far, and what is an acceptable response to an existential threat?

edit: On the off chance someone reads this so long after the post, I just want to point out that nobody actually engaged with my question here.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 52 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So if throwing paint at a entierly replaceable cover for a dusty old painting is too far gone to be acceptable, what action can we take to stop oil production?

God, I wish someone could actually trace the train of events that would lead to reduced oil production from this other than some bizarre notion that throwing soup at a priceless artifact of human heritage will Energize The Masses(tm) or suddenly convince people who think climate change is a hoax or overblown that it's actually a serious problem.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (13 children)

Imagine if these activists spent more time going after companies benefiting from fossil fuel production rather than throwing soup in museums...

[–] WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago (38 children)

They've done that too, and have encountered media blackouts.

As nice as it would be if they could simply fix the climate problem with the disruption a handful of protests cause, they can't, and need to draw public attention to the problem.

These demonstrations open up the conversation in threads like this - you agree there's a problem, you agree these protests don't fix the problem, so let's talk about what will.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I feel like we’re kind of entering an era where direct action and ecology-motivated terrorism are going to start becoming a thing. And I’m honestly not sure that would be a bad thing.

[–] BrightCandle@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Peaceful protests have not worked, disruptive protests have been widely villified and the protestors jailed for very long sentences. If you are facing 2-3 years for holding up a banner or throwing some paint seems like criminal damage of a fossil fuel facility isn't likely to net more years. As many have said in the past governments ignore peaceful protests at their peril, because once its clear that doesn't work they become not peaceful.

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[–] Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Right? Go throw soup at Darren Woods or one of the oil execs, not at a painting

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Remember when famous assholes used to get pies in the face? What happened to that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tHGmSh7f-0

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I remember when people would throw animal blood on rich fucks going to gala events who were wearing fur.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Right? I admit I don't have the bravery it takes to do stuff like that, but it seems like neither does anyone else anymore.

[–] sensiblepuffin@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So... that's straight up assaut. There's a good reason why they changed tactics, and it's mostly because throwing soup at a Plexiglas barrier is 100x less destructive to property than covering valuable furs with blood.

I find it absolutely mind-boggling that you all are acknowledging that protests that make people uncomfortable are what works, then coming to the conclusion "but not like this, you can't protest like this, that's ridiculous!"

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[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 month ago (14 children)

Then we wouldn’t be talking about stopping oil production right now.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

We’re not talking about stopping oil production. We’re talking about these nutcases. And when we do get back to the important topic, now it’s harder to get support, harder to stay on topic, environmental concerns are more likely to be dismissed with jokes about throwing soup

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[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Then they would be in cages already.

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[–] webadict@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

It's weird that there are people in this thread that think defacing the protective barrier of a painting is too far, but advocating for harming or killing oil industry executives is not because the painting didn't do anything to cause our climate emergency. By that argument, defacing a building with grafitti can't work, blocking traffic would put more pollution in the air, blowing up a pipeline would kill innocent people and animals.

Nothing is good enough for them except the status quo. They'd rather a museum burned down in a riot than plexiglass get covered in soup because riots are okay (but once that happens, the pearls will be clutched again.)

[–] Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Go fuck with the billionaires and lawmakers at their homes, offices, doctor's appointments, at the store, while they're out for coffee, etc. Fuck with the people actually causing the problem

[–] rsuri@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Instead of intentionally pissing people off at climate protesters, put effort towards educating people on the myriad of ways we actually subsidize fossil fuels and the corrupt relationships that keep that going, so people instead get pissed off at the fossil fuel industry, lobbyists, and corrupt politicians.

Of course some people do work on this already, Climate Town being a good example. We should be talking about those efforts instead of these.

[–] webadict@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

“We do not need allies more devoted to order than to justice,” Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in the spring of 1964, refusing calls from moderate Black and White leaders to condemn a planned highway “stall-in” to highlight systemic racism in New York City. “I hear a lot of talk these days about our direct action talk alienating former friends,” he added. “I would rather feel they are bringing to the surface latent prejudices that are already there. If our direct action programs alienate our friends … they never were really our friends.”

"What's blocking traffic have to do with racism? All it does is make people mad at black people!"

History rhymes.

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