‘Not What You’d Expect in a Democracy.’ How #Britain Is Waging War Against #ClimateProtesters
By Yasmeen Serhan/London
December 16, 2022
"As the #ClimateCrisis worsens, and as the international efforts to mitigate its effects continue to fall short, activists like #CameronFord have become more daring. Over the past year and a half, the 32-year-old British carpenter has blocked highways by gluing himself to roads and chained himself to an oil tanker.
"Like most #environmental campaigners, Ford never wanted to do anything that could land him in jail. 'I was hoping to emigrate to Canada one day,' he says from his home in Cambridge. But Ford changed his mind about the need for bolder activism after attending a talk hosted by the climate group #InsulateBritain last summer. 'It made sense to make that stand earlier, whilst there was still a chance that we could actually mitigate the worst of it, rather than once it’s too late,' he says.
"Ford is hardly alone in that view. Other British protesters like him have gone so far as to tunnel under major infrastructure projects, throw soup at famous works of art, and scale a 190-food bridge—all in a desperate bid to draw the public’s attention to the looming climate catastrophe.
"But their democratic right to protest is now at risk as the British government declares war on tactics that it regards as disruptive and, ideally, illegal. Draft legislation that the House of Commons approved in October [2022] would pose unprecedented restrictions on the right to #protest in #England and #Wales.
"'When [#ClimateCollapse] is what we face, I believe the only thing that would curtail us is the death penalty,' says Ford, 'because the alternative to us not standing up is death.'"
https://time.com/6241372/uk-public-order-bill-climate-protests/
