Just Stop Oil

<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">mma 8 23</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing media are spreading calls for violence against climate activists in response to a series of disruptive but nonviolent direct actions carried out by groups demanding action on climate change. As communities grapple with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/weather/us-heat-wave-thursday/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">crippling heat,</a> <a href="https://vtdigger.org/2023/07/27/vermont-launches-20-million-flood-relief-program-for-businesses-but-knows-it-wont-come-close-to-need/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">flooding</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/26/northern-hemisphere-heatwaves-mediterranean-fires-croatia-portugal" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">wildfires</a>, activist groups employing tactics such as throwing paint or food on famous works of art and property, infiltrating cultural events, and obstructing busy roads have provoked outrage from right-wing media. Most recently, a U.K.-based group called <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63543307" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Just Stop Oil</a> and a German group called <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/02/letzte-generation-last-generation-germany-climate-gluers.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Letzte Generation</a> (Last Generation) have been violently attacked by civilians, many of whom are motorists seemingly being held up by group members sitting in the middle of roads or conducting <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/protest-laws-slow-walk-passes-b2357193.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“slow walk”</a> protests to block traffic. The incidents captured on camera have gone viral on social media, with some right-wing media figures in both Europe and the U.S. justifying these assaults and praising the perpetrators, offering ominous warnings of future violence against climate activists.  </div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">U.S. right-wing media fan the flames of anger and aggression directed at climate activists in response to escalating tactics abroad </h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">On <a href="https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1681589579520913410?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">July 19</a>, Just Stop Oil posted a video of a 21-year-old protester getting dragged, punched, and kicked while slow-walking down <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/london-just-stop-oil-assault-b2378134.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Cromwell Road</a> in London. A statement from Just Stop Oil said that the victim of the assault did not plan on reporting the incident to the police. A July 21 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkBlmpvlJqA" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">viral video</a> of a woman yelling at Just Stop Oil protesters reportedly shows her telling them she is taking her baby to the hospital. In response to these tactics, changes in the recent <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/police-powers-ban-protest-laws-suella-braverman/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Public Order Act</a> have expanded police powers, giving authorities much more leeway to determine a protest is disruptive and put an end to it. The videos sparked a deluge of comments from right-wing media influencers in the U.S. justifying and even encouraging physical violence against climate protesters who obstruct traffic:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Daily Wire host and anti-LGBTQ bigot Michael Knowles suggested the woman should have just run the demonstrators over: “If it would not have slowed her down — that is, if this woman would not have been almost immediately arrested, she obviously should have just run them over. She at the very least should have just love-tapped until they moved or fell, but she should’ve just run them over. When hippies’ crimes threaten the life of one’s baby, the just action is as clear as day.” [The Daily Wire, The Michael Knowles Show, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009310" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/24/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Libertarian Institute director and radio host Scott Horton: “I bet just pulling a gun on them would be enough.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/scotthortonshow/status/1682906840894455808?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/22/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Right-wing commentator Nick Sortor: “I don’t care what the hell I have to do. If a woman is rushing her baby to the hospital and she’s being blocked by ‘climate activists,’ I’m removing the ‘activists’ from the road one way or another. I promise you that.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1682846627600519172?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/22/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Far-right Turning Point USA host Drew Hernandez told his viewers that Just Stop Oil is a “death cult” that will kill your babies and predicts that “you’re going to start seeing shoes and body parts” of protesters: “This is the messianic mindset, this is what I’ve been saying for a long time. They get to choose who lives and who dies. They get to enforce if you are a part of our new world order, then you shall pass. Your baby gets to live. If you are not a part of our new world global order, then you shall not pass and your baby will die,” Hernandez said. “This is a death cult, guys. … You’re going to start seeing shoes and body parts flying all over — I’m not calling for violence. I’m just saying that this is instability people are going to start to witness.” [Drew Hernandez Live, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009018" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/21/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Far-right extremist Elijah Schaffer: “Anyone ever want to beat the shit out of these vandalistic climate activists? (In call of duty of course, not real life.)” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer/status/1682402479848460289?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/21/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Right-wing investment influencer account Wall Street Silver: “It is just a matter of time before people just start running over these clowns.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1682424300106547201?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/21/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Turning Point USA offshoot Turning Point UK: “Do you support citizens (legally) removing Just Stop Oil protestors when the police fail to do so?” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/TPointUK/status/1682461534293749761?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/21/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Co-founder of Palantir and Cicero Institute Chairman Joe Lonsdale: “If there’s a woman trying to take her baby to the hospital, it’s the job of every man there to clear these scum out of the way and make a path for the baby. Immediately. I don’t care what the ‘law or ‘custom’ is - if you know a life may be at stake, take aggressive action.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/JTLonsdale/status/1682535954064572421?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/21/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Conservative influencer and founder of the white nationalist organization <a href="https://politicalresearch.org/2021/07/20/forgotten-gamers-america" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">American Populist Union</a> Vincent Dao: “These people are f—ing scum and it should be legal to…. ya know.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/VinceDaoTV/status/1682396001003266048?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/21/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Newsmax host Gary Callahan: “Any day now someone is gonna run these scumbags over and it's going to be hilarious.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/GerryCallahan/status/1682410009953443840?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/21/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Host of the right-wing YouTube channel “The Salty Cracker” said that Just Stop Oil is intentionally provoking bystanders to violence in order to incriminate “law-abiding citizens” and “shut down conservative civil liberties” with the help of the government and the police: “We’ve been warning them,” the host claimed. “You’re going to get beat up. You keep stopping traffic, you’re going to get beat up. And they’re protected. They’re protected by the city, they’re protected by the mayor, the city council, the local police, they’re all on the same plan.” He continued, “You’re supposed to generate the optics and the video of you being killed because then they’re going to take that and shut down conservative civil liberties. That’s what the plan is over here. It has nothing to do with oil. It has everything to do with getting guns taken away from law-abiding citizens, to paint conservatives as violent and lunatics.” [Rumble, The Salty Cracker, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009023" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/19/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Misogynist influencer Tristan Tate, who is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/20/europe/andrew-tate-charges-trial-intl-gbr/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a suspect</a> in a criminal investigation involving his brother Andrew Tate’s alleged rape and sex trafficking: “So I hear (unconfirmed) this man was in the car with his pregnant girlfriend. His car and a van collided because of the protest (you take your eyes off the road when a precession of idiots is in the street) he could have lost his child. With this in mind, fair reaction.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/TateTheTalisman/status/1681652017750474753?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/19/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Newsmax host Rob Schmitt while laughing, said that the video of the demonstrator getting attacked was his favorite video of the day: “This is my favorite video of the day. Look at this guy, jumps out of his truck — get out of here, you freaking hippies. Threatens to punch them and look, the kids just go right back and then comes this, it gets real. They act like they're never going to move. Don't worry, they do. See, they're getting up.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009238" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/14/23</a>]  </li></ul>During two separate incidents in Germany involving Last Generation, a truck driver attempted to <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/shocking-moment-furious-truckie-drives-into-climate-activists-055129660.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">run over</a> a sitting protester and a group of people violently threw protesters out of the road, <a href="https://twitter.com/AufstandLastGen/status/1679842438620360704" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dragging one of them</a> by the hair. (On Twitter and YouTube, the latter video was considered to be so violent that it either <a href="https://twitter.com/sav_says/status/1680692060397920257?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">violated</a> community guidelines or was labeled as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEThSVV891o" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">inappropriate content</a> for some viewers.)<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Right-wing writer and podcaster Kay Smythe wrote for the <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/07/17/alpha-blonde-germany-drags-activist-by-hair/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Daily Caller</a> that the video brightened her day: “Who’s The Alpha German Blonde Dragging This Climate Protester By Her Hair?⁩ Did she do the right thing, or are you an annoying little dweeb like these so-call activists?” [Twitter,<a href="https://twitter.com/KaySmythe/status/1681048147676602368?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> 7/17/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton: “Criminal leftists endanger the public safety.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/TomFitton/status/1681002013641801730?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/17/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Turning Point USA commentator Savanah Hernandez: “Watching climate change activists get brutally removed from roadways after OBSTRUCTING their fellow citizens is one of my favorite pastimes.” Hernandez <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230718182637/https://twitter.com/coopsimms/status/1680258101293854721" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shared a tweet</a> from right-wing activist Charles Cooper, which has since been deleted for violating community guidelines, that said: “Perfect execution. Be a hero—drag the disruptive ‘activists’ out of the way by their hair. Allow traffic to move again. This is how you can help your community.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/sav_says/status/1680692060397920257?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/16/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Right-wing troll Oilfield Rando: “Hot German blonde chicks dragging frumpy decarbonizationists out of the street by their hair is the content I am here for.” [Twitter,<a href="https://twitter.com/Oilfield_Rando/status/1680277581315166208?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;"> 7/15/23</a>]
</li></ul>While road obstructions seem to elicit the most aggressive reactions, activist groups across Europe, the U.K., and the U.S. have also been heavily criticized for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/arts/pearl-earring-vermeer-climate-activists.html#:_{:text=climate%2Dactivists.html-,Climate%20Protester%20Glues%20His%20Head%20to%20'Girl%20With%20a%20Pearl,his%20hand%20to%20the%20wall.}" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">gluing</a> themselves or throwing <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/climate-change-protesters-charged-timothy-martin-joanna-smith-smearing-paint-glass-edgar-degas-little-dancer-age-fourteen-investigation-arrest-national-gallery-washington-dc" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">paint</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/15/just-stop-oil-protesters-charged-van-gogh-painting-soup-sunflowers" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">various</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/23/climate-activists-mashed-potato-monet-potsdam-germany?CMP=twt_gu&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium#Echobox=1666565736-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">food</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/just-stop-oil-king-charles-iii-waxwork-intl-scli-gbr/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">products</a> at notable works of art (the artworks have not been permanently damaged). <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Being Libertarian: “We need to bring back the stocks.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/beinlibertarian/status/1651691989878833154?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">4/27/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">The Blaze writer Logan Hall wrote, “Solve deranged climate protests with this one easy step: you block traffic while drivers commute to work? life in prison. you vandalize beautiful public art? life in prison. you ruin a relaxing day of golf? life in prison. it’s that simple.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/loganclarkhall/status/1681850935947980800?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">7/19/23</a>]  </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Anti-LGBTQ activist and Daily Wire host Matt Walsh: “Activists vandalizing art should be publicly flogged.” [Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3997002" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">11/15/22</a>]   </li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt referred to the actions as “a form of terrorism” Earhardt said: “There need to be consequences if you destroy anyone's property that’s worth tens of millions of dollars and it's a piece of history that we all are teaching our kids about. … It's a form of terrorism to advance a political agenda.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3996363" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/24/22</a>]  </li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;">Former Daily Caller contributor Greg Price: “I say we send all climate activists to forced labor camps where they spend all day drilling for oil.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1580949848106278913?s=20&t=THzwXa8usx67JeIXEBr7pQ" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">10/14/22</a>]</li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The right’s yearslong mission to turn the public against environmental activists</h2></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing media have spent years building their audiences’ disdain for environmentalists, particularly those who dare to speak out about climate change as a serious threat. During extensive coverage of climate protests, for example, Fox News has portrayed activists as members of a narcissistic, mentally ill <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009018" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“death cult”</a> (a term that right-wing media and conspiracy theorists have used to describe <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/abc-world-news-tonight/segment-abortion-protests-abc-news-features-infowars-host-trial-january-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Planned Parenthood</a>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/guide-stew-peters-violent-rhetoric-white-nationalism-anti-lgbtq-bigotry-and" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Judaism</a>, and the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/health-care/right-wing-media-attack-stacey-abrams-suggesting-abortion-economic-issue" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Democratic Party</a>) with the sinister agenda of fixing an allegedly fake problem at the peril of regular people. As far back as 2010, right-wing media was <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/right-wing-pundits-ludicrously-blame-oil-spill-environmentalists" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">blaming the Deepwater Horizon oil spill</a> on environmental activists. And as youth movements like <a href="https://www.unep.org/championsofearth/laureates/2019/fridays-future-movement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Fridays for Future</a> gained notoriety and media attention in 2019, the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles was calling then-16-year-old Greta Thunberg a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-guest-calls-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-mentally-ill-child" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“mentally ill child,”</a> and multiple influencers have compared her to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/dinesh-dsouza/right-wing-media-launch-unhinged-attacks-greta-thunberg" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Nazi leaders</a>. “Like, I'm not going to be the only one who could see, like, little, sort of, imagery of Hitler speaking up there, right?” right-wing YouTuber Dave Rubin said on <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/youtube-dave-rubin-compares-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-adolf-hitler" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Rubin Report</a>. “Like, there was some – these people think that they can control the world and if you just gave them enough money and enough power they could do it.” Fox News prime-time host Laura Ingraham has warned viewers that they would “be punished by our own children” and compared youth climate activists to Stephen King’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/laura-ingraham-compares-greta-thunberg-and-youth-climate-activists-stephen-kings" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Children of the Corn</a>. COVID-19 brought a whole new onslaught of accusations as reduced travel saw planet-warming pollution plummet. Right-wing figures like fossil fuel shill Daniel Turner and radio host Rush Limbaugh <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-media-figures-are-making-unhinged-connections-between-coronavirus-and" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claimed</a> that “green activists” were rejoicing over the COVID-19 pandemic’s disastrous effects because the disease was “accomplishing the Green New Deal’s goals.” <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-jumps-repugnant-claim-climate-activists-are-celebrating-over-coronavirus" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Fox News</a> and the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/15-most-ridiculous-things-media-figures-said-about-climate-change-2020" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">New York Post</a> parroted the idea. In 2022, right-wing media found a way to blame the war in Ukraine on climate activists, demanding they were <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/russias-invasion-ukraine-unfolds-right-wing-media-pinning-blame-greta-thunberg-and" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">responsible for</a> the domestic and global policies that supposedly emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin because the White House is “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3985602" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">captured </a>by climate zealots.” More recently, Fox Business host Charles Payne compared climate activism to human sacrifice on <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-business-host-compares-climate-change-activism-human-sacrifice" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">July 13</a>. And on <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/jesse-watters/fox-news-jesse-watters-left-rushing-blame-global-warming-dangerous-heatwave" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">July 17</a>, The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld said that climate activists “see population as pollution” and suggested doxxing them to make their lives more difficult. By claiming over and over again that climate activists want people to suffer and suggesting that they represent the real threat to society, not climate change, right-wing media have conditioned their audiences to be complacent or even satisfied when protesters are targeted with violence. This kind of thinking didn’t happen overnight — it’s been building for years, buoyed by right-wing talking heads, who get engagement by goading people into acting on their worst impulses but insist they’re not inciting violence, and the corrupt institutions driving ecological collapse and creating the need for civil disobedience to secure a livable future. </div></div></div>