A few days ago, Just Stop Oil supporters were spotted at Parliament Square dressing the Gandhi Statue with an orange high-vis and covering it in salt. A few days before that, supporters dressed a Nelson Mandela statue. And a few days before that, an Emmeline Pankhurst statue in Manchester. Even Demeter, the Greek goddess of harvest and agriculture, in the British Museum and the Beatles in Liverpool were dressed in the same orange high-vis. Just Stop Oil’s iconic orange is here, there and everywhere to say that, no matter what, they will be there to continue spreading their environmentalist message. 

Since the National Gallery banned liquids after three supporters threw soup at the famous Vincent Van Gogh painting Sunflowers in October, the environmental activist group has been taking more public advances in their plea for change in the lead-up to the London Palestine protest that took place on Saturday. But the string of protests did not start from there.

Just Stop Oil organiser and face of the movement, Indigo Rumbelow, describes the group as non-hierarchical with the collaboration of organisers, scientists, lawyers and former workers in the oil industry, whose activists and associates spread awareness of their demands through numerous tactics. While Just Stop Oil went public in 2022, Rumbelow said that the group in fact originally formed in December 2021 as an attempt to take a new route in climate activism, with the intent “to engage new people.” Since its formation, more than 3,000 associated with Just Stop Oil have been arrested trying to spread their message: ” End fossil fuels before they end us.”

Just Stop Oil is not the only environmental activist group to cause havoc. Extinction Rebellion, officially XR for short, made headlines in October 2019 for climbing on top of London trains during rush hour. Insulate Britain, blocked the M25 in 2021, making themselves the headline’s subject as well. These incidents created further controversy and debate over freedom of speech and the right to protest in a manner that disturbs the public.

Just Stop Oil has always been controversial to the public because of its illegal means of protesting. From vandalising paintings in museums to interrupting football matches. They have even gone so far as to vandalise Stonehenge in June, spraying paint onto three of its stones. But Just Stop Oil’s taste for targeting culture is a different tactic compared to the other groups. While their earlier protests did include traffic distribution, the disruption of their later tactics is much wider given that much of culture is reliant on art, music and sport.  

In the span of a few years, they have managed to disrupt all sorts of highly-covered events in culture, from the British Grand Prix in 2022 to a West End production of Les Misérables. But why attack the very thing that connects the community?

Just Stop Oil justified their choice to attack culture: “Yes – art is precious. We share that love deeply. What we want to do is salvage a future where human creativity is still possible. We’re terrifyingly close to losing that, so we have to break the rules.” The pressure group are more than aware of the implications of their tactics - “Art is sacred in our culture” - but the need to spread awareness is more important to them, even if at the cost of art. 

Their plea for change is scrutinised because of public and government opinion, but the facts are in their favour. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 3.6 billion already live in areas highly susceptible to climate change. NASA identified that climate change can cause extreme weather changes - as seen recently with Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton that devastated Florida - with the potential of these becoming more extreme in the future. The figures are rising as the temperature of the Earth does. 

Just Stop Oil’s methods, while visually erratic, may seem sensical. “It is upsetting to disrupt people but it’s far more upsetting to stay silent as we watch this horror unfold,” says Rumbelow in an article with the Guardian. If considered with the facts, there is some truth to this. After all, as some may say, desperate times call for desperate measures.