@adrianfry it's a reciprocal roof #roundhouse we're building on my land with timber from trees which were blown down in #StormArwen, for an old friend who is one of the #ExtinctionRebellion / #InsulateBritain heroes and so can't really afford to own anything. It's about 7 metres diameter over the pillars, about 11 over the eves.
Greenpeace installed headstones in Victoria Tower Gardens outside Parliament today and an eight-metre-long funeral wreath reading “cold homes cost lives”.
They estimate more than 70,000 excess winter deaths in the UK were linked to living in cold, damp housing conditions in the decade since the coalition government slashed support for home insulation measures. #InsulateBritain#Insulation#Austerity#Poverty#UKPolitics
@fitheach@radiojammor civil disobedience can (and should) be extremely hard hitting. My partner is up in court again this spring for her part in blocking the M25, and there's a real possibility that the jury will once again refuse to convict. The actions of #JustStopOil and #InsulateBritain have broken the criminal justice system in England, and while they haven't (yet) stopped oil or insulated Britain, they have proved that action by ordinary citizens can have powerful effect.
The English law courts come to my humble abode, as my friend who is being prosecuted for blocking the M25 attends a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court by video link.
So the scrapping of the #insulation scheme is probably the most baffling of all of the roll-backs that #Rishi Sunak announced yesterday - at least when seen from Scandinavia - British houses are legendary for their leakiness.
"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.'"
"It's going to be a huge term. This is what's called a "Stalinist" term. They asked for 20 years so they will give 18 or something around it. It doesn't really matter, because the terrorism case is on the way. I could get another 10 years there. So my first request is. When the figure is announced, please show solidarity with me" (cont.)
@fulelo#Navalny is perfectly right that "Russia is not an exception". These are exactly the same tactics as are being used against #InsulateBritain and #JustStopOil protesters here in the UK.
The UK may be a little less far along the descent into corruption than Russia, but only a little less far.
here in the UK the government neutralises every environmental protest group almost as soon as they get going #XR#JustStopOil#InsulateBritain are all good cases in point.
The billionaire owned newspaper turn public opinion against them as does the BBC. No doubt the police and security services infiltrate organisations and spy on members. All kinds of dirty tricks will be used against them. Look at what was done to Jeremy Corbin too.
Once any organisation goes "public" in any way it will be targeted, if not before then.
@Eceni as a self-confessed tech bro, I'm loving the idea of larping in decision making, and I think the #QuadraticVoting proposal is really interesting. But please, what value does #Blockchain add, to offset its disproportionate energy and consequently environmental cost?
@adamgreenfield@Eceni I'm in agreement here. The state will not, contra Marx, 'naturally wither away'. Rather, it will resist its dismantling with coercion, violence and oppression. We already see this in the draconian treatment of #InsulateBritain and #JustStopOil.
The good society has to emerge from seeds within nation states, but at some stage it has to break with it; and how that can be done without violence needs careful thought.
In einem MDR-Beitrag konnte man ja sehen, dass 80% der deutschen Bevölkerung dagegen sind. In GB sind es 78%. Wie sieht es also aus? Nützt es was? Schadet es? Sven #Hillenkamp hatte ja so Studien zu Einstellung nach Protesten von #ExtinctionRebellion und #JustStopOil. Er sagt, dass es #Flankeneffekte gibt oder geben könnte, d.h. diejenigen, die weniger radikal sind, profitieren, wenn sie sich distanzieren. Ich selbst finde die #Klimakleber also #völligBekloppt, aber ich denke natürlich pausenlos darüber nach, wie was funktioniert und wo wir alle hinkommen. Zur Zeit sieht es nach Hölle aus. #Klimahölle.
Mit den Flankeneffekten ist das auch eine schwierige Sache, denn viele Menschen differenzieren einfach gar nicht. Als ich beim #Volksentscheid mit lila Weste Unterschriften gesammelt habe, wurde ich gefragt, ob ich von der #LetzteGeneration wäre. „Ach iwo, die haben doch orangene Westen.“
Der Guardian-Artikel ist jetzt jedenfalls interessant, weil die Umfrage unter Protestforscher*innen zu Tage gebracht hat, dass sieben von zehn denken, dass diese Art von Protest etwas bringt.
Großbritannien ist ein bisschen anders als hier, denn die Protestwellen habe die Forderung direkt im Namen: #InsulateBritain. Das scheint irgendwie als Message angekommen zu sein.
Aber auch hierzulande sehen Protestforscher*innen eine Wirkung und Simon Theune ist ja auch als Zeuge vor Gericht aufgetreten und hat gesagt, dass Protest stören muss. In diesem Verfahren gab es dann fünf Freisprüche.
"The General Medical Council is investigating retired GP Diana Warner for campaigning against climate change. Good Law Project is supporting her as she argues doctors must take global heating seriously to protect their patients."
Prison Column: From an environmental prisoner
Freedom continues its regular prison column with an update from Jan Goodey who is currently serving a six-month sentence for blocking the M25 with Just Stop Oil.