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The Owen Jones Podcast

"Why We Threw Soup At Van Gogh"

The Owen Jones Podcast

Owen Jones

Politics, Government, News & Politics, News

4.41.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Just Stop Oil threw soup at a Van Gogh painting, there was outrage across social media - including from people who considered themselves naturally sympathetic to their cause. So I wanted to find out the truth: as it turns out, the soup was thrown over glass - no painting was harmed in the making of this protest - and Emma Brown from the group joins me, asking what should we really be angry about - soup over a glass, or the destruction of our planet. But was this tactic helpful or counterproductive - and how does she answer their critics?


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

What I'm just I'm just gonna run quickly a clip the clip, which I think lots of people have seen and

0:06.8

And then we'll have a conversation. We'll second. Let's go

0:30.0

What is worth more art or life? Is it worth more than food?

0:48.0

Worth more than justice? Are you more concerned about the protection of the painting or the protection of our planet and people?

0:58.0

The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis. Few is

1:06.0

Unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can't even afford to heat a tin of soup.

1:14.0

Millions of people are dying in monsoons, wildfires and severe drought. We cannot afford new oil and gas. It is going to take everything we know and love.

1:35.0

So that's obviously the action by just stop oil, which of course Emma here is a member of. Now this cause a lot of controversy including looks that's supposed to be naturally sympathetic. I should note the painting wasn't damaged. The painting was protected by glass. So basically the net impact was some paint on some glass.

1:53.0

In terms of the lasting consequence of people are disturbed at the destruction of the painting. No painting was destroyed in the making of this protest. I suppose you could say.

2:03.0

I think they've briefly arrested for criminal damage or something. I don't know what the criminal damage is. Is it to the floor or something because of the paint? I don't know what it was. So Emma, I just want to ask so firstly, a lot of people will go.

2:14.0

Well, just tell me firstly, what just what's just stop oil's big a what what are you fighting for?

2:20.0

We have one really simple demand, which is that the UK government helps all new licenses and consents for fossil fuels in the UK.

2:28.0

That's something that the international energy agency, the UN, is what our own their own climate change committee are recommended.

2:35.0

They've even been taken to the high court of ban guilty of not meeting their net zero commitments. Like it's completely incompatible with climate action.

2:43.0

And obviously when we started this campaign actually was 40 new oil and gas projects that were proposed.

2:49.0

Now this autumn, it's been it's a hundred hundred new oil and gas projects. So as soon as we get a meaningful statement from the government, this disruption will stop.

2:59.0

So they're not listening to rationality to common sense to their own advisors and no one is holding to account.

3:05.0

So that's why we've got young people taking this kind of action.

3:09.0

So we've got one comment here, for example, which is supportive from pseudo NSTR.

3:13.0

Those were more upset about a potential damage of a painting than the actual damage to our planet, which spows without actually damaging the painting. It's very well done.

3:21.0

Yeah, so I suppose a lot of people I saw on social media were like, well, I'm never going to support their cause again.

3:29.0

Would you would you mean by that? You're not going to support a transition to a renewable and an economy based on renewable energy?

...

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