Just Stop Oil brands itself as a “nonviolent civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects.” According to its website, the organization’s student affiliates are “taking action at their university campuses.” I witnessed a demonstration on my own campus last week: Activists sprayed orange paint on Oxford University’s Radcliffe Camera, an iconic 140-foot-tall library built between 1737 and 1749. But Oxford wasn’t the only target; buildings at Birmingham University, the University College London, Exeter University, and other schools were drenched in orange paint.
Let’s disregard the activists’ cause and only examine their methods. The disruptive protesters block roads, interrupt theater performances, and throw soup on famous artwork. The spectacles are counterintuitive: Blocking roads and creating hour-long traffic delays only causes fuel-burning cars to release more emissions. Aside from the undisciplined conduct, the demonstrations are simply bizarre: How does orange paint on a building symbolize commitment to the environment? Vandalizing a university library to condemn oil projects is like becoming vegan to support same-sex marriage; there’s absolutely no connection. And what is accomplished by gluing yourself to a painting? I suppose that when you have no self-worth, you must physically attach yourself to something valuable.
Of course, Just Stop Oil affiliates are not the first activists to attack artwork. But that hardly means such a strategy is advantageous. The Just Stop Oil protesters fail to grasp something basic: If you want people to support your cause, whatever that may be, you probably shouldn’t be needlessly annoying. I seriously doubt anyone stalled in traffic on the way home from work saw the protesters blocking the road and thought, “These people are great!” The campaigners enrage us, prompting us to be disgusted with them rather than the government — surely the precise opposite of their mission.
Productive activism should persuade — not alienate. Convincing people to join your movement can be done by providing reasons, arguments, and evidence. But I suppose that if you lack those, then you resort to extravagant displays of mischief for attention. The rest of us will notice, and only grow increasingly irritated.