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Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:

More bad press for these clowns.
Yes, keep the hits coming.

Climate protesters accused of 'blood on their hands' after 2 die in crash amid traffic from bridge protest

They blocked an AMBULANCE!

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Hey, kid, while you're up there do a little thinking about the oil-based products that went into that polyester-shell jacket you're wearing, the bright vest on your shoulders, and the iPhone you're clutching so desperately.

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Originally posted by egregore:

And that oil is a naturally occurring substance.

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An American oil heiress founded the group that funded the recent series of climate activism demonstrations across the UK, details of which emerged after a protest at the National Gallery in London on 14 October, where two activists from the Just Stop Oil campaign threw tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers (1888).

Aileen Getty—the granddaughter of J. Paul Getty, the oil tycoon and founder of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles—co-founded the non-profit Climate Emergency Fund (CEF) in 2019 and has reportedly donated $1m of her personal wealth to be used to support environmental activist groups, including Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.

Their groups’ connection to an oil heiress has inadvertently heightened criticism around the nature of the protests, which have on occasion involved the vandalism of artworks and sometimes targeted institutions with no ties to funders involved in the fossil fuel industry. For example, the National Portrait Gallery announced in February that it would cease receiving funding from British Petroleum (BP) after their contract expires in December this year.

Just Stop Oil has staged various high-profile demonstrations in public spaces and particularly museums. Before the tomato soup stunt, activists had glued themselves to the frames of prized paintings such as Constable’s The Hay Wain (1821) at the National Gallery, Horatio McCulloch’s My Heart’s In The Highlands (1860) at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, J.M.W. Turner’s Tomson’s Aeolian Harp (1809) at the Manchester Art Gallery and others.

Aileen Getty has not personally worked in the oil industry and has poured much of her fortune into philanthropic ventures related to the climate crisis. Getty Oil sold its oil reserves to Texaco in 1984. The Aileen Getty Foundation “supports organisations and individuals around the world committed to responding to the climate emergency and treating our planet and its inhabitants with kindness and respect”, according to the foundation’s website.

In a statement to The Art Newspaper, the CEF emphasises that its “goal is to support movements that demand governments and institutions step up to protect humanity and all life on our planet”.

CEF adds: “The first step, which must be taken immediately by all governments, is to stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. CEF supports non-violent, legal, disruptive activism, which we believe is the fastest way to spur transformative change. Through recruitment, training and capacity building, we make strategic investments in emerging organisations like [...] Just Stop Oil that are working to keep our climate at the forefront of the conversation and put pressure on governments to treat the climate emergency with urgency.”

CEF has announced that October 2022 is a month of “sustained, disruptive protest” in 11 countries. The organisation accepts donations and has received significant funding from various famous donors, including a $4m pledge from the American film-maker Adam McKay—best known for the climate disaster metaphor film Don't Look Up (2021)—who joined the board of directors for the fund in September.

The CEF published a statement on social media last week in response to various conspiracy theories that emerged after it was widely reported that its founder is an oil heiress: “Seeing a lot of hate for our co-founder Aileen Getty. First of all, Aileen was never in the fossil fuel industry. That’s her family. But she is wealthy. So ask yourself: if you were in her shoes, how would you use your money for good? Aileen’s answer has been to become a philanthropic leader [who] co-founded CEF and has donated over a million dollars to brave climate activists. We don’t tell them what to do. We support them.”

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Where do you draw the line between ridiculous behavior and justifiable anger? At which point can you say that the end justifies the means? How much complaining are you allowed to do when you put yourself in the situation that generates the complaining, and then refuse to leave it?
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It all started this week, when a group calling themselves Scientist Rebellion took over the Porsche Pavilion in Autostadt, the visitor attraction opposite the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. Bearing leaflets and plenty of superglue, they took to sticking the leaflets to the cars on display and then using the glue to glue their palms to the showroom floor. Some went on a hunger strike, and they claimed they would only stop when Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume came to speak to them in person.
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Gianluca Grimalda, an experimental economist and senior researcher with Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), emerged as the leader of the group of nine who had glued themselves to the floor. He was also the first one to leave, after noticing that his glued hand had swollen to twice the size of the other one, and after being told that he could develop life-threatening clots.
Riot police swept in and arrested the other protesters, shortly after Autostadt staff had asked them to leave of their own free will or face legal consequences. The entire stunt lasted under 48 hours and was not without drama, much of it fabricated for its own sake. Reality show producers, take note.

The protesters complained about the poor “conditions” they were put in, when Autostadt staff turned off the lights and the heating at the end of the workday. They complained that the premise was shut off and supporters couldn’t get in to bring them food, so they had to contend with the food VW brought for them. They complained about the glue on their hands (which they had placed there, in case you need reminding), and then said that VW denied them medical assistance. They said VW refused them basic needs by not providing them with bowls to urinate in. They complained of “random” security checks throughout the night, which kept them from getting a proper night's sleep.

Nine people took the Porsche Pavilion hostage after trespassing and then complained that VW didn’t go head over heels to make them more comfortable. Nine people staged a protest where they’d be glued with their palm on the floor and, as such, unable to move, and got upset that someone else didn’t bring them potties. Nine fully-grown adults, seemingly intelligent and highly educated people of different nationalities thought they could just storm in, do some mild destruction of private property and then suffer no consequence or, even better, be treated like guests. This is not how things work.

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