‘The fossil fuel industry, not us protesters, are the ones guilty of crimes’

On Thursday, Joe Short is appearing at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court alongside three other defendants following a protest in April by Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil which stopped fuel tankers from entering and leaving an Exxon oil terminal near Heathrow by climbing up on top of two vehicles.

April’s protest was not the first time that Short has been arrested with Extinction Rebellion but is the first time that any of his activism has resulted in going to court since 2011 when he was arrested alongside other Bristol-based environmental activists as they blockaded a coal train near Merthyr Tydfil.

This is the statement that Short will be reading to the court on Thursday:

In more recent years, subsequent to my undergraduate studies in geography in which I learnt plenty about the climate crisis, I have become increasingly interested in our place within the cosmos.

What I have learnt is that Earth and the conditions that gave rise to what humans have achieved is unimaginably precious.

There is nothing of the sort within our Solar System. Elsewhere is terribly inhospitable. Nowhere else in our Solar System even has liquid surface water and beyond the Solar System our nearest star is four light years away. Space is incredibly empty and our home needs to be looked after.

The fantasies of the likes of Elon Musk, who say we can leave this planet behind are just that – fantasies.
So my statement is framed by our responsibility towards the reality of our precious home being in peril.

I believe our economic, political and legal systems have encouraged and enabled irresponsibility.

Corporations in pursuit of profit and individuals as consumers are protected and encouraged to continue on a self-destructive path.

I am a strong believer in the value of liberty. But it is commonly understood that liberty comes with limits. One person’s liberty must not come at the expense of another’s.

The liberty that the wealthy of this world have to squander our planet’s habitability is at odds with the liberty of those who are and will be impacted by the ravages of climate breakdown.

As our planet is a closed and interdependent system it is only a matter of time, as we continue upon this path, before this breakdown will reach us all.

This is an issue of justice, which I am sure that, as legal professionals, many in this room are particularly sensitive to.

Those that are presently being harmed by the wilful poisoning of our planet’s biosphere and lacklustre attempts to respond to the crisis are being denied justice.

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I predict that in the perhaps not-so-far-distant future, all of us who are adults today will have to face the righteous anger that will exist from younger generations once the collapse has started for having done too little to prevent it.

The most frustrating thing is that we do know what to do and how to do it.

The banner that we hung from the fuel tanker that read, ‘No to fossil fuels, yes to renewables’ is a straightforward part of that.

The vested interests of legacy industries, and the power that these industries hold over our political and economic systems are conflicted with achieving the safest course of action which is the rapid decarbonisation of the global economy.

It has come to light that over decades the fossil fuel industry has used its significant influence to sow the tried and tested seeds of denial, doubt and delay in wider society.

They are the ones guilty of crimes against humanity.

With such crime, fully sanctioned by the state, each of us can know with clarity what we would do were we faced with the most horrific crimes of the past.

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Read more: Inside a Just Stop Oil meeting in Bristol

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Our actions that day may have briefly impacted upon the profitability of the operations of a particular fossil fuel company.

It must be noted that this industry has recently posted record profits that are currently, in no small part, being boosted by the sufferings of the peoples of Ukraine.

While, unlike all the marches I have attended, petitions I have signed and online debates that I engage in, this protest briefly slowed the supply of fuel that was destined to enter our atmosphere as a greenhouse gas and so it felt like it had a tangible, albeit brief, impact.

However, I have no illusions about the futility of our demonstration in the face of such a monumental challenge.
What we did and what happens here in this court will have an impossible to measure impact upon the course of the unfolding of this slow motion apocalyptic disaster.

I am fully reconciled with the all but inevitable path that it takes. Yet I refuse to be a bystander.

With great respect, the judgement that you, ma’am, choose to make will likely be driven by either your need to use the law to create a deterrent against further similar protests or to agree with me and my fellow defendants that such protests are part of a necessary movement to halt our headlong path towards the ever worsening of the conditions that sustain life on our planet.

Or, at the very least, that we retain the right to make such protestations; that are, in the face of such extreme outcomes entirely proportionate.

Whatever judgement is passed by this court I will not regret having done what I did.

I feel that, not only I, but every one of us, has a duty to stand up in the fight to do our very best to see this threat down. Therein lies what I believe to be good and responsible citizenship.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge that I am aware of the privilege that allows me to be here.

I recognise that for many in the world peaceful protest against state and corporate interests can lead to the most horrendous consequences. It is beholden upon all of us that we honour such privilege.

Last time we were here the district judge Wright pointed out that her court time was precious in service to the community, which I don’t doubt.

I do, however, wish to make clear my own view that bringing cases of this nature to prosecution does not serve community nor societal benefit. I nonetheless wish to thank the court for its time. Thank you.

Joe Short, 37, lives in Eastville and works as a land surveyor

Main photo: Extinction Rebellion

Read next:

• New campaign targets Bristol ‘green-washing’
• XR protester celebrates 21st birthday on roof of City Hall
• Rees: ‘Extinction Rebellion’s stunt on the roof is privileged activism’
• Meet some of the Extinction Rebellion Bristol rebels

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