Sunflowers painting targeted by activists.

I would like to see them wasting food in a Tesco store in Stepney

Maybe any publicity is good publicity. However as a would- be climate activist I'd not choose such an innocent soft target.

What happened to the store’s security guards? If I went in pouring milk over the floor I’m sure one of them would have appeared and likely done something. Plus the media would probably have said granny runs amok and my cause would have had no publicity.

Thank you for the link Fanny. I already knew about the girl and the human waste which is also, in my opinion, the lowest of the low.
Can I ask, as I’m not sure from your response, are you defending the soup pourers?

There are little kids really hungry and cold and wasting food is a disgrace. Those upstarts causing havoc in shops, museums, galleries need to wise up.

Speaking as a man of colour, I think James Cleverly made a perfectly valid point.

No Maddy, I’m not.
But, honestly, I’m not that het up about it either.
I’m finding it hard to get her up about anything these days, after the events of the past couple of years.
I do get angry about the traffic disruption folk though.
But in general, I’ve definitely got a case of outrage fatigue.

On a wider scale though, we’re going to see a lot more of this nonsense unless we get a bit of democracy on the go again.

BeverleyJB

MazieD “Your Tarquinius comment was contemptible”.

How so? Those protesters pouring milk all over the floor were wasting food when so many people are forced to use food banks or go hungry to feed their children. What about the store employee, likely on minimum wage, who had to clear up all the mess? Who was treating him or her with contempt?

Not only do these kinds of protest NOT achieve the desired effect, they turn people away from the very cause that is being promoted.

Tarquin and Poppy can “afford” to have such an offence on their record and will not be harmed by it, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.

They weren't even called Tarquin and Poppy!

It was two young women...

I'm happy to say it was a stupid thing to do but to bring in a bit of ignorant inverted snobbery/class warfare is equally stupid.

I never thought I'd say this - in fact I've only just realized that I think it - but I can't get really worked up over this action.
Even if the painting had been ruined, which it hasn't, it's just that, a painting. A famous, valuable painting, yes, but its total destruction would not have had a serious, lasting impact on the the life of a single one of us.

There are so many awful things happening every day to people all over the world, often deliberately inflicted on them by governments, even here in the UK where ideological austerity measures actually led to deaths. There are people up in arms about the painting who wouldn't have batted an eye at that!

I can't help feeling that society's values have become rather skew-whiff.

(Just to add that I would feel differently about actions that have a direct impact on the lives of ordinary people.)

Thanks Fanny. I didn’t think you would defend it but couldn’t quite fathom from your response. I understand your weariness of outrage. There’s been so much going on these last years that it’s hard to get to grips with it all. I’m not outraged by the incident with the painting, but very saddened as it’s such a lovely work of art, and I don’t think these people have the right to destroy our heritage (luckily the painting was protected by glass and is not damaged.) I wasn’t outraged by the girl and the human waste either, but agree it’s a foul thing to do. I felt rather sorry for her parents who were interviewed on television and were very embarrassed. I do feel angry with people who glue themselves to roads and prevent others from going about their lawful business, especially when ambulances are trying to get people to hospital, and those glued to the roads care not a jot. I think the police should haul them away, glue or no glue, and I suspect a great many people agree with me.

I have sympathy with the causes these people support, but I would say, respectfully, that art can and does bring joy to many, and in this country, mostly at no cost. The price/ value of these works and how I feel about that does not take away the pleasure of their presence.

MawtheMerrier

Speaking as a man of colour, I think James Cleverly made a perfectly valid point.

Maw you don't know how confused I was by your post ?

Yes, I couldn’t think of anything witty enough to follow it!

Alioop

There are little kids really hungry and cold and wasting food is a disgrace. Those upstarts causing havoc in shops, museums, galleries need to wise up.

Milk is the third most wasted food and drink product in the UK, after potatoes and bread, with around 490 million pints wasted every year.

The protests are a drop of milk in the ocean of food and drink we waste in this country every year.

It was the hatred on the two young faces of the soup throwers that I found the most disturbing.

MaizieD

BeverleyJB

MazieD “Your Tarquinius comment was contemptible”.

How so? Those protesters pouring milk all over the floor were wasting food when so many people are forced to use food banks or go hungry to feed their children. What about the store employee, likely on minimum wage, who had to clear up all the mess? Who was treating him or her with contempt?

Not only do these kinds of protest NOT achieve the desired effect, they turn people away from the very cause that is being promoted.

Tarquin and Poppy can “afford” to have such an offence on their record and will not be harmed by it, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.

They weren't even called Tarquin and Poppy!

It was two young women...

I'm happy to say it was a stupid thing to do but to bring in a bit of ignorant inverted snobbery/class warfare is equally stupid.

I am well aware that it was two women who poured soup over the painting. I am, contrary to what you appear to have assumed, neither stupid nor ill-informed. The names I used were to illustrate a point, a point which you do not appear to have adequately grasped.

If you care to actually read what I posted more carefully, my comment was in relation to the two individuals causing criminal damage in a Waitrose store.

What you term ignorant inverted snobbery/class warfare was nothing of the sort. I was referring to an obvious fact that if someone working class or a POC had done the same thing the consequences would have been very different. You may not be aware that working class people, in the main, achieve what they achieve through their own merits in spite of the disadvantages they experience. They do not have the networks and connections afforded by relatively wealthy parents and the confidence instilled by a public school education.

Since you resort to personal insults based on your own possibly ignorant assumptions about me I will ask that you refrain from posting about me or responding to my posts in future.

This afternoon

The government are going to use protests like this one as a reason to stop people protesting altogether. That’s what frightens me. And we won’t be allowed to protest about not being able to protest. It serves no purpose when the way you protest actually alienates the very people that support your cause. Because many of the people that care about the environment tend to be the very people that love art too.

Excellent point MayBee

Vandalism, pure and simple.
I wouldn’t want them fined, though. I’d want them made to do say 100 hours or more of litter-picking.

volver

MawtheMerrier

Speaking as a man of colour, I think James Cleverly made a perfectly valid point.

Maw you don't know how confused I was by your post ?

Seemed straightforward enough to me.

Middle class young people - clearly “principled”, saving the planet etc
A couple of black boys from Hackney or Lewisham - yobs.
Unless you have personally experienced the double standards applied by our society in relation to people of colour, it might be confusing.
For once I approve of ONE thing a Tory Home Sec has said.

When your post started with the phrase "Speaking as a man of colour, I think....", it implied that the person posting was a man of colour. That's all.

I don't think that James Cleverly is tory Home Secretary, though?

Unless Braverman has been replaced...

MaizieD

I don't think that James Cleverly is tory Home Secretary, though?

Unless Braverman has been replaced...

Isn’t he Foreign Secretary (at the moment?)

My bad - should have said Foreign Sec