Essay by Eric Worrall
“… they argued judges defied decades of precedent by ignoring their conscientious motives. …”
Climate activists ‘did what they did out of sacrifice’, appeal court told
Lawyers invoke philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Henry David Thoreau in bid to have long sentences of 16 protesters quashed
Damien Gayle
Thu 30 Jan 2025 05.02 AEDTThe philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Henry David Thoreau were aired in the court of appeal on Wednesday as 16 climate activists sought to convince England’s most-senior judge to quash their long sentences for disruptive acts of civil disobedience.
…
The appellants, prosecuted in four separate trials last year, appeared at a mass appeal in London before a panel led by Lady Justice Carr, the Lady Chief Justice, where they argued judges defied decades of precedent by ignoring their conscientious motives.
They had received sentences ranging from 15 months to five years after taking part in various protests in 2022 as part of the Just Stop Oil climate campaign, which called for a moratorium on oil exploration in the North Sea.
…
Among the 16 was Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, whose five-year sentence for planning roadblock protests on the M25 is thought to be longest ever handed out in the UK for non-violent protest; Larch Maxey, sentenced to three years for tunnelling beneath the road leading to an Essex oil refinery; and Phoebe Plummer, imprisoned for two years for throwing tomato soup on the glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery.
…“They are the only known examples of punishment of peaceful protesters in which no reduction at all was made for such motivation,” said documents filed with the court by the applicants.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/jan/29/hannah-arendt-and-henry-david-thoreau-invoked-in-court-by-climate-protesters
…
In my opinion the protestors actions went well beyond any reasonable definition of acceptable protest. By forcibly inflicting their deranged extremism on others, the protestors caused outrage and distress, incited violence from people desperate to get home to their kids or to their jobs, and likely cost lives by blocking roads used by emergency services.
Let’s hope whatever decision the courts make in this case, that court decision discourages further disruption.
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Unfortunately, there is a tendency of appeals courts to reduce sentences because they always find some extenuating circumstance, no matter how minor. For the sake of justice, though, there ought to be SOME punishment meted out if only to encourage others to follow the laws.
Punishment does need to be given to discourage similar actions.
Otherwise someone, through ‘well reasoned’ conscientious motives may need to step in and try to enforce the social norms that the govt refuses to reasonably acknowledge. Since said someone doesn’t have ability to enact appropriate coercive penalties, something like a broken collar bone or nose will be their only tool.
If the little kids both had broken right collar bones (or left, depending on which was their dominant hand), and the person responsible asked the judge for a lesser sentence because the bones were broken for the good of society in association with (reasoned) conscientious motives, would that someone be given a reduced penalty?
And it wouldn’t stop there, “But your honour, I had to dismember the alleged victim for the greater good”.
Even though I did kill my parents, Judge, please be lenient because I am an orphan.
Having them serve their sentences on some remote Scottish Island, or the Falklands, herding sheep, and having to survive off the sheep, including gathering sheep dung for heat, would be a more appropriate sentence.
I like your sentencing recommendation.
It would also be a very educational period of incarceration, as they learned (the hard way) the value of fossil fuels.
Well I grew up without electricity, mains gas and all other mains services that make life comfortable. A cold winter anywhere should give them the opportunity to have a rethink- when they’re not busy just surviving.
Let’s hope the appeals are rejected.
Old saying: If you don’t want the time, don’t do the crime. Motive should have nothing to do with it.
I appreciate the sacrifice, extending it would be even better.
“Hundreds of protesters have blocked the road outside the high court in London, where the appeals of 16 jailed climate activists are being heard, in condemnation of “the corruption of democracy and the rule of law”
Yep , they cant help themselves . The Rule of Law isnt defined by a protest
A Previous hearing to decide if the full appeal would go ahead the Judge said
“We also recognise that the sentences imposed go well beyond previous sentences imposed for this type of offending under the old common law offence. However, they reflect Parliament’s will, as enacted in s. 78. As set out above, by s. 78 Parliament introduced a new fault-based public nuisance offence for what obviously will include non-violent protest behaviour, with a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment
But we have concluded that they were not manifestly excessive; nor did they amount to a disproportionate interference with their rights of freedom of expression and assembly under Article 10 and Article 11 so as to be unlawful. This was very serious offending by repeat protest offenders who were trespassers (and on bail) at the time; whist the protest was non-violent as such, it had extreme consequences for many, many members of the public. Mr Trowland stated in his evidence that “the warning message is dependent on disruption”
They got off lightly
Non-violent: (a) Throwing a can of soup is violence. Just saying. (b) Non-violent is not the same as peaceful. (c) Their actions affected many people and by the definition of disruption, it can be classified as violent.
Yes. They got off lightly.
😎
Decades ago I hung around an “Animal Rights/Animal Welfare site.
Back then ALF (Animal Liberation Front) was engaged in breaking into and burning down research labs.
Some claimed ALF was nonviolent because nobody was hurt!
ALF – splitters!
Blocking somebody’s car from moving is the crime of unlawful restraint. It can be a felony if it exposes the victim to harm or substantial risk of injury. Think about somebody in an ambulance or a pregnant woman in labor headed to a hospital. I don’t see how they can call criminal behavior “peaceful”. peaceful is leaving people alone.
That is the unspoken point I wanted to make.
If a person in an ambulance died because the shut down traffic, they should be accused of homicide.
I am sure there are those that will disagree, but in my opinion those do not fit the definition of peaceful protest.
If you march and carry signs on a sidewalk? Peaceful.
If you get a permit to block a street, as maybe a street fair might? Peaceful.
If you intrude or impede other people’s rights? Not peaceful.
How many people planned a vacation to see the Magna Carta or The Declaration of Independence or Stonehenge or these works of art or were just trying to get to work only to have idiots ruin their plans?
Those people’s rights were violated by these few idiots.
They should be held personably accountable.
“The “fist nose” quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, though not directly from his writings, is “My right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins,” essentially meaning that one person’s freedom ends where it begins to infringe on another’s rights. “
“did what they did out of sacrifice”
Yeah, the sacrifice part is where you go to jail like Thomas Paine or MLK.
Throwing soup at nice things… that was what people call the fun part.
That said, I’d commute their sentences if they apologized to Exon shareholders in a sincere 1-page essay.
What a hurty thing to say you appear to be expecting them to be at least semi literate! 😉
Make them write in cursive…..
I hadn’t noticed before but the can of soup they threw was “Heinze” brand.
Didn’t they know that one of their champions, John Kerry, married the Heinze heiress?
She owns private jets he flew around in to tout “just stop oil”?
Idiots.
“Heinze”->”Heinz”
Unless Dan Q is judging the spelling bee.
They want to make a sacrifice…. they should be “recruited” into the Army.
So … If a suicide bomber kills a bunch of people but somehow survives himself then his “motive” or willingness to sacrifice should be considered in his sentencing?
“So … If a suicide bomber kills a bunch of people but somehow survives”…. Has he failed? His handlers will no doubt send him out again until he gets it right.
I have no sympathy for these mongrels. It is not okay to disrupt people’s lives possibly putting some in grave danger or despoiling other’s property. Again if someone someone beat the crap out of these bottom feeders and I was on the jury I would vote not guilty. If they truly believe in their cause the should feel honored to spend their time in the pokey.
and getting non-consentingly poked in the pokey even?
They’ll be playing a non-stop game of “Drop The Soap”.
The didn’t do their homework regarding Thoreau. He refused to pay the a tax that supported America’s war against Mexico and got sent to the local prison. He didn’t try to talk his way out of the sentence with his philosophy. Ralph Waldo Emerson, his friend, looked through the window into Henry’s jail cell and asked, “what are you doing in there?”. Henry’s reply was “what are you doing out there?”.
If you’re going to practice civil disobedience you need to accept the fact you may go to prison. These clowns weren’t practicing civil disobedience, they were destructive.
These sentences are disproportionate compared to comparable sentences in the UK. The average sentence for violence against the person type offences is less than two years while the courts are sentencing people to 5 years in prison for attending a zoom meeting to plan a peaceful process. Not to mention recalling a 77 year old because her wrist was too small for an electronic tag. While at the same time the government is being forced to release violent prisoners early because the prisons are close to overflowing.
These people broke the law and should be punished in a proportionate way. But this isn’t that.
Well Izaak, as the covering legislation states, these kinds of offences are getting beyond the pale with their disruptions to orderly conduct of society, so they need to start wearing the full consequences of their moronic anti social behaviors.
They and the neo-nazi idiots should have to share cells for minimum 10 years for each demo they organize / attend.
(Raps gavel and intones – “take them down, Bailiff”)
The M25 blockade by these idiots had significant impacts:
Jail time serves both as a deterrent and as punishment.
They got what they deserved.
Roger Hallam,founder of JSO, had already been given a suspended sentence for his part in a dangerous plan to disrupt flights at Heathrow by flying drones over the airport.
No doubt this was taken into account when he was sentenced for his zoom meeting calling for more disruption in and around London
You’re so right Izaak!
The judge should just say ”Tut tut, kindly refrain from doing that again” and send them on their way.
After all, they didn’t do anything truly criminal like making a true statement about migrant crimes or something beyond the pale like that.
Yes it is.
The philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Henry David Thoreau were aired in the court of appeal
And just where do those ‘philosophies’, or dodges or prevarications, appear in our legal statutes? Will quotes from popular soap operas serve as well to buffalo the courts?
Alas they failed to notice the climate was changing-
Employees fume as Trump wipes ‘transgender’ from CDC
It pays to be aware of tipping points in these matters
Labour’s in. They will be hailed as valiant warriors, and get off.
Normally yes. But Starmer has bigger problems than a gaggle of nuisance climate clowns.
An opinion shared by many.
The story with the English commuters is quite old already. One can see it in “Climate the Movie”. I have no problem with normal sentencing. Nothing these organizations do justifies breaking the law and endangering people. I hope their time in prison gives them time to seriously think about what they’ve done. Another thing to point out, is the UK government’s role in all this, with a highly biased education system which has more or less brainwashed these people.
The featured image shows the “tomato soup gang” to be children … naughty children to be sure, but children without a doubt. How old are those kids? 22 and 23. What I call “college kids”. Possibly developmentally or emotionally delayed kids to judge by their faces.
The judge should look at the possibility that they have been taken advantage of and maneuvered into committing these crimes by older people.
Then those older people should be indicted and tried.
No, your “sacrifice” will (or should) be years in prison. Otherwise, it’s all meaningless.
That’s the real lesson that these narcissists need to learn. The rest of us are tired of being made to sacrifice for their egos.
It would belittle their commitment and sacrifice to just give them a slap on the wrist.
They really need a stiff sentence, and serve it fully to be able to show the world their self sacrificing commitment to the cause, the planet deserves nothing less.
Their attorneys may be good but from what I’ve seen of the rank and file, they are well below average in intelligence, easily swayed, and know next to nothing about their subjects.
Interesting reference to Thoreau, who inspired and enacted the concept of civil disobedience. Of course a key element in civil disobedience is willingness to do the time. It does not mean you get to break a law out of a sense of virtuosity and then for that reason escape the legal consequences.
‘did what they did out of sacrifice’
Well, the judge is only making their sacrifice real. Without a conviction and a lengthy sentence, what would be the sacrifice?