Just Stop Oil Sunflowers protest

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Just Stop Oil Sunflowers protest
Vincent Willem van Gogh 127.jpg
The 1888 version of Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh involved in the protest
Court Southwark Crown Court
Decided27 September 2024
Court membership
Judge sittingChristopher Hehir

On 14 October 2022, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland of Just Stop Oil threw two tins of soup at an 1888 Sunflowers painting by Vincent van Gogh at the National Gallery in London, glued themselves to the wall and asked the crowd whether they were more concerned by the protest or by the effects of climate change on the planet. They had been inspired to do so by the decrease in media coverage of the organisation's activism and selected that painting due to its vulnerability. Their act attracted worldwide censure, caused £10,000 worth of damage to the picture's frame, and subjected Plummer and Holland to homophobic abuse, but it also inspired several subsequent activists to throw food products at other paintings. The pair were convicted of criminal damage in July 2024 by Christopher Hehir, who sentenced Plummer to two years in prison and Holland to 20 months in September 2024.

Contents

Background and preparation

Just Stop Oil was founded in February 2022 by Roger Hallam to demand that the government of the United Kingdom stop issuing new licences for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels. [1] Their members included Anna Holland and Phoebe Plummer, who joined in May and August. The organisation's activists mounted a series of protests [2] including a July 2022 incident where members turned up at the National Gallery in July 2022 and glued themselves to John Constable's The Hay Wain . [3] The National Gallery held one of Vincent van Gogh's seven Sunflowers paintings, [4] housed in a 17th-century frame with silver leaf, clay undercoat and patina built up over centuries, which had been chosen in 1999 for its rustic style and because its colouration matched the painting. [2]

In the wake of declining media coverage of Just Stop Oil, Holland and some others began developing ways to return to the headlines. They considered spraypainting the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square orange, but considered Churchill too divorced from the climate crisis and his monument too heavily guarded, [2] and considered attacking Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans for how meta it would have been, but instead selected Sunflowers due to the quality of Campbell's Soup Cans and because Van Gogh lived in poverty. [5] The pair opted to throw soup instead of paint as it symbolised the tinned goods distributed by food banks, whose usage had risen following the global energy crisis. [2]

Plummer and Holland arrived at the National Gallery on 13 October 2022. The pair came with soup in their backpacks with the intention of testing the gallery's security protocols and used their visit to examine the positions of guards. They also inspected the painting and made sure there was glass protecting it. They then spent the night at a Just Stop Oil safe house, where they practised various positions and arrived at the conclusion that the soup was best thrown over arm, with a short backlift. They also memorised speeches they intended to deliver after throwing them. [2]

Protest and bail

"What is worth more, art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice? Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people? The cost-of-living crisis is part of the cost-of-oil crisis, fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup. Meanwhile, crops are failing and people are dying in supercharged monsoons, massive wildfires and endless droughts caused by climate breakdown. We can’t afford new oil and gas, it’s going to take everything. We will look back and mourn all we have lost unless we act immediately."

Plummer on 14 October 2022 [6]

The pair entered the gallery at around 11 am the next day and entered room 43 [7] with two cans of Heinz Cream of Tomato soup, superglue, and a loaf of bread. After waiting for more than ten minutes for a group of schoolchildren to move out of the way, [2] the pair removed their jackets to reveal white shirts with Just Stop Oil slogans, threw their soup at the painting, glued themselves to the wall, and demanded to know whether art was worth more than life, food, and justice. [8] A nervous Plummer deviated from their [a] plan and was still talking about dying mangroves by the time the guards had cleared the gallery, meaning Holland did not get to deliver their speech. [2] The acid in the soup eroded some of the frame's patina and left permanent pale streaks, causing £10,000 damage. [2] A supporter filmed the act for publicity purposes. [8]

The protest caused worldwide outrage, though some complainants were assuaged by the fact that the painting was behind glass and was itself unharmed. [9] The pair received significant homophobic abuse from social media and right-wing newspapers following the incident, though their actions inspired several subsequent climate activists to throw food at paintings around the world, including mashed potato in Germany at a Claude Monet painting and maple syrup in Canada [10] at an Emily Carr painting. [11] Plummer became one of the organisation's most recognised faces, though Holland stepped back from frontline activism after seeing the effect their protests had had on their family. [2]

The pair were arrested and charged with criminal damage and aggravated trespass and pleaded not guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court [12] on the grounds that they had caused no damage to the painting. They were released on bail on the condition that they did not enter galleries or museums and or possess paint or adhesive substances in a public place, [4] following which they took the Tube to a safe house still wearing their prison uniforms. Surreptitious photos of them laughing during the journey were sent to a tabloid, which resulted in further outraged newspaper stories. [2] In an interview with Damian Whitworth of The Times published in July 2024, Plummer stated that they had felt "empowered" by the soup throwing incident, as they felt they were "seizing back power from the systems that are hell-bent on destroying us and destroying everything we know and love". [9]

Trial and reactions

Plummer and Holland faced a jury trial for their actions in July 2024 at Southwark Crown Court, at which Plummer represented themself and Raj Chada represented Holland. They faced Judge Christopher Hehir, who earlier that month had sentenced Hallam and four other Just Stop Oil activists to four and five-year jail terms for organising a rolling four-day blockade of the M25 motorway. Hehir dismissed several of Chada's defences and forbade the pair from discussing climate change or trying to justify their actions, allowing them only to argue that they were not knowingly reckless at the time. He also repeatedly reminded the jury to disregard the defendants' reasoning and to not return a perverse verdict. The jury took just over two hours to return a guilty verdict, prompting Hehir to warn the pair to expect jail time. [2]

In September 2024, more than 100 artists, curators and academics signed an open letter coordinated by Greenpeace and Liberate Tate imploring Hehir not to sentence Plummer and Holland to prison. [13] On 27 September 2024, the day of sentencing, several hundred supporters of Plummer and Holland held a vigil outside the court. [2] Despite both the open letter and the vigil, Hehir sentenced Plummer to two years for their tomato soup protest and Holland to 20 months, [14] using his closing statement to state that he was punishing Plummer and Holland for the damage they could have done to the painting. [2] Around an hour after sentencing, further activists performed an identical protest at the National Gallery; [14] in response to both Sunflowers protests and attacks on its Hay Wain and Rokeby Venus paintings, the National Gallery instituted a ban on liquids except baby formula, breast milk, and prescription medicines from being brought in. [15] Matthew Taylor of The Guardian wrote on 20 December that Holland, who was serving their sentence at HM Prison Send, would be one of 40 protesters to be in prison that Christmas, [16] though a 41st protester was returned to jail the day after. [17]

In response to the sentence, activists from Last Generation threw soup at the Embassy of the United Kingdom, Berlin, and similar protests took place outside the embassies of Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome. [18] Writing in The Guardian , George Monbiot criticised Plummer and Holland's sentences and stated that Hehir had given suspended sentences to violent criminals, rapists, and paedophiles, and that Huw Edwards and racist protesters in the 2024 United Kingdom riots had also been given suspended sentences. [19] Nadya Tolokonnikova opined in the same paper that "breaking and destroying" was "a valid and striking artistic and political statement" and stated that Van Gogh would have approved of the protest as nature was his muse. [20] Celia Walden, who was less sympathetic, instructed the pair and the three activists who attacked Sunflowers that day to use their words and wrote that it was "unfortunate for them" that they had drawn Hehir due to his history of sentencing protesters. [18] In a YouGov poll conducted the week after sentencing, 37 per cent of those polled said the sentences were "about right" and 36 per cent said they were "not harsh enough". [21]

In January 2025, Plummer, Holland, Hallam, and thirteen other Just Stop Oil protesters challenged the lengths of their sentences at the Court of Appeal. [22] The sixteen named themselves the "Lord Walney 16" after Lord Walney, an independent advisor to the government on political violence and disruption, on the grounds that their sentences were influenced by a report he produced called Protecting our Democracy from Coercion. [23] Their appeal was supported by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, [24] and the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, [25] though Lord Walney described the group as "silly" and instructed them to "accept some responsibility for [their] criminal behaviour". [23] During the first day, activists dressed in iron muzzles and long black gowns held a silent vigil outside the court, [26] while large numbers of activists holding a sit-down protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice caused The Strand to be closed. [27]

Notes

  1. ↑ Both Holland and Plummer use singular they pronouns. [2]

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References

  1. ↑ Parnaby, Laura (31 December 2022). "Just Stop Oil: How has the group grown this year and what is in store for 2023?". The Independent . Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Mathiesen, Karl (2 October 2024). "The climate protesters who threw soup at a van Gogh painting. (And why they won't stop.)". POLITICO. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  3. ↑ Rufo, Yasmin (27 September 2024). "Just Stop Oil protesters jailed for throwing soup on Sunflowers". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 September 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  4. 1 2 Davies-Evitt, Dora (14 October 2022). "St Mary's Ascot alumni charged with Criminal Damage for Van Gogh soup stunt". Tatler. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  5. ↑ Holland, Anna; Plummer, Phoebe; Durbin, Andrew (18 October 2022). "An Interview With Just Stop Oil". Frieze. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  6. ↑ Daisley, Stephen (14 October 2022). "How to stop Just Stop Oil". The Spectator. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  7. ↑ Gayle, Damien (14 October 2022). "Just Stop Oil activists throw soup at Van Gogh's Sunflowers". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  8. 1 2 Kirk, Tristan (27 September 2024). "Just Stop Oil eco-activists jailed for throwing soup at Van Gogh's Sunflowers". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 28 September 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  9. 1 2 Whitworth, Damian (29 July 2024). "'We're not criminals': what Just Stop Oil's poster girls told me". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  10. ↑ Wakefield, Lily (29 December 2022). "Climate activist who threw soup at Van Gogh urges LGBTQ+ people to take stand". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  11. ↑ Drost, Philip (17 November 2022). "In soup vs. art, climate change protesters lose, says activist". CBC.ca . Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  12. ↑ Kingsley, Thomas (15 October 2022). "Two people deny criminal damage after soup thrown on Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting". The Independent. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  13. ↑ Gayle, Damien (26 September 2024). "Artists plead for activists who threw soup on a Van Gogh to be spared jail". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  14. 1 2 Gayle, Damien (27 September 2024). "Just Stop Oil activists throw soup at Van Gogh's Sunflowers after fellow protesters jailed". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  15. ↑ Cook, Victoria (17 October 2024). "National Gallery bans liquids after repeated protestor attacks". BBC News. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Taylor, Matthew (20 December 2024). "Record number of protesters will be in UK prisons this Christmas". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  17. ↑ Holmes, Jonathan (21 December 2024). "Just Stop Oil campaigner back in jail after ankle tag problem". BBC News. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  18. 1 2 Walden, Celia (30 September 2024). "Soup-throwing protests only happen because we indulge Just Stop Oil's moral toddlers". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  19. ↑ Monbiot, George (1 October 2024). "As the waters rise, a two-year sentence for throwing soup. That's the farcical reality of British justice". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  20. ↑ Tolokonnikova, Nadya (3 October 2024). "Van Gogh is turning in his grave at the harsh Just Stop Oil sentence. I know, because I spoke to him". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  21. ↑ Smith, Matthew (22 October 2024). "Most Britons say Just Stop Oil protestors deserved jail time | YouGov". yougov.co.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  22. ↑ "Suffragette's great-granddaughter attacks protest sentences ahead of appeal bids". The Independent. 29 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  23. 1 2 "'Silly' - Lord Walney blasts jailed activists as appeal looms". The Mail. 13 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  24. ↑ Gayle, Damien (29 January 2025). "Sixteen jailed UK climate activists to appeal against 'unduly harsh' sentences". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  25. ↑ "Just Stop Oil protesters gain support of suffragette relative". BBC News. 29 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  26. ↑ Just Stop Oil activists protest outside High Court as prison sentence appeals begin. 29 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025– via www.independent.co.uk.
  27. ↑ Parke, Callum (30 January 2025). "Climate activists stage sit-down protest outside Royal Courts of Justice". The Standard. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
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