UK Labor government forced to release oil-stopping 'truth tellers' – does Watt support this?

Article by Eric Worrell

If they issue “Stop the Oil,” they will upset voters. If they continue to imprison JSO activists, they will unsettle donors.

You may find it annoying to stop oiling. You may not like their tactics. But they don't belong in prison

Chris Packham and Dale Vince
Saturday 20 July 2024 01.23 Australian Eastern Standard Time

As the world burned, these protesters chanted “Fire.” A society that locks them up cannot be called a democratic society

…

These people can be annoying. They may give you earache. We might wish they'd kept a low profile. But in a democratic society, they do not belong in prisons. We need to listen to them, not lock them up.

We're not just talking here about the brave “WTF”, the “Stop the Oil” protesters, who were sentenced yesterday to 21 years in prison, each serving more than a year in prison for committing aggravated sexual assault. Some were imprisoned for even longer periods. Direct action was taken to try to end the previous government's crazy and deadly policy of “maximizing the use” of oil and gas reserves.

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In February and March 2023, three people were jailed after uttering the words “climate change” and “fuel poverty” in court, contrary to instructions from judges that these words should not be used. In April of the same year, Morgan Trowland and Marcus Decker were convicted of throwing a “Stop Oil” sign from the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford Crossing. Banner, were jailed for three years and two years and seven months respectively. Decker is a German citizen and now faces deportation despite his family living here.

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We have a new government and a new Attorney General, Richard Hermer KC, who is a highly respected human rights lawyer who has great respect for international law. We suspect he will be as personally disturbed as we are by the events at yesterday's Crown Court.

That is why we are calling for an urgent meeting with him, to be recorded in order to be transparent to the public, to discuss not only Cressy’s case, but also the imprisonment of all truth-tellers and their silencing in the courts.

Chris Packham is a naturalist, environmental and animal welfare activist, author and television presenter of BBC Two's Springwatch

Dale Vince is a green energy industrialist and campaigner and Labor Party donor

Learn more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/19/just-stop-oil-tropics-prison-chris-packham

It would be a given if the government could be certain that protesters would quietly withdraw, or switch to less destructive tactics. But if the protesters are released, it seems to me that they will see this as a license to cause mass unrest, and the government will have to face public anger at their poor handling of the situation.

If Labor does not release them, activists and donors will stir up trouble and disunity, which will increase the chances of a new Labor government being a one-hit wonder.

I don’t have an answer to this, nor what a green socialist Starmer government could do to resolve this dilemma, but it’s certainly interesting.

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