Formerly law-abiding citizens are being jailed, fined, tagged, charged with excessive court costs, and threatened with long-term probation.
This is a deliberate tactic by the administration and the judiciary to silence voices challenging the status quo of political apathy and collusion with the fossil fuel industry.
Some of the most egregious cases are:
Louis McKechnie, a 21-year-old former mechanical engineering student from Weymouth. Denied bail, Lewis will remain in prison until his trial in 2023.
Josh Smith, 29, a construction worker from Manchester. Remanded for five months. Awaiting trial in 2023.
Louise Lancaster, 56, a former Cambridge University teacher, was fined £22,000 in court costs for hanging a pendant stop oil Banners have been hung on gantries on the M25 after England hit 40 degrees this year – a rise that has alarmed climate scientists.After ten days in jail, Lancaster was released but barred any The protest format will continue until October 2023. If she violates this rule, she faces a year in prison.
These penalties contrast sharply with the court’s stance face to face The fossil fuel industry has relentlessly violated global agreements.
International agreements reached at the Conference of the Parties (COP) over the past three decades to halt the spiral of destruction in our planetary system have often been violated by an industry with deep pockets and hard-line political affiliations.
Legal system undermines climate policy
Perhaps more dangerous is the role the legal system plays in enabling corporations and fossil fuel investors to undermine nation-state efforts to limit global warming.
fossil fuel companies use a mechanism Called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), in international corporate courts, are seeking compensation for climate policies that they say are “illegal” cutting profits. Bypassing local courts, companies are using ISDS to submit arbitration cases that defeat new climate regulations.
An example is Rockhopper.Following a four-year lawsuit against the Italian government, which suspended oil projects within a 12-mile radius of its coastline, effectively blocking the British company’s plans, Rockhopper was banned in September 2022. awarded €I90 million euros plus interest.
Despite its actual investment of $40-50 million, the company claims lost profits are estimated at between $22-300 million. As a result, Rockhopper’s share price has doubled, and the company intends to use the “profit” to oil drilling The Malvinas Islands off the South Atlantic Ocean. Italy contested the arbitral tribunal’s decision.
Italy has withdrawn from the Energy Charter Treaty, the international agreement to bring ISDS cases.France, Netherlands, Spain and Poland are on their way outgermany and belgium are consider this.
Challenge the judiciary in tandem with governments and businesses
“It’s a situation where the weak wins the strong,” commented a pastor sitting next to me in the autumn sun. On 14 September 2022, we were among 51 ordinary citizens who peacefully but purposefully blocked the main entrance to the Kingsbury Oil Terminal in Warwickshire, the UK’s largest inland oil depot.
The move aims to challenge the position of the government and the court by breaking the court’s ban on protests at the site.
In an effort to stem a rising tide of civil disobedience, the UK government and judiciary are pursuing a strategy to take a tough line on climate activism, which has largely stayed out of the public eye.
What democratic government wants to see peaceful pensioners, grandparents, and students imprisoned for sounding the alarm about a crisis our institutions are keenly aware of but largely avoiding? Who wants to be seen making prisoners of conscience? Usually, this is the domain of authoritarian regimes.
That afternoon, all 51 of us were arrested in contempt of court for a climate protest outside the Kingsbury oil terminal. We were taken to a police cell in the Midlands.
In our first court appearance, the three of us stood in the dock together. To demonstrate our rejection of the legal authority of an injunction designed to protect the interests of the fossil fuel industry while punishing climate protesters, each of us turned our backs when the judge entered the courtroom.
Tensions ran through the room as the stunned court staff formally rose to their feet. The judge continued to bring charges of contempt of court.
Stated our position in unison and effectively overshadowed hers, we were quickly taken out of the courtroom and returned to await trial. I later heard that everyone staged a similar operation, which meant that all 51 of us were sent to prisons across central and outer London that night.
I was initially remanded to HMP Peterborough along with five other people. The extra freedom that Peterborough Prison allows allows us to meet and socialize with other prisoners.
Despite the potential for harsher sentences and higher court costs, a plea of guilt presents a valuable opportunity to counter-defend the oil industry in a court setting. We started preparing our case in our cells.
A week later we moved to HMP Foston Hall. In this new environment, despite our isolation and lack of resources, we managed to build a coordinated defense and decided to represent ourselves.
time spent in prison
After hours in the basement holding cell, we were finally taken to Birmingham High Court and up the stairs to the courtroom.
There, upon entering the pier, each of us outlined specific points about the nefarious behavior of the fossil fuel industry and its past and present consequences.
We told the courts that in the UK today injunctions are routinely used to protect a well documented industry intentionally Misled the public for decades.
Research conducted by scientists in the industry The consequences of burning fossil fuels, including the dangerous effects of climate change, were accurately predicted sixty years ago and are now a reality of everyday life.There is more information about this bbc documentary and in Climate Archives website.
We also asked background questions. The UK government declared a climate emergency in May 2019 but has not passed corresponding policy or legal changes since.
law Do Change according to evolving societal values, knowledge and conditions.In court, we gave the example of laws about homosexualityuntil 1967 it was illegal in the UK – a punishable ‘crime’.
The judge seemed swayed by our testimony, but was ultimately reluctant to reassess her ruling. We have all been convicted of breaching a court injunction aimed at banning climate protests outside the Kingsbury oil terminal.
I was sentenced to 56 days in jail, suspended for 30 days, taking into account the time already spent in jail.
A fellow activist of mine, a social worker and grandmother, was sentenced to 156 days in prison for being a “recidivist”. She was sent back to serve at HMP Foston Hall.
Civil disobedience will be part of our lives
The UK government is determined to criminalize climate protesters. Dozens of people have been imprisoned in the UK so far: currently, 12 prisoners of conscience remain in custody. Others await jury trials.
Yet one aspect of civil disobedience is that it has sparked thousands of conversations between climate activists and the general public, the police, and state workers in the judicial and prison systems.
many people are really curious why We would endanger our liberty for such a cause. Many revealed how little they knew about the climate or ecological crisis. People are often appalled by the lack of truth in governments and public forums, including the media.
We live in a time of unprecedented crisis. Society and its leaders certainly need profound change. The knowledge and solutions are there. What is missing is the political will to implement them.
None of us can stand by and watch the unnecessary destruction happening all around us.
Citizens have and are changing history.
Until our governments respond to the meta crisis with real leadership, climate activism in the form of civil disobedience will be a part of our lives.
the author
Mary Adams is a climate activist.This article first appeared on Human and Nature.
