‘buckle up’: US backers of Just Stop Oil pledge more Van Gogh-style protests | climate crisis

US funders of a climate activist group that poured tomato soup over Van Gogh’s sunflowers at the National Gallery in London have pledged that similar attention-grabbing crafts will take place in different countries in the coming weeks.

On Friday, two young activists from the Just Stop Oil group entered the showroom and opened two cans of Heinz tomato soup and Throw them over the board, which is protected by a pane of glass. Onlookers also chanted “Oh my God!” Activists affixed themselves to the wall below the plaque.

“What is worth more, art or life?” said Phoebe Plummer, one of the activists.

The protest, which was met with applause and sharp criticism, is the latest one funded by the Climate Emergency Fund, US network created in 2019 to fund dramatic forms of protest in an effort to spur action on the climate crisis. The organization said it would seek to build on the Van Gogh soup shock to support further protests across Europe and the United States.

“More protests are coming, this is a fast-growing movement, and I hope the next two weeks will be the most intense period of climate action yet, so get ready to go,” said Margaret Klein-Salamon, executive director of the Climate Emergency Fund.

In terms of press coverage, Van Gogh’s protest may be the most successful work I’ve seen in the past eight years in the climate movement. It was a hack, it really hacked this terrible media landscape where you have this collective illusion of normalcy. It’s time to wake up.”

The Climate Action Fund has given more than $4 million to dozens of climate organizations this year (Just Stop Oil is the largest recipient, receiving $1.1 million), helping to trigger a wave of extraordinary protests across Europe. Activists have attached themselves to Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in London and Umberto Boccioni statue In Milan, damaged fuel pumps, rushed On the British Grand Prix track until Attached to a target pole During a Premier League match between Everton and Newcastle.

These remarkable protests are more than that because they were partly funded by an oil heiress. Eileen Getty, a philanthropist and grandfather of businessman J. Paul Getty, co-founded the Climate Action Fund and gave it $1 million for use by activists. Among the fund’s thousands of smaller donors, other notables have made significant contributions—Abigail Disney, a scion of the Disney family, made $200,000, and Adam McKay, director of the satiric climate film Looking For Pledge 4 million dollars.

The money is used to pay and help train people across activist groups, cultivating acts of civil disobedience that Salamon says have echoes of earlier eras, such as the civil rights or suffrage movement. “We are helping the wealthy who are afraid of climate change, because we all live on this planet, to fund the most effective activity possible,” she said.

Activists have forced millions of people who don’t want to think about the climate emergency to think about it. Nobody is protesting against art or sports, but the point is that the house is burning, this is an emergency. We can’t just enjoy the beauty and the fun and carry on like we do while we’re doing nothing about it, because right now we’re accelerating off a cliff.”

Just Stop sunflower oil dye has attracted a lot of criticism, with some denouncing it as vandalism (although only the frame was slightly damaged) or Questioning The significance of the painting is the need to move away from fossil fuels. Tucker Carlson, right-wing Fox News host, Call The protesters are “extremists” and “religious extremists”.

“Just getting publicity for a cause doesn’t automatically translate into support for it.” chirp Paul Graham, Prominent Investor. “If you get publicity for a cause in an obnoxious way, it will generate opposition to it.”

Theories were so Spread On social media, the stunt was intended to discredit climate activists, as part of an elaborate stunt devised by Getty. “That seems unfair to me,” Salamon said of Getty’s involvement. “You cannot hold anyone responsible for the sins of their deceased grandfather. She does everything to make it right – what would you rather you do, just go out and live the life of luxury?”

Supporters of this funded activity refer to Research Showing that disruptive tactics can motivate those who moderately support a cause, while causing little backlash from others, is the so-called “radical wing effect” that has seen the youth climate movement flourish amid everything from school strikes, led by the Swedish. Activist Greta Thunbergto me All-round deflation of SUV tires.

“This was the tomato lottery heard around the world,” said Dana R. Fisher, a University of Maryland sociologist who studies climate protest. “The target wasn’t art. She was using art as a platform, and she drew attention because she used a tactical innovation: tomato soup.”

Fischer said it was not yet certain how effective the protest would be. “I’m sure it will irritate some people,” she said. “But the idea is not to win hearts and minds, it’s to get the media’s attention and rally people sympathetic to the cause.”

Climate activists often complain that keeping the public focus on global warming can be difficult, despite the growing display of climate-induced disasters and a growing sense of desperation, especially among young people, due to governments’ inaction. Since 2019, two American men You have self sacrifice in separate incidents intended to raise awareness of the climate crisis, although neither law has gained as much attention as the Van Gogh incident.

Latest trick by Just stop the oil “Revealed that far more people feel anger at a soup-splattered plate than they do with the intense and irreversible devastation of life on Earth,” according to Peter Calmos, a NASA climate scientist who chained himself to a bank in Los Los Angeles earlier this year.

“It’s really cool,” he said. “It shows the tremendous power of the social norms of business as usual, and shows that the reason we don’t treat this as an emergency is because people still don’t think it’s an emergency, despite the clear science and despite the recent catastrophic climate of events.”

Salamon said she is optimistic, however, that activists could help electrify voters for the US midterm elections, or force countries like the United Kingdom to call for an end to oil and gas exploration. “I just want everyone to think about the climate,” she said. “Even those who are outraged by climate activists. Better to be crazy than just keep ignoring them.”