Suspended sentence for Just Stop Oil Quaker
'JSO is asking that the government commits to ending all new gas and oil projects as part of a transition away from fossil fuels.'
A Quaker received a six-month suspended sentence last month after climbing onto a gantry on the M25 as part of a Just Stop Oil (JSO) protest.
Arne Springorum, from Prague Meeting, was sentenced to six-months, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty in November.
Speaking outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the Friend said: ‘I took all necessary precautions to prevent unnecessary harm to drivers and passengers.
‘We had professional climbing training, we called the media and the police ahead and asked the public to avoid the M25, calculate extra time, [and] asked the speed [to be] reduced – all things were tethered by strings. There was no object on me that could have fallen.’
‘My behaviour was not reckless, it was measured, deliberate and part of a well-planned action designed to cause maximum disruption on the M25 while maintaining maximum safety for all people involved.’
He added that he felt ‘empathy and regret’ for the people he disrupted.
JSO is asking that the government commits to ending all new gas and oil projects as part of a transition away from fossil fuels. Earlier this month JSO said it was ‘appalled’ by the government’s decision to allow bidding on new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. ‘There is no case for new fossil fuels. The United Nations are clear – it is moral and economic madness.’
Arne is interviewed in the latest edition of the Friend Live podcast.
Comments
Perhaps Mr Springorum will reflect on his actions. Direct action should be aimed at those directly able to change policy, not the innocent traveller. How absurd to claim that warning the public to avoid the M25 somehow excused the disruption caused, not to policymakers but to our fellow citizens.
There was nothing Quakerly about the actions he took. No good reason for his criminal acts. I trust Mr Springorum will think long and hard about what he has done. He is not a martyr.
By quaker@outlook.com on 27th January 2023 - 9:54
The essence of Quakerism, from its very earliest struggles to its current forms, has always been one of taking the sometimes much harder path, to stand resolutely for truth, even when that truth is difficult for many to take or might lead to socially disruptive actions in the interests of promoting and maintaining social justice and human rights.
Conscientious objectors, courageously faithful to their commitment to peace, were scorned and vilified by many in their day. Now, though, most would look on them in a very much more favourable light.
People like Benjamin Lay, unconventional in their ways, passionate in their beliefs and highly disruptive in their methods of getting their message across, were disliked and condemned by contemporaries who would later came to love what he had done to wake them from a torpid complacency about the issue of the brutal violation of the rights of human beings kidnapped and cruelly transported from Africa.
We could, if we chose, easily condemn Arne Springorum, and his like, because it is a fact that they break the laws of the land and cause inconvenience and serious annoyance, occasionally something a bit worse. Or … we could choose to look for the good in this Quaker who acted on what for him was a powerful leading. We could choose, whether we totally agree with his particular action, give him our full moral support.
We need to look at and understand Arne’s actions in their full context. We know him to be thoughtful, well informed, passionate about making this world a better place, and caring. We know he is knowledgeable in the matter of the climate and ecological crisis we now face. We know him to be a person of integrity, a person who does not act on impulse but only after full, deep consideration, and consultation with others, after having undertaken a process of discernment of truth, and then he follows his leadings, which might not be yours or mine, but which, as his fellows, we trust to be sincere.
My reaction to this article is to feel very happy that someone I know to be a good hearted human being is not now in a prison cell. I hold Arne Springorum in the light and call others to do likewise, if they feel able.
By Rajan on 2nd February 2023 - 15:44
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