Just Stop Oil are a group which protests the use and development of fossil fuels in the UK. They have recently announced that they are taking actions across university campuses in October in Scotland and the rest of the UK. The protests aim to not only condemn the actions of the government, but also to raise awareness about fossil fuel use and extraction in the UK in the hopes of recruiting students and academics to the cause.
In the past couple of weeks, over ten university campuses, including UCL, Exeter, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford, have been targeted in this new wave of action. These universities Just Stop Oil campaigners have also targeted high profile events in the past such as Wimbledon, the World Snooker Championships and a West End performance of ‘Les Miserables’.
I completely understand their frustrations and anger, and direct action has been a central policy of theirs for a couple of years, with significant media attention being directed their way as a result. Furthermore, student protest and direct action has been a significant part of university campuses since the student protests in the United States and Paris in the 1960s. These protests against the Vietnam War (and about social issues more broadly) shaped a generation.
Our weight and influence, as students, to voice our opinions to the wider world and shape public discourse, cannot be understated. To take this opportunity away for protest and an expression of anger would be controversial to say the least.
That being said, I also completely sympathise and agree with those who are frustrated with damage to historical buildings, such as the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. As a history student, it is really difficult to justify damage to buildings like this that are part and parcel of the fabric of our university campuses. It would be upsetting to all of us to potentially see buildings such as the Old Medical School or McEwan Hall suffer damage.
It would be incredibly worthwhile to have an open and honest discussion with our fellow students partaking in these protests to see if there is a way to allow for some form of powerful protest that grabs the attention of senior university staff, in Scotland and beyond, in order to instill lasting change in a way that does not lead to damage and criminal charges against students that are taking part in the protests, who are potentially ruining their future career prospects by gaining a criminal record.
The protests also come as the UK government has announced that drilling will commence at the controversial Rosebank site just off the Scottish coast. It is clear that emotions are running high, and members of Just Stop Oil feels that these protests are timely in order to show complete opposition against the new project.
I completely understand the power and history student protest holds, and personally believe that our government needs to change tack and quickly with regards to the climate crisis, as young people of our generation will bear the brunt of climate change in the following years and decades.
That being said, I do not believe the current tactics of Just Stop Oil are the way to achieve this change at all, and there is an important debate to be had about whether the actions of Just Stop Oil on university campuses negatively impacts students more than the senior staff they are trying to challenge. I understand the urgency of the issue, and am desperate for policy changes from our government, but if these actions are inconveniencing fellow students they are hard to justify.
As of 25 October, there have currently been no protests by Just Stop Oil activists on university campuses in Scotland.
“Just Stop Oil Activists Walking Up Whitehall” by Alisdare Hickson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.