In April 2019, six Extinction Rebellion protesters targeted the London HQ of the oil company Shell.
They smashed windows, glued themselves to doors, climbed onto the entrance canopy, poured fake oil around, and sprayed the slogans Climate Criminals and Lies on the walls.
A couple of weeks ago the six appeared at Southwark Crown Court accused of criminal damage. They pleaded not guilty on the grounds that they had committed their vandalism as part of their project to save the planet.
They conducted their own defense and addressed the jury of seven women and five men in turn.
One said: ‘This is not about what the Crown needs or the government wants, what big business wants. It is about life and death, about how we face our future or fail to do so. What is a smashed window compared to a smashed world?’
Judge Gregory Perrins directed jurors that even if they thought the protesters were ‘morally justified’ it did not provide them with a lawful excuse to commit criminal damage.
He said: ‘They don’t have any defense in law for the charges they face,’ and cautioned the jury: ‘I have given you clear direction on what the law is and your duty to apply that law to the facts as you find them to be. These are not empty words.’
However, they did indeed prove to be empty words because after deliberating for just over seven hours, the jury cleared the defendants of all charges.
This is not trivial. Criminal vandals sought to put themselves above the law and succeeded. The judge was made a fool of.
Worse, it is not merely that authority has been scorned, for those appointed to be the guardians of moral authority are taking the side of the anarchists.
For example, in September last year, the fatuous former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams marched through central London – in his anti-Covid mask – to express his allegiance with the XR militants in the same week that they held up the traffic, defaced public buildings, and prevented the publication of a national newspaper – thus denying to others the freedom of speech which they themselves so conspicuously enjoy.
Be warned, now that this has happened in a relatively minor case, it will soon happen again and again in far greater matters – including those which involve our mortal freedoms. Evils will be allowed to flourish and goodness will be condemned.
So you see I am not over-egging the pudding. Our civilization is in crisis and it is on the edge of chaos and dissolution.
Anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Read rest at Conservative Woman
Society is in turmoil because the government allows it. Let’s see what happens when the “rebellion children” attack China — or maybe China is behind the rebellion … https://newtube.app/user/RAOB/kf3DIEm
The Just Stinks Rebellion a who bunch of leftists anarchsists Watermelons they can use that stupid WERE TRYING TO SAVE THE PLANET load of Malarkey I would like to have them all fined $5000 Each and make them pay for the broken windows and their mess they made they can yammer all they like about Cleaner Planet but its quite clear these jerks don,t practice it
The defendants made their appeal to the jury based on climate change. Yet their leaders have stated climate change is not the reason for the movement. The goal is to punish society for using capitalism and not being tolerate to homosexuality. Things are going to have to get a lot worse in the UK before their large population of stupid people wake up.
I am on the internet now because the live sporting contest I was watching has been a festival of cheating and unenforced rules from the opening minute.
The commentators won’t talk about it; it is as if they’re watching a sanitised version. To say as I do here, of course, opens one up to all sorts of accusations and snide remarks. After all, untold millions complain about such things routinely, therefore to complain tars one with the same brush, whatever the circumstances.
It is indicative of society in general, that so many people can happily ignore cheating in sports if the result is to their liking. Equally, it is indicative of society in general, that so many people can happily ignore unjust legal decisions. Or the circumvention of a democratic vote. The good, old days may not have been so good, but the new days aren’t all that new either.
The end justifying the means remains a slippery slope to Hell. Irrespective of Hell’s existence, that slippery slope should not be the equivalent of a water-park amusement ride. Not only does this happen, though, those sliding into the depths of depravity do not necessarily refrain from doling out moral judgements on others as they go.
The world has suffered a great decline in morality where “the end justifying the means” is considered acceptable. It is very unfortunate for a sporting event. Here in the US it is disastrous when “the end justifying the means” has resulted in election fraud. There are 11,000 legal depositions of people reporting election fraud by the Democrats. If someone lies giving a deposition it is perjury. The fraud may have given Biden the presidency. This is very unfortunate because his “climate emergency” agenda will triple the cost of power, make the power grid unreliable, make cars unaffordable for many, increase the cost of fuel, significantly increase the cost food, kill hundreds of thousands of jobs, and in general force a huge decline in the US economy. Yet, the well documented election fraud is being treated as if it never happened.
It is instructive that the zealous pursuit of those deemed to have been involved in the Capitol Hill incursion is not matched, let alone surpassed, by the pursuit of evidence relating to alleged armed political riots in the streets and alleged concerted election fraud.
Justice is no longer blind, but one-eyed, it would seem.
These protesters are no better than the 19th century cotton mill owners who raked in untold profits off the backs and deaths of children as young as eight, that bothered Karl Marx enough to write his somewhat understandable but clearly misguided tome, which the protesters hold so dear.
This is a very interesting outcome while on the other side of the world in China, 99% of defendants are found guilty.