I grew up with art, my father is a fine artist, and have spent plenty of time in museums large and small, public and private. When Just Stop Oil began throwing soup on Van Gogh (protected by glass), I admit at first I was appalled. But after thinking it through and as someone who writes here on the #ClimateEmergency I lost my anger about the act. What remained, though, was the conviction that this is a strategy that won't win converts. Of course, writing nice calm letters to your representative doesn't have much effect either. Roger Hallum of course went to Wadsworth prison for months for attempting to stop traffic in London. Here, civil liberties are being undermined by turning simple misdemeanors into felonies in many states. It's chilling to consider, and linked in my article below. I discovered that in writing about Cop City in Atlanta and the murder of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán. Aside from the evilness of the act, I was interested because I look at what happened there as an indicator of what to expect going forward if we get too far out of line. The oil barons have no intention of leaving hundreds of billions of dollars of oil in the ground. Being polite, throwing paint and blocking traffic don't work. We need tens of thousands in the street. Here's my article which touched on Manuel, a gentle protector of the planet who took over 50 bullets in his tent, hands raised in defense, information that hadn't come out at the time.
Yes, I think the utility of the art protests is that it forces the intelligentsia to think about what the criminal justice system is for in a way that few other actions have. It's easy for the liberal elite to decry the police murder of Tortuguita (which is good!). But not so easy for them (us) to decry the threat of ten years in federal prison for someone who marred a vitrine.
I grew up with art, my father is a fine artist, and have spent plenty of time in museums large and small, public and private. When Just Stop Oil began throwing soup on Van Gogh (protected by glass), I admit at first I was appalled. But after thinking it through and as someone who writes here on the #ClimateEmergency I lost my anger about the act. What remained, though, was the conviction that this is a strategy that won't win converts. Of course, writing nice calm letters to your representative doesn't have much effect either. Roger Hallum of course went to Wadsworth prison for months for attempting to stop traffic in London. Here, civil liberties are being undermined by turning simple misdemeanors into felonies in many states. It's chilling to consider, and linked in my article below. I discovered that in writing about Cop City in Atlanta and the murder of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán. Aside from the evilness of the act, I was interested because I look at what happened there as an indicator of what to expect going forward if we get too far out of line. The oil barons have no intention of leaving hundreds of billions of dollars of oil in the ground. Being polite, throwing paint and blocking traffic don't work. We need tens of thousands in the street. Here's my article which touched on Manuel, a gentle protector of the planet who took over 50 bullets in his tent, hands raised in defense, information that hadn't come out at the time.
https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/the-real-eco-terrorists
Yes, I think the utility of the art protests is that it forces the intelligentsia to think about what the criminal justice system is for in a way that few other actions have. It's easy for the liberal elite to decry the police murder of Tortuguita (which is good!). But not so easy for them (us) to decry the threat of ten years in federal prison for someone who marred a vitrine.