Three individuals targeted National Gallery paintings an hour after Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were jailed for similar attack in 2022

Climate activists have thrown tomato soup over two Sunflowers paintings by Vincent van Gogh, just an hour after two others were jailed for a similar protest action in 2022.

Three supporters of Just Stop Oil walked into the National Gallery in London, where an exhibition of Van Gogh’s collected works is on display, at 2.30pm on Friday afternoon, and threw Heinz soup over Sunflowers 1889 and Sunflowers 1888.

The latter was the same work targeted by Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland in 2022. That pair are now among 25 supporters of Just Stop Oil in jail for climate protests.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    472 months ago

    To everyone in this thread who has nothing but insults for these activists, what are you doing against climate breakdown? Besides sitting on your couch, insulting people who are actually trying to make a difference, facing jail time?

    You are the kind of people who would’ve called the Suffragettes names and said they’re hurting the cause, as well.

        • @scarabic
          link
          English
          2
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Literally anything is better than this. Taking the bus one day a month instead of driving is better than this.

          Arguably, this action is negative because it discredits climate activists.

          I get that you care about oil. That’s great. Now care about effectiveness for 60 seconds and you’ll realize that this is not a hill to die on.

    • @Nuke_the_whales
      link
      English
      42 months ago

      Why are you placing climate change at the feet of the poor? Go fuck with billionaires and politicians who are causing this issue. All you’re doing is stomping the person below you because you’re mad at billionaires

    • @Tattorack
      link
      English
      32 months ago

      I don’t own a car. Most of what I do is done via bicycle, with the occasional public transport on the side. I don’t buy a new piece of tech whenever it comes out, or throw tech out unless it’s well and truly broken. I don’t participate in one-day fashion, usually wearing all my clothes till they’re threadbare.

      But these are all consumer side things. They don’t do shit. It’s a wonderful corporate ploy to say that climate change is somehow in our hands. But throwing soup at great art sure as fuck isn’t going to suddenly change that.

      • @teolan
        link
        English
        -22 months ago

        You still heat your house, maybe even cool it down. You still work, probably for some organisation that pollutes a lot.

        And you said it yourself. Consuming less at an individual level doesn’t do shit. Activism does. They’re the ones forcing climate change to be on the agenda.

    • @scarabic
      link
      English
      12 months ago

      Solared my house. Converted to LED lights. Invested in insulation. Consistently supported political candidates against fracking in primary races. Voted as liberally as possible in general elections. Bought electric car. Home battery. Systematically reduced power usage throughout the house. Systematically looked for ways to reduce plastic usage.

      But that’s just a start. Next month I’m going to slop soup on a painting and REALLY make a difference.

    • some pirate
      link
      fedilink
      English
      12 months ago

      Go to a real protest holding a an actual sign with actual message DUHHH

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      12 months ago

      Compared to what they’ve accomplished by getting some plexiglass wet, it seems like sitting on my couch has accomplished the same. Maybe more by staying home, unless they rode bikes or walked to do the deed.

      • @PugJesus
        link
        English
        -32 months ago

        No, no, you see, all attention is good attention, and attention is the most valuable thing to the climate change movement right now. That’s the issue. Not enough people are AWARE that it’s a THING. If they were, we would be making much more progress than we currently are.

        /s

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          112 months ago

          Not enough people are AWARE that it’s a THING.

          I mean, considering how little has happened?
          Don’t we need radicals at this point?

          Isn’t it said that violence is the language of the unheard?

          • @PugJesus
            link
            English
            12 months ago

            I’m down with violence, man. But human history and culture isn’t the enemy here, it shouldn’t be the target, and simply ‘raising awareness’ is no longer the goal. Take a sledgehammer to an oil exec’s front door if you want to go the direct action route, not to the Magna Carta.

            There are actually probably more effective uses of violence than the oil exec’s front door. But you get what I mean, I hope. Action alone is not enough, it must be action that causes something useful to the cause, like increasing fear in the politicos or ultra-wealthy (as the Suffragists did with arson and bombing campaigns targeting both), or reducing the effectiveness of society as a whole until negotiations are had (as with a general strike, though that’s not violent, generally).

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              42 months ago

              Human history and culture are leverage. The fact that people care about them is why they’re valuable.

              Take a sledgehammer to an oil exec’s front door

              Yeah, go for it. I support you.

              it must be action that causes something useful to the cause,

              Public attention can spur recruitment waves for the targets you really care about. If any campaign is to be effective, you need people to know who you are.

          • @Tattorack
            link
            English
            -52 months ago

            Throwing soup at paintings is only radical in how radically stupid it is.

            You want radical? Go sabotage an oil refinery. Become eco-terrorists.

            What Just Stop Oil is doing is nothing more than feeling good about themselves.

      • Flying SquidM
        link
        English
        -92 months ago

        Definitely more. You haven’t pissed a bunch of people off that are on your side on this issue.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          172 months ago

          If some soup on plexiglass can convince you to let the planet burn, you were never on the side of progress.

          • @sensiblepuffin
            link
            English
            102 months ago

            This right here. For shame on anyone who genuinely thinks they’re on the right side of history, whining about soup on a Plexiglas barrier.

            • @Tattorack
              link
              English
              -62 months ago

              Anything that targets art is on the wrong side of history.

              • @aoidenpa
                link
                English
                -12 months ago

                Old paintings are valuable because people bought into it. Like nfts or crypto. They don’t worth anything. Old people’s baggage. Quit carrying it.

                • @Tattorack
                  link
                  English
                  22 months ago

                  I am insulted by your lack of culture.

          • @PugJesus
            link
            English
            02 months ago

            If some soup on plexiglass can convince you to let the planet burn, you were never on the side of progress.

            I’m not the one that needs convincing. But I’m sure the majority that you actually need on your side are simply insufficiently pure, and a bunch of reactionary dogs anyway, so who cares about gaining their approval for the cause?

    • Destide
      link
      fedilink
      English
      0
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      I ride my bike 24 miles a day every weekday of the year , use hugle culture and no dig in my garden, recycle that’s just the start do one, they’re virtue signalling twats.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        122 months ago

        Great, you’re reducing your personal impact. That’s a great start. I’m sure our politicians will think of your hugle culture and recycling when they sign the next gas drilling licenses. We can’t ‘individual action’ our way out of this one.

        And btw, I’m sure the activists do their recycling too.