Stonehenge sprayed with paint by environmental protesters
Stonehenge sprayed with paint by environmental protesters
The prehistoric megalithic structure in England has been targeted by activists spraying orange powder paint, social media footage showed.
No, Just Stop Oil is not an "activist" group. They're in cahoots with the enemy. They're defamation, and their intent is to give the radical right something to point to.
Just Stop Just Stop Oil.
EDIT: There are waaaaaaay too many assumptions happening in this thread.
Huh. This is actually the most sensible answer.
I once read a pretty good write up somewhere on Reddit with proof that they were getting reasonably large financial support from the daughter of an oil baron, and it's unclear if she supports the left or right.
On the other hand, a friend of a friend was arrested at a just stop oil rally in Manchester, UK a few months back, and I know him well enough to absolutely believe he thought he was doing what was best for the world, although I'm unsure if he'd deface anything.
you got some proof for that?
https://whynow.co.uk/read/who-is-funding-just-stop-oil-the-billionaires-backing-the-art-vandals
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/climate/climate-protesters-paid-activists.html
Sorry about the Times article, it's a citation used on Wikipedia. Top one is not paywalled.
If that were true, wouldn't their shenanigans be more destructive? Soup over a glass protected painting and colored corn starch on a monument are not really rage inducing.
it adds credibility. if they actually destroyed stone henge i doubt even the hardest anarchists would follow them
Exactly what I came to say. Those guys ara activists pro-oil performing a false flagg attack.
"Protests must be polite and not ruffle any feathers" is what I'm hearing.
Sorry. But as climate change gets worse and corporations continue to annihilate the living beings on this planet while governments uphold their ability to do so, the protests will only become more radical. We're long past the point of polite protests, and they didn't work.
"Protests must be polite and not ruffle any feathers" is what I'm hearing.
I don't think that protests have to be polite, however protests do have to be productive. If your environmental group's political agitation only results in turning public opinion away from the greater movement......I'm not sure if that's a productive use of political capital.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to question a group's motivation who are participating in unproductive political agitation. Especially considering that their funding comes from an oil heiress, who could be using her vast fortune to be lobbying to the people whom actually have access to the power that can bring about real change.
the protests will only become more radical.
I'd hardly say paying some teens to "vandalize" a painting that your family owns is really a radical act of protest. Now if they were conducting these types of actions against oil companies, or the political bodies who support them..... That would be radical.
Okay but could they please target things that are actually causing the problem and not thousands of years old stone monuments that can't possibly have any bearing on anything.
Otherwise they're just being vandals. And then bean vandals is counterproductive to their own stated course.
Normally I'm tepid on this kinda headline getting, but I feel like Stonehenge of all things is not the ideal target for the supposed intent of these kinds of protests.
I have the suspicion for a while that the people behind those new climate movements are paid by oil companies and others to make climate activists look bad, and shift the public opinion about climate action.
All the actions seem to deliberately targeted to anger the mainstream about them.
Making the naive climate activists at the front the tool of conglomerates.
But it raises the question why some paint on some big old rocks is more outrageous than anything the oil & gas lobby did in the past 50 years.
No it really doesn't, getting called stupid is far below the standard of even the minimal consequences oil and gas companies have faced in those 50 years. Or the public condemnation of such.
These people are the "bUt DeMs SaMe!" of facing the consequences of their own actions. The only way you could genuinely think nothing is being done and that some forever student college kids are getting harsher treatment than the most hated companies in the world is if you're in a position of blinding privilege that obscures the real world movement in the situation.
Why not? They used starch. It's not like Stonehenge is actually damaged. And using symbols people care about is the only way to convey that the crisis we're facing is actually threatening things we care about. Everything else will be, and has been, ignored.
It's all about attention
Fuck these people.
Obligatory Astroturfing warning.
I've tried, they're too busy tho..
yeah? why?
They didn't destroy anything, the paint can be removed without ruining the site, and they brought more visibility than sitting around with signs.
I don't have a problem with this.
I don't think that there is any purpose to "bringing visibility" to global warming in 2024. Effectively everyone is already aware of global warming and has been for some time.
The issue isn't awareness, but disagreement over the weight to put on policies to mitigate it. And I don't expect that doing stuff like this is going to change people's positions on that weight.
Then it’s a good thing you’re not in charge of maintaining and preserving Stonehenge.
I know "there is no bad press" but more people will think "fuck those guys" than "maybe environment does need saving" upon reading these news.
Also just because they were responsible about their dick move doesn't mean everybody will be. Or something happens that causes long term damage by accident.
I care for environment greatly but I'd slap these people as long as I could lift my hands and then some.
They are basically 5th columning environmental causes when they do shit like this.
News about climate change: i sleep
News about climate protests: REAL SHIT?
I hate how people are more interested in talking about protests than actual climate change.
It doesn't help several of these protests have been proven to be started BY polluting companies to discredit climate protests.
Or you fell for the propaganda that's discrediting them.
At the end of the day it doesn't matter. Far too little is being done against climate change, on every level - socially, politically, economically, individually. One would have to wonder what the fuck is happening if we didn't have some form of protest. They are necessarily going to become more extreme as time goes by, and they will have every right to do so.
Climate change is being talked every single goddamn day. It's been a constant thing people talk for a long while. Sometimes it's overshadowed by other topics but the talk has never stopped. This shit isn't some silenced issue. The issue isn't how much people are talking but how little people are doing.
Rebecca Watson has an interesting video on this. The way things are going right now, people in 50 years will look back and say activists were the only people trying something, while most of us just waited for the shit to hit the fan.
Is cornstarch paint?
By that logic, could water be considered paint?
No. But it does make for a good shitty click bait title.
You mean like water colours?
Climate protesters seem to have a knack for doing really irrelevant shit to bring attention to climate change.
No one dies? No one loses their balls? No beatings?
Is the planet dying or not? If so wtf is powder paint gonna do except fuck it up more???
it's the only way they can get the news to engage with it
Why Stonehenge? What does Stonehenge have to do with climate change?
Maybe go sink some yachts or spray paint some Saudi oil dealers.
They are doing it to get attention. Because there is not enough attention on climate change.
Look at the raging reactions in the comments to a little bit of starch. If they would actually destroy something, let alone hurt someone, they'd be framed as terrorists and prosecuted in a heartbeat.
That will teach those neolithic druids to think about their long term impact on the planet!
At least someone is doing something. The governments are way to slow imho. Also, there is literally no harm done. So everybody hyperventilating in the comments should maybe calm down a little.
At least someone is doing something
Yeah, actively giving talking points to right wing climate policy opponents and alienating the people that support their cause. That sure is something.
They're not doing anything except virtue signalling.
What did you do during the climate crisis, grandpa? Did you canvass politicians? Did you install solar panels? Did you vote for the green party? Did you blockade drilling sites? Did you run for Parliament?
No Jimmy I sprayed paint on some old rocks
May as well stay at home and stab yourself in the head with a fork until you black out.
I'm all for peaceful environmental protesting, but destruction of property and historic monuments/items only makes your movement look worse. News will spin it as the protesters being vandals and go about their day. Most people won't think beyond that and will probably associate environmental activism with negative things such as vandalism or whatever else their favorite news calls what they're doing.
Powder, its quite likely water soluble
Yup, its starch based and water soluble. It'll come off with a little water, no harm done.
There's no need for the media to spin anything, the protestors committed vandalism and, unless they are protesting the existence of prehistoric monuments, they did a really shitty job of even calling attention to their cause.
It's a realy interesting tightrope. If you just stand in a field holdong signs your don't really get media attention. in order to get that attention you must do something that grinds peoples' gears enough to have media outlets pay attention to them. But that kind of action needs to skirt the vandalism vector, as otherwise people would be like 'they removed the unimportant turnip of Weddelsex, but I dont care' on the other hand You also cannot be too radical, as it will hurt your cause.
It would be great if enviromentalists had a voice that could be audible over the control over media that is enacted by big companies (murdoch f.i.), but theres little big money in the message of climate awareness, and it's a message most people dont't reallt want to hear.
So... You take aim at objects that are deemed worthwhile and important for the people you wish to reach and try to allign your message with the importance of those ancient and important works.
It's a losing battle as people choose comfort over complicated issues (seemingly) out of their control as annoyance, furthermore being made co-defendant in the case of climate destruction is rather jarring, therefore people are shy to pick up on them, as why should the burden be on them?
So theres no way to positively make your message. Therefore any demonstration is jarring per se, even if peaceful it needs to be at least known, and ironicaaly the best way to do that is to do something outrageaus, as our reptile brain goes very hard on that.
good thing no historic monuments/items were destroyed and your comment is completely off topic.
People will use this to galvanize efforts against climate action, and it will work. If you want to seriously do something, go after the people causing the crisis.
Activists (try to) do that as well. But it's much harder to get close to a rich person or their property, than it is to do something in public spaces. They, too, have to see what they can do with their limited resources.
Next, the media coverage is very unequal, as well as reader's interest. You are much more likely to click on an article covering a potentially outrageous action, than you are to read about something which does not bother anyone. Although you can rest assured, these things are tried and done frequently.
So naturally, to the uninvolved reader, it may seem as if activists don't do anything but stupid stunts. And naturally, each outsider seems to think they have a much better grasp of strategy and what actions might make sense than the people who are actually involved in these things.
Of course, a particular action can still be silly. I just want to draw attention to biases at play, in general.
And if you really have a much better idea how to do something about the climate crisis, then go ahead and shine as an example. Not only would you author an actually impactful action (which in itself should be reason enough), you could also show all these rookie activists how to get things done. If your example is convincing, you should see less media coverage about inferior actions.
It's particularly funny because Stonehenge is almost entirely a reconstruction and not a partially destructive one at that. Iirc there are even legit photos of the henge stones in piles on the ground.
Ed: you can down vote but it's true, it's been continually knocked down and rebuilt throughout its history.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Environmental protesters sprayed paint on Stonehenge on Wednesday, with footage showing an orange powder covering some of the stones.
Two protesters dressed in white were seen running towards two of the megaliths and spraying paint, as another person attempted to stop them, in footage released by Just Stop Oil, an environmental activist group focused on the issue of human-caused climate change.
The prehistoric structure dates back to somewhere between 3100 BC and 1600 BC, according to archaeologists.
Just Stop Oil has drawn criticism for targeting public treasures in the past, including the vandalism of Van Gogh's Sunflowers with tomato soup in a publicity stunt at London's National Gallery in 2022.
Less than a year later, two protesters from the group disrupted play during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, running onto the court throwing confetti from a picture-puzzle box featuring an image of Wimbledon's famed Center Court.
On the eve of that tournament, celebrities including Richard Curtis and Emma Thompson had called on Wimbledon to end its partnership with Barclays Bank over the institution's multibillion-dollar support for fossil fuel projects.
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Good bot.
It's not much but it's honest work.
No one knows who they were or what they were doing. But their legacy remains .Hewn into the living rock... Of Stone enge.
The motion to run around punching mothers in the face lost out to this.
Srs, these ‘activists’ are fucking up by being shitheads. I hate them.
Yeah yeah it supposedly washes off, i get it. It’s still really stupid.
How so?
If the idea is to get people talking about their ideology, then we can be sure it’s worked.
I support this.
The only thing people are talking about is what assholes they are. If they didn’t have a description in their name no one would even know what they wanted.
Hey if this is working for you, watch what happens when we piss in the produce aisle! People will really get the message then! Probably. We should call ourselves “Pissing in the Produce Aisle to Stop Oil” though, just so it’s clear.
When you attack Stonehenge I'm not listening to what your ideology is. Because all I see is you being a jackass. Attacking works of arts or in this case Stonehenge to me looks like a child in a restaurant yelling and screaming that they want a cookie. I'm not going to give in to the demands of the child just because they're loud. You'll notice I don't talk about the ideologies, I talk about their actions, so it didn't work.
Not a fan. I totally understand the need for climate protests, we're way too slow. And I also het that you're not gonna get headlines with a small protest somewhere. But why not disrupt things that are actually polluting, instead of throwing soup or paint at works of art. You'll also make enemies by blocking a major road or something, but at least it makes some sense.
@HowRu68
Oh no, the stone structure that stood exposed to the elements for 5000 years has a bit of paint on it.This pearl clutching is ridiculous.
Bad take.
The climate is neither a constant. Therefore it should be allowed to be manipulated freely? We should be allowed to preserve what we find valuable. Dramatic climate change won't be the end of human life, just human life as we know it. Climate will change, but we shouldn't affect it freely at our will at a higher pace than natural.
We should also preserve the wonders built by earlier civilizations.
Oh no! The history that we could have all have enjoyed in the future (if we weren't all about to die due to environmental collapse) has been slightly marred!
because they're not a vigilante justice organisation they just want the media to talk about it
Good.